Monday, December 12, 2011

Asheville

Jonathan and I recently had the pleasure of taking a vacation without the kids.  We were celebrating our 10th anniversary (nearly a year late).  Our dear friends, Joel and Shontel, drove down from Michigan with their 3 young boys, to stay with our 3 kids so that we could get a long overdue getaway.  They arrived last Saturday, and we were on the road by 7:30 Sunday morning.  We drove 7.5 hours south (and east) to Asheville, North Carolina, a charming town in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We had an amazing time, despite uncooperative weather.  Here's a run-down of some of the things we did:

Sunday: we went to Chimney Rock State Park.  The "chimney" is a rock formation that you can either hike to (lots of stairs) or take an elevator up to.  We had planned to go to Chimney Rock later in the week, but the day before we left, I happened to check their website and learned that all access to the Chimney was going to be closed beginning Monday, Dec. 5th, for the entire winter, for renovations.  We also learned that if we paid for admission into the park after 3 pm, we could get in the following day for free.  So on Sunday we drove right to the State Park, arrived at 3:30 and climbed the stairs to the chimney.  It was a beautiful view, and although it was overcast and drizzly, it ended up being the clearest day we were in North Carolina.  So I'm glad we did it.  I should mention that the drive from Asheville to Chimney Rock (Chimney Rock is 25 miles further) is pretty crazy: constant hairpin turns to zigzag up into the mountains.  It was a beautiful drive, but I definitely wouldn't want to do it in snow!  After Chimney Rock, we drove back to Asheville and checked into our hotel.  Asheville is a fun town with lots of shops, restaurants, microbreweries, etc.  We spent a little time on Sunday just walking around, and ended up eating dinner at LAB, which is Lexington Avenue Brewery.  Jonathan also got a pint glass there to add to his collection.

Monday: After a lazy morning, including a delicious breakfast at Tupelo Honey Cafe (omelet and goat cheese grits for Jonathan, sweet potato pancake with pralines and peach butter for me), we drove back to Chimney Rock.  We did one hike that ended at the base of a lovely waterfall.  It wasn't particularly long, maybe 1.5 miles, and it was drizzling most of the time.  After we finished our hike, the rain started getting harder and more consistent.  We walked through a couple of shops just outside the park before driving back to Asheville.  Since we'd had a big breakfast, we skipped lunch.  In the afternoon we walked more around Asheville, and ate dinner at Fiore, an Italian place. 

Tuesday:  Most of Tuesday was spent at the Biltmore Estate.  It was AMAZING.  The tickets were really expensive, and honestly, I was skeptical that walking through a mansion would be worth the cost.  I was wrong.  Just driving in was amazing.  The grounds were BEAUTIFUL, and this is December.  Nothing is blooming, yet there was beauty everywhere!  We parked the van, and walked through the gardens and over to the green house, which is huge.  Room after room of beautiful plants.  After the green house we walked up to the residence (I can't call it a house).  We opted to do a self-guided tour rather than an audio tour (we're cheapskates), so I'm sure there are lots of details we didn't learn, but it was still very impressive.  The house has 250 rooms.  We were able to tour parts of 4 floors, I believe.  Some of the rooms had 6 or 7 Christmas trees, with plenty of room to spare.  The banquet hall has a full pipe organ.  The basement has a bowling alley and a swimming pool.  One thing that surprised me was that it was only used by the VanderBilts for about 30 years before they decided to open it to the public.  It is still owned and operated by the VanderBilt family.  After touring the residence, we drove to the winery, a couple of miles further into the estate.  We had lunch at a lovely restaurant named after the VanderBilts' dog.  Then we toured the winery and tasted several wines (all white, because their reds are all dry, and we don't care for dry wine!).  Then we decided we were ready to be done, and drove back to our hotel.  Dinner on Tuesday was my favorite.  We went to a tapas restaurant called Curate (ku-rah-tay).  We shared a pitcher of sangria and ate several tapas.  My favorites were roasted red peppers stuffed with goat cheese, and fried eggplant drizzled with honey and rosemary.  After a long, relaxed dinner, we walked around the block to French Broad Chocolate Cafe.  We each had a truffle and shared some pumpkin chocolate mousse.  Jonathan also had a glass of a local beer.  It was raining steadily at that point, and we were able to find a table at the window.  So we just sat and enjoyed our chocolate and beer, watching the rain (and people out in it). 

Wednesday:  When we woke up and realized it was pouring, and was forecasted to continue all day, we started considering coming home a day early.  They were predicting that the rain would change over to snow overnight, and we had done the sightseeing we'd wanted to, and honestly, we were starting to miss the kids!  So we decided to check out early.  We checked out around 10:30, but left our car in the parking garage and walked into town again.  We'd hoped to find some little gifts to bring home for the kids.  Unfortunately, the store I wanted to go to didn't open until 11.  So we just walked around town, helping some older tourists who couldn't read their map (I wonder if they ever did get to the place they were looking for...) and exploring some streets we hadn't seen yet.  After the store opened, we bought a couple of things for the kids, then walked back to the hotel to get the van, drove to the "mecca of beer stores" (according to a website my brother frequents), and then drove to 12 Bones Smokehouse for lunch.  12 Bones had been recommended by a cousin who has visited Asheville several times.  It was such a good way to end our trip: excellent southern food at a place frequented by more locals than tourists.  We each had a half rack of ribs: Jonathan's had a dry rub, mine had a blueberry chipotle sauce.  And the sides were amazing.  We had smoky potato salad, mashed sweet potatoes, and jalapeno cheese grits.  SO good!  After the smokehouse we got on the road.  We drove through lots of rain and a little snow (which was beautiful, coating the trees!) and arrived home around 8:30 Wednesday night.

We are so thankful to Joel and Shontel for making this trip possible.  The kids had a great time without us.  In fact, when we woke Ethan up Thursday morning, he burst into tears (and they weren't tears of happiness!).  Anelise is still asking when we'll see Nathan Boy, Daniel, and Peter again.  And we're thinking maybe we'll go back for our 20th anniversary!





Monday, November 14, 2011

Laundry

Today I went to the laundromat for the first time. 

Caleb was sick Friday night.  I don't want to gross anyone out, so let's just say the guest room comforter had to be washed.  And it's too big to fit in my washer.  So I found a place not too far from home that has commercial sized washing machines.  And it appeared from my research (online) that I could drop my laundry up and have them do it, or I could stay and wash it myself.  I called this morning to find out the price difference.  The difference was $6, and I decided my time was worth more than that.  So I took the easy route and dropped it off.  And I'm glad I did.  For people who don't regularly frequent the laundromat, that place is intimidating!  I would have had to ask how to work everything.  And the machines aren't coin operated anymore either.  They have a debit card system.  I know, that makes so much sense.  But it would still feel overwhelming to me, trying to figure it all out.  I have a fear of asking questions.  No, check that.  I have a fear of appearing ignorant or inept.

Anyhow, I DO have a clean comforter back on the guest bed, ready for our Friday night guests.  And hopefully Ethan won't succumb to the bug that both of his siblings have had.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I was recently asked if I'd fallen off the blogging bandwagon.  It appears that yes, I have.  I haven't had much that I wanted to blog about, and I'm a busy lady!  But I have some time this morning, because I'm missing Bible Study, thanks to Anelise puking during the night.  Gag.

