Pine Beach

We spent a beautiful week in the North Woods of Minnesota last week.  It's my favorite place on Earth, and a week of heaven for me.  The weather there is gorgeous, and it usually isn't here in Nebraska.  Omaha summers include many days over 90 with LOTS of high humidity.  Northern Minnesota offers days pleasantly warm enough for swimming, but cool evenings and nights, and rarely any humidity.

We stay at a resort right on the lake called Pine Beach.  This year, we took my Mom and brother, as well as my Aunt Connie and Uncle Dave.  We all stayed in one big cabin, which was really nice.  It was fun to be together in the evenings after dinner.  I love having no electronics.  It makes it easy to spend time as a family.  After dinner each night we played Canasta, and talked and talked.  There is something healing and wonderful about having long talks with the women in your family.  It grounds you, and gives you a perspective of where you came from.

Uncle Dave was the boat captain this year.  He did a great job taking us around the lake, and Charlie and Sammy even got a turn to drive.

Jeff's favorite part is the swimming.  I love that the deck on each cabin leads to your own stretch of beach and the water.

 

On Tuesday, Mom and Connie and I headed out for a girls day.  We visited a winery, had lunch in Park Rapids, and had pedicures.  It was so relaxing.   Even though we have been there four times now, we always find something new to do in the area.

 

Mom brought along her "Sorry!" game (which Sammy and Charlie have just mastered) and they spent time playing with Grandma each afternoon.  It's so important to me that my kids have opportunities to spend extended time with their grandparents.  I am so glad that I made an effort for my kids to be with my Dad before he died.  

 

One thing we didn't do this year was play Shuffleboard.  My Dad and I loved playing this game together last year, and it just didn't feel right to play.  Maybe someday, but  not yet.  In fact, I didn't even walk over to that part of the resort.  I didn't even want to see it.  (Aunt Connie took this picture).

The trip was so relaxing, and healing in many ways.  We had a chance to talk and to remember my Dad.  I'm so glad we went, spent time together, and had fun with the kids. 

**All pictures used in this post were taken by my Aunt Connie Bridges (who is a much better photographer than I am :)

Oh blog...how I've missed you!

This spring has been crazy busy for us.  It's meant I have been kept busy keeping my family going, with precious little time to sit at the computer and record my thoughts.  I am excited to see summer at my doorstep (we have our last day of school this Wednesday!!  WOOOHOO!!) when I will have time to catch up here at the Sole Woman, on the house, and with my kids.

April was a month of drastic changes for my family.  On April 2nd, my wonderful Grandma Rose passed away.  She was just short of 90 years young.  She was miserable at the end, and was dealing with congestive heart failure, so in some ways her passing was a blessing.  I am filled with happiness to know she is once again with my Grandpa, her parents, and her brothers and sisters.  After loosing my Dad, I have a different perspective on death.  Death is so hard on those of us left behind, but I have a new respect for the joy they must be feeling in heaven with Jesus.  In many ways, I don't know if I've been truly able to process her death.  I am still feeling pretty numb from Dad's death.  Her funeral and the events around it were a little too much to deal with at the time.

Two weeks later, on April 16th, my little brother Creighton married the love of his life, Lindsey.

It was a perfect day and a perfect ceremony.  I love them both beyond measure, and I am so excited Lindsey is my official sister.  I've felt that she has been for awhile, so it was nice to make it official formally true.

The combined effect of the funeral and wedding plus Easter the next weekend all made us feel like we were a bit bipolar and having massive mood swings.  We are all looking forward to a little down time, and some recovery time.

Looking forward to seeing my blog on a regular basis!

My Girls

We had a wedding shower on Saturday for my brother Creighton's fiance Lindsey.  It was so much fun to spoil her and see family and friends!  My Aunt Connie took this awesome picture of my sister Sarah, me, and Lindsey.  I love it!  I also love that Lindsey is now an official member of the family.  I tell Creighton all the time that if I could choose anyone to join our family, it would be Lindsey.  She is wonderful, and we are so lucky.

My niece Brooke is in the corner.  Besides my Mom, we are the ONLY girls in our family!  Can you believe it?  Sarah is currently pregnant with the 6th grandson for my parents. 

I hope Lindsey's future includes some girl babies for us to love!

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe another Christmas Day has passed, in the blink of an eye. I am sad to see it go...I love the holiday season so much! We had a wonderful day yesterday, filled with:

Brotherly Love


Handsome boys ready for church on Christmas Eve (with Evan singing in the choir!)


