Celebrations Part 2

Well, I thought I’d better get another post up before I head out of town for my race tomorrow…so here goes!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed over to the Fiedlers’ house to visit with some old friends.  The Wagner family, whom we knew from church and who were in our small group, moved from the Peoria area a little bit after we moved to France, and they were in town visiting on Easter weekend.  In a funny twist, the Wagners had their own little surprise about six weeks after Jeremy was born, so we got to see baby Gabi for the first time last Saturday.

It was lots of fun to catch up.

After a couple hours, we headed back to the house, where Jeff speed-mowed the yard before we headed to our church’s Saturday night Easter service.  As I would be back in children’s ministry and Jeff would be helping out with the parking on Sunday morning at East Campus, we decided to worship on Saturday night at the Knoxville campus instead.  Since church is the same right now for the kids whether they go on Saturday or Sunday, they stayed home with Jeff’s parents, while Jeff and I had a date night!

For those of you who attended Christian colleges, do you remember the ubiquitous “church date”?  Jeff and I haven’t had one of those in quite a few years, but we had one the night before Easter!  We attended church and then went out to a late supper at a place called Noir in nearby Peoria Heights.  It is a tapas restaurant, so we ordered several “small bites” dishes, enjoyed a good glass of wine, and then headed back home. 

On Sunday morning, the kids opened some Easter treats from their grandparents.

Then, joined by Jeff’s parents, we headed off to church, which went very smoothly for our first ever Easter service at East Campus.  Over 250 people were there, which was great!

After church, we grilled out and then did Easter baskets and watched the kids hunt Easter eggs with our neighbor.  We thought that Charlotte might be too old this year for hunting eggs, but we were quite wrong.  As long as there is candy to be had, she’s there!

Poor Jeremy missed out on the Easter festivities this year.  As I may have mentioned before, Sundays tend to be rough days for him.  He was asleep when the kids found their baskets and hunted eggs, and the weather wasn’t nice enough later to take him outside.  Oh, well.  Maybe next year!

Before I end this post, I thought I would share the funniest gift from the weekend.  Jeff’s dad likes to go to sales, and someone in our neighborhood was having one.  So, he and Jeff’s mom found this chair that seemed the perfect fit for Jeremy.

What’s so funny about this, you might ask?  Let me tell you.

It’s a Shrek chair.  And when Jeff’s parents showed it to Jeff out in the garage, Jeff noticed a suspicious handle-like thing hanging down in the back.  Sure enough…this Jeremy-sized chair has a built-in whoopee cushion.  And guess who thinks it’s the funniest thing EVER?  That would be Elijah, who takes every possible opportunity to sit down in it.  It makes Jeremy giggle a bit when he makes the chair make noise, but Elijah laughs uproariously every. single. time. he sits down in it.

Jeff’s parents said that there were actually two of these for sale.  If they’d known how much Elijah would like it, they would have gotten the other one for him.

Sigh. 

You gotta love boys!

Have a good one!

Celebrations

Well, we’ve had a big weekend.  Now that it’s Tuesday, I finally feel that things might have slowed down enough to get a blog post done!

Since I’ve last posted, Jeff’s parents have visited, we celebrated Easter, and Elijah turned nine.  Interspersed with that were final training runs for my half-marathon this upcoming Saturday, an impromptu church date (something we haven’t done since our college days at Lipscomb), and a great visit with friends whom we have not seen in a long time.  Whew!

While this past week was also spring break for the local schools, my kids had school anyway.  This ended up being a pretty good call because the weather was abysmal, and there was not much playing outside done by anyone.  I guess that, if the weather has to be yucky, it’s good to be productive at what you can.  For us, that was knocking out another week of school so that we can be done by Memorial Day.  So far, so good!

Anyway, here’s what’s been happening.

