August 9th thru August 15th, 2011

Grandma came to visit and brought my little brother Ben along.

The Boys of course absolutely adore my Mom!!!

This is Ben, my "not so little brother" anymore.  He is 6 foot 5 inches and only 16 years old.   We are 15 years apart in age.  When I left for Ricks College he was just 3 years old.  He is still that little baby to me.  I have know idea how he has grown up so fast.  When John and I got married, he had just turned 9 years old.  Just as Ben has grown up way too quickly, I know my boys will too.  It makes me sad to think that it is such a short time that they are young.  I hope that I can enjoy every moment.

My Fondest Memory of Ben

It was hard for me to leave for college since Ben was just a baby and my other little brother was 7 years old.  I felt like I was going to miss out on so much.  Everyday, I could count on a phone call from Ben.  Yes, he had my phone number memorized at the age of 3.  He would call multiple times a day until I was actually at my apartment to take his phone call.  My roommates thought it was so cute.  He would always say the say same things in his cute little voice.  "Hi Mawie(Marie)!  I wuv(love) you!  I miss you!  When are you coming home?...  Those phone calls meant the world to me at the time since my first year at college was really rough.  I always looked forward to that short sweet little conversation each day!

Can you tell who the shrimp of the family is?  Yes me!  My mom is 5'9'' or 5'10", my dad 6'1", Ben 6'5", Jonathan is 6' 4", Jacob is 6'2", Daniel is 6'2."  I was 5'4.5" from the time I was 12 years old until I was 29 years old.  Crazy thing is that every time I have been measured here in Indiana it comes out that I'm 5'5.5" or 5'6".  Lately, out of shock, I have the nursing assistants recheck my height at least two times.  Have I grown, are the height measurements different out east, or has pilates and weight training straightened out my spine?  My guess would be the third.

Jacqueline and Gary came to town for a quick morning visit while my mom and brother were in town.  My boys LOVE Jacqueline!!!   

This is typical Josh.  He is always making something out of anything he can find.  He has quite the imagination!!!  What do you think this is?

Nate always has to have Holly and Finn (from "Cars 2") with him.

I cannot help loving this ornery face.

Josh making friends at the neighborhood park.  He just talked and talked non-stop.

Josh playing soccer with his new friends

Notice what's at Nate's feet?  He seems to be dreamily imaging something about Holly and Sally.

 Just had to throw this in here to embarrass John and Ben.  Let's see if they ever notice it in the blog, they might make me remove it.

I think these two look alike.

Ben hasn't changed since he was 3 years old when I left home to college, he's just gotten ginormous!

Just had to throw these in.  This is Nate during nap time.  He always has to have his cars and will play as  long as he can until sleep overtakes him.

I love how he decided to smile for the camera when I was just taking pictures to remember how he was at this age during nap time.

Josh's First Day of School

August 10th, 2011

Nate got so excited when he saw the school bus!  Here he is pointing to it!  Screaming and shouting, "Yay, the bus is here!  Yay...Yay!!!"

These two are best friends.  I'm glad Josh will only be gone for a few hours in the morning instead of all day!  I was a little sad when Josh left and I really missed him after I realized he was actually gone.  Looking at the pictures it amazes me how grown up he looks!  I know school will be great for him and that it will be nice for Nate and I to spend one-on-one time.  I love spending time alone with Nate because he is so fun and "chill."

This morning was full of surprises for Josh.  I first surprised Josh with breakfast in bed.  I made him pancakes with cantaloupe and milk.  His sleepy response was, "You made me breakfast in bed because I'm big now?"  It was so cute.  He was so happy and devoured his breakfast.  After he got completely ready, the biggest surprise was yet to come.  Grandma Susan and Uncle Ben were here (they flew in really late last night)!  To say he was excited would be an understatement.  I got it on video, but have no way for our ancient video camera (as in 6 years old, which is ancient in our technology driven society) footage to get downloaded on the computer and we didn't have time for pics with my sleepy mom and brother.  We will get plenty of pictures while they are out here!  I really hope he loves school and makes great friends!

