Sunday Rolls

We've been terrible about Andi's diet lately. Really terrible. I've noticed a big difference in her comprehension and behavior, so I decided we'd had enough. Thing is, I had lots of stuff we needed to use. So I made cinnamon rolls. Four pans went to neighbors and the missionaries, we had one. And now all of the non-Paleo friendly things are out of the house, we didn't waste anything, and we had one last hoorah before we dig into our veggie-stuffed fridge.

In other news, Andi has been wandering around the house this last week singing. She makes up songs, she sings songs we sing during FHE or when she is at nursery... It makes me happy to hear her singing.

During Conference this last April someone gave a talk and he mentioned that a child who sings is a happy child. I believe that it certainly applies to Andi. I might need to introduce Elder Falabella to David, though. A couple years ago I heard David pounding on the piano and singing "My fish is dead!" bangbangbang!!! "My friends are dead!" bangbangbangbang!!! "And sooooooooomebody KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLED my parents!!" When I asked him what he was singing he gave me a serious look and whispered, "The Deadly Song."

Um.... yeah. Happy child.

But Andi is happy! I hope. No death songs from her!

Walking is very beneficial exercise

No gonna lie, life has really been rough lately. Between running around all over creation last week for Peter's surgery stuff and just maintaining some sense of order at home I was maxed out. Jonathan's counselor suggested he get out and go camping by himself sometimes, and I totally agreed. We planned to drive him up to a site and let him camp for a week, kid-free, so he could recharge. So he decided to fix a few things on the car (thanks, Hon!!) and make sure we wouldn't end up stranded anywhere while he was gone.

Well, he found a bolt on the brakes that was stripped out. Not good. So we postponed his departure a day and took the car to the shop for an eval. Prognosis was not good. General wear-and-tear is getting to the car and the mechanic didn't even want to watch Jonathan drive off the lot. Tie-rods (??) need replacing, brake bolts need fixing, and something about the rods and pistons for a power steering leak... I dunno! Crazy car speak, I don't speak it. But it all adds up to lots of $$, and suddenly Jonathan's trip got canceled.

I was certainly tired of getting thousands of dollars of bad news, and I needed to walk it off. So I walked to our garden. It was a beautiful, 6.6 mile walk (I measured it later). And by the time I'd gotten to the garden I'd had time to process things, feel a bit better, and handle life. I called Jonathan and had him pick me up (I had HUGE blisters on my feet and was quite sore), and arrived home feeling much better. Not better about our circumstances, but better about handling them. Time with God will do that to a person. I guess I just sort of realized how true it is that a journey begins and ends with a single step. And really, I can only take life one step at a time, so why be so stressed about it? Being miserable sucks, and since I've got a choice between misery and being happy... Well, I've been trying the miserable thing and it just ain't fun. I think I'll choose happy. And take life a step at a time. :)

The next day I was hurting. Hips, feet, legs, back. Sore doesn't even cover. So we walked it off with a half mile family walk to DQ where they were having a special on ice cream sandwiches because someone didn't come and pick up the 300 boxes they'd ordered.

 Even Pete got a tiny taste of the ice cream part. He thought it was really cold.

We enjoyed the time together, then set off for home. We stopped and let Peter observe the leaves as we went.

Tomorrow we're all taking another walk. To pick up a rental car so we can drop off our van at the mechanic. That's a three mile walk.

One step at a time. :)

Peter's Teeth

Peter had a few days where he was inconsolable that last week of July. I hardly slept, Jonathan definitely didn't sleep, and Peter cried and cried. We finally realized that he'd cut a tooth a few days after it had been there a while. It explained a lot.

We've finally gotten a surgery date for Peter's teeth. Next Friday he will be the first one in the OR, so we have to have him in at the children's hospital an hour away at 6:00 a.m. As he still nurses through the night I am really terrified of next Thursday night. I have a feeling we will not sleep at all. But it will be worth it to finally have Peter's lip tie resolved, be able to nurse freely and without pain, and to have the ugly, giant cavities he has fixed. Poor baby. :(

In other news, that BABY is standing on his own! He has been practicing standing for a whole week now, and he's getting really good. I'm a little upset about that because every time I see him at it I make him sit down. I know that as soon as he starts standing he will start walking, and then he will start running, and then he really won't be a baby anymore. I'm not ready for that, nor am I ready to run after him. I know it is going to happen eventually, but I'd be happy if he'd wait another six months before he decided he was ready to walk. Crazy baby.

And now, for some real, baby cuteness:

And if you are wondering why his eye is so red it is because his blocked tear duct has been really awful lately. Again, Poor baby. He'll probably have ANOTHER procedure for that one, it hasn't cleared up at all since birth. :(

Long awaited visitor

The tooth fairy is coming to visit tonight for the first time...