On Thursday afternoon, we gave spring break a nod when Charlotte and Elijah were invited to go see a movie with a neighbor girl and her mom.  I took that opportunity to do some grocery shopping, which was much easier with just the one child I had left at home than with all of them.  Jeff’s parents arrived shortly after 4:00, and our long Easter weekend officially began.

On Good Friday, Jeff was off work, and we celebrated Elijah’s ninth birthday.  His actual birthday was yesterday on April 25, but, since Jeff’s parents were leaving that Monday morning, we had a round of early cake and presents at lunchtime.

Elijah is on a huge Lego Bionicles kick right now, and, boy, did he clean up on those for his birthday!

We also had some singing and some birthday cupcakes.

Elijah was one happy almost-nine-year-old.

Jeremy also got to open a card and present from Grandmama and Granddaddy for his birthday.  He wasn’t quite sure what to do with all of it, but he surely did like the paper!

Jeff and I spent part of the afternoon running some errands while Jeff’s parents watched the kids.  It’s been a good long time since we’ve been able to do that!

On Saturday, I headed into Peoria early to meet my running group for our final long training run, a six-miler, and then it was back home.  Elijah’s soccer game for that morning was cancelled due to soggy field conditions, so we simply hung out at the house and enjoyed the time visiting.  Then, the busy part of the day began!

And I think that I will post about that next time.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter!

Parenthood

Yesterday, Jeremy had his one-year checkup.  This particular doctor’s visit came along with four shots, two of which were injected into his leg muscles.  In spite of keeping him dosed with Tylenol, we have a very cranky baby on our hands, even today.

This is actually the first time that Jeremy has gotten vaccinations at the doctor’s office.  Until this year, Caterpillar insurance did not cover any injectables, including required kids’ shots, so I usually just took the kids to the Health Department, which resulted in about $200 worth of out-of-pocket savings.  However, I think that the new health care bill required CAT to make some changes in what they cover, so now we have the dubious pleasure of not having to make two stops to complete a well-child visit.

In any case, Jeremy is very healthy.  He is still in the upper percentiles for height and weight, and, despite his finicky eating, the doctor told me that Jeremy is clearly getting enough calories.  So, carrying around a 25 pounder because he’s not feeling great is not such a big deal!

Another interesting story to come out of yesterday is that I had to go confront some junior-high kids at our local park who were bullying my two kids and our neighbor’s child.  If Charlotte and Elijah stick together, I have recently started letting them go to the park that is behind our house by themselves.  I send our third phone and give them stern instructions about coming and going together.  Yesterday, two neighbor girls also went with them.

I was sitting in the backyard with Jeremy when all four kids came running back with a jumbled story about big kids, cigarette smoke, mean things being said, and pushes away from playground equipment.  Evidently, this group of three boys and a girl had started mocking Elijah as he had shouted instructions for whatever game the kids were playing.  Elijah had shouted for the group to go up on the “blue tower,” one of the play sets, and a boy had shouted, “Yeah, let’s go up on the tower!”

Only when he arrived at the aforementioned tower, Elijah was standing at the entrance, and the kid grabbed Elijah’s arms and tried to move him out of the way.  According to Elijah, the kid reeked of cigarette smoke, which I think Elijah found more offensive than that fact the kid was touching him.

A little bit afraid, the younger kids decided to go play by the swings.  The same older kid shouted, “Yeah, let’s go play on the swings!” and started running toward my kids.  Even more afraid, the four younger kids decided they needed some adult intervention, so they ran home to get me.

I might have been OK with how this all went down if I hadn’t found out that someone had put their hands on my child.  So, with Jeremy on my hip, I march back to the park with three of the four kids who had originally been there.  (One neighbor girl had to leave shortly, so she didn’t go back.)

All the way to the park, Elijah kept saying, “You’re gonna teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!”, jumping up and down all the while.  “They better learn not to smoke or treat us that way.”

After straightening him out on exactly what I could and could not do (which included confiscating cigarettes or forcing the kids to wear a nicotine patch), we got back to the park.  As I approached the group who had messed with my kids, Charlotte, Elijah, and the neighbor girl ran off, evidently not needing to witness the upcoming altercation.  One of the junior high kids said, “Look, a mom.”