In Memory of Kali, Charlie, and Boy

August 4th, 2011

Yesterday, while John was mowing the lawn, he found this little surprise just outside of Josh's bedroom window where the trampoline had been conveniently protecting this little nest.

Baby Rabbits

 They were just recently born, maybe a few days old.

Three Baby Rabbits

August 5th, 2011

First thing in the morning Josh had to check on them and wanted pictures with them.  He was so excited to have a "pet of his own."  At this point I wasn't sure what to think of having these baby rabbits in our backyard.  I did think that maybe the mama rabbit was crazy for putting them in our yard with two little boys.

The boys were thrilled, especially Josh.  Josh fell in love with them immediately and felt it his duty to be an animal rescuer (he might have gotten this idea from Diego).  Since he never saw their mother he thought they needed him to take care of them.

All morning he begged me to be able to take care of them.  I insisted that they needed to be left alone so their mommy could take care of them.  Over a million questions and pleadings were asked with the same explanation...."it's not good for them if we touch them too much; they're mommy won't be able to take care of them if your around because rabbits are scared of people.  No you cannot give them a bath!  Bunnies don't take baths; their mommy will keep them clean.  No, you cannot bring them in the house!  No, you cannot have them in your bedroom or your tent!,  etc. etc. etc......"

Well, did Josh listen?  Maybe, for almost 2 hours.

As soon as he got the chance to "take care of them" without me knowing, he took it.

The morning started off wonderfully.  The weather was nice.  It was only in the late 70s/low 80s (it's been in the 100s with close to 100% humidity for a month, it even got up to 110 or 115 a few weeks ago), so it was finally cool enough to go on a nice walk.  It's been a month with this relentless heat wave and drought.  Afterwards, I embarked on yard work (transplanting flowers, trimming flowers and bushes, etc.) that I'd been planning to tackle on the first day the heat wave let up.  The boys were playing alongside me like they always do.  Josh decided to go inside for "a minute" and a minute later Nate decided to go in too.  I went to go check on them and they were playing really well, so I decided to quickly finish one little thing so my flowers wouldn't die since I would have to get back to the yard work later.  I didn't quite finish taking care of my flower that was near death because I didn't want to leave these two out of sight for even a minute.  I planned on doing a minute here and minute there while checking in on them.  Well, after my first minute or less.....

I went in and heard the bath water running (Note: we live in a tiny one level house.  The bathroom is visible to almost the entire house and only about 10 to 12 feet from the front door where I was working)

I went in and they had started a bath and were playing together having a great time.  I went in and looked in the tub because I sensed something was wrong.  I saw nothing but some soap bubbles in the water, which they are not allowed to have soap in their baths (eczema).  I thought that was what they were trying to hide from me.  So, they took an uneventful bath for about 10 more minutes and got out.  And much to my horror Josh was holding one of the baby rabbits....I asked "was the rabbit in the bathtub with you?"  Josh's reply was NO.  So, I asked Nate.  Nate said YES.... I then proceeded to ask where the other two rabbits were and what happened.  Nate acted suspicious as he was laying on his rainbow blanket and acting even more protective of his favorite blanket.  I peered under his blanket and there were the other two.  I started screaming and crying out of shock.....Yes, I know a little over dramatic, but to my horror I realized at that moment that they had drowned those innocent baby rabbits with me right there not knowing.  I felt horrible.  They only needed less than a minute to get them into the house in Josh's tent.  Then the next moment they had, they took them from the tent and put them in the bath with them.  Thinking they were doing them a great service by helping them to get clean.  I don't know where they were when I scanned the bath water, either they were hiding them in the shower curtain or sitting on them in the water.  The second thought makes me nauseous.

The next 2 1/2 hours were spent cleaning up this mess (which really only took the boys 2 minutes to create) and sanitizing the boys and all the things the rabbits had come in contact with.

Josh felt horrible and he literally cried all day and then cried himself to sleep (this is a boy who never ever cries).  He felt so bad that he killed the baby rabbits.  The rest of the day all I heard from Josh with tears and sobbing was "I miss them so much!  Will I ever see them again?!  Charlie was so nice to me, he was the nicest.  Kali, she loved me and she was so sweet and the nicest!  Can't we have them back?  How did they die?  Where did they go?  I'm going to kill Heaven and get them back!  Heaven cannot take them!  I'm going to have them back!  Why can't I have them back? etc., etc, etc.....