Let me tell you about a mistake I made this week which could have been very costly.  For the first time since moving to our house (the first one I've lived in with an attached garage), I attempted to back the van out of the garage without opening the garage door first.  Oops.  Has anyone else done this?  Fortunately, I realized my mistake (when the van hit the door) and I wasn't going too fast.  I pulled forward, opened the garage door, backed out, closed the garage door, and surveyed the damage.  Nothing!  From the inside, there's a slight buckle, but nothing noticeable from the outside, and it's still completely functional.  Phew!  Dodged a bullet with that one.  Now we just need to fix my brain, apparently.

There, Jenna.  Happy?

Monday, October 17, 2011

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

Today Caleb was supposed to dress up for school in a costume that represents what he wants to be when he grows up.  He decided he wants to be a writer.  He wanted to just wear normal clothes and carry a notebook and pencil.  I was FINE with that.  No elaborate costume needed!  Well, he just got home from school, and declared, "I decided I didn't want to be a writer, so I was an undercover police officer instead."  Hmm.  Wonder where he got that idea?

Friday, October 14, 2011

Birthday Girl!

Anelise turned two last Saturday!  What a big girl!  When you ask her how old she is, she gets a big smile on her face, says "two!" but still holds up one finger.  We're working on that.  :)

Anelise is such a happy little girl.  Her personality is so easy-going, fun, and pleasant.  She is usually very obedient and gets very sad when she needs to be corrected.  She plays well with her brothers, as well as by herself when they're at school.  She brings so much joy to our family!

Verbally, Anelise is definitely ahead of the curve.  At least she's far ahead of where the boys were at her age.  She uses complete sentences and often copies phrases she hears us using.  What we hear the most often these days is "What's ___________ doing?" (Ethan, Caleb, boys, doggie, etc.) or "Where's _________?"  Yesterday she brought me a sticker, put it on my shirt, and said, "there you go, Mommy."  Some of my current favorite words are "eyebrows" (i-bowsh), "cookie" (tooky), and "whoops" (woopsh).

For Anelise's birthday, we had a very informal party.  Mom Baker and cousin Krista came for lunch after the boys' soccer games.  We had pizza and the butterfly cake I had made.  (Sadly, the frosting I made didn't quite do the trick holding the cake together, so it was starting to fall apart.)  After lunch we opened presents.  Anelise also skyped with Dad Baker and Mom and Dad Ippel to open their presents too.  Anelise loved being sung to.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Slavery

Our church is offering a Connection Class (adult Sunday School) that's called "Setting the Captives Free."  Now, I'm not attending the class (I'm going to an Apologetics class), but one of the teachers just posted on Facebook some information on a new website that I checked out and found very interesting (and disturbing!).  A little background is that research shows that sex trafficking increases exponentially in cities hosting Super Bowls.  Indianapolis is hosting the Super Bowl this year.  This is one of the reasons our church decided to highlight the problem in one of the Connection Classes.  The website that Debi posted is not so much about sex trafficking as it is about human slavery, and our impact on it.  I encourage you to check it out; take the survey to see how many slaves are working for you!

Slavery Footprint Survey

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Routine

We are well into the swing of things this fall.  We have plenty of commitments to keep us busy: community group, Bible Study, Awana, soccer, youth group, softball.  Most of our weeknights are booked with something, so we've been trying to get things done on the weekends and when we have an unexpected night free.  On top of that, Jonathan was gone last weekend moving his Mom to Indianapolis, so not much was accomplished over the weekend.  Today I'm playing "catch-up".  I'm doing laundry, moving too-small clothes out of kids' dressers, cleaning out the van, doing dishes, and if there's time, maybe I'll sand another skim-coated master bathroom wall.  And I'd like to get all that done before 2:00, so that I can take a well-earned nap.  Tonight will be another "rush to eat dinner" night, as the boys not only have soccer, but it's also picture night, so getting ready will take a little longer.  I think we'll have leftovers.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Today is the Day!

Today is the day that Anelise moves into her big-girl bed.  I really hope it goes well, because the crib is taken apart and put in the closet.  And it's not easy to put back together.  We moved Ethan into his bed around 20 months, and Caleb right around 2.  Both of them transferred to the bed so easily, so we decided to move Anelise at about the same age.  She's 23 months.  I found a duvet cover that I loved, and it arrived on Tuesday.  So yesterday during Awanas, Anelise and I went to Target to find sheets, a mattress pad, and a pillow.  Today I washed everything, took apart the crib, put the mattress on the floor, and put the bedding on it.  I also rearranged her room, which I enjoy doing every so often.  Eventually we'll put the box spring under the mattress, and after that, we'll get a bed frame.  For now, with just the mattress on the floor, it doesn't look very permanent, but I'm still pleased with how it looks.



Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Reading Plan

At the end of 2010, Pastor Tom encouraged the members of our church to have a Bible reading plan as we enter 2011.  A couple years prior, our church was reading through the Old Testament together, and we were encouraged to buy a book, For the Love of God by D.A. Carson, which includes the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan.  The M'Cheyne reading plan, if followed as intended, will result in you reading all of the Old Testament once, and the New Testament and Psalms twice, during the course of one year.  Going into 2011, this was my plan.  This was a very ambitious plan for me.  I have never read through the Bible in a year.  There are portions of Scripture I have never read.  When the year began, I did a pretty good job of staying caught up.  But over time, I started getting behind.  This summer was especially bad.  After our vacation weeks, I was almost two months behind.  I'm excited to say that I just got caught up! 

I am not a morning person.  But since school has started, I've committed to getting up before the kids and reading my Bible.  And I can only give God credit for being able to do it faithfully for the last 2 weeks.  I'm feeling very grateful to Him because for so long, I didn't have a strong desire to be in the Word.  And I felt guilty about that, but still didn't make myself do it.  And over the course of the last couple years, I've seen God working in my heart on that.  It started with me asking him to give me a desire.  And then making myself spend time in the Word, even if I got nothing out of it, knowing that even my effort was honoring God.  I'm definitely not to the point of having a passion for being in the Word.  My motivation right now is completing my goal of reading the Bible in a year, not growing closer to Jesus.  But I can see God using my own selfish motivations to get me where I need to be.  And being in the Word DOES bring me closer to Jesus. 

So, who can create an app for my phone with the M'Cheyne reading plan? 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Walking

Now that both boys are gone every week day morning, I'm able to get outside and walk again!  Three times this week, I've gotten up with Anelise and gone for a good, brisk walk.  By my estimates, I've walked about 6 miles this week.  Anelise seems to enjoy it too, especially if we take breakfast along.  I pack a sandwich bag with some dry cereal, grab her sippy cup of milk and a banana, and out we go.  She gets especially excited about seeing dogs.  And part of our neighborhood route goes past a pond that has ducks.  Almost as soon as we're out the door she starts saying "water?" "duckies?"  It's very cute.  I'm hoping that by continuing this routine as many days as we're able, it will become a fun, whine-free form of exercise.  For both of us.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Goodbye, Summer!

The 2011-2012 school year has officially started.  Ethan started with a half-day on Monday, and Caleb had his first day of kindergarten this morning.  Since kindergarten has a staggered start, he'll stay home tomorrow and be back on Friday with the whole class (just kids with last names A-K went today).  After Ethan's first day, he came home and said "it was awesome" because they didn't have any seatwork.  (He was singing a different tune yesterday.)  Caleb has been SO excited to start school.  In fact, when I came home from parent orientation yesterday, he was disappointed that I didn't have any school work for him to do.  This morning we could tell he was a little bit nervous once we got to the classroom, but he cheerfully did what was asked of him.  We took a picture and left.  I had been very emotional after dropping Ethan off for his first day of kindergarten, but not this time.  Jonathan and Anelise came along, so after leaving Caleb with Miss Curry, we wandered around for a few minutes and found Ethan's classroom too. 