And it went from there.  After assuring them that I was, indeed, a mom and a mom of two of the kids with whom they had messed, I eventually got the ringleader to admit that he had touched my son, but he couldn’t really explain why, other that that he was messing around.  I explained to him that it was never acceptable for a person his age to lay hands on a younger child, particularly my child.  Furthermore, I didn’t think that I should have to be afraid of my kids getting picked on by older kids just because they wanted to play in the park.  The junior high kids agreed that was true, and our conversation ended. 

As one who intensely dislikes confrontations, I was shaking and I’m sure my neck was bright red when I finally walked away.

I stuck around for about ten more minutes, which was long enough to run off the four who had caused the trouble.  Surprisingly, Charlotte and Elijah opted to stay a bit longer, even though I had to go home to feed Jeremy.

So, of course, I spent much of the rest of the evening replaying events in my head.  Did I handle that well?  Was I Christian about it?

Sigh.  Some things about parenthood I really could take a pass on.  And I’m sure I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

And that was our day.  Four shots in the leg and a confrontation at the park.  You gotta love it!

Red-Letter Day

Depending on where you live, this may not sound like much, but it marks a turning point for seasons in Illinois.  Today, I took my very first run since fall of last year in shorts and a t-shirt.  Woo-hoo!

This past winter was probably one of the toughest through which I have attempted to train for a race.  I have some decent Under Armor winter gear, but I really didn’t think I could run in weather below freezing.  Well, I had to get over that pretty quickly because the majority of January and February never got above that!

Then, I decided that I could probably run with temperatures in the 20’s, as long as the wind chill wasn’t in the teens.  As you can probably see where this heading, I’ll make a long story short: I ended up running at least once with temperatures in the teens and wind chills in single digits and several time with temps in the 20’s and wind chills in the teens. 

Yes, it was miserable.  Yes, I nearly froze my face off, since that’s the one part of my body that is difficult to effectively cover.  Yes, I swore each time I was buying a treadmill or joining a gym.  But I did neither one, and, yes, that type of training is really paying off now!  The weather has lost its power as a good excuse for not running.  And, on days like today, I can truly rejoice and be glad in the day that the Lord has made!

In any case, my running group did its final long run before the race on April 30.  I ran 12 miles, something I haven’t done since the last time I trained for a half-marathon.  I was blessed with a great run that day, and it is such an encouragement going into the race in a couple weeks.

And now, I’m toying with the idea of running a marathon in the fall.  I’ll keep you posted on what I decide…

In other news, we had a good weekend in which we spent lots of time outside.  We are planning to put in a fence along the backside of our yard soon, so Jeff got that measured out.  We are also planning to redo a lot of our landscaping, as what we currently have is ugly and dying.  As part of clearing out the old stuff, Jeff was raking next to the cracked concrete slab that currently serves as our patio (another future home improvement project), when he caught a whiff of something unpleasant.

Upon investigation, Jeff found that a young raccoon had crawled under the concrete slab and died.  Yes, it was beyond nasty, and Jeff had the unfortunate job of digging it out and disposing of it.  It’s now buried next to the guinea pigs along the back of our property and will probably be smack in the path of our hoped-for fence.

The joys of home ownership.

This has been a weird school week, as Charlotte and Elijah both took standardized tests yesterday and today with a homeschool organization to which we belong.  I have never had them tested before, but I figured, with Charlotte being in fifth grade, this was probably a good time to start.  After all, they will need to know how to fill in bubble sheets and work under time constraints eventually.  And I would like to know how they compare academically to other kids their age. 

While we won’t know the results for a couple of weeks, neither one say anything on the tests that they hadn’t seen before, so that was good news.  There was only one other child testing in the third grade with Elijah, so his room was able to complete the entire test in one day, rather than the two it took Charlotte.  Let’s hope that because Elijah found it easy and not because he was hurrying to get done!

