It's Felt Like Winter Forever...

This spring has reminded me so much of the year Vera was born.  It was wet and dreary most of my maternity leave.  I remember feeling desperate to get outside and enjoy some sunshine, yard work, and really just a change of scenery.  This year has been the same, except we've been desperate to get the kids outside to play, ride bikes, and run off energy.  More than once, Adam and I said to each other, "It really needs to warm up!"  Adam even admitted that he was ready to start doing some yard work and projects outside.

We spent Presidents' Day weekend in Nashville with friends.  It was a nice get-away even though the weather was dreary and cold.  We had a great group of friends to booze with, and we had the full Broadway Street, Nashville experience.  We promised the kids a picture of a Honky Tonk because they're in love with the "Down to the Honky Tonk" song by Jake Owen.  They've blared the song on the radio over & over, and their minds were blown when they found out mom & dad went to a real-life honky tonk.  (That's also Vin & Annie's thing:  "real life."  When something really happens or for real, they say "real life."  Like, "Mom, I can real life do a somersault."  Or "We real life went to get ice cream while you were gone."  Hilarious.)

Adam got another year older & we celebrated with this cake left over from St. Patty's Day.  Poor guy doesn't even get a legit cake.  And, Vin was bucking about his supper and refused to get in the picture.  Just another day at our house.

We tried to beat the springtime blues by spending a day swimming at the Vandalia Rec Center with Aunt Mandy & her kids.  The rec center is really nice, and the kids had a blast.  Something for all ages to enjoy!

This was definitely the highlight.  It's a jogging area, basically a lazy river without inner tubes.  The current pushes you along.  It's a serious leg workout for adults.  If you're a kid in a life jacket, it's a thrill ride.  The kids seriously looked like they were drowning the entire time inside, but they insisted they were fine.  Mandy & I struggled to grab the kids and physically get ourselves out of the track when we were done.  The current was so strong.  But, we laughed and laughed at ourselves and the kids as we cruised along.

I'm sad to admit that I have been terrible about taking candid pictures within the last year.  I don't take the time to capture the little moments that are sometimes the ultimate best memories.  I need to get better at this.  Nonetheless, I still find tons and tons of pictures from some little hands that acquire my phone.  There are also countless pictures of walls, feet, carpet, bellies, and ceilings that have gobbled up tons of space on my phone. 

The weather on Mother's Day was absolutely terrible.  It was cold, wet and windy.  We planted these flowers for Grammie, visited with Grandma Otte and hung out around home.

Our first camping trip of the year was with the Millis's between Mother's Day & Memorial Day.  It started out at Ft. Loramie, but with flooding and rising waters, we ended up at St. Marys.  We pulled our camper out of our site around 6pm on Friday evening because the Park Ranger advised we relocate.  The water in front was rising rapidly.  By the time we left, the water was to our shins.  There would've been no chance of having a campfire outside that night, as everything was underwater.  These pictures are from in the afternoon.  The entire road, site and grass was underwater by the time we left.

With some fast-acting, Diane found us two dry sites at St. Marys.  It was a little nutty, but we arrived around 7 and were welcomed with this rainbow. 

 And the rest of the weekend was wonderful with no rain, lots of sunshine, and action-packed days of fishing, biking, Gaga ball, cooking and relaxing. 

Everyone played Gaga Ball, even the moms & dads.  It turned a little competitive.  :)

Vince & Zac spent most of Saturday riding down this hill.  They giggled and giggled at themselves each time and it was fun to watch them. 

Dare Devils

Diane & Brian brought their balance bike, and Vince picked it up and caught on very quickly.  Adam & I both agreed that after spending a weekend on the balance bike, he'd be riding a 2 wheel bike in no time.  Sure enough, a few days later, they took the training wheels off just as I was arriving home from work.  Adam went down the driveway & back with him twice, and he had it figured out.  He was so so happy!  Since then, he's been riding and riding like a wild man. 

Nothing like learning to bike in PJs.  It was pajama day at Patty's house. 

On Memorial Day weekend, we woke up one morning to our trampoline wrapped around our tree and our flagpole bent completely over.  The kids were a little devastated, but we were able to salvage most of it.  The poles for the net are completely ruined, but at least the frame, springs, and mat were salvageable.  The flagpole went in the garbage.  We are thankful that it didn't slam into someone's car, break anything major, or blow across the field for us to retrieve. 