Monday, August 8, 2011

Was Blind, But Now I See!

Late Saturday night we returned from our marathon two-week vacation.  Week #1 was with the Bakers, week #2 was with the Ippels, with a quick weekend between visiting our good friends, Joel and Shontel, who recently moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, conveniently located between our two vacation spots! 

On the first full day of vacation, we were in Lake Michigan at Michigan City, Indiana (how confusing is that?!) and I was venturing into the large waves.  I had kept my glasses on, because as a fully-grown adult, my footing is quite good, and I was not planning on putting my head underwater.  My husband, however, though he is also a fully-grown adult, acts more like a playful puppy sometimes, decided to tackle me, just as a very large wave crashed over both of us.  And in an instant, my clear vision was gone.  We looked for my glasses for several minutes, knowing full well that the likelihood of finding them was very small.  That afternoon, I spent a good chunk of time looking online for places where I might be able to get new glasses.  The only place remotely close had a wait time of 7-10 days from the exam until the glasses would be ready.  I ended up making an appointment in Grand Rapids (location of vacation week #2) and spent the vast majority of vacation week #1 without (decent) vision.

Last week Sunday I was in and out of Eyeglass World within 45 minutes, with newly examined eyes and two fresh pairs of glasses (which I like very much).  And the bill for all of it was only $117; significantly less than I was expecting to pay.  And now I can see!  And you can't put a price on that.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Swimming

The boys just completed day one of swimming lessons.  Their reactions were pretty much what I expected.  Ethan learned how to swim at the Baker pool in Florida last year, but hasn't had much pool time to practice.  But he was excited about lessons and jumped right in, willing to try anything that was thrown at him. 

Caleb was crying before he entered the locker room.  Granted, it is a little frustrating that the only way to the pool is through the locker rooms, and the boys are too old to go through the girls' side.  Caleb calmed down before the lesson started, but once he realized he wouldn't be in the same class as Ethan, I think he started feeling very apprehensive.  There were lots of tears, but he did do everything asked of him, though with much hesitation, much fear, and many tears.  Poor kid.  His teacher said it's what's to be expected for a first-timer, and she was pleased that he still cooperated (sort of).  I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.  I AM happy with the student-teacher ratio.  Caleb is with one other little girl.  Ethan is the only one with his teacher.  :)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Random Things

I know, I'm way overdue for a new post.  I haven't had anything remarkable to write about, but I figured it was time for something new (though I still like looking at those pics of Anelise in her life jacket.  so cute!). 

We had a busy weekend getting work done outside.  Jonathan and I spent a significant portion of Saturday working in the yard.  Jonathan mowed and trimmed (weed-whacked), and trimmed one of the pine trees in the front (near the neighbor's property).  I weeded the mulch around the trees in the front.  And it was a big job.  My wrists are still sore from putting pressure on them while pulling out miniature oak trees.  Lots of them. 

We also spent a fair amount of time with friends over the weekend.  Saturday we had a cookout with a couple of church friends.  Sunday after church we headed over to the home of an unnamed Irish police sergeant's family.  We planned on spending a few hours there, and ended up monopolizing their entire day.  We arrived around 1:00 and didn't leave until after 8.  That's how much fun they are.  On Monday we had a busy day, preparing for house guests (I'll get to that in a minute), and ended the day by heading downtown for the fireworks.  Where we met again with the Irish folks.  What a great family.  :)

Houseguests.  We are thoroughly enjoying our time with good friends Bill and Alissa, here for a visit from our nation's capitol.  We have spent some time out and about (park, zoo), but mostly we're relaxing at home together.  The kids (their 3 plus our 3) have been playing well together, just having a good time.

I spent a few minutes looking at the calendar today, and I can hardly believe what I see.  The month of June was fairly relaxed, but our calendar is FULL from now until school starts!  I would have preferred to space things out a little.  But I AM very excited about the rest of our summer.  Coming up: Bax visit, Dad Baker visit, Baker cottage, Ippel cottage, camping at Clifty Falls.  Whew!

Last week, Ethan was at SpringHill day camp all week.  He had a blast, and at the end of the week, was awarded the Integrity Award for his group.  We are so proud.

Anelise continues to wow us with her language skills.  The word we hear most often is "smine."  And yes, she's saying, "it's mine."  I'm not too worried about selfishness; her context is more factual.  Like she'll point to her chair, and say, "smine."  Or her shoes: "smine," and then point out "mommy soo", "daddy soo", etc.  She's such a sweet girl.  And so cute, I can hardly stand it.

Caleb just finished his first chapter book. 

Hmm... the middle child got the least written about him.  Raise your hand if you're a middle child!  (hand raised)  Maybe I'll devote an entire post to Caleb soon.  Maybe...

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Deal of the Day

A little later this summer, we will spend two weeks at two cottages.  The first week will be in Michigan City with the Baker side, and the second week will be at Morrison Lake with the Ippel side.  I am very much looking forward to these upcoming two weeks.  Since both cottages are on lakes, and since I don't have any appropriate floatation devices for Anelise, I thought I'd check out what Meijer had to offer, during my weekly shopping trip.  I found a very nice, appropriately sized, neoprene life jacket that fit Anelise really well (and once I tried it on her, she didn't want to take it off!).  Unfortunately, it didn't have any tags, and there weren't any other ones like it.  There were some other brand name neoprene jackets on sale for 44.99.  I was hoping not to spend that much, and I figured since it was an off-brand, it would be cheaper.  So at the checkout, another associate took the jacket back to the sporting department to figure out a price while I got the rest of my groceries checked out.  It took her a long time (which didn't surprise me, as I already knew there weren't any others like it), but finally she called my checkout person to give him a price.  I was hoping for something around $30.  Guess what they charged me?

$10.49!!! 

I am so pleased.  I know life-jackets are important, but it's hard to spend money on something you know will likely only fit your child for one season.  This jacket goes up to 30 lbs, so it's possible she could still wear it next year, but that's unlikely.  But we're going to really enjoy it this summer!



Monday, June 27, 2011

Production

Ok, apparently I was really crabby when I wrote that last post.  Yes, we all have days like that.  But we don't all have to broadcast them.  Sorry.

I have actually had a very productive day, despite the lack of grocery shopping.  I did three loads of laundry.  I cleaned up the family room and the kitchen, including clutter that had been accumulating for a month or two.  I wanted to dust the family room, but I still can't find my Pledge.  It's on the shopping list for tomorrow.  I also cleaned out the van (but haven't vacuumed).  And now I'm working on chicken skewers and rice for a late dinner.  We had other plans for dinner that fell through, so I'm scrounging.  Since both boys are very tired from their days at camp and the Children's Museum, and since Anelise didn't take a long enough nap to counteract the late night we had watching the Fishers Freedom Festival fireworks, I'm hoping for bed time to come shortly after dinner.  Sadly, my hubby won't be joining me for dinner OR the ensuing post-bed time relaxation.  He's working late tonight, and then playing softball.  If he can leave work on time.

