Grandpa

It's been quite a couple weeks.  The last week in June I thought to myself, "July is going to ROCK.  Our schedule completely opens up."  And then life happened.  Instead of nothing going on, life is going on. Grandpa Harold had to have surgery and is struggling through recovery. Honestly, we are all struggling.

When Kevin and I got married, I was asked a lot if I was going to hyphenate my name.  (That got old, fast!) Even though I never considered it, I was a little sad to change my last name.  Not because it's a great last name but because it's my grandpa's name.  When strangers would see my last name, I was often asked if I was related to Harold.  I'd tell them I was his granddaughter and their comments were always positive. Rather they knew him from his work on the city council or if they had him as a principal, they always had something sweet to tell me about my grandpa. He's made such a positive impact on his community - East Peoria is a better place because of his hard work and dedication.

He and I have always been close, always.  I would tell you that I'm his favorite grandchild.  As a kid, I really believed that.  As an adult, I'm willing to bet that my brother and cousins would tell you that they thought they were his favorite.  That's how he loves us - fiercely, unconditionally, wholeheartedly.  I'm crazy lucky to get to call him grandpa.  I've realized over the last couple weeks what I'm especially thankful for is that his legacy will live in my kids and my niece and nephew.

And then there is his faith.  He has a quiet faith.  He doesn't preach at us, he shows us his faith by living a good life.  I've never heard him say a bad thing about anyone, ANYONE.  Every morning he reads his Upper Room and when he was able, he went to church (in a suit!) every Sunday.  I truly believe he tries his best to live his life as Jesus taught us.

So as he fights to recover from surgery, I'm remaining hopeful and thankful.  Praying.  And looking through some old pics that bring back fond memories.  Thanks to all of my amazing friends and family who have been so supportive these past few weeks.  I'm so blessed.

A Sneaky Surprise

I have a very dear friend who celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary yesterday. That's right - 60 years!!  She's a great role model in so many ways and this is one more to add to the list.  To celebrate the day, the boys and I did a little sidewalk chalk surprise.  We hid while another one of my friends went in and distracted Darlene.  We all had fun being sneaky!  The end result....

Pretty blurry but you get the idea - Thanks Barb for coordinating this! What a fun experience!!

The other ladies in our small group pitched in to get her flowers and a gift card.  Beautiful flowers for a beautiful couple!

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”  C.S. Lewis

Friday Favorites

1. BASEBALL!  What a fun week of baseball!  First AJ - he had a couple good hits this week from the machine.  It's been a hard week for him because he is SO tired but he turned it around this week during baseball games.

Pitching

Catching

Does it get any cuter than this??

Seriously!  Cutest Cub ever!! 

Look at that stretch.

And then there was Tyler.  It's tournament time for Single A players.  The way the schedule looked, he could potentially have played Mon-Thursday this week.  They won their game on Monday.

It was a close one though - see that score in the back!

"Thanking" coach Chris for his hard work

And Coach Kevin

And Coach Shannon - he was caught off guard

And since they won on Monday.  They played on Tuesday.  No pictures of this game because I was too high-strung.  LOL!!  They won!  It was so exciting for the boys because they got beat by this team pretty bad last time we played them and this game they won 15-2.  What a night!  Now we wait until Monday to play!

2. Saturday night with friends. We had date night with some good friends.  It was nice to get out and relax not to mention a great dinner at Centro!

3. Managing our schedule. This has become a full-time job/stress for me - between managing our sitters while we are at work to figuring out on which baseball fields we play.  I'm a planner and God's teaching me some lessons right now on NOT worrying and living in the moment.  I can't plan because I don't know what we have going on from night-to-night.  It's worked out.  Every night - it has worked out.

4.  Date night with AJ. Tyler had a birthday party to go to on Wednesday and Kevin was out of town.  Which means I had some 1:1 time with AJ.  What a great date!  He picked Pizza Ranch (shocking)!  Because it was just the two of us - he did a lot of talking.  It was awesome.... and he even opened the car door for me in the parking lot.  You are welcome future-daughter-in-law!  :)

5.  Dentist - We are so lucky to have a great dentist who referred us to a great orthodontist.  Took the boys to their first orthodontist appointment at ages 7 and 9.  WHAT!!?  Unfortunately, both boys have to have some teeth pulled.  Fortunately, we are blessed with care providers for the boys that I totally trust!

Joe.

We have this problem with wildlife at our house.  We had a bird literally fly IN our house last summer.  Luckily, Kevin the Bird Whisper was here and quickly got the bird out of the house before any damage was done.  I really don't know what I would have done if he hadn't been here. 

Fast forward to this summer and apparently that bird's close relative heard how fun our house is. I was upstairs and Tyler comes running up to let me know there was a bird in the garage.  I go down to find this.

Of course I start screaming to close the door - because Kevin is NOT home and I do NOT want this bird in my house.  (Notice they have baseball bats in their hands??  Mean boys.)  The also had worms they were trying to lure him with... like how you would lure a dog with a treat.  Such helpers.

I hit the garage door button thinking the sound would get the bird off my car but he just flew up on the garage door motor.  I pressed it again and he flew onto our shelf (after flying into the wall a few times and making a very disturbing sound.)  So, then I start freaking out because I do NOT need a bird with a concussion in my garage.  He finally got his wits about him and did this...

Yep, left his mark on AJ's basketball.  Fortunately the Bird Whisperer showed up again and took care of Joe.  Did I forget to mention, the boys named the bird Joe? And two days later, Joe came back.  And Kevin sent him away.... again.  Poor Joe.

