Celebrating Lucy

Lucy, ready to come home from the hospital, March 2007

Lucy, ready to rock out to her new iPod, March 2015

This weekend marked our Lucy's 8th birthday. We've enjoyed watching her grow from a tiny baby into a sweet, tender-hearted girl in what feels like just mere minutes. As most parents can attest to, "time flies" and all of a sudden their little ones are no longer so little. While Lucy is still "little" (don't tell her I said that!) it is amazing to me to watch her personality grow; her sense of humor coming out when she is finally comfortable and has warmed up. It's takes her awhile to do that, to get comfortable around new people, but once she does she is silly and loves you with her whole heart. She is sensitive and good to her friends. She loves her big brother enormously; this I hope she continues to hold dear to her their whole lives. What a great team! She loves animals and books and music and dance. She loves baking cookies with me, loves watching her brother navigate through Minecraft worlds, loves reading and kayaking with her dad. Honestly, she's a pretty great kid!

This weekend we had a birthday party for her at our  house. (her idea, I was totally committed to taking her and her friends OUT to bounce, or play, or paint, or skate...)  She wanted an art party so we made our plans and had 11 of her friends join us for painting, sand art, yarn sculpture and scratch art fun. And of course cake! It was another joy to watch her play with her sweet friends that afternoon. These girls are so great and I loved listening to them talk about their creations. The paintings were on framed canvas with acrylic paints. Animals, monograms, fireworks, rainbows, and sunsets were featured on their paintings. Beautiful!  Her friends gave her wonderful gifts with the best homemade cards! We ate "big yellow cake with pink frosting, 'Lucy' in cursive with white frosting and white flowers and candles" along with ice cream. They giggled, they told knock-knock jokes, they sang and just enjoyed being together. A great day for being 8!

In our family, the birthday person gets to choose The Birthday Dinner plan. Adam chooses something different every year, but it is often someplace for seafood. Lucy, however almost always sticks to Noodles & Co. for mac and cheese, and always with family invited. This year, like with her party, she wanted to stick close to home. She wanted to invite her grandma and she wanted her Godparents. And she wanted BREAKFAST. Her plan was lovely: Butterbraid coffee cakes, fresh fruit and yogurt dip, mini muffins, bacon and sausage, and scrambled eggs. Great plan, quick and easy to prepare for mom, and who doesn't love breakfast for dinner???  What a great night with her friends and some of her family together! I am so thankful to God for placing her in our care, thankful for her friends and our family, thankful for Michael's art supply coupons, and for Mark and helped me bring this little girl into the world. Love you honey. Happy Birthday Lucy!

racing through the weekend

This weekend was one of those weekends that just wipes you out. There was so much planned, activities with our family...as well as things unplanned that I just feel so grateful for today, Monday, so I can stop.  Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time with my family this weekend, but I am really wiped out from racing through it all!

Starting with Friday: The kids had no school due to a Teacher Institute Day. I decided to take them to the zoo! It was such an odd experience to be at Brookfield during winter weather without other people there. We usually go at night for the Holiday Lights at Christmas, but this was amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone. We parked the van and I was car number 12. Yep, that's it. 12 cars in the parking lot!  There were times we just didn't see ANYONE else and walked through exhibit houses without anyone else except zookeepers who were only too happy to talk to my kids and I about the animals. We were also able to observe animals playing in the snow, wrestling with each other, and chasing prey through their environment. Watching the wolves run together as a pack was downright creepy and amazing!   We were able to take our time and never once got pushed, shoved, or had to wait in line to see something we wanted to see. And we took all the time we wanted at each exhibit. The QUIET was so strange and very good. We were also able to spend time with a newborn giraffe and wait quietly for another to have her  baby. No baby came yet, but was expected to deliver by yesterday. Watch the news!

Saturday brought Adam's STEM class at NIU. He spent the morning constructing a Popsicle stick bridge with a team. Next time, they will break the bridges to find out how  much weight each can support. They had to use a variety of engineering skills to build the strongest bridge. He's so excited to see what happens to it!

Late that afternoon, Mark took us to Johnson's Mound in Elburn to join a forest preserve program. They showed us how to tap maple trees using a spiel to collect the sap used to make maple syrup  It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed spending it outside. But we really enjoyed watching them cook the sap over the campfire and then sampling the syrup! Yum! The newspaper was there. Here's the article from the Chronicle and picture about the whole program. You can see Adam's coat sleeve! :)

Saturday came to a close with delivering Girl Scout Cookies (which means a chance to catch up with the neighbors) and finding that our oven has finally bit the dust! So our yummy dinner get put into the fridge and a pizza was order quickly.

Sunday was  Adam's big District Pinewood Derby race in Oswego. He was Grand Champion from our pack, beating over 140 cars. Sunday's race wasn't as successful and he didn't place at all. But he had a great time and it was exciting to participate in a different race. He did get a participation trophy because going to district is a big deal! AND it all took place in my old junior high building...Traughber Junior High. Very surreal for me!