Monday

It's definitely Monday around here.  Typically Mondays are good days, but today, we're struggling.  And to make matters worse, I had already typed a bunch of this post when Anelise decided to turn off the computer by pressing the power button multiple times.  She received a time out, which is a new thing for her.  She's learning how to say "sorry, Mommy." 

Ethan started Springhill day camp today.  It's all week, every day, from 9 am until 4 pm.  And Caleb is at the Children's Museum with Mom Baker, who is in town for a bit.  So my plan WAS to get my grocery shopping done today.  However, Anelise's constant crying and need for attention has shown me that shopping is not a good idea.  I guess it can wait until tomorrow.  Shopping with 2 kids is still so much easier than with 3, right? 

With Kids Camp last week (it went really well!), things on the home front took a back seat, so I have plenty of things to occupy my time at home.  But I'm having a hard time getting motivated to start.  I HAVE started a load of laundry, but I have dishes that need doing, not to mention just picking up clutter that has landed in various places around the house.  And speaking of dishes, our dishwasher is no longer being used.  It was stalling between the wash cycle and dry cycle.  For awhile I was able to stop it, let it rest for an hour or two, and then restart it.  But now it won't finish.  Ever.  I researched online for a new one, chose the one I wanted, went to Lowes, and discovered that it's a special order, which means it may be up to two weeks before it arrives.  In the meantime, I've had dishes piling up for the last two days that need to be dealt with.

Oh, and in addition to buying a new dishwasher, we also bought a new lawnmower last week.  This month is going to be an ugly one on the budget.  Sigh.

Monday, June 20, 2011

High Water

Today was Day 1 of Pandamania!   Kids Camp (AKA VBS) at Faith Church started off with a bang.  As in lots of thunder and torrential rain that lasted for hours.  I must be exaggerating, right?


Nope.  Not exaggerating.  Our church is located right under the period of 6.25".  Our house is under the " of the same label.  Folks, that's a LOT of rain.  Now, I know it's June, but just for fun, I looked up a conversion of rain to snow.  If our temps were in the 20s, we'd have 5+ FEET of snow, just from this morning.  (Wouldn't that be fun?!)

Fortunately, I was at church super early to print name tags and get things set up.  So I missed the worst of it.  For many families, it took over an hour to get to church, when it would normally be 15 minutes.  Roads were closed due to high water.  The roads that WERE open were packed with people trying to get to work on a dreary Monday morning.  Ugh.

The registration tables for Pandamania were buzzing!  So many kids (162, to be exact, not counting babies) came through, some registering for the first time.  Yesterday I worked on registration stuff from 2 pm until 11 pm.  And when I went to bed, so much was flying through my brain, I wasn't able to fall asleep until after 1:30 am.  I was pretty stressed out this morning, not knowing if the labels I'd spent so much time on would actually print once I got to church.  And if they hadn't, what a mess we would have had!  So when everything went smoothly, I was extremely relieved.  The rest of the week will be a breeze in comparison with today (for me).  I still spent probably 2 hours working on stuff for tomorrow.  But each successive day SHOULD mean less work.  And you'd think I'd get faster at it too.

Our trip home from church was a bit interesting, since some of the roads we usually take were closed due to high water.  But we made it home in about 40 minutes.  Our house stayed dry, unlike many others in our city.  The yard, which already needed mowing badly, is now a swamp, and will have to wait even longer to get cut.  Sorry, anonymous neighbor.

(Thanks, Tina, for the graphic.)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Arnold

Last night, or early this morning, to be exact, I had a very vivid dream.  In it, Jonathan and I were at some sort of convention, though there weren't very many people there.  He and I were at a table, and Arnold Schwarzenegger came over to our table and sat down to talk with us.  He was running for president and talked at length about why we should support him.  When he was finished, I told him that I had some concerns about him.  I talked about the importance of the commitment to marriage, and how the breakdown of marriages and families in our country was something that needed to be addressed.  And that he couldn't be a good leader because he doesn't model that needed commitment. 

Then I woke up.  Because Ethan had had a bad dream and was calling for me.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Scheduled Busyness

How is it that now that it's summer, my calender is more full and crazy than ever?!  This is supposed to be time to relax!  I just looked at my calendar to see if it looks as crazy as I'm feeling.  There is ONE square in June that's empty: this coming Friday.  We spent the first weekend of June in Michigan for the wedding of Jonathan's cousin Jake.  This past weekend Dad Baker was in town.  This coming weekend we aren't going anywhere, or hosting any guests, but with baseball, a birthday party, a get-together with friends, Father's Day, and preparations for VBS, it's going to be a busy one.  VBS is getting me a little stressed out.  I don't think the stress is warranted, because although I will have a lot of work, I don't think it will take more than a few hours.  I'm in charge of registration.  The negative part is that since registration continues until VBS starts Monday morning (and will continue for the first couple days), most of the work, such as organizing the kids into groups and printing nametags (including group name) can't effectively be done until Sunday night.  The positive part is that I love all this organizational stuff, so I'm kind of looking forward to it. 

Ooh, I just realized that after tonight (Ethan's baseball game and small group get-together), we don't have other plans during the evening, all week!  That makes me happy.  Oh, except for Thursday.  Sigh. 

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Scat

On Monday, after realizing that the water in our kiddie pool was like a hot tob, I decided to dump out most of the hot water and add fresh, cool water.  Not wanting to waste all that hot water, I thought I'd take it out by the bucketful and water some of the plants in my flower garden.  We'd been gone over the weekend, and I thought they could use some water anyway.  As I got closer to the garden, I began seeing some type of animal poop.  And it surprised me, because it was made up of large pellets.  I thought it looked like sheep droppings.  As I looked a little farther and discovered a very large PILE of said poop, suddenly I saw movement, and less than 5 feet away from me, out darted a tiny fawn!  Now I say tiny because I've never seen one so small, but it was probably the size of a medium-sized dog.  I gasped, "Oh!  Deer!" and ran away, losing my flipflop in the process.  The fawn ran, terrified I'm sure, through the lawn and behind our mini-barns.  I started getting worried, not because of the fawn, but because I figured its mother must be close by.  But upon further inspection of our yard, came up with nothing, and allowed the kids to play outside.  Though I did keep them on the deck for awhile. 

I've noticed that several of my hostas are half-eaten. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Summer Lovin'

In the past couple of years we mostly stuck around home during the summer because I was either pregnant and tired, or Anelise was still needing multiple naps each day.  This year I have vowed to do more fun stuff with the kids.  I really liked my sister Julie's idea (which she implemented last year) of having an "activity jar" - a jar filled with slips of paper, each one showing an activity that Eva (my niece) could pick each day.  The activities were things like "go to such and such park" or "bake cookies" or "go to the library."  And while the idea is creative and fun, I haven't done it, mostly because I don't want to HAVE to do what gets pulled out if I don't feel like it.  (When I asked Julie about how she handled that last year, her response was, "Eva can't read.")  But even without an activity jar, we've stayed very busy.  In just over one full week of summer vacation, we have gone to the library (twice), gone to a splash park, played in the sprinkler and kiddie pool, gone to the zoo, and gone bowling. 

