Halloween 2015

This is a very late post, but I HAVE to write about our super fun superhero Halloween. Raegan decided she wanted to be a superhero this year, and I thought wouldn't it be fun to have a PAIR of superheros!?  So, we bought a few components and made a few components of the costumes....which I think always makes it more fun. When they put on the costume for a trial run, Raegan comes sprinting into the room announcing, "It's super Raegan and her super sidekick Bubba Boy!" I have some great video of them zooming around the house! They both really enjoyed trick or treating, and we were able to go with Raegan's best friend, Lilly, from preschool who just lives down the street. Also, since it was on a Saturday this year, Aunt Meg drove up to join us in her Minion costume! The girls were fast and furious running to each door, and Owen did his best to keep up! They were both determined to hold their own buckets, even when they were filled to the top! (Daddy and I would have to secretly empty them into another bag as they were getting too heavy!). At the end of the night they dumped their treasures onto the floor and enjoyed the sugar! After the sugar crash, the kids went off to bed, and the adults headed to a Halloween party - Daddy as a Hippie, Mommy as a butterfly, and Minion Meg. :)

Earlier that month, we took our annual trip to the pumpkin farm. The kids had a blast riding the train, eating caramel apples, petting the farm animals, picking out pumpkins, riding the hay ride, riding the ponies, and much more! This is definitely one of my favorite Fall activities!

The smell of cookies

I was talking to mom on facetime, co-cooking lunch with her using a sunbasket recipe, when she mentioned making chocolate chip cookies. I thought, that is an indulgence I haven't had in a long time. I didn't give it much more thought than that, until I starting smelling the cookies baking in the oven.....and then I remembered......the last time I made cookies I was at my parent's house in Illinois. We were there because Grandma T was in the hospital. She wasn't going to make it. I was at my parent's house, just Owen and I. We had been back and forth to the hospital for what seemed like dozens of trips. Sitting next to Grandma and holding her hand, singing to her, reassuring her that we were there, reading to her..... wishing that this would end for her and wishing she would not go.....

To pass the time before our next trip to see Grandma, I had decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. Owen was running around the house playing with toys. I could smell the cookies in the oven when my phone rang. It was Meghan and she said I should come to the hospital quickly. I hung up, in a panic. Before I could even process my next step.....grab Owen, find the keys, get the diaper bag.....the phone rang again. It was Lindsey. Grandma was gone.

What I think I will always remember the most about her is how I felt when I was with her. Always loved. Always cherished. Always important. I also loved her stories about her life on the farm. She could retell them with such vivid detail. She also would tell me about her life as child.....how she used to go to businesses to sell candy when she was a child so that her family could put food on the table. Her father was a jack of all trades. He even ran a laundry mat at one time to earn money. I think this might be one of the things that I am most sad about.....that all of her stories and all of her history are gone with her. Tell me again, Grandma, how that clock on the mantel was a wedding gift to your parents. Remind me, once more, the story about your footstool and how many times it has been reupholstered. I wish, now, that I would have listened more closely to each tiny detail, or written these things down. And then, after I had my own children, she would tell me how modern advancements have made parenting so much easier. How she used to take the cloth diapers out to the wash tub, scrub them clean, hang them on the line to dry outside, and then take them off the line. I would say, "I don't know how you did it! Six boys!" She would always say to me, "You just take one day at a time." 

She always took one day at a time, and lived in that day. For someone who outlived her entire immediate family and best friends, and lived through wars and the Great Depression, she never did sweat the small stuff. She took it one day at time. She lived with such grace. I'm not sure what I did in some past life to have deserved to be her granddaughter in this lifetime, but I am forever grateful. 

Losing someone so special

Shortly after I wrote the last blog entry, my family lost someone very special, my Grandma Trutter (Grandma T, as we often called her). She lived a long and wonderful life to the age of 97. I think I had always thought she would at least make it to 100, and so although by any measure she lived a long life, her passing was very unexpected for me. I have not blogged since she passed. Each entry would be emailed to her inbox, and she would read every word. She would then comment when she would talk to me on the phone, or email a response, or mention to my Dad how much she enjoyed reading the posts. Sometimes I think I was blogging just for her.....to keep her updated on my life.....and because I know how much she enjoyed reading the updates! Similarly, she also loved letters! She loved writing them and getting them. She wrote me dozens and dozens of letters when I went off to college, and she and I wrote each other often ever since.

I know that she is still here, somewhere, watching down on us all. Now she can get all of her updates in real time, I hope.

Vita mutatur, non tollitur.

I will always love you Gram. You will always be such a significant part of who I am.

