August Events

Here's Leila hob-nobbing with fellow baby Addison DeJongh, at Addison's parents' wedding reception last Friday (I documented this "meeting of the babies" in an earlier blog).

Addison's parents, Dave and Shelley, were married some time ago in a private ceremony, but this was their first public celebration of the event. They had a festive, picnic-style reception at Cornell's Mill Yard Park. The whole town of Cornell seemed to be in attendance.

It was a fun event. Jon saw friends he hasn't seen in years. The park's pavillion was decorated with colorful paper lanterns that lit up after dark. Instead of cake each guest could take their choice of a beautifully frosted cupcake, artfully arranged on tiered plates. Very nice.

Leila's hair is now long enough for me to put up in wispy little pig tails, so of course I had to style it like that before going to the wedding reception (Leila, nevermind that Daddy says you look like Shrek with your hair like that; you're adorable).

We spent the night at Bud and Jane's house, in part so that we could more easily attend the Ellis family reunion in Holcombe the next day. "Ellis" is Grandma Jane's maiden name; she's a middle child in a family of about ten children (I didn't call and confirm the exact number from her, but it's something like that). This is a reunion for her side of the family.

I had never been to the park in Holcombe before. It has a very nice indoor/outdoor building and kitchen area, and was airy and clean. Jon's sister Sally, along with a cousin, organized this year's reunion and potluck dinner, and the food they managed to assemble was amazing. There were games of Bingo, relay races for the children, and an auction as well.

Here's Emma with Bailey-- don't they both have pretty brown eyes? Bailey is the granddaughter of Jane's sister Pat, who's married to Marshall Ruegger. Marshall remembers Mom from her days in the DNR office, before she was married to Dad. Aunt Pat has always been very kind to Emma and Michael, remembering their birthdays and making a point to say hello and talk a little.

Here's my sister-in-law Tammy with granddaughter Malia.

I was surprised and pleased to win a large round mirror at the auction (for only a dollar!). Jane brought the mirror from her house; she showed me what good quality it was and how nicely it was mounted. I figured it would go for a lot of money at the auction but made a bid anyway, and couldn't believe it when no one else bid. Maybe because the mirror is so large. Anyway, I love it and think I found the perfect place for it...

You can see the mirror below, hanging in our house, along with our "new" dining room table (also inherited from Bud and Jane, who recently replaced their dining table). This is that extra room off our living room, which has been empty up till now. Guess we'll have to put the air mattress somewhere else when we have a guest...

Our first chance to use the new table came Tuesday, when my sister visited. Laurie had just finished a class for her teaching certification, where she learned how to use Photoshop to make cool personalized projects. We were the beneficiaries of some of that. She'd made Emma and Michael personalized note pads, magnets, even a zany puzzle featuring a bewigged maestro with a vaguely familiar face named "Michael von Hurlburt".

Another fun gift was a personalized notepad with pictures of different types of slugs on it (Last year Michael insisted that his favorite animal was the "slug"). However, the slug is now, technically, Michael's second favorite animal-- this year Michael's favorite became the platypus. Still, he appreciated the gift. Thanks, Laurie!

Laurie also brought the beautiful baby quilt she made for Leila. I love its warm colors and modern pattern.

It's always fun visiting with Laurie... the kids love her, but she isn't afraid to let them know when they're getting out of hand. She can be firm, and they listen to her! It reminds me of my dad's mother, who was also a school teacher: she did fun things like play cards and write letters to us, but she also expected good behavior and table manners. We respected that.

Laurie is a great photographer with a very good camera, and she was kind enough to take photos of my kids and then download them onto our computer before she left. I'll include some favorites here...

I think Leila looks like Dad here...

and like Susan here...



Great stuff, huh?

After Laurie's visit we packed our bags and headed to Sally's. Jon's sister Sally had Emma and Michael for an overnight last summer (she camped outside with them), but this time Leila and I were invited, as well. We didn't camp, though; we slept very comfortably in the upstairs bedrooms.

Sally's house itself is beautiful, but the house's setting-- on top of a hill overlooking miles of rolling woods and farmland, is spectacular. The house has lots of big windows, so you never forget where you are. White picket fences and grazing horses... perfect.

One luxury is the large bathtub set inside a bay window. Sally let Emma take a bubble bath in it (wearing her swim suit). Sally had "won" bath crayons at the Ellis auction a few days earlier (something Emma had also been bidding on). Sally gave Emma the crayons when we stayed at her house, and let Emma use them in her fancy white bathtub (pretty nice). Of course, Leila had to join in the fun, though she ended up leaving a little "present" for Sally to clean up later, in the bath water.

Sally is an animal lover and has taken in all kinds of "orphaned" animals. Her two little white dogs recently had puppies, and she still has two of the pups. They are adorable, and Emma held them and carried around like they were her babies.