Today, we took the boys to the hugely anticipated Lego store at the mall.  It's new to the area, and on the first Tuesday of each month they give out a small lego set.  This month's set was a graduate.  We got there right when they opened, and then learned that the giveaway was only 5-7 pm.  But it had been advertised incorrectly, so they still gave the kids their sets AND let them each make a minifigure for free!  The boys both had birthday money from their great-Grandparents that they had saved.  So they each bought a Starwars lego set, and Caleb also bought a Hero Factory guy.  (It's okay if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)  We then stopped at Bath and Body Works for more hand soap, took a short detour to the play area where Anelise slid down the slide about a dozen times, and then headed out.  Our next stop was the library, where the boys both got signed up for the reading program, earned points for some books we were returning, and promptly cashed in many of their points for "flash pops" (both boys) and a paperback copy of Charlotte's Web (Ethan).  After the library, we went to Reynolds.  Reynolds is a farm implement dealership.  They also sell weed-whackers.  Which is what Jonathan is getting for Father's Day.  12 days early.  And yes, he knows he's getting it.  It's really not so much a Father's Day gift as it is a needed item, plus Jonathan didn't want anything for Father's Day anyway.  But now if anyone asks, I can say he's getting a weed-whacker and avoid the guilt about not getting him anything. 

Now we're home for the day.  Anelise is napping, and the boys are putting together "Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter." 

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Shame

Remember that post a couple of weeks ago about all the stuff we're planning to do outside?  Slowly and surely we're getting stuff done, but with Jonathan's schedule and my busyness with the kids, it's going a little slower than we'd like.  And a lot slower than our neighbors would like, apparently.

Last week, a note was left in our mailbox.  It was not signed, and was written in pen on a paper towel.  I wish I had kept it or taken a picture of it.  Basically it said something like this:  "Please trim your weeds and take care of the debris (actually, it said debree) on your driveway.  The neighborhood is disappointed in your lack of care for your property, and it is lowering OUR property values."  After reading the note, I felt a combination of embarrassment, shame, and anger.

I wish I could talk to this neighbor.  I wish I could explain to them that 1) my husband has worked 12 days in a row without a day off.  2) our weed-eater is broken.  3) the "debree" in our driveway was from the branches I'd cut off the pine tree last week.  unless they're referring to our woodpile?  4) we can't afford to hire a landscaping company to do our work.  I guess I should be glad that people (at least one of them) in our neighborhood really care about the neighborhood.  And I'm not sure what better way there would have been for them to approach us.  It has certainly made me more conscious of what others think about the exterior of the home.

Today I mowed the lawn.  Each time someone drove past, I wondered if it was the anonymous neighbor.  And I wondered if he was smugly satisfied to see me out there.  Now I have to go clean the spark plug in the weed-eater.

Edit:  I feel the need to add, after reading this again, that I don't think our yard looks bad.  Yes, there are areas that need work.  Like the stump that needs grinding.  And a few weeds here and there.  But it's certainly not overgrown, and we just painted our shutters!  With all the work we've put into this house, and our general upkeep, the note was unwarranted.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Here Comes Summer!

At 11:40 this morning, Ethan will officially be a second grader!  And our summer will begin!  It's funny that today happens to be one of the coldest days we've had in recent weeks, though I checked the 10-day forecast and there's definitely summer weather coming.  In fact, on Monday, Memorial Day, we're predicted to hit 87!  And I say, bring it on!  I LOVE summer.  I'm so thrilled that today is the last day for a good chunk of time that my alarm will go off at 6:53.  I'm excited to think about doing fun things with the kids, like the library, parks, the zoo, and picnics.  I'm looking forward to camping and spending time with family at summer cottages.  The kids are excited about summer too.  At lunch yesterday, Ethan (who had a half day of school) said, "There are only three things I don't like about summer: mosquitoes, taking more naps, and picking up." 

Our summer is starting with a weekend visit from friends.  Orsi and Zoli are coming tonight and staying for a long weekend.  I met Orsi years ago when she was an exchange student, living with my parents (I no longer was).  Since then she got married, and she and Zoli left Hungary and moved to Wauseon, Ohio, where Orsi is working.  They are considered part of the family now.  So we are going to show them around Indianapolis.  And of course, what better weekend to be here than Memorial Day Weekend, AKA Race Weekend?!  No, we don't have tickets to see the Indianapolis 500.  But we will go to the 500 Festival Parade, which is a GREAT parade.  We're also thinking about the zoo, going for a bike ride, and on Monday, taking them to their first live baseball game (Indianapolis Indians).  Jonathan will take Monday off, and as he will have worked 12 days in a row (!!!) after today, he's definitely ready for some days off.  We all are. 

What are YOU doing this weekend?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Batta, Batta, Batta, Swing!

Ethan is playing his first year of organized baseball.  Last year he played baseball at school during the month of June, but it was more of a skills clinic than a league.  Jonathan is coaching Ethan's team this year, which is made up of current 1st and 2nd graders, which puts Ethan on the younger end of the age spectrum.  He's also on the lower end of the skills spectrum.  But that's okay.  He's having fun.  They've had four games.  They won their first three, and lost this past Saturday pretty badly.  (Ethan says they lost by one.  I know better.)  I remembered to take the camera along on Saturday and got a few shots. 


Is he #1 because it was alphabetical, or because he's the coach's kid?

Jonathan's immediate reaction when he saw this one? 



Notice Caleb and Anelise, unsupervised, in the background?

Playin' the field.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Kicked Out

When I'm in bed and I get too warm, I kick my leg out from under the covers.  Jonathan thinks that's silly, but it's just enough to cool me off without getting too cold.  Everyone hates taking off a cover only to have to put it back on 5 minutes later, right?  Kicking out a leg is the perfect solution.  Apparently Anelise agrees.  When I went to check on her last night, she had partially unzipped her sleepsack, and one leg was out.  I knew to get a picture I'd have to get it before she woke up this morning.  She was quite accomodating, since she's still sleeping at 9:45!! 

Yeah, not a great photo, but I didn't want to wake her up.  Apparently she was one tired little lady! 

Next up: baseball!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Philippians 2:2

That was the verse Caleb had to memorize for his school program.  This was the end of the year program and kindergarten graduation.  Jonathan and I kept looking at each other with laughter during the graduation part of it.  They took everything so seriously.  The 5 graduates (not Caleb, he was in preschool) wore robes, processed to the front to Pomp and Circumstance, were handed "diplomas" and posed with their teacher for pictures.  And the icing on the cake was at the end, when they sang "Friends are Friends Forever."  I called my brother, Jon, to tell him about it.  His response was, "so, they're not only trying to make it like a highschool graduation, but they're making it a highschool graduation from 1992!" 

We were also again disappointed with the director, when she said she hoped Mother Nature would cooperate for the outdoor picnic that's happening today.  Mother Nature???  It's a Christian school!  She sent an email this week too, asking us to "keep our fingers crossed" about the weather.  I would have said something, but she's leaving the position for a different job, and we won't be back at this school anyway.

But Caleb did great.  We enjoyed watching him singing with his class, doing all the motions.  And we were so proud of him when it was his turn to speak into the microphone!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Growing Girl

Anelise had her 18 month check up yesterday.  Yes, we were a month late.  She had been really cranky for the last week or so, which made me glad to take her in and not be charged for an extra visit.  There is fluid in one ear, but the doctor said it was hard to tell if something was just starting, or if it was clearing up.  Based on the fever she'd had last Wednesday and the unbearable screaming she did most of the weekend, I think she's through the worst of it.  The doctor gave me a prescription, but only wants me to fill it if it seems like she's getting worse.  And she's not, thankfully. 