Making Grandma May Proud

Back in January when it was arctic temperatures and we were off school for 3 days, I was running out of ideas to keep myself busy.  Housework, laundry and entertaining kids only lasts so long.  I decided to try some baking.  Shorty gave me a recipe from Steph for pie crust, so I decided to try my luck at pie-baking.  I did a little research on how to make cherry pie filling, and went to work.  I am proud to report that it turned out really, really well.  I ate most of it myself.  Eek!  Cherry pie isn't Adam's favorite, so he suggested apple.  It took me a while to find a recipe that I liked.  Dorie Baltes's cookbook didn't let me down.  Her apple pie recipe is delish.  I made 2 apple pies and gave one to the church's fish fry.  The second one didn't last long at home.  The joke was that you had to ask me permission to have a slice, because it took some time to make, and it was so, so good.  I must say that I'm pretty proud of myself.  Though it is quite time-consuming, it is worth it.  I think Great Grandma May would approve.  

The Hardest Mom Days

There are a lot of hard mom days.  Like every mom, I've had my share of days.  Today was a tough one.

Vin & Annie have skin lesions that look like a cross between a wart and a pimple.  They blister up, get really ugly looking, and eventually go away.  Then more appear.  It's a virus called molluscum contagiosum.  It's very common in kids and spreads by skin to skin contact, sharing a bathtub or towel.  It's no surprise that they both have it!

I didn't take any pictures of their own lesions.  Just can't do that to them!

We took them to the dermatologist in November.  We knew exactly what to expect, as Vera was treated for the same condition last spring.  The dermatologist, whom I love, barely touches each lesion with the extract from the Blister Beetle...aka Beetle Juice.  Then he covers the lesion with medical tape.  In four hours, when we get home, we remove the tape and wash the areas.  Sounds easy, and painless, right?!  Wrong!

Treating the spots in the office is painless.  It's quick, and really it just tickles.  But, when it's time to take the tape off at home, it is miserable.  The Beetle Juice essentially blisters the skin under the tape, so when I rip the tape off, I rip off a piece of skin with it, exposing raw, sore skin.  It stings like crazy!  We always have them soak in the bathtub to soften the tape, and then try to rip off as much tape as we can in the tub.  Not easy at all.  They scream and flail and plead to not touch them anymore.  They refuse to sit down in the water because it stings.  The tape on their bottom pulls their skin.  They're miserable.

The first time we went, Vince must've had 15 spots treated on just his butt.  I had to hold him down, beg, bribe, and call Adam for a pep talk to get the tape off.  It must've taken me an hour.  I had tears in my eyes, and I forced myself to push on with removing the tape.  Just get it over with, right?!  I know I'm inflicting the pain, but I know I have to get this done.
The treated, exposed sores are the most pitiful sight: red, seeping, and stinging.  After the tape was off, Vince laid naked, face down in his bed and refused to move.  His sores were stinging so badly that he wouldn't put on clothes.  He laid in his bed with no clothes, covered with a sheet, and watched a show on the iPad for at least an hour.  After about 2 hours, I finally convinced him to put on a pair of mesh shorts without underwear.  He reluctantly agreed.  For the rest of the evening, he would not sit down.  Sitting on the toilet made him scream.  He knelt at the dinner table & couldn't climb the stairs.  Every movement made them sting.  Then, because he still wears a diaper at night, we have to cover the sores with a Desitin/Neosporin mix to keep moisture and bacteria out.  Achieving this is another Olympic feat filled with screaming, flailing, restraining and bargaining.

After they're treated, we follow up in 6 weeks.  Usually, the doc finds a few more spots to treat.  Today was their third treatment.  They're no dummies and know exactly what's going to happen.  Assuring them that it's all going to be ok is a  complete lie.  They know the doom 4 hours will bring.  Today, I gave them Tylenol right after I put them in the car to go home as they cried in their car seats.  After four hours I had to force Vince to sit down in the tub.  He screamed and there was no way he was going to let me touch him, let alone take the tape off.  I asked him to turn around.  He looked at me with giant alligator tears dripping off his cheeks and sobbed, "No!  You're going to trick me and take off my tape!"  My eyes filled with tears as I knew he didn't trust me and he was in a super-vulnerable state.  Mom guilt and heartbreak overtook me.  Again, I knew I had to push forward.  I prayed out loud as I restrained him and ripped tape from under his chin and buttocks.  It took me almost an hour to bathe them, take off the tape and dress them again.  Everyone is exhausted when it's over!  As my luck would have it, I always miss a piece of tape and find it hours later, which prompts more pain and screaming all over again.