Daddy's birthday

Happy Birthday to the man that keeps this family organized and clean and well cared for! ;) We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Daddy! What is a birthday without balloons? The kids and I brought home balloons, ingredients to bake a cake, and some little gifts for Jasen. BOTH of the kids helped to bake the cake, and Owen then started saying a new word.... "cake"....while pointing to the cake that was baking in the Oven. The kids paraded the balloons around the house. We took Jasen to the new Bass Pro Shop to pick out his birthday present, which was also a family affair. We gathered Saturday night with some family and friends at a local bbq joint which was delicious. Then, mommy and daddy had some grown up time at the local bars after getting the kiddos off to bed! We finished up the weekend with some of the delicious lemon cake (daddy's favorite) and a Packers Win! :)

Happy Birthday to the wonderful man who made me a mother! I love you infinitely!

Raegan's first day of preschool!

My little girl started preschool at the public elementary school that is about 3/4 of a mile from our house! It is a 3 hours per day/5 days a week program. I had heard very good things about it, and felt that Raegan was in desperate need of some regular interaction with peers. Initially, Jasen and I had discussed that 3 days a week would be sufficient until she adjusted. So, back in May I began talking to Raegan about preschool when we would drive by the school. The challenge was differentiating the experience from her "school" experience at the private preschool/daycare that she attended from age 2 to age 3. She never really adjusted to that school, and frankly I think it was somewhat traumatizing for her. I thought she was ready to be with peers at that time, but she was just too young to be away from home for that long. It was an all day program while I was at work 4 days a week. Thinking back on it almost brings me to tears even now.

So, needless to say, when I mentioned "preschool" her reactions were very negative. Almost always ended up with her shouting, "I will NEVER go!" "I don't WANT to make new friends!" 'I want to stay with YOU!" etc etc. But as we continued to talk about it more and more, and I explained to her that it was only for a short amount of time, she started to at least not scream at me when I mentioned it. Being the behaviorist that I am, I figured easing her into this would work the best. The first day I exposed her to the classroom, we went to just fill out registration paperwork. No one else was there except us and the teacher. While I filled out paperwork at the teeny tiny table, she and Owen ran around exploring the classroom. She seemed excited about the toys, and was comfortable leaving my side to explore the room. The second exposure was the orientation day, in which the parents and children all go to school for about an hour. While all of the parents are gathered near the tables, the teachers are explaining the program to us, and the children are left to explore the classroom. Raegan was comfortable enough to again, leave my side and explore and interact with the other children. She would come and check in with me from time to time, but I could tell she was feeling pretty comfortable. Which then brings us to the first day of school.....
By now, she is excited, and talking about meeting new friends! She said she wanted to make TEN new friends, with a huge smile on her face. I explained to her the schedule several times, so she knew when she would be coming back home. She helped choose her snack for her backpack before we left the house, I walked her into to school, put on her little name tag, kissed her goodbye, and I left her happy as could be! It was GLORIOUS! And the rest is history... She just loves going to school. The only time she has ever cried was when we had to tell her that it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. She has made MANY new friends and looks forward to going each day. She is already learning letters and letter sounds and shows off her art projects. Because she loves it so much, she goes all five days a week. She is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen riding her scooter to school with her backpack on. She also knows that kindergarten is at her school as well, and points out the kindergarten rooms stating that she will be going THERE next year!

I'm so proud of her and so happy to see her happy!

Baby's 1st haircut

I forgot to post the pics from Owen's first haircut! And this was Rs only second haircut! She was not thrilled at first. 

Summer Trip 2015

We had such a wonderful trip to my Mom and Dad's this summer! It was a great get away for me.....from the vaccine stuff, from work, from our routine......and the kids just had a blast! We did a ton of different things, but mostly we spent a lot of time with family and just played! The kids enjoyed playing in the rain during the rainstorms, and they also enjoyed swimming in the pools when it was hot and sunny. In Illinois you really do get the full gamut of weather! ;) I also got to spend some special time with Grandma T, just her and I for a lunch date at her house! I love bringing the kids along to see her, but sometimes it is nice to have an uninterrupted conversation.

We went to the zoo, out to lunch (x 20), played at the parks, went swimming, bowling, rode bikes, went for walks, and had some barbecues! And let's not forget digging for worms, feeding horses, and catching lightning bugs! I even met up with my best friend from childhood (K-12th grade) who I haven't seen for about 14 years. Her son and Raegan are the same age, so we had a play date! It was very nice. :)

I know that these summer trips will be times that my kids will talk about when they are older...as fond childhood traditions and memories, spending summers at Gma and PaPa's! It makes my heart so happy!