Anelise weighs 25 pounds and is 33 inches.  That puts her between 50th and 75th percentile for both.  I talked to my sister, Julie, yesterday and learned that Anelise's cousin Sofia, a week older than Anelise, is almost identical in size.  I can't wait to have the cousins together at the summer cottage in August!

Anelise also needed one vaccination.  Boo.  But she did so well!  She was happily sitting on my lap, curious when they rubbed her leg with the sterilization stuff, and didn't even fuss when she saw the needle. Once it went in, of course, she screamed, but with much less gusto than in the past.  And she settled down very quickly.  And other than possibly flu shots, she's all done with vaccinations for several years!

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Boy Who Wouldn't Stop Reading the Bible

Once upon a time, there was a sweet 5 year old boy who had taught himself to read.  His dad was skeptical that he was actually reading, claiming that he had just memorized all of the books he was "reading."  His mom was skeptical at first, but soon realized he was reading books that he didn't know well enough to have memorized.  His Sunday School teacher, week after week, told his parents what a good reader he was, and that, in fact, while other kids were playing, he wanted to keep reading the Bible.  While cleaning up his room, he discovered a kids' picture Bible that hadn't been used in several years.  He decided to start at the beginning.  And hasn't stopped.
                                               (Look, Mom, a picture!) 

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Bloodsuckers

Last night we had a bonfire outside with the V-Lugt family.  Our time was very enjoyable, as always, and the kids very much enjoyed their marshmallows.  But I was surprised at how many (huge) mosquitoes were out, feasting on our tasty (apparently?) bodies.  They were bad enough to send us inside earlier than we otherwise might have.

This morning in the Indy Star, there is an article titled "Mosquitoes are back with a vengeance."  I'm not sure what they're upset about, but it's true, they're back.  The article said that because of the unusually wet spring we had, plus the very warm temps this week, they're here weeks earlier than usual.  And they're worse right now than they've been in over 30 years!  It makes me less excited about heading out to Ethan's baseball game.  The good news is that they don't carry West Nile, apparently.  I still would rather not have them around.

In other news, the shutters have been scraped, washed, and primed.  If the rain holds off today, they may get painted!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Outdoor plans

This year is a "work outside" year.  We have big plans for the back yard that I'm very excited about.  First, we're taking a year off of gardening.  We still have some rhubarb, and Caleb brought home a cucumber plant from school that we'll plant, but besides that, we're taking a furlough.  And we're moving the garden.  We've already pulled out the fence, so the next steps are removing the frame, moving dirt, and planting grass.  We'll also remove the raised "walkway" from the deck to the back yard.  And we're going to cut down the pine tree that is right next to the deck.  In the end, my flower garden will be extended, and we'll have a nice wide step directly from the deck to the yard.  I think it will look so nice!   I'm hoping to build a small raised garden next to the fence along the driveway.  Since we cut down the crabapple last fall, that area gets plenty of sun.  And that's where the rhubarb currently is, struggling to grow in our clayey soil.

On the driveway side of the house, we plan to clear out the area that currently has lava rock and "decorative rock".  We don't really think it's so decorative.  In fact, I may work on that today.  Ultimately, I'd like to just mulch around the trees that are there.  And maybe transplant some hostas there in the fall. 

And finally, we need to paint the shutters.  Last year my brother came down for a few days and painted the storage sheds and our exterior trim.  But the shutters were lower on the painting priority list and didn't get done.  And boy, do they need painting.  So I have spent this morning scraping.  We have 8 shutters, and I have now scraped the bottom 2/3 of each one.  Anelise wasn't too happy out there though, so I'll hopefully get the scraping finished during her nap.  I've also called a friend who has a pressure washer, to see if we could borrow it for the day; I'm waiting for a return call. 

Jonathan has tomorrow off, so we'll see how many of our tasks might get completed!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Compromise

Anyone who has been to our house more than once will know that we struggle to keep the play room cleaned up.  I will often ask the boys to pick up, but it gets so messy that they get overwhelmed, and it is such a battle.  Lately I've been asking them to pick up 10 things, or 20, or 30, every hour or so.  But when there are 200 crayons lying askew on the floor, picking up 10 things at a time doesn't make much of a dent.

I'm trying a new tactic this week. 

This morning at breakfast, I announced to the boys that we were going to make a deal.  I would pick up the entire play room, ALL BY MYSELF, if they would pick up their room, all by themselves.  It sounds like a pretty good deal, don't you think?  There's one small caveat.  The boys are not allowed to be in the newly cleaned up playroom UNTIL their room is completely cleaned up.  And, as many of you know, our computer is in the playroom.  Lego.com is in the playroom.  Curious George online is in the playroom.  I'm hopeful that the incentive to use the computer again will be enough to get the boys' room picked up.  And if not, I'm going to have a refreshingly clean playroom for days on end!!!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

13.1

This morning, my amazing husband was up at 5:45 and out the door at 6:00 to head downtown to run the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon!  The kids and I (minus Ethan, who is at the Awana campout) headed down around 8:30 to catch the end of Jonathan's run.  We waited just before mile 13, and were able to catch about 20 seconds of Jonathan's 2+ hour run.  We are so proud of him!  He said it felt good, and he's looking forward to running it again next year.  Way to go, Babe!

For those that may not know, the Mini is a half-marathon: 13.1 miles.  The Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon is the largest half-marathon in the WORLD!  Jonathan was running with approximately 35,000 other runners.  The temperature seemed perfect for running, and the rain held off for most of the run.  Jonathan said it rained during his last 4 miles or so, but it was just sprinkling.  We were able to meet Jonathan in Military Park after the race.  Great job, Jonathan!

Edit:  Jonathan's official time was 2:06:59.  His pace was 9:41 per mile.  :)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Almost Done

What a day I've had!  Nothing has gone wrong, but it has been FULL!  Here it is in a nutshell:

6:53 - Alarm goes off, hit snooze once.
7:02 - Get Ethan up, dressed, practice spelling words, breakfast, make lunch.
7:30 - Ethan gets picked up, Elliana Freeman gets dropped off.  I'd agreed to watch her for the day.
7:40 - Shower, get dressed, dry hair, get Anelise dressed, feed Anelise (Jonathan did this)
8:45 - Leave the house.
9:10 - Arrive at church, set up table centerpieces, distribute attendance sheets
9:30 - Bible Study
11:15 - Pick up Anelise and Elliana from their classes, get them settled with lunch (being watched by a friend), meet with Women of Faith director about possibly filling Evangelism/Discipleship role.
11:30 - Meet with Children's Ministry director (I'm doing registration for VBS) - kids still lunching
12:15 - Leave church.
12:30 - Accompany two students at a violin lesson.  I'm accompanying their recital on Saturday.
1:15 - Leave lesson.
1:30 - Arrive home, eat lunch.
1:50 - Leave to pick up Caleb.
2:15 - Home.  BREATHE!
2:30 - Make phone calls, check email, explore VBS website.
3:30 - Ethan gets dropped off from school, Elliana gets picked up.
4:30 - Practice books of the New Testament with Ethan, verses with Caleb.
5:00 - Make dinner.
5:30 - Eat.
6:00 - Leave the house (without Ethan's vest, couldn't find it), come back to the house because we forgot Caleb's book, leave again.
6:32 - Arrive at church for Awanas, two minutes late.  Drop off the boys.  Leave.
6:50 - Arrive at Kroger.  Grocery shopping.  Only 15 items or so.
7:20 - Home.  Give Anelise a bath, put pajamas on, brush teeth, put Anelise to bed.
7:40 - Return phone calls.
8:20 - Start this post.
8:35 - Jonathan home with the boys.
SOON - kids in bed, RELAX!