That tooth has been loose for months but David has been afraid to wiggle it. This morning he used his teeth to pull apart a lego (yes, we told him what a terrible idea that is), and it REALLY loosened that tooth. Five minutes later he came back in the room visibly shaken, tooth in hand. But he quickly got excited because he'll be getting a dollar from the tooth fairy. :)

And now I find myself strangely attached to that baby tooth. I half mocked my mom a few weeks ago when she said she kept all of our baby teeth. But after getting that little thing in my hand I sort of understand why she did it... Sorry, Mom! I should know better than to say "I'll never do that" because I invariably do exactly what I swore I'd never do (the one exception is licking my thumb to clean my kids' faces. I was never a fan of having spit rubbed on my face, pretty sure I would have gotten in big trouble if I'd licked my mom's face. I swore as a kid that I'd always have wipes to do that with my kids. And I have. Always. I've never used my spit to clean a face.).

So David carefully, and proudly, placed his baby tooth in his tooth fairy pillow. I'm sure he fell asleep thinking of all the things he was going to buy. And tonight I will dream of baby teeth, big teeth, and the looming need for braces.

Nauvoo Road Trip: Day 3

Our second morning in Nauvoo dawned bright and beautiful! The bells in the temple's clock-tower signaled 7:00 a.m. and we all rolled out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Or bushy-haired:

We worked around camp and packed most everything up and got ready to leave. David wandered around collecting a few more cicada shells to add to his collection:

 He ended up with over 20 all together. He was quite proud of those little shells. Ew. Such a boy. He liked the ones that took team work the best. Jonathan would hold David up on his shoulders so David could reach them. Those were David's favorite bugs.

After breakfast we went on the oxen ride. Learned an interesting fact about oxen: oxen is not a different breed of cattle, they ARE cattle trained to haul and work. They are called oxen because of the work they do.

So these guys, Owen and Jesse, are Hereford cattle, a breed with which I am well acquainted! They were quite gentle and liked being pet by the kids.

 Peter was dead asleep. Poor boy just needed the sleep, he got a handful of twenty minute naps over the course of the three days we were gone.

This guys was very knowledgeable and told us all about oxen and their perks to the early church members: oxen were cheap, you didn't have to bring grain to supplement the grass, required less tack (in fact they needed no extra gear beyond the yoke), they were slower and matched a person's walking speed, they were stronger, and they tasted better if you had to put one down for some reason.

 Also learned that the oxen wagons could fit more in them because you didn't need to have a seat for a driver. Horses you drive from the cart, oxen you lead by a rope. Thought that was an interesting tidbit.

After the wagon ride we drove by the temp and went and looked around. Jonathan and I had seen the temple up close, but the kids had not. I think they enjoyed it...

 As we were leaving the temple's front steps a man stopped us and told David to come up the steps. The man ran inside and grabbed something for him to read. Turns out it was the temple president (I remembered him from the day before). He was a very nice man and that he took a moment out of his day to point out some fun stuff about the temple to David meant a lot to me. He probably does that all the time, but it was special anyway.

After that we went to the tinsmith's shop, then the gunsmith's home. David and Jonathan made it through with Peter...

 ... Andi reached the end of her rope so I went outside with her. She chased after a butterfly for a while and I the Nauvoo Brass Band. They ride around in a wagon playing old songs and hymns. At some point I heard them playing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" down the road. I started to sing along, then realized half-way through the second verse that they had noticed I was singing and they stopped in front of me! I happily sang the third verse as loud as I could with them and clapped as they finished their song. I was the only one clapping, but it was a fun moment. Andi told me I was silly, but she was smiling, too.

Then on back to the Red Brick store. We got the kids some treats and I went upstairs.

This room actually felt really special. The Relief Society was organized here, and I was happy to see the room where such a strong organization of women was established. The store is happily situated with the front facing east towards the rest of town, and the back overlooking the Mississippi river. I think of all of the places we saw that room was one of my favorites.

Our last stop for our trip was to go to the place where everyone loaded their wagons onto ferries and left their beautiful homes, the temple they'd worked and sacrificed so much to build, and most of their prized possessions.

From that point at the river you could turn around and look back up into the city. During the winter, when they were fleeing the mobs, they could have looked straight through the city and up to their temple. That must have been so hard for them.

 But I'm so grateful for their sacrifice. Without it I would not be who I am today, nor would I know Heavenly Father and Christ the way I do.

After that we packed up the rest of our things and hit the road. We stopped in Peoria for dinner and had IHOP (they don't have those here in Michigan).

We hit the road again and didn't stop again until well after dark.

We finally arrived back home around 3:00 a.m.

Jonathan and I actually started making a list for the next time we go and what we'd do differently. Jonathan really would like to go back, I think it would be fun to go and be in the pageant some time (they have families in the cast and you go for a two-week rotation). So someday when we have the chance it is something we'd like to do. It is definitely something that we'd like to take more than two days to go and do. Two days time was enough to just knick the surface of everything you can do in Nauvoo. But this short trip was just exactly what our family needed to regroup and get away from life for a time.

Nauvoo Road Trip: Day 2

Friday morning we met up early with Chandler and went to the temple. Gorgeous and peaceful, as always. HUGE thanks go to Kirsten for watching the kids for us and making that possible! Love that girl!

