A mug of memories

 

Many, many moons ago (we are talking decades, just to be clear) I received the sweetest of greeting cards from my bestie. I only remember it saying Pinkerton on the back so I have no idea if that’s a division of Hallmark or someone else altogether. Either way, no credit goes to me, but I’ve never forgotten the rhyme:

Just sittin’ here, a-thinking

And wishing it could be

You and me a-sitting here

Instead of only me!

Isn’t it funny how sometimes things can make you sad and thankful at the same time? I’m drinking my first cup of coffee out of a mug from my friend Kimmy. The coffee beans themselves came from Peru, where Uncle Kelly picked them up as a Christmas present to us last year. The coconut creamer, which is now my favorite, I would never have even tried if my Lainie hadn’t had some at the beach and recommended it- it wasn’t even on my radar. So here’s me, enjoying my three-in-one mug of memories as I sit and miss them all, four when I count my bestie and her ages-ago card!

Introducing Otto

 This kid couldn't wait to try out an instrument in middle school. After considering his options, he decided to go a route that nobody in the family had taken before. He'd waffled back and forth between brass and woodwind, but upon hearing that his Pap, his Uncle Kelly, and his Uncle Rob had all done the trombone already, this kid decided to play the saxophone. Good luck, buddy- you're on your own. None of us have done anything with instruments requiring reeds, haha!

Here he is, headed into his first public performance, which was aptly named the sixth grade band demonstration.

Incredible kudos to his new-to-our-district teacher for teaching them how to read music, including clefs, rests, all that jazz, assembling their instruments, cleaning said instruments, and how to make recognizable sounds all within the first quarter. There are a lot of jobs I'm glad I don't have, and boy, middle school band teacher ranks right up there. God bless her.

Anyway, I thought the three teachers did a smart thing by dividing the groups of kids up and showcasing what they could do before putting them all together on stage for the songs. I'd imagine some of it was Covid-driven since we couldn't all pile into smaller rooms together, but it was really neat to see where they have class, watch the assemblage of instruments, see the kids interact together musically, and then all return to the auditorium for the rest. 

Here he is on stage, below. I tried to give other kids Snoopy sunglasses as I don't know if their parents are okay with them being featured online. Allow me to introduce Otto, the saxophone in residence at our house. Thankfully, he has enough air or power or control or whatever is required to actually sound musical as opposed to a duck being trod upon. And I was delighted to confirm that the last song of the concert was indeed recognizably the band classic, "Hot Cross Buns."

Extra boys in the house

Uncle Kelly and Zach and Pap were all here over the weekend. There is just never enough time to hang out with the people you love. And using any of that precious time to take pictures is not acceptable:

Trying to get two six-year-old boys to stand back to back for a picture of who's taller is quite a feat as well:

However, there was plenty of fun involved as all the menfolk took off for some Saturday Shenanigans while Mama held down the fort with the kids:

Poor Zach trundled along to karate and sparring with us and was either mildly entertained by watching the classes or a good enough sport to not complain about sitting there. 

Once we were home, as it was 74 degrees on an October day, you can surely estimate the number of minutes it took them to end up in the pond, fully clothed, playing with the water pumps. 

This is a shot of them having their lunch on the porch while they're drying off enough to be let back into the house. 

They were the epitome of a Family Circus comic strip featuring Billy's footprints all over the house and grounds. They only reason they weren't in any trees is because all our branches are too high to get up in any. They did play on the rope swing, so close enough. 

The menfolk brought back pizza and then Uncle Kel and Zach had to hit the road home. Pap stuck around another night and then took off Sunday morning. 

I asked Zach why Aunt Becky and Lizzie were headed to St. Louis for the weekend and he informed me they were headed to a funeral. Then he thought about it some more and decided, "no, a wedding. Hmm. A wedding or a funeral." I got confirmation from Uncle Kelly that it was indeed a wedding. 

At any rate, everyone had a good time and Mama needs more Kahlua...

Thanksgiving 2015

Sorry in advance if this is choppy; I'm cleaning in bouts where photos load and things of that nature, so I'm bopping in and out of my chair while blasting our Pitbull station. I have the dishes drying, clothes in the dryer, a toilet bowl soaking, a heater vent freshly scrubbed and also drying, etc.

We traveled to Indiana to visit our family there. The kids had a great time playing with cousins Lizzie and Zach, especially as there were Nerf guns to be shared. I honestly couldn't count how many squishy bullets were fired past, over, around, and off of each person there. I suppose with three boys ten and under plus two girls there will be things of that nature happening, hehe.

That will kind of give you a glimpse of the three days we spent. Damon "helped" with bread cubes for the stuffing, the girls baked pumpkin pies, Becky started the bird single-handedly as the guys were off at a CrossFit challenge which involved way more running, pushups, pullups, and other ridiculousness than should ever happen on a day devoted to serious eating. 

Movies happened, art happened, games happened, shopping on Black Friday happened, and we not only escaped awful traffic both to and fro, we missed any bad weather. The snow they'd gotten came before we got there and it disappeared completely thanks to temps in the high 50s and the soft rain that fell on Friday. 

We even managed to stop at some shoppes on our way home and hit some great Black Friday deals at JCPenney, so merry early Christmas to us. Win! We have friends who joked years ago about "if you survive more than 10-15 years of marriage you should get to have another party and register for replacement Stuff because everything quits working and you need to replace it all around then..." We took their advice. *wink wink*

So super big thanks to Uncle Kelly, Aunt Becky, Lizzie and Zach for hosting. We were blessed by your hospitality, yummy food, and laughs. We love you. 