Tomorrow should be a much more relaxing day.  I'm meeting with the Children's Ministry Director again tomorrow morning, and Ethan and Jonathan have baseball in the evening.  The rest of the day is free.  Ahhh.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Grocery Savings

Today at Meijer I was able to take advantage of some good in-store sales as well as some good coupons.  I'm not a "big-time couponer" so my savings is likely much less than someone who puts in a lot more effort.  But I still think my savings is significant enough to post about it!  With coupons alone, I saved $17!!!  With coupons, in-store deals and meijer promotions (i.e. buy 4 boxes of cereal, get a gallon of milk free) my total savings for the week was....(drumroll, please)....$46.62.  I'm really proud of that!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Holy Week Ramblings

This Holy Week has been more meaningful to me this year than in previous years.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because I've finally gotten into a pretty good habit of being in the Word.  But I found myself thinking a lot this week about Jesus.  Specifically, I've been wrestling with thinking about what if I was alive when Jesus was?  Would I have followed Him?  Or would I have been a skeptic?  Would the supernatural have wowed me, or turned me off?  Would I have had the courage to throw away everything I knew to be a follower, or would I have been too comfortable in my life?  And if I would have followed him, would I have been able to stay awake in the garden?  Would I have fled when the soldiers came?  Would I have denied him?  And it struck me that I've never really considered the hours and days and weeks after the resurrection.  In my mind, each person took sides before the cross, and that was that.  I hadn't considered that people surely WERE swayed by the events of Friday and Sunday.  Weren't they?  Would I have been?

I'm incredibly grateful that Jesus loves me so much that he was willing to suffer hell so that I wouldn't have to.  I put him on the cross, but my guilt is wiped away by his precious blood.  Thank you, Jesus!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Rain!

The sun is actually shining!  And it's not freezing cold outside!  We've had quite a bit of weather roll through in the last few days, with more to come.  I'm talking severe storms (although we haven't been hit too hard yet) with rain measured in full inches.  Between today and Monday morning we're supposed to get 3-4 MORE inches on top of what we've already received.  And our yard is already practically swimmable.  I really didn't mind the rain yesterday.  In fact, the rumbles of thunder around 3pm were quite appropriate for Good Friday.  I was reading through the passion story in Matthew at the time, and that was very meaningful.  But I have to admit that I'm not excited about rain on Easter.  I suppose most people would echo my sentiments.  On Thursday I brought Ethan to baseball practice, along with the other kids, and it was SO COLD.  I was so thankful that I had thought to grab Anelise's winter coat at the last second.  I made the mistake of wearing crocs without socks, and my teeth were chattering.  There's rain in the forecast for the next 5 days in a row, so I guess I should enjoy a few minutes of sunshine while we have it!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Unemployed

Today I'm going to the unemployment office.

No, I'm not looking for work.  Twice this year we have been to the emergency room.  Once with Ethan for stitches on his foot, and once for Caleb for a partially dislocated elbow.  Both visits resulted in very large hospital bills that weren't completely covered by insurance.  I'm in the process of applying for financial assistance.  I sent in all our paperwork a little over a week ago, but I received a call this morning saying that they need verification that I'm not employed.  So I get to take a detour during my Tuesday grocery shopping excursion to stop at the unemployment office with my social security card, to get an "unemployment verification sheet."  It seems like something hospitals should be able to do, since they already have my social security number, but, whatever.

In other news, I CLEANED yesterday.  "Get down on my hands and knees, scrubbing floors and baseboards" cleaning.  "Washing windows inside and out" cleaning.  "Mom would be proud of me" cleaning.  (And she is.)  My fingers hurt.  My knees probably would too, if I got down on them today.  Which I won't.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Little Miss Nudie Bottom

When my alarm went off this morning at 7:00, I heard Anelise talking in her room.  It's unusual for her to be up so early, so I wasn't terribly surprised when she was getting really cranky by 10:30.  I decided it was a good time for a rare morning nap.  For both of us.  So I put Anelise down in her crib, did a few things on the computer, and then decided to snooze for a bit.  I dozed for maybe 25-30 minutes, definitely falling asleep at times, but still hearing Anelise talking, squealing, yelling from her room.  I woke up at 11:30 and realized she was quiet.  At that point I knew she had only been asleep for maybe 15 minutes, and I decided I didn't want her to nap anymore, because there wasn't time for a full nap before picking up Caleb, and I'd prefer to take her good nap in the afternoon anyway.  So I went to wake her up.  I found her asleep on her tummy, knees pulled up under her body, hands under her face.  And she was naked from the waist down.  Her jeans and diaper were in the crib with her.  Anelise, you crack me up.  (Pun intended)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

One more day

I've been a single parent since Tuesday morning.  Not really, of course, especially since Krista's been around too.  But Jonathan is at the Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago this week.  The pastors of our church were going, and when Jonathan heard about it, he wanted to go too.  So the reps from Faith Church are the senior pastor, the associate pastor, the youth pastor, the worship director, and Jonathan.  Of course, Jonathan had to pay for his registration (I'm assuming the pastors' registrations are taken care of by the church, but I could be wrong).  He'll be coming home tomorrow, hopefully in time for his (and Ethan's) first baseball practice.  I'm ready for him to come home.  I've had major meltdowns from Ethan, and when I picked up Caleb from school today I was told he had had two (TWO!!!) timeouts (very unusual for Caleb).  Sigh.  Anelise has been happy and pleasant for the most part, which is refreshing.  Nights are the worst.  I should be in bed.  But it's hard to go to bed when I'm home "alone".  I don't feel nervous or afraid about Jonathan not being here; I just don't feel like physically getting up and doing the getting ready for bed things.  But it's time.  Here I go.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Canal

Friday was a beautiful day, so after Anelise's afternoon nap, we decided to do a little sightseeing.  We went downtown and walked through White River Gardens.  It was a quick walk, as we arrived there 10 minutes before closing time.  After WRG, we walked the bridge over the White River, and then walked along the canal.  Jonathan had grabbed some bread crusts before leaving home, so when the boys saw some ducks, we stopped to feed them for a few minutes.  So picture this in your mind: the boys are throwing bread to the ducks, Jonathan is on the phone, Dad is holding Anelise, and I'm standing behind the (empty) stroller, when there was an exclamation and then a splash!  Caleb fell into the canal!  It's not particularly deep, but  he was completely submerged.  It all happened so fast.  Dad grabbed his foot (and scratched his camera a little on the concrete), Jonathan put the phone down and jumped in to get him out.  And me?  I just stood there watching it happen.  Yeah, epic fail.  Caleb was pretty upset at first, but is able to laugh at it now.  The rest of us were laughing as soon as Caleb was safely out of the canal.  Poor Jonathan had soaking wet jeans, socks and shoes.  Caleb had only been wearing shorts and crocs, so he really fared pretty well.  This is the stuff memories are made of.

Friday, April 8, 2011

It's Shower Time!

