Goodbye Grumpy.

We got some sad news at the end of our Vegas trip...Grumpy (Great Grandpa Hettinger) passed away on August 1, 2009. Although we didn't get to visit with him too often, Grumpy was one of Ryan's favorite people. He talked about him often, and would ask me when he was going to get to see Grumpy again. (He lived in Chicago). Grumpy would make a growling sound that the kids loved, and he had "cool stuff" on his walker according to Ryan- blinking lights and a horn the kids loved to honk over and over and over.
In case you are wondering, I have no idea how Grumpy got his nickname...he had a great sense of humor and never seemed grumpy to me! =)

Here is a picture of the two buddies bonding over some M&Ms (thanks Kathy!) on a recent (and last) visit to Chicago on June 21.

This photo is from a visit in October 2008 when Kathy and Grumpy came down for a visit and we met at MacDonalds for breakfast.

Grumpy's funeral was held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. His grandchildren were pallbearers, and Ryan wanted to help out as well, so he "held" up the rear of the casket helping out daddy and his cousins.

In preparation for the day, I'd gone to the library and checked out some books for Ry about death. So, he did have some understanding. He didn't seem afraid at all, and he didn't cry. At the wake, he told me he wanted to go see Grumpy, and he went right up to his casket (Ryan called this his treasure chest for some reason) and held his hand and then flew a toy airplane he had in his pocket all around Grumpy, letting it come to rest on his tie lapel.

A few days before the funeral, Ryan told me that he wanted to make a letter to put on top of Grumpy's casket so that they would not dig up Grumpy and take him. I have no idea where he got that idea from (church, where they thought maybe thieves had stolen Jesus' body?) but he seemed to forget about it later, and we never did this.

While I think Julia won't ever remember much of this day, she did have a little idea of what was going on. She told me she wanted to see Grumpy, so we walked up to the casket, and she said "Bye, bye Grumpy" while waving to him.

Grumpy will be missed!

Vegas!

Jeff had a conference and meeting here this week for work. I decided to tag along! Thanks to my parents, Amy & Jeff, Patrick & Crystal and Grandma & Grandpa Schuette who all pitched in helping to watch the kids, we were FREE! =)

SO...what does a girl do with no babies and a husband in a conference all day? I slept in, I shopped, I sat by the pool, I got in the pool (it was 115 F one day!), I people watched, I read 2 books, I ate food I didn't prepare (and didn't have a hot dog or mac n' cheese all week!) and shopped some more! It was AMAZING.

Then I'd meet up with Jeff in the evenings for dinner and such...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? (kidding!).

Who's Who?

I recently received a letter in the mail from "Biltmore Who's Who" that said:

"You were recently chosen as a potential candidate to represent the professional and business community of St. Louis, MO in the Biltmore 2009 Honors Edition of Who's Who Among Executives and Professional Women.

We are pleased to notify you that your candidacy was formally approved July 9, 2009."

Huh. Really??

Mandy Lowe, the Registry Administrator, goes on to ask a few questions of me to be included in the publication.

Job Title: SAHM
Industry: Survival
Personal Speciality: Over the last 4 years I have become quite the train track layout builder. I specialize in Thomas wooden, Thomas plastic, Thomas take-a-long, GeoTrax, and most recently Lego train has been added to my repertoire. In the previous 2 years, my girlie skills and knowledge of the Disney princesses has greatly increased.

Think they will revoke my candidacy? =)

Transportation Museum

Julia and Ryan pose for me in front of a train on display at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. We went with some friends today and everyone had a great time!

Julia tried to follow Ryan, Nicolas, Lexi, Aiden, Sydni, and Gavin up in this train and realized she was not quite as tall as the "big" kids! She did a great job trying to keep up! (Oh..except for the times she insisted on me carrying her. I think my arms got their workout today!)

Ry busy at work trying to move the train.

The kids all loved the train ride we took at the end of our day!

A Day of Blessings

Today we had some "fun mail" in our box! Aunt Kathy and Grumpy's neighbors remembered how much Ryan loves trains and picked up these cute train whistles for the kids.

My parents returned home from Texas and my mom found the bomb of all deals on hairbows...she got a dozen of this huge size Julia loves for $16! I usually pay $8 for one!