Annie has been treated with an equal amount of spots.  Same narrative as Vince.  I finally convinced her to wear a dress because stinging legs and buttocks are not clothing-friendly.  It was a Motrin, nap and movie kind of day.  Tonight, as I pulled off her diaper to cover it in ointment before bed, I nearly cried at her 18-ish screaming ouchies.

It's good to tag-team these kinds of things.  I asked Adam to take them to the second treatment.  He got the full experience of Operation Tape Removal.  He gets to go to the next appointment in 6 weeks.

But, I remind myself that this is short-lived.  In about 36 hours, they will be back to themselves.
After the sores scab over in a day, they're painless and heal nicely, though healing is slow.  At most, there's a bitty scar or dimple that remains.  I must count my blessings.  This is completely treatable, non-threatening.  The doctor is wonderful.  (He's known as the Tape Doctor in our house.)  We know that they will eventually go away completely, as Vera's have. 

I'm sure when we have a house filled with teenagers, I'll look back on this and think, "That was a hard mom day?"  There are much worse things to watch a child go through.  Be strong for them & count my blessings!

More Funnies!

I wrote these down again so I wouldn't forget.  Both of these incidents happened on the same evening.

I made some Cherry Delight, gave a small dish to Mike and Rosie, and kept the remainder for us.  Adam and I were eating some for dessert one evening at dinner, and Adam asked Annie if she wanted some.  She adamantly said, "No dad!  That stuff freaks me out!"  We laughed.  We had some the next night as well.  We offered some to her again, and she said, "No, no!  I told you it freaks me out!" as she made the most disgusted face.  Vera laughed and laughed.  Suit yourself, Annie.  More for us.  haha 
Sidebar:  Why does it freak you out?  And maybe a better question...where did you hear that word?

Vince has always owned two pairs of tennis shoes--one for outings and Patty's house, and the other pair for wearing outside at home and camping.  His good shoes somehow ended up with mud on them, I didn't have time to clean them in the morning, and felt bad sending him to Patty's with the muddy shoes.  So, I got out a pair of cheap tennis shoes I bought for him at Christmastime.  I had them tucked away in my closet, so Vince was pretty excited to wear new shoes to Patty's.  We asked him one evening, as we were cleaning up dinner, how he liked his new shoes.  He shared that he likes them.  Then he said, "Parker says them sharp.  Like they can cut people.  Why he say that?"  It took me a while to figure out what he was saying because he was saying "darf" for the word "sharp."  Once we figured it out, it was priceless.  Vera, Adam and I got a good chuckle out of his innocent humor. 

Happy New Year!

Happy 2019!  We rang in the new year this year at a hotel in Troy with the Millis and Thobe families.  We had plenty of kids, swimming, games, drinks and fun to go around. 

The kids must've swam for 6 hours...their chlorine-induced coughs and blood-shot eyes were proof.

We ate and played games in the lobby.  I brought the game Left Right Center, and we taught the kids a lesson or two in gambling.  The winners went home with about $90...enough to pay for the hotel room.  Ha!

Closer to midnight, we donned our new years hats and horns.  It's pretty amazing we didn't get kicked out of the lobby!

What a fun evening!  Happy New Year!

The Christmas Season

On Christmas Eve, I wanted to take the kids to Carillon Park to see the lights and holiday events there.  I found out the park was closed that evening, and felt a little bummed about missing that event.  But, after a little thought, I realized we were able to fit in so many fun things to fill us with Christmas spirit this season.  After all, we need to leave something for next year.  :)

We had breakfast with Santa in early November.  Each of the kids even had a hug for Santa.  I'm so glad I captured their hugs!

We bundled up and went to the Horse Parade in Greenville right before Thanksgiving.  Mandy, Nora, grandma, Vera & I went to a Christmas show in Van Wert right after Thanksgiving.  It was a lovely show with awesome singing and performing.  

 Perhaps the highlight of the season was a trip to The Polar Express in Connorsville, Indiana.  Santa dropped off 5 tickets and a note on our Christmas tree telling us to be ready for the train ride the following evening.  The kids were super excited to travel to the North Pole to visit Santa.

Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot chocolate!

The conductor punched the kids' initials in their tickets.

Santa!  He came aboard, talked to each child, and gave them the first gift of Christmas, a Polar Express bell, just like the movie.  The kids were very excited that they were able to hear the bell.

Vinners was pretty tired toward the end, and we were starting to feel crowded after sitting and riding for 2 hours.  It was a long drive home, and the kids were sound asleep soon after we started driving.  Fun memories!