Yesterday, Jonathan, Ethan, and Dad Baker (who is in town for a visit) went to Cincinnati to see a Reds game (read: indoctrinate Ethan).  Our friend Josh and his son Patrick went too.  Caleb (who was deemed too young to sit through the game) had preschool, so I anticipated a quiet day with Anelise, getting things done around the house.  First I had to go to the post office.  On my way there, I realized I was going right by Lowes, and maybe I should see if I can find the stuff I need to fix our leaky bathtub faucet.

The first guy I talked to at Lowes was downright rude.  But I found new handles and a new spout, knowing I wouldn't know what I needed for the repair until I went home and looked at what we had there.  Then I came home and started watching videos on how to repair the leak.  I turned off the water to the house (because I don't have a shut-off valve to the shower), and removed the three handles and trim pieces (with some tools and a little muscle help from our neighbor).  Then I removed the stems and seats.  I could see that the rubber gaskets on the stems were very worn, and likely the cause of the leaking.  So off Anelise and I went, back to Lowes, with the stems I'd just removed.  I found a different guy who was very helpful in finding the correct replacement stems.  Unfortunately, they only had one.  So we went to another Lowes, and bought the other one I needed (I didn't replace the diverter stem).  After we were home, we grabbed some lunch and picked up Caleb from school.  Then I put Anelise down for a nap and set up Caleb with a video before picking up the project again.  I put the new seats and the new stems in.  And I got the new spout on.  But I discovered that the metal trim pieces (the metal part that goes between the handle and the wall) wasn't compatible with my stems.  Grr.  At this point, I couldn't go anywhere, because Anelise was napping, and I couldn't get anything done around the house, because there was no water.  No shower, no laundry, no dishes.  So I repaired the screens on our sliding doors.  :)   After Anelise woke up, we went to a plumbing supply store, where I got what I needed to finish the job.  I put the new trim pieces on, put the new handles on, and turned the water back on.  No leaks!!!  Within 5 minutes, the guys were home from the game.  They were very impressed with my work in the bathroom.  It wasn't the quiet day I'd anticipated, but I'm very pleased that the project is done and the problem is fixed.  And since I hadn't been able to do dishes or start dinner, Dad took us all out to Chile Verde, which was the perfect reward for my hard work! 

One sad note:  Ethan came home from Cincinnati with a fever and a sore throat.  :(

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Oops

On a NORMAL day, my alarm gets me up at 7:00 so that I can get Ethan out the door by 7:30.
On a NORMAL day, Jonathan is around in the morning to help get Caleb to school by 9:00.
On a NORMAL day, Anelise wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00, usually closer to 8.
On a NORMAL day, I don't have strep throat.

Today was not a normal day.

Today my alarm was not set, because it's Ethan's spring break.
Today Jonathan had training at 8:00 and was out the door before 7:30.
Today Anelise slept until 8:50.
Today I slept late because I'm sick.

Here's what happened:  The boys were up at 7:00, and Jonathan was already up getting ready.  So he got PBS turned on for them and gave them instructions to "not bother mommy."  Wasn't that sweet?  So I continued to sleep, oblivious to anything.  And so did Anelise.  Until 8:50, when Anelise started talking, and I woke up and GASP! Caleb has to be at school in 10 minutes!!!  And of course Caleb was still in his pajamas and hadn't had breakfast.  I'm pretty pleased to report that he was only 15 minutes late.  I'm pretty sure I packed him a lunch, but that memory is pretty fuzzy.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Throat Swab

Sunday was a picture-perfect day.  It was sunny and, amazingly, 76 degrees.  I LOVE SPRING!  After our weekend guests left, and we all had a chance to nap, we went to Fort Harrison for a hike.  The boys received walkie-talkies for Christmas, and hadn't really used them yet.  So we took them along.  Ethan and Caleb would run ahead of us on the path with one walkie-talkie, and we adults (and Anelise in the backpack) kept the other.  It was very enjoyable. 

Unfortunately, before we left, I felt a headache coming on, and despite taking some medicine for it, it didn't seem to be going anywhere.  After we got home, I went downhill fast.  At one point, it felt like my head was radiating, so I thought maybe I should check my temperature.  102.  Hmm.  I guess it wasn't just a headache.  Sunday night was terrible.  I don't think I ever got a good REM cycle in.  I was burning up one minute, and shaking with chills the next.  Yesterday when I woke up things weren't any better.  I'd been taking ibuprofin and tylenol to treat the fever, but it kept coming back.  On top of that, I also had a lingering sore throat that seemed to be getting worse.

This morning, after a very good night's sleep, I checked my temperature and was surprised that it was still 101.  I decided it was time to go in.  So I made an appointment for this afternoon.  I have strep throat.  I haven't had a chance to go get my antibiotic yet, but I'm glad to have a definitive answer and hopefully a cure soon!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Look, Mom!

I put a picture up!  Ok, so it was a picture that was already loaded on my computer, and you've all probably seen it already, but since Mom was asking (read: pleading) for me to put pictures up, here you go!  Note:  I didn't take this picture.  Remember, we don't take them.

Also of note:  we caught mouse #2 last night.  Again on a glue trap, placed in the same spot mouse #1 had been trapped.  I guess the space between the oven and the fridge is a mouse thoroughfare in our kitchen.  By the way, I'm sold on the glue traps.  From now until the end of time, they're all we'll be buying.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Mouse Trap

We have been seeing evidence of mice in our house.  Lots of evidence.  Gross evidence, in places I don't want to think about having mice.  Like my kitchen sink.  And on the counter tops.  And on the couch.   SO GROSS!!!  Jonathan went out and bought traps yesterday.  Last night after the kids were in bed, we set them.  Eight of them.  4 were glue traps, 2 were the big "no see-um" kind, and two were the traditional snap traps, baited with peanut butter.  Shortly before 10:00, we heard it.  A strange scratching and popping sound, coming from the kitchen.  We came in to discover a very large mouse caught on one of the glue traps.  I was surprised at its boldness to come out while we were still up, with lights on.  Jonathan disposed of it (I don't know how, and don't care to know), and we went to bed wondering how many more we would have to dispose of in the morning.  We didn't catch any more.  SO,  did we just have one bold mouse wandering all over the house?  Or did the disappearance of one of their own prompt the others to go into hiding?  We'll keep the traps out for a few more nights and look for more evidence before we decide.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Jump on the Bandwagon!

I don't always follow the crowds.  Jonathan does even less.  Take his refusal to read Harry Potter, for example.  But when everyone else in the family abandoned Xanga for Blogger, I felt out of the loop.  And since I hadn't posted anything in MONTHS, I thought maybe a change would help inspire me to post again.  So here I am.

I'm not going to make any promises about faithfully blogging here.  And when we do post, it will likely be a short anecdote of what's going on in our family life.  And don't look for pictures here.  Most of you know we don't take them. 

Anecdote for today:  Tuesdays I go grocery shopping.  (We've been budgeting for the last couple of months.  For the first time in our 10 year marriage.  We were realizing that we didn't have a good idea of where our money was going.  And mint.com is a great resource (thanks Ben & Jodi, via Julie).)  I have been shopping at four (yes, you read that correctly, FOUR!!!) different stores for groceries, in order to save money.  I have a monthly grocery budget, which is the figure that counts on our online budget.  That amount, multiplied by 12 and divided by 52, gives me my weekly budget.  I have been staying under my weekly budget!  BUT.  (Let's talk about my big BUT.)  March has 5 Tuesdays.  :(    Now, I know it will all even out in the end, but it's so sad to see my budget line turn red because I'm over.