New family members

Celebrating Christmas Eve at my Mom's house... It was nice to be together, but also much harder than I thought it would be without Dad there. It was so hard to not have him with us, but we made it through one more "first". We made it through together, as a family.


More new family members...this is Lindsey, my brother's infinitely awesome girlfriend. She feels like she has been my sister forever. There are so many things that make her fit into our family perfectly, and it feels like God sent her to us as a gift.


Christmas morning Christmas Trees...


Boys ready to open gifts


...and Hot cocoa and Christmas cookies for breakfast

It was a good holiday, and we felt surrounded by family and love. If you celebrated Christmas yesterday as well, I hope that you had a wonderful day! I count all of you that come here to read my little corner of the blogosphere as one of my Christmas blessings. THANK YOU for spending time with me here at the Sole Woman!

A New Normal

Now that Dad is home again, we are continuing to put one foot in front of the other, and take his recovery day by day. It is agonizingly slow, but we are praying that clot is shrinking daily. I am so proud of my Dad for working so hard, for trying to so hard to be positive, and for keeping up the fight. I think this is one of the hardest things he's ever done.

There are a thousand times a week I still think, "I should call Dad and we can..." or "I bet Dad would like to..." and then it all settles over me again. It's hard to get used to his limitations, but I am thankful they aren't permanent . I am trying to think of ways to bring his favorite things to him until he can do them himself again.

One thing I don't want to return to normal, is this new awareness I have of every moment with him, with my family, with friends. I am hyper aware of how easily someone can leave you, and how quickly life can change. I have been so much more thankful for small moments and every day things. I don't want to loose that-instead I want to soak up EVERYTHING.

On Monday, it was my Dad's 58th birthday. I stopped by my parent's house just for a few minutes so the boys and I could give him birthday hugs. It was so nice to see him smile, watch him watch my kids, and tell him I love him. I am never going to see my Dad and not tell him I love him ever again. You never know when it might be your last chance, and I want him to know he is LOVED.

And...We're Off!!

I have spent the last two days washing load after load of laundry, packing, sorting, and collecting items from all over the house. When I was finished, I looked at the mountainous pile sitting next to the front door and sighed. It was going to be no easy task to fit all this crap into the car.

It was like playing a giant game of Tetris, but our van is now loaded. To the brim, but loaded. Evan will just barely be able to stuff himself into the backseat, but I don't think we'll have to resort to tying any of the children to the luggage rack.

The new GPS system is installed and waiting to direct us to the Pine Beach resort in Nevis, Minnesota. And the kids? They are beyond excited. We are anxiously awaiting seven days of lakeside living. We have many sand castles, afternoon swims, nighttime games of Kings in the Corner, and boat rides planned. I can't wait to unplug with my family at one of my favorite places on Earth.

See you next week! We are off to relax, and enjoy each other!

A Date With Dad

When I was in high school, every couple of weeks or so my Dad would take me out for a "Coke Date". Nothing fancy...we would just go to a nearby restaurant and order cokes, maybe some onion rings, and just talk. Just us together. When I was navigating the rocky waters of being a teenage girl (TORTURE I tell you-to be a teenage girl) this was one of the things that kept me grounded. They will always be one of my best memories of my Dad, who is truly one of the best guys I know.

Nowadays, we don't get to have our Coke dates, but whenever I get to have some Daddy/Daughter time with Dad, and it is just us, I love it. A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to do just that.

Do you know the amazing Garrison Keillor? I grew up listening to his radio show and TV show "A Prairie Home Companion" with my parents. I love his storytelling, but I also love his voice. It is like warm honey, and OH so relaxing. When I was in labor with Evan, I listened to his voice telling calming stories to relax me through each contraction. When I was ready to give in to an anxiety attack after Sam was born, I walked around with my Garrison's voice coming through my iPod to help soothe my nerves. Right before Easter, I discovered that Garrison would be coming to Omaha, and that I might have the chance to see him in person! I immediately grabbed up two tickets, and then invited my Dad to join me.

It was a great evening. It was my first time to visit the Holland Performing Arts center in downtown Omaha, and it was beautiful. Seeing Garrison in person, hearing that honey smooth voice in person was amazing. But spending an evening with my Dad? That? Was priceless.

Blizzard!

In the wee early hours of Monday morning, it snowed 2.5 inches here. It was just enough to make everything look festive, and to make driving a bit tricky. We still had school on Monday though, and the kids were full of snow excitement.

Monday night, the snow started coming down thicker and faster. By the time we woke this morning, our driveway had a fresh 3 inches on it, and school had been cancelled. So, we spent the day snuggling on the couch and watching movies.



Even the cat.