My neighbor, Kelli is moving this week and thought of Julia to gift a full bag of some cutie shoes her daughters have outgrown. Julia is starting to wonder if this is Christmas or her birthday. =)

My grandma/pa came by to visit and brought some tomatoes and cucumbers from their garden...talk about a yummy dinner cut up with some feta cheese and some balsamic!

And the princess models one of her new bows.
We are SO BLESSED!!
Thank you!!

Silly Gooses

We had a fun day today hanging with Aunt Stacy!

(I think the camera battery is getting low?!)

When Daddy Wakes Up Early With The Kids...

Mommy might come downstairs to find Julia dressed in her jammie top, orange tennis skirt and sunglasses...eating her umpteenth cinnamon roll...and she won't even care, because she enjoyed sleeping in, and everyone is having fun.

Ry and Mattie sittin' in a tree...

Humm..should I hold her hand?

Aww..no way, I couldn't possibly try that!
But I can slyly put my arm around her neck...

...and if I act fast, I can plant a wet one on her cheek! Score!

Cousin playdate

Today Krista and I brought the kids to the park to hang out. Julia kept trying to hold Tyler's hand, but he wasn't feeling so friendly about that!

When you live with a 4 year old boy...

...you might be doing laundry in the other room and hear, "Mommy, I am SO SORRY!"

And when you walk in to find out what he is sorry about, you might hear, "I was building a fire and the bowl broke."

And you will try and remember to be thankful for his imagination. You will remind him that you love people and not things, although that still means we need to be careful and take care of our things...

And then your heart will be warmed when he smiles and his baby sister pats him on the arm saying over and over, "It's ok, Ry Ry. It's ok."

And then you will try and remember that heart warming feeling just 15 minutes later when this same 4 year old boy drags a stool into the bathroom, stands on it, and tries to use the toilet from "up high" to see what will happen. (A mess--and I did NOT get a photo of this scene. =) ).

Chicago Weekend

In a moment of insanity, we decided to plan a weekend trip to Chicago...and bring the kids...on the 5 hour train ride. (Ok, so it was a bit chaotic at times, but still way fun...and the kids made many memories. Mission accomplished!)They thought the view out our hotel window was SUPER DUPER COOL.

Ryan poses in front of the massive Lego city and gives me the "I'm too cool for this" look.

Julia hangs on tight to Daddy in the pool.Daddy is SO READY to move on from the American Girl store.

Ry and his Starbucks steamed milk, which he later proclaims "I don't like this!"

Julia drank her milk the entire walk back from Starbucks to our hotel room (Yes, she went in her jammies!). Then when Ryan stated that he didn't like his, she changed her mind as well. Right after this pic, she threw it on the ground and said "I don't want this!" Spanking #1 of the trip. =)

Julia was SO EXCITED to introduce her Bitty Baby to all the other American Girl dolls and get her photo taken on the red carpet.

Julia, Ryan and Jake.

"I 'ant this one, Mommy!" Julia tells me. I think if I buy another stroller Daddy will disown us both, so we leave the stroller display and babies at the store. She sure has a very convincing look though, doesn't she? "Please??" Daddy nearly caves, but the his "manliness" is already being very tested in this store. =)

Yippee! We wait to take a boat ride on Lake Michigan!

Jake, Taran and Josh chill out on the boat.

Ry, me, Jeff and Julia on the boat...she looks mad, doesn't she. She actually really loved the ride. I think she wanted Daddy to stop squeezing her so tight!

View of Chicago from Lake Michigan

The kids enjoy climbing around the bottom of a dinosaur at The Museum of Natural History near Grant Park after having a "picnic lunch" with hot dogs from a street vendor and ice cream sandwiches.
The kids chow down on some MacDonalds on the train ride home.

Cinderella Convo

Julia (calling out): Cinderella!
Ryan: Silly goose, she is far away.
Julia: No, she's not! Cinderella!
Ryan: She lives very far away. Her house is far away. She can't hear you.
Julia: Yes! She is here!!

And tonight at dinner last night:

Me: Julia, are you my cutie putootie?

Julia: No, I'm daddy's baby.

Poison Control

We are fairly familiar with poison control around here. We've had to call them now several times. Three prior occasions that I can think of. In the last year. (Benadryl, Bath & Body Works liquid hand soap, and Johnson's baby lotion - all things Ry decided to eat). I'm considering just adding them to my wireless phone's speed dial after we experienced #4 last night.