This upcoming week brings spring break for the local schools, so that also means a slower week for us, as all activities, except for Charlotte’s soccer practice, are canceled.  Jeff’s parents were supposed to visit this weekend, but a death in the family changed those plans.

Jeff’s Aunt Carol, who is Jeff’s mom’s sister, lost her husband on Monday to a long struggle with pulmonary disease, so Jeff’s parents will be going to Virginia to attend his funeral.  George was a great guy, and we were very sad to hear the news.  As he was a veteran, he will be buried at Arlington Cemetery when those arrangements can be finalized.

Perhaps Jeff’s parents will be able to join us on Easter weekend.  We shall see.

And that’s what’s happening here!  Have a good one!

Food Fight

So, while Jeff was in Thailand a couple weeks back, I decided that I was tired of buying Jeremy baby food.  He has turned into a very persnickety eater, and I felt as if I were rinsing money down the drain every time I emptied out barely-eaten jars of many  kinds of food.

I figured that I could do just as well at home with a blender as I could paying for the jars.

Jeremy’s issues with food have multiple levels.  First, Jeremy is not a big fan of vegetables, particularly green ones, but some orange ones have always been on his spit list, too.  Second, anytime I tried to introduce any type of texture to him, he would visibly gag and then proceed to spit out any lumps that found their way into his mouth.  Third, although he likes fruit, if I tried to give him any fruits already mixed with cereal, he would gag and spit.  Fourth (and no judgments on this please!), he has absolutely zero interest in sippy cups, other than a fun thing with which to play and eventually throw on the floor.

Of course, I have never made my kids’ baby food before.  With Charlotte and Elijah, I bought jarred food until they moved to table food, and that was that.  I was becoming afraid that, if I did that with Jeremy, I would be buying jars until he was old enough for kindergarten.  As far as he’s concerned, if it’s not pureed, it’s not fit to go in his mouth.

In any case, the week before Jeremy turned one, I went to Walmart and bought a blender and many different varieties of frozen fruits and vegetables.  (I’m not yet motivated or desperate enough to buy fresh and prepare it that way.)  And since then, it’s been one big adventure after another.

We won’t dwell on the two times so far that I’ve put vegetables on the stove to boil and then left them there until all the water and, by extension, the nutrients, have boiled away.  In fact, I did this just today.  While the French tutor was here.  Leaving a lovely scorched smell throughout the house.  Poor Agathe asked Charlotte, “Is there a problem with whatever is on the stove?” 

“She even switched to English to ask me, Mom!”  Charlotte said.

We also probably shouldn’t dwell on the combinations of vegetables I’ve tried.  (Brussel sprouts and broccoli, anyone?  How about broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and carrots…all mixed together?)

I’ve done much better with the fruit, since much frozen fruit is premixed, and I usually have fresh bananas around to toss in.  Someone at our home school co-op last Friday made the brilliant suggestion to toss some spinach leaves in with the fruit, which doesn’t affect the flavor, only the color.  That’s worked marvelously.

Partially because of my vegetable debacles, I’ve started blending up our meals for Jeremy.  So far, I’ve had good luck with chicken pot pie and rosemary chicken with potatoes.  I just toss some in the blender, add milk, and end up with pureed Wilkes supper.  We’re having quiche tonight…wonder how that would work?

But today, after I scrapped the scorched vegetables, I boiled up another pot of peas and carrots and blended it with the water in which I cooked it.  And I scored a major food victory!  After gagging on the first bite, Jeremy proceeded to eat a big bowl of it!

Score!

Next battle…transitioning to a cup!

Baby Cake

So, the funniest story by far to come out of Jeremy’s first birthday is the matter of the gifts.