We had a funeral, just Josh and I, during Nate's nap.  We buried them in the backyard right by Josh's window.  We laid them in a red shoe box wrapped in paper towels.  Josh picked them 3 clover flowers, one for each of them, and then he drew them some pictures and wrote them a letter.  It read; "I love you rabbits.  Thank you for being so nice to me.  Love, Josh."  He had me write it because he was too sad to write it himself.  He then put the flowers and the letter in the shoe box with them.  He said goodbye to them while sobbing and said, "I'm so sorry, I hurt you... I didn't mean to... I love you.  Goodbye."  This was followed by intense sobbing.  Then we buried them and put a triangular shaped rock over their grave. 

Above: baby rabbits in the clouds with their names that Josh gave them.   Josh waving goodbye to them with the red shoebox right next to him.

I learned today, again for the trillionth time, that I cannot take my eyes off this kid for even a second, which is so exhausting.  I really, really hope Josh learned to listen and to really obey me today, since he really saw the consequences of not listening and going behind my back.

Nate was really sad and cried when he realized they were dead and then as soon as I could I put him down for a nap.  The rest of the day he went with the flow, like his usual self.  He doesn't seem to really understand fully what happened.  Nate doesn't seem scarred, but Josh so far seems to be.  Josh has said many times today, "I will be sad forever, I will not stop crying....Mommy, are you sad too?  I am so sad.  I miss them so much!"

Note to self and particularly to John (who came home two days ago saying that he was thinking about getting a dog for Josh.  I was shocked at his suggestion and I said NO!!! since I would be the one taking care of it):  NO PETS!!!  Especially after today, since his first "so called pet" lived less than 24 hours!

The Power of Light!

All of God's Creations and Powers Truly Amaze Me!

I feel captured by the magnificence of the light brought about by powerful storms such as this one.  One cannot deny the feeling of being drawn toward the brilliance of the light and yet a fear of the great power and fury can overcome as well.

I took this picture after watching this storm for about 3 hours!  The lightning was constant, like every 0.001 seconds to 5 seconds for the first 2 hours.  Nate and I at first thought they were fire works since it was the week of the 4th.  When John first noticed he thought they were fire works too.  I'm telling you this storm was way better then any fireworks!  

In Idaho and Utah I always got so excited for lightning storms, I loved to watch them and was never afraid.  In the midwest I'm usually too scared to watch too closely, but this storm was very, very mild for the midwest.  It brought back memories of lightning storms in the summers out west.

Storms in the midwest are so much different from the storms out west.

Did I ever tell anyone that I'm terrified of tornadoes?  

I'm terrified by those storms, but fascinated by them as well.

I experienced my first tornado at age six in San Antonio.  Much of the damage was too close to home.  It completely destroyed an apartment complex two blocks away from my home that we drove by almost everyday and took the west wing out of the hospital my dad was working at during his residency.  Almost 20 years later I found myself in Iowa City.  The tornado sirens went off weekly and at times daily.  My memories of these storms as a child left a lasting impression of the reality of the wrath of storms.  Everyone from Iowa assured me that they never get tornadoes and that it had been 30 years since the last one and it was mild.  I told John that I had a feeling that spring that there would be a tornado and to stay inside and away from the windows.  In April 2006, our first year out there three tornadoes that hit Iowa City.  It ripped through and destroyed much of the downtown, including a historical church, on the other side of town part of the Walmart was ripped off and there was significant damage to a honda dealership.  In May, our family drove through Alabama and saw unbelievable damage.  Damage from tornadoes that spanned almost a mile wide as it travelled several miles relentlessly destroying everything in it's path.  Needless to say, these experiences have left a lasting impact.  The fury of these storms have a humbling effect, as one understands that GOD truly is in CHARGE, literally.