After that LUNCH, and then we hit the sites. Brickyard first!

On the way Peter and Andi fell asleep. Cute kids, we carried them into the cool and Peter slept most of the presentation.

They gave us a really nifty Nauvoo brick for learning all about bricks and how they used to be made. Pretty neat! Next up was the Family Living Center. I taught the dear lady giving the demo on spinning how to spin wool (ha!) and then we learned how they used to make bread in bustle ovens. I've decided I want a bustle oven someday... ;) We saw the bakery, and rode around a couple miles trying to figure out if we were taking Chandler hostage or not. Jonathan actually rode his bike back to the camp site and drove the car down to get Chandler's bags. In the end Chandler couldn't make it, but I'm holding her to a trip in December!

Then we rode down to the Red Brick Store and checked out the fun stuff they had there.

 They have rootbeer, home brewed, that is amazing. The cap FLEW off the top and into my hand. Scared me half to death, but it showed just how fresh and good the rootbeer was. Auntie Chandler also spoiled Andi and got her a stick of rock candy. David, at this point, had thrown a ROYAL fit and actually fell asleep in the car and wasn't able to get any candy.

 (Poor Andi and her dark circled eyes. We were all really tired by this point.)

After the store I had to drop Chandler off with her group and say good-bye (for now. CHRISTMAS, CHANDLER!!!!)

We went up and did some window shopping in town, then hunted down a glass guy that I remembered from the first time I went to Nauvoo when I was a kid. We asked around and found him! Jim Topic; he doesn't have a website, but if ever you go to Nauvoo he is down Warsaw a ways and TOTALLY worth the detour. He has a beautiful shop, and he's got these window hangs that are gorgeous medallion replicas of the sun, moon, and star stones on the temple.

After our shopping we went back to the campsite, ate dinner, then drove (we were definitely tired of riding up and down the hills by now) back to the pageant to do the games and activities they had at their carnival.

We got a really cheap snow cone as a treat and went back to the campsite when the pageant started. As we'd already seen it we figured we would get out quickly before the traffic hit. We actually were asleep when things ended and everyone got back to their campsites. 

When they talk about Nauvoo being an old swamp and mosquito infested they really weren't kidding. I counted a grand total of 52 bites when we got home, and that's just my legs. Every street light we passed looked like this:

And that still is not an accurate picture of how thick those blasted things were. So lesson learned: if you don't care about the pageant, go to Nauvoo while it is still a tad chilly and frosty outside and before the bugs come out. If you want to see the pageant wear pants and a light-weight long-sleeve shirt.

Nauvoo Road Trip : Day 1

When things got hectic a few weeks ago Jonathan and I decided we needed to get away from the house and all the crazy and go on a family vacation. We decided on Nauvoo, Il, so we could tour the church history sites and see his sister, Kirsten, and my friend, Chandler. It was a much needed trip, and the kids did surprisingly well on the road.

We got off a lot later than we planned (by two hours, we got on the road at 7:30 a.m.) and got stuck in traffic in the middle of nowhere I-94, so we were pretty delayed. Not as delayed as some, though, if we'd been on time we actually would have gotten stuck in worse traffic. A Greyhound bus rear-ended a semi and 11 people were shipped off to a hospital a half hour away. People were standing outside their cars shooting the breeze with neighboring cars. We were lucky and got off the freeway!

But we finally made it out of Michigan, across Indiana, and into Illinois.

 The rental van we got had a TV in it. David was in heaven! We watched LoTR the whole time.

We stopped at a couple of rest areas for lunch and to stretch. Funny enough we actually ran into the same older couple and their friend at each stop! They remembered each of the kids names the second stop. They liked that they were "normal" names. :)

 The second stop had a playground. We let the kids loose and I think it helped them be okay for the remaining four hours of the trip.

When we finally arrived in Nauvoo it was getting late. We quickly set up our tents, the canopy, and pulled our bikes off the bike rack, then headed down to the pageant. (I should mention here that we borrowed a car-top carrier from a friend, all of our gear and backpacks went in there. Then we had a bike rack we hooked onto the back of the car and we brought our bikes and our convertible trailer/stroller. This was a HUGE blessing because we didn't have to compete for parking, we just rode our bikes everywhere the two days were were in Nauvoo.)

It was fun watching the pageant, and we got to sit with Kirsten, Rachel F. (a friend of the family). Andi warmed up SO quickly to Kirsten! I'm always sort of nervous introducing her to new people. Fortunately Kirsten was good about rolling with the punches and approached Andi on her terms (exactly as our Speech Therapist said to) and Andi was curled up in Kirsten's lap in no time. 

(Complete tangent, but I am so grateful for the trained professionals! They've made our lives so much easier with Andi! There have been those who have not followed the pros, even after I warned them how Andi best handles new people, and I'm afraid her relationship with those individuals is going to be strained at best because she still identifies one of them as "that mean guy". Life is just better when you listen to the pros!)

After the pageant Chandler found us and walked up to our campsite and we sat and talked for a while. Good friends and good talks, that's all I need sometimes, and life is all better. :)