Hoping all of you had a blessed Thanksgiving with far too much food, wonderful company, and a realization of your blessings. I'd love to hear about yours. 

What difference could two days make?

I did not forget completely about my mid-month photos of the boys. These were taken November 19 on the way to the bus. Yes, Liam is indeed wearing a cape and Damon is in his Superman Halloween costume. No, I haven't lost my mind completely. It was Superhero day during Spirit week, so we went for it and seized the day.

Can I just mention for all of posterity that sunshine makes me giddy? I remember having to sing John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" in 7th grade choir, and I thought our teacher was an idiot. Who thinks having lyrics like "sunshine almost always makes me high" and junior high school students within the same acreage sounds like a good idea? Sheesh.

Anyway, now that I'm a grown up (yegods!), I get it. Sunshine really does make everything else more bearable. Even winter. Even in Ohio.

And then, helloooooooooo snow on November 21!

It really only dusted so I shouldn't complain. The plows were out to take care of the 3-4 inches Aunt Becky and Uncle Kelly got in Indiana, and she reported that it hit 3 degrees that Saturday. THREE. 

That is NOT okay. 

Anyway, all of it is gone both here and there, and good riddance. 

Why I Haven't Been Blogging, Excuse #983754

 

Well, frankly, some of us have been a little twisted up:

 

 

While some of us have been dumped at a new-to-us camp in another state:

 

And we've been inundated with family and the corresponding shenanigans one would expect from said family:

 

I guess in short we've been carpe diem-ing. ;)

 

We've been busy living life in the summertime. More karate lessons, walks with friends, watching movies like The Neverending Story and The Fellowship of the Ring, having popsicles and way too much ice cream, smashing even more mosquitoes but not as many as have been sipping off of us, and tons of laundry.

 

Care Bear spent 4 gloriously brother-free days at Camp Michindoh with about 400 other middle school kids from our church (yes, that's 400, not 40) and says the best part was Gold Rush, like Capture the Flag but harder. She had a good girlfriend in her cabin with her and it sounds like the whole week was amazing. We're glad she had the opportunity to try something new. Ask her all about camp!

 

The kids have been into the Legos, the squirt guns, the bristle blocks, the Transformers, the stapler and staple remover, the Smart Links, the comic books, and the pool.

 

We took the extended family to the pool and had the most exciting time yet. A man fell victim to a seizure, which caught Uncle Kelly's attention and help. The pool was cleared and the EMTs got him more stable and out of there. A little while later a storm headed in so it was everyone out of the pool again. We left just as really big drips started splattering the cars and were in a total downpour by the time we got home. Nobody seemed to mind too much, and the cousins were off and running again in no time.

 

The guys mixed up two batches of homemade ice cream, chocolate and vanilla, and special thanks goes to Aunt Evelyn for being our phone-a-friend help in regards to recipe discrepancies. Both turned out excellently. Both are probably almost gone.

 

Grandmama is on her way here now after visiting with Nana. Tomorrow the kids have orthodontist appointments and karate. Today is sheet day. I'm stalling on lunch.

 

*sigh* Time to go. Happy Monday!

 

It takes a village

Oh dear. This is why I should never get behind on the blog. Now I have to do a month and a half review. Let's see...

We hosted Grandma Barb for a week while Pap went on a fishing trip. We had lots of family members in and out that week to help supervise the Thingz while we ran here and there and everywhere. Uncle Kelly and Zach stayed for two nights, Aunt Sherri stayed for two nights, and Aunt Evelyn stayed from Tuesday until Saturday. Everyone was so much fun to have and we love that we got time with them! There was some of this:

 

And some of that:

 

And a little of this:

 

There was also quite a bit of this:

 

 

And plenty of love, see?

 

 

Aunt Evelyn LOVED that Damon came in from school, kicked off his shoes, and launched himself onto her. He then proceeded to go straight to sleep!

 

When I hauled him upstairs to deposit him in his bed, some Stinkwad had stolen his spot:

 

 

 

"A big pot of crazy"

I'm cheating and borrowing a phrase from Aunt Chris, though it does suit our side of the family fairly well. You'll see from the photos that there were seven children between the ages of 10.5 and 15 months together for Thanksgiving. Three of those kids are three years old. The youngest is "baby Noah" who is absolutely adored by all. Here he is, proclaiming "to da fingy and 'yond!" (Okay, he's not really. That's what DAMON says.) And his lovely mom, Aunt Jana, of course.

 

 

Liam found cousin Zach's train set the last day we were at their house, and spent the morning setting it up. He worked really hard and when Noah headed right for it, I honestly braced myself for a meltdown from Liam. I was pleasantly surprised when he let Noah climb right through it, and then he started including Noah in playing with the trains. Liam has always loved babies, and he certainly has a humungous soft spot for this particular cutie!
 

 

Here's Zach in a rare moment of downtime, and Damon being his usual body-of-motion.
 

 

 

The adults had every bit as much fun as the kids in spite of a box of beads exploding all over a bedroom (which may or may not have had anything to do with a certain pair of three year olds) and cooking up way too much food. The guys had a chance to get away and do boy things for awhile one morning, and we girls stole away in the afternoon for some coffee and talking time. The grandparents had fun observing all the chaos from 7 kids, and we all counted our blessings. Thank you so much for hosting, Uncle Kelly and Aunt Becky. It was perfect!