Friday Favorites

1.  First full week of summer vacation means summer hours!! (Fridays off for me and half days for Kevin!!!)

2.  Golf fore a Cause outing on Monday. We weren't the big winners this year but it was still FUN!  I only whiffed once and didn't lose any golf balls. That being said, Kevin made quite the journey to save my favorite golf ball that I hit into a rock retaining wall. My hero. 💖  Not sure what's up with my posture in this picture....(and I did change out of my flip flops before we golfed!)

3.  Speaking of Kevin, he passed his CPCU test on Thursday. He studies so hard for those - so happy for him to have another test completed!!

4.  A week with some fun baseball with decent weather. Decent. Not perfect. At least I wasn't wrapped in a blanket at all of the games. I was wrapped in a blanket at some of the games… But not all of the games!

5.  The Summer Fun Bucket List is ready!!  New approach this year.  I hate this door to the garage so since I can't change it, I'm embracing it.  The boys had SO much fun doing this.  They may love the cricut as much as me!

(Turns out blog posts don't post if you don't post them.  This was last week.  A new Friday Favorites to come tomorrow! )  :)

School's Out for Summer...

Too bad it doesn't feel like summer.

Yikes!  The last day of school was quite a day.  First of all, I always find myself a little on the emotional side the last day of school. It's just another significant day that reminds me how fast these little guys are growing up.  I now have a 4th grader and 2nd grader.  How did that happen?!?

1st Day of School 2012-13

Last Day of School 2012-13

1st Day of School 2012-13

Last Day of School 2012-13

I think the biggest change this year was in their teeth.  We lost a LOT of teeth this school year.  Their smiles have totally changed!!

In third grade, Tyler had to have his planner signed by a parent every night.  I would estimate that 70% of the time, I signed it in the morning instead of at night.  I told Tyler it would be a great accomplishment if on the last day of school, we had his planner signed the night before.  Guess what!!  We failed.  :(  A little photo reminder of the ol' planner!!

And then for the real fun!  Our plans were to have some friends over after school to celebrate summer.  I threw a really fun "Welcome to Summer Party" last year and was hoping for a repeat performance.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on my side this year... not to mention I simply ran out of time to plan.  So, the kids were going to walk home from school with friends and we were just going to hang out.  About a half  hour before school got out, it started raining.  Not sprinkling.  Not spring showers.  Cats and Dogs raining.  So, I decided to drive over to get the kids - and to leave early as I was anticipating a nightmare in the parking lot with LOTS of parents picking up kids on the last day of school.

As I pulled up to the school, the storm sirens start going off.  Because these have always been "tornado" sirens to me, panic instantly set in.  I pulled into the parking lot and the school alarms started to go off.  I sat in my car and didn't know what to do.  Then I realized I was an ADULT and I needed to go inside!  LOL.  Amazing how you freeze sometimes.  So I ran inside in the downpour - tried to go down the hallway to AJ's classroom.  (I was hoping to let a friend in the side door so she didn't have to run to the front.)  As I got to his hallway, I found a LOCKED hallway door.  I've never seen these doors closed, let alone locked.  So, I turn around and head for a hallway that will take me to Tyler's hallway.  Luckily, I was able to get to the third grade pod.  I instantly saw his teacher who waived me over.  His whole class was huddled as you do for a tornado drill.  She showed me where Ty was so I went over and rubbed his back.  When he looked up his eyes were red and I could tell he, too, was scared... but a little relieved that I was there.

This story could go on for much longer but I know I won't forget it.  Basically, I couldn't get to AJ because he was in PE which made me stress more.  I tried to stay calm but was so glad when we got the "all clear".... which happened 40 minutes(ish) after school SHOULD have been out.  Tyler and I headed to AJ's class as soon as we were "dismissed" and I hugged the heck out of him.  Then we went to find the friends that the boys should have walked home with. Then, of course, we couldn't get out of the parking lot because everyone was trying to leave.  What a relief it was to get home!

As the adults shared stories about the day, we had the kids demonstrate what they did at the end of the 2012-13 school year!  A last day of school that we will NOT soon forget!!

How was the last day of school you ask?  CrAZy!!

Memorial Day - Chicago Style

This time of year is soooo busy.  I don't know what I was thinking suggesting that we go to Chicago Memorial Day weekend.... but I'm soooo glad I did.  We had such a FUN weekend with a little break from work (for me) and from studying for the CPCU (for Kevin).

We drove to Illinois on Friday when Kevin got off work and headed to Pekin.  Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to LegoLand.  Tyler and AJ have been begging to go to LegoLand.  Me, I've been a little skeptical of the place.  I used to work at an indoor playground for kids.  Somewhere between 18 and 36, I have lost the patience for such places.  That being said, my little guys want to go, I'll go.

After a loooong wait in the "VIP" line, I said a prayer for patience and off we went.  Much to my surprise, this place was really nice.  Lots of cool lego sculptures, a couple 4D movies, a few rides, and a little lesson on how legos are made.  All in all, a fun experience!

The Lego Hippo had a stinky bottom.

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Ready for our 4D Lego Movie!

  

And then, off the ballpark!  So my awesome in-laws wanted to take the boys to a baseball game and treat them to some A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. seats.... and since I'm their mama... I got to go too.  Skip said this was something everyone should get to do once in their lifetime.  I'm hoping to be an over-achiever and sit in these seats again sometime.  Perhaps, I will treat my future-daughter-in-law to this same experience.  :)

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Ate our way through the ballpark...

Boys got to see their FIRST White Sox victory!  Guess having us sit in the scout seats was good luck!  (And yes, this was Memorial Day weekend.  Yes, we had to wear sweatshirts!)  Thank you Skip and Debbie!  This was a weekend I won't forget!!