Mr. Personality

Nate at 2 1/2

Nate has so much personality!  He is very expressive in facial expressions as well as in personality! I wish I could capture all of his adorable, silly, fun facial expressions.  You cannot help but LOVE this kid!  He is still so adorable and always a joy to be around!

Nate Loves to Sing 

in the car, in his crib, and in church with his own hymn book in his lap at the top of his lungs.  I love it!  It really is so cute and to me it sounds beautiful!

Nate Loves People

People are drawn to Nate.  He can be a bit shy when he meats a new face; but once he gets to know you, you will get squeals of excitement and lots of hugs and kisses.

Nate Still Loves Food

I love that he loves vegetables and well anything else.  He's a great eater and he eats a ton!  Many times he will eat as much as what Josh and I eat combined.  The only question is where is all that food going?

Nate is Compassionate

He really cares about people and is very intuitive toward others feelings.  He is so sweet and can melt anyones heart, especially his mothers.  Something about him just makes you feel good around him and always want to be around him.

Nate is in LOVE with "Miss Sally"

Nate's favorite possession is his "Sally."  He is in love with her and she is his favorite character in the movie cars.  For the past year Sally has gone almost everywhere with Nate and he must sleep with her.  As of today, Miss Sally has some competition, as he got "Holly" today and she is the one that he chose for naptime.

Nate's Favorite Movie is Cars

He asks to watch it everyday!

Nate loves Balls

He loves to run around and kick balls in the backyard

He requests to sleep with balls to the point that he starts crying for one.  He loves to play baseball and I love how he says the word "baseball."  He loves to play golf with dad and brother.  He also loves basketball.

Nate Loves to Pray

He always prayers out loud when others pray at church and at home.  It can drive Josh nuts when he prays, but it is so cute to everyone else.

Nate Loves Josh

Nate is the best little brother.  He gets along with Josh so well and they love to play together.  They usually play cars, trains, or stuffed animals together.

Nate Loves His Mom and Dad

He really is a "Mama's Boy."  I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.  He is so cuddly and sweet and he is always by my side.  Of course, he loves his dad and could never get enough of him.  When he hears the garage door open he always runs to the garage and right out to John while squealing, "Daddy home, Daddy home!"  As soon as he sees John he enthusiastically yells Daddy over and over followed by a big hug and kiss.

Nate Loves Books

He loves to snuggle and read.  He loves to snuggle in his blanket and look at books on his own.  Unfortunately, he sometimes loves to rip up books if I let him have them for nap-time or bedtime.  He is constantly working on getting the privilege of having books for  bedtime.

Nate is Very Independent

He insists on doing almost everything by himself.  He is great at asking for help when he needs it.  The other day he thought he could swim all by himself and didn't want us to hold him in the water although it was way too deep for him.

Nate Loves His Blanky, Stuffed Animals, Babies, and Still His Binky

Ever since he was 10 months he's only been aloud to have binkies during sleep time.  He is great with this.  Although, I know that one day he shouldn't have them anymore and I'm worried to take them away because I need him to keep taking naps.

Nate Has Recently Learned How To:

Button his shirts

Get fully undressed

Get dressed

Go potty all by himself when we are at home

Change his dirty diapers before I know he is stinky

Start his bath and get in all by himself

Open the Fridge and get his own food

Swing the golf club really well

Open doors

Get in and out of the car all by himself

More and more words and sentences

   

Funny Memory of Nate

About 6 months ago we were at church.  In the opening prayer Nate prayed out loud with the person praying at the pulpit as usual, expect he was louder then normal.  After about 5 minutes he decided it was long enough and exclaimed at the top of his lungs "AMEN!"  Then he realized they were still going to keep on praying, so he kept praying out loud with them after another few minutes Nate exclaimed an even louder "AMEN."  Well this was a really extremely long prayer and Nate said 5 total "Amen's."  Nate's last Amen was so loud, I'm sure almost the whole congregation heard him.  We were trying to keep him quiet and also trying not to laugh and be embarrassed at the same time.  I'm sure that almost everyone was thinking what Nate was thinking.  Amen already!!!  20 minute opening prayers are way too long for anyone especially children.  He is such a character and a cutie!