We wrapped up our Sunday by shopping for a new stove. And a miracle happened...we fell into a deal! Not just a good sale, but a ridiculous, once in a lifetime, too good to be true, can't pass it up, "make you an offer you can't refuse" deal. So we took it. And now my kitchen will feel like a new one. Can't wait to bake!  But for now, I need to rest a little. It's been a busy weekend and I need to slow down from the race.

apples and trees

All my life I've been told that I look just like my mother, that my mannerisms and facial expressions are so much like her. People I don't even know come up to us when we're out together and comment "well there's no question whose daughter YOU are!" I take that as a compliment in that my mother is lovely and kind. 

Recently though, I've been able to find more similarities between my dad and I because I was blessed to have him with us at our home. Over the summer as I traveled east to his home in PA, we had a lot of time to talk and reminisce and muse about the future. Being diagnosed with cancer contributed to his musings; he knew his time was shorter than we all planned it to be. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time to do and see all he wanted to.So we talked, rambled, looked deeply at things. We watched for little joys in the day; like the deer that wandered into his yard daily and the hummingbird that flew to his new feeder moments after we hung it up. We looked at the kids playing in the yard and marveled at their creativity and intelligence at work. We laughed together at old pictures and knew how important it is to take those pictures to save the stories that we might forget later on. I save those moments too. I write them down and cherish the stories. We walked around the lake near his house. One day we went together, another day with my own kids, and it was bittersweet to me that we wouldn't continue to do this with him. I will continue to take my kids to the forest preserves, lakes, camping, hiking and show them the beauty of outdoors...but it will be without my dad walking with us. He knew it was important to teach kids about the names of animals and trees. To notice the difference in bird calls and leaf patterns and fish that you catch (and release). Mark and I will keep that going. 

As a teacher, I know the importance of education. But I know that and feel it in my bones because my dad taught it to me. He wanted us all to do our best and get an education. He saved and worked hard to make sure we had our shot to go to college. I blew my opportunity from him and disappointed him to the heart, I'm very sure of that. But I worked hard later and graduated from college because I WANTED it. And I know he was proud of that later. I know he was proud of ME. I'm glad he saw me graduate and do something with my education. I'm glad he knew it worked out in the end and I learned from my mistakes. Because we're both pretty stubborn. If there is an idea in our heads, we aren't going to let it go lightly. It really is impossible not to look at my own kids and how we parent them, when going through all the old pictures and hearing the stories from my aunts about Dad's childhood and growing up. As we planned his memorial, the stories flowed, as they often do, and Dad's sisters told stories of how he picked on them, defended them, got into trouble, saved the day, worked and was lazy. I loved watching their faces as they told the stories. He was protective of his sisters, like Adam to Lucy, but also tormented them because that's his right as the brother! Love it!
                                                         My dad died on November 9, 2012.
 One month before his 67th birthday. I was there, alonge with his sisters and our immediate family, when he left this life and walked home with Jesus. I watched the light leave his eyes, and the pain leave his face. I remembered every single time I knew I disappointed him and a few times I managed to make him proud. I know that he wanted to do much, much more with us, but our time and God's time runs very differently. Dad told me that I shouldn't wait forever to do the things I really can do now. He told me to love and hold on to my kids, to respect and care for my husband, to be a strong wife and mother. He told me to be sensitive to them and be careful with my words. Words can hurt. So I'm trying Dad. I'm trying to do that. So that I can be what you modeled for us, and learn from your mistakes too. People often use the phrase "apples and trees" -usually while rolling our eyes a bit- to compare children to their parents. I hope I CAN follow what Dad told me. Because it would be an honor to have someone say "apples and trees" when they look at me, and think of my dad. He was a good man, strong parent and I feel confident that on his walk Home, he was told "well done my good and faithful servant". Miss you Dad.

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and they lived happily ever after

Mark and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday. In this day and age, and considering all that life can throw your way in general, I am very proud of this. On the snowy, cold day that we said "I do" to each other we really couldn't have any idea what that really meant. Three step-sons, two children and a grandchild later...we are only just beginning to figure it out. But God put us together for better and for worse--we've seen both. He put us together in sickness and in health--we've see both. For richer and for poorer--we've seen both. And we're only just beginning. To celebrate, we finally made arrangements for a weekend away without kids. We didn't want to be gone too far so we decided to stay in Chicago. We booked a nice hotel, ate delicious food, shopped, talked, drank wine, saw a comedy show, napped. It was a great comfort knowing that our kids were excited for their planned sleepovers with family members, and we could enjoy the time with each other. Here's to many more years to come; to living  happily ever after.

bravery

While visiting Sea World recently, Adam was amazed at all of the rides and people. He enjoyed watching it all and taking it all in, just as we did. But being in a crowded place like this, (and the airport, the city, the Riverwalk etc. ALL crowded places) it had me in SuperhyperoverprotectivenervousMom-mode. I was constantly watching that other adults weren't too close to the kids, that they weren't too far from us, that they weren't out of our sight for a minute. Then he saw the Atlantis.