A couple weeks ago, I picked out this brightly-colored, battery-free (read: quiet), “Brilliant Basics,” Fisher Price toy for Jeremy called “Stack and Roll Cups.”  It has ten stackable half cups that can also be turned into balls, which means the child can have five balls to roll around, nest, or use to build a tower.  As babies remember nothing of their first few birthdays, I figured that this would be a great, inexpensive gift.

My dad came to visit this weekend, as he and Jeremy share a birthday, and he was watching when I brought out the Stack and Roll Cups to wrap.  “Uh-oh,” he told me.

Sure enough.  He had gotten the very same thing for Jeremy.  He had brought it out to the table already wrapped, so I hadn’t seen it.  “No problem,” I told him.  “I’ve got the receipt; I’ll just take ours back and get something else.”

Today, Jeff was talking with his parents, who are coming to visit in a couple weeks, between Jeremy and Elijah’s birthdays.  They mentioned that they had picked him up this neat little cup toy.  Jeff had them describe it further.

Sure enough.  Not only had my dad and I thought this would be a great gift for Jeremy, but Jeff’s parents did, also!  So, I suppose they, too, will be returning this fabulous toy, as one is quite enough for a certain one-year-old!

In any case, here is the birthday boy ripping into it.  He did much better with presents on this occasion than he did at Christmas.  How quickly they learn!

And, by the way, this really is a neat toy.  Jeff, Charlotte, and Elijah have joined some friends at Winter Jam, a big Christian concert tour with multiple, big-name artists, and Jeremy and I had some dedicated, floor playtime tonight.  He LOVES the Stack and Roll Cups.

Jeremy also got a board book from each sibling, which they picked out and paid for themselves with their allowance money. 

Of course, the best part of any first birthday party is the birthday cake!  Charlotte and Elijah absolutely love Funfetti cake mixes, so, when asked to help pick flavors for Jeremy’s cake, they unanimously agreed on a white Funfetti mix with chocolate Funfetti frosting.  I decided to make cupcakes, and I had some star-shaped foil holders, so Jeremy got one of those for his inaugural cake experience.

I must say that Jeremy was our daintiest baby with the cake.  He started out by poking at it and glancing up at us quizzically.  He then progressed to sticking his finger first in the frosting and then in his mouth and then looking at us some more.  When he realized that we were not going to stop him, he stopped looking at us and concentrated on clearing the cake of frosting and sucking it off his fingers.

Jeremy was pretty cute!  He wasn’t a big fan of the cake, but he surely did enjoy the chocolate frosting.  When he finished up, I took him straight from his chair to the bathtub!

Happy Birthday, dear Jeremy!

Jeremy’s First Haircut

As promised, here is Jeremy before…

…during…

…and after his very first haircut.

He was so good.  He just sat in Jeff’s lap, laughed, smiled, and let Lisa work!  A few times, he jerked his head around, and she had to re-grab his hair, but there was no crying or trying to climb down.

And so it begins…the transformation from baby to little boy!

I’m heading down to watch some basketball, so I’ll try to post birthday cake pictures tomorrow.  Have a great Sunday!

Happy April!

Well, I’ve been out of touch for awhile, so I thought I’d check in.

Jeff went to Thailand again last week and arrived home last night.  His travel always makes things a bit more hectic for me around here, so I thought a bit about blogging…and that’s all the farther I got!

All things considered, we had a pretty smooth week, for which I am very grateful.  I managed to get in a ten-mile run with my women’s group on Saturday and get to my book club on Wednesday while he was out of town, so that was good.

Our big news is that Jeremy turns one tomorrow!  My dad has come for a visit, as he and Jeremy share a birthday.  Tomorrow, the kids have their first spring soccer games, and Jeremy will get his first haircut.  I’ll be sure to post some before and after pictures.  I did get his one-year pictures made on Thursday, though, as I wanted those done before we got his hair cut.  I think that he’ll go from looking like a baby to looking like a little boy.  That first haircut always ages a baby!

But it’s definitely time.  Jeremy can hardly see through the mop on his head anymore.

And I guess that’s about it for now.  Hope things are well your way!