We went outside to shovel and play around 11 o'clock. The driveway was now covered with about 6 inches, so I put a shovel in everyone's hands. Evan is getting to be pretty good, but lets just say Charlie and Sammy were *not* very helpful. The boys had a great time zooming down the slide in the backyard to land in the huge pile of soft, new fallen snow underneath. We were very chilly when we came back in, but it was nothing a good hot bowl of mac 'n cheese couldn't handle.

After lunch we all got down to the business of napping under our electric blankets, and when we awoke, this is what it looked like outside:



Snow, snow, and more snow-still falling quickly in thick, busy flakes. And this is my driveway, only 3 hours after I shoveled it:



Can't even tell we were out there, can you? And even though it is only 4:00 in the afternoon, school has already been canceled for tomorrow as a result of the blizzard warning which will take effect at 9 PM. That's right-the snow is expected to start falling in even heavier amounts. I may give up on the whole shoveling thing until this is over.

Thank the Lord Jeff was able to work from home today, so I didn't have to spend any of my delicious day worrying over his safety.

I think tomorrow I am going to lay in another batch of sugar cookies and make the boys help me decorate. One of the best parts of being a teacher? SNOW DAYS!

Fall and...Snow?

On Friday night we went to a small, family run pumpkin patch. There is a HUGE patch here in Omaha that is more like am amusement park, which is fun but also super expensive. We were excited that our daycare (who planned the outing) chose this smaller, more family friendly venue.



I am in love with this picture. I know next to nothing about photography, and my camera is anything but fancy, but once in awhile a picture comes out that amazes me.

The weather was perfect. Temps were in the low 50s when we arrived, giving the air a fall crispness, and making it too cool for the bees to be much of a problem. The kids had fun checking out baby chicks:



Visiting the petting zoo:



getting their faces painted (Sam and Charlie both went with John Deere tractors, and Evan with a traditional pumpkin):



and riding horses:



Charlie and Sammy's favorite was the trike track where they sped around with their friends, pretending they were in the Indy 500. It was actually pretty momentous, as it was the first time both boys actually mustered the leg strength to actually pedal a bike, instead of doing a Flintstone push. As a result, we were forced to spend over an hour here so they could practice their new found talent.



For Evan and I, our favorite part was taking the hay rack ride and picking out our pumpkins. I got some great shots of the kids.






My Mom and Charlie:



Strangely enough, when we woke up the next morning, this is the scene that greeted us:



Yep. That's snow. On October 10th. We got roughly 4 inches of the stuff overnight. So Saturday morning as I processed our 30 pounds of apples, made homemade applesauce, and baked apple pie, my time clock was very off. It should have felt very much like fall between the pumpkin patch and the apples, but instead I felt like I should be pulling out the Christmas decorations. Very unsettling to have your seasons confused like that.

At least we got both trips in before it froze!!

First Movie

We got back a bit ago from taking Charlie and Sammy to their very first movie. Evan earned being able to see a movie for one of his rewards in eye therapy, and I had promised to be the one to take him. I feel badly always asking my mom to babysit, so we bravely set out for the theatre this afternoon with two toddlers in tow.

I took Evan to see his first movie (Monsters Inc) in the theatre when he was Charlie's age (3 1/2) so I felt pretty good about Charlie, but Sammy is such a wild card. At home, he is my patient, loving, and agreeable guy, but get that kid into a public place and you just never know what he is going to come up with. And the hard thing about Charlie and Sammy together lately is that they are TOTALLY at this awful preschool humor stage. Anything from poop to eyeballs can be funny, and they can get each other completely out of control in 3 seconds. Once that happens, they want to wrestle, and then the testosterone starts flowing. Raising one boy is SOOOO much easier than three. Sometimes Evan and I both miss the good old days of just us.

Anywho, we went to see UP! I love Disney/Pixar movies, and this one was great as always. The story line wasn't what I expected, and a little sad in spots, but the humor was great. We laughed all the way through. Luckily, there were only three families in the theatre, including us, which took a lot of the pressure off. We found a row with exactly four seats next to a railing which helped to pen the little guys in place. Charlie and Sammy ended up spending most of the movie in the same seat though, since neither were heavy enough on their own to keep the seat down. I got a jumbo bucket of popcorn for everyone to share, which helped to hold their attention as much as anything. My kids think popcorn is the best treat ever for some reason.

The best part for me, aside from seeing the amazement on their faces when the movie started rolling on the huge screen, was the feeling that just maybe this is starting to get a bit easier. It's so nice to think that maybe the little ones are finally big enough to do some things, and give us an opportunity to relax in public.