 

He wanted to go on that ride so badly. And Mark was willing to go on it with him. My heart was walking away from me to take a horrifying dive through the sky and into a lake while held in place by a little seatbelt. But he was being "big" and he was feeling brave. And I decided that since Mark was going with him I could be be brave too. And off they went.

Adam's bravery paid off and he had a fantastic ride! My bravery paid off because I was able to let him go try something he wanted to do. Bravery requires faith and a deep breath.

top ten things I love about my husband this week

1. He cleaned the kitchen and did all the dishes.
2. He took the kids on errands with him while I went for a mani/pedi with my mother.
3. He didn't make fun of me while I was singing and dancing to Glee in the kitchen tonight.
4. He's finishing making the dinner while I'm blogging and Facebooking. :)
5. I'm pretty sure he's been praying for me to have a good school year...and of course God is listening to him.
6. He's got beautiful eyes and I love the way they smile at me.
7. He hasn't complained once about the time I've needed to spend at school these past several weeks.
8. He told my daughter that she was smart and strong...not just pretty or cute.
9. He answered the door for the Schwan's man so I wouldn't have to. We have 4 boxes of ice cream treats on sticks, but I didn't have to repeat myself 6 times that I don't need the special that's offered this week.
10. He's made time for each of us AND himself. Thanks honey...love you.

back to school

It's that time of the year. We've gone back to school.
Adam started 2nd grade this year. It's very difficult for me to see him as this "big kid" when truly what seems like just a few months ago we were learning letters, teaching him to write his name, and trying really hard to make sure he had matching clothes on. While we still work on matching the clothes, now he can read at about a 3rd grade level, has quite an imagination when he writes amazing stories, and really IS a big kid. Lucy also went back to her routine. But even that isn't quite the same. This year she started her pre-K program. She will go to kindergarten next year (shhh--I'm not ready for that blog yet) and she is loving it. The best part for her is that she has a new teacher, Miss Sara, and she gets to skip a nap after lunch most days. I also went back to school. You know that I teach 4th grade and moved to a new classroom this year. I am really enjoying my new batch of students, but I'm yearning to get home to my own kids. I miss their faces, their laughter, their stories and their words. (Most of them.)  I also really enjoy the summer because I get some extra time with Mark. We are able to have lunches together, Gmail chats, ice cream treats, and just more hours of the day together. Now that school has started, I'm feeling that nostalgia for the hours of daylight we all spent together. Of course it will feel better soon, but right now I'm feeling the back to school blues from schedules, paperwork, rushing and mostly.....time away from my family that I enjoyed so so much this summer.

Bring on Summer!

So pathetic that I haven't blogged anything since Easter! But that's what happens. Easter, then craziness at work and school until school is out. But now we've ended Adam's 1st grade year, Lucy has completed her first year at a real preschool that she loves, and I have finished my 10th year teaching. After spending a very long week in meetings and packing up the classroom for a move downstairs, the kids were very happy to hear that SUMMER HAS NOW BEGUN!  Mark and I were so happy about how they were behaving when I was trying to pack that we took them to dinner and then on to Kung Fu Panda 2. The great thing was this also began Mark's 4 day weekend. We packed this weekend with so much! We took our first visit to Morton Arboretum and spent most of the day in their Children's Garden. So beautiful! See the picture above: Toad Nursery! They are playing with tadpoles, and looking for ones with and without legs. Great day! We also spent a day at Fermilab in their prairie stations. Raptors, prairie hunts, insect sweeps and pond exploring. Sunday brought church and Sunday school, refocusing. Monday was spent at the Brookfield Zoo with great friends. Beautiful weather and so much fun watching the kids play with each other. Today I was able to secure our wonderful & reliable babysitter so the kids could stay home and hang out. and I could enjoy a luncheon with the girls at Laura's house. Megan's home from Brazil (and on her way to India!), Courtney is moving to Wisconsin, Jez brought baby Ruth and baby #2 on the way. So great to see all of Laura's new projects and how lovely her home looks after all her hard work. Just a wonderful summer already after a rough end to the school year. So...bring on summer I say. It has started out perfectly!!

Building Bridges

This week has been our state's standardized achievement testing time, and to blow off some steam at the end of each day our grade level has been celebrating our Engineering Week as well. The students have had to make cars and bridges out of uncooked pasta. I've enjoyed this part of the day, the kids all excited about the car runs and the bets on whose bridge will break first (and last!).  It's been a pretty fun way to end the day. Mark got into it too and asked me for the info so that he could make a bridge too. I could tell he really enjoyed the task, but to me it was more excited to see him interested in my job (and therefore interested in ME) to the extent that he decided to build. He built a bridge between the two of us in this way, and he may not even know it! So honey...I'm telling you now...thank you for building this bridge and taking an interest in what I do! I love you!