We decide to go visit our local ice cream hangout before the softball game as to not get the kids to bed so crazy late...again.
We arrive at said ice cream place, and Ryan tells me he will be eating his ice cream in the car so that the bugs don't get him.
Well, any sane mother (and I was still sane at this point) would never allow this mess in a vehicle, so I told him he needed to get out and I proceeded to spray him down with bug spray.
Then Ryan, Julia and I go sit down at a table while Jeff goes up and orders our treats.
I absentmindedly (big mistake!) am sitting next to Ryan as he is licking his arms. He licks, and licks, and licks. And after a few moments of this...

Ryan: Mommy, this is too spicy for me!
Me: What??
Ryan (as he is taking another lick of his arm): This is too spicy for me!
Me: Huh?! No!! STOP! Why are you licking your arms?! Augh!?! Ry, STOP!

I get up and run to the car to read the back label on the bug spray.
"Hazzards to humans and domestic animals. Warning. Causes substantial but temporary eye injury. Harmful if swallowed. Do not get in eyes. Use of this product may cause skin reactions in rare cases. Wash treated clothing before wearing it again. Wash hands before eating, drinking, chewing gum, using tobacco or using the toilet.
If swallowed, call a poison control center or doctor immediately for treatment advice. Have person sip a glass of water if able to swallow. Do not induce vomiting unless told to do so by a poison control center or doctor. Do not give anything by mouth to an unconscious person."

I must say, I was more annoyed than anything. At my boy. And tired. I don't know why he must lick everything. Ok, I do. It's something sensory. But it is getting crazy annoying. And I was tired and he wasn't unconscious. So I decided to take our chances. I mean, if he became unconscious, we would just stop feeding him the ice cream, right? (It's a joke!)

Usually I freak out about these types of things. Play it cautiously. Better safe than sorry. Tonight, I decided to just ignore this issue. Did I mention how tired I've been from all the summertime "fun"? When Jeff got back to our table, I told him what happened. He went to read the back of the label. And then he made the call this time...which surprised me a bit since he really has more of the "we survived eating all kinds of stuff when we were kids and lived to talk about it" attitude. Since it was probably less than 1 tsp, they thought we were fine. But they gave us a case number, and called back to check up on his condition 1 hour after ingestion and again this morning.

Oh, what fun BOYS are!!!

We're back!

I think this is the longest "break" I've ever taken from blogging. We are okay here...thanks for all of you who have asked what's happening. It is neat-o (and a bit humbling) knowing you all care so much, and it was fun hearing from people I never even knew read our blog who checked in. We are GREAT! Just summertime busy, and blogging just seemed to be that thing I dropped in order to get an extra 10 minutes of sleep in each night or the laundry folded! =)

So, please, if we go on another little haitus, don't worry! Remember the saying "no news is good news" totally applies!
By the way, my little guy is now swimming. All by himself. In the deep end. Off the diving board. With a lifejacket when Mommy is in charge, and without when Daddy is in charge. Because this is one of those "rules" we don't agree on.

Julia and I shared a sweet girlie moment recently...she walked into my closet, pulled out a dress and said "Oh, Mommy, this one is so pretty!" I am sure someday I'll cringe at her fashion awareness, but it was a sweet little closet chatter for now!

Julia has gotten much braver at the pool this past month. Emily and I brought the kids earlier this week and she actually told Em to scoot out of her way so she could jump. Geez, I think we're really going to have to keep our eyes on this daring one!

Ryan continues to request we call him "Peter" at random times.

The kids enjoy hanging all over Emily in the pool. She is such a good sport!

More summer fun...loving on Kate.

Playing with our baby dolls...

Going on bike rides to the park.

Celebrating 1/2 birthdays and playing with our cousins.

Let's see..since my last update, we've celebrated my mom's birthday, had KBK at our church, I've played (gasp!) golf with some girlfriends, lots and lots of tennis, Jeff has had tons of softball games, Father's Day fun, occupational therapy for Ryan (which our insurance company has denied coverage...and I am busy fighting them on, yet another time-sucker lately!), girls night to Pie and Moonrise Hotel, we've been in a minor rear-end accident on our way to the lake (not our fault) and are looking for a new SUV with third row seating (not due to the accident), playdates, pooltime, kid's birthday parties, and lunch with out of town friends and family...it's been nonstop BUSY!
I'm so grateful the kids are at the ages they are, because they have been total TROOPERS as we've dragged them all over the place this summer!

Thanks for missing us...I'll try and not be such a stranger! =)