We had planned for Sally to watch the kids for me Thursday morning, while I went to an eye appointment. I didn't make it very far out of Cornell, though, before our red van broke down. My brother-in-law Pat Sime's garage was able to send someone out with a tow truck; they took a look at it and think it will be pretty expensive to fix (a cracked gasket?). Anyway, we're likely to retire the van rather than do the repair; we have two other, better, vehicles, so it's not essential that the van is running. We preferred using the van to the Tahoe because it is better in gas mileage, but so it goes. Anyway, I was just glad the kids weren't all with me when it happened, and that I had a cell phone handy!

Also, if something like that's going to happen, it's nice when it happens near Cornell. Jon's family is very helpful to me... Jon's nephew Joe gave me a ride out to Sally's house, so I could rejoin the kids and bring the car seat, and then Sally gave us a ride back to Colfax.

Anyway, today's my birthday! Happy 39th Birthday to me! Jon's coming home tonight from his week in Crivitz; for a birthday treat we will probably go to the Festival in the Pines this weekend. That's my favorite annual arts & craft festival, so I'm excited.

Take care!

Malia and Seth

This is going to be a quick posting-- hopefully not as wordy as some! But I wanted to share pictures of the kids with their cousins Seth and Malia, whom we babysat the other day. I thought Tammy and Jane, in particular, might enjoy these photos...

Here's Emma and Malia, still in their pajamas. Malia, Seth, and their mother, Jon's neice Jessica, stayed overnight at our house Sunday night.

Early in the morning, before anyone else was awake, Jessica left for her job in Eau Claire (her shift starts at 6 in the morning!). While Malia was still sleeping, Jessica laid her in bed beside me. Of course, when Malia awoke a few hours later, and her mother was gone, there were tears. But big brother Seth knew what to do... he had Malia laughing and playing with the other kids in no time.

Malia will be two in October. She's quite a talker, but it can be hard to make out some of what she says. When she first woke up, wondering where her mom was, she kept repeating something that sounded like, "Where's squishy Mom? Where's squishy Mom?" I thought, how cute. Jessica must call herself "squishy Mom" for Malia. (I know Emma's remarked about how "soft" and "comfy" I am, so figured this was similar).

However, when I asked Jessica about it later ("Does Malia call you 'squishy Mom'?"), she didn't know what I was talking about. I was a little bit sheepish, since I certainly didn't mean to call Jessica squishy myself... as you can well imagine. After thinking it over, I realized Malia must have been saying, "Where is she Mom? Where is she Mom?", which, in two year-old grammar, makes perfect sense.

Yeah... sorry about that, Jessica! I would never, ever call you squishy (not so much because it would be inaccurate, but because that would be like the pot calling the kettle black).

Anyway, in the photo above, you can see us going for a walk that morning. We picked up another child-- our neighbor Makayla-- as we passed by her house on the walk.

Now, whenever we go for a walk, Emma packs along food snacks, so she can picnic. None of our walks are ever long enough to justify bringing along provisions, but Emma likes to be prepared. Luckily she was willing to share her cookies, bananna, and sandwich with the other kids.

Seth rode Michael's bike on the walk. By this time of the day he was already wounded; he had cut his hand on the gravel earlier, while riding a scooter down our hilly driveway. He must be used to getting injured, though; he didn't make a big deal out of it, and it certainly didn't slow him down any.

Seth is a little bit older than Michael. He's very good-natured and smart-- it's easy to like him. I appreciated how helpful he was with his sister, who is more shy and cautious toward grown-ups she doesn't know very well (like me). Whenever I had a question ("Does your mother cut up her hotdog for her? Does she eat a bun?"), Seth had the answer.

Him and Michael are a little bit mis-matched at this stage of their lives. Seth is more action and physical play-oriented; Michael is more inward and imaginative. But they both found something they enjoyed in croquet, and played that together a few times. And both were helpful with their little sisters, pushing strollers on our walk.

The kids spent more time together yesterday, when Seth and Malia's grandma, my sister-in-law Tammy, watched all of them while I went to the dentist and had my hair done. This was Leila'a first time with a "babysitter", and also her first

time drinking formula. Both events went well.

I'm still breast-feeding, but wasn't able to pump sufficient milk for my time away from Leila. So I stopped at the store on my way over to Tammy's and picked up a bottle of ready-mixed stuff. Leila drank that just fine, so it's nice to know there's an option, in a pinch. I don't want to rely on it too much, though, because breast-feeding is such a big cost-savings for us (and more healthful for baby, as well).

Anyway! So much for my promise not to be as wordy this time-! I'll close with a picture of my two baby girls, lying on a blanket while they bat at toys (I didn't set this scene up; I really found Emma doing this with Leila this morning).

Silly girls!

Goodbye, David! A Wedding and a Farewell...

Jon did make it home Thursday night to celebrate his (46th!) birthday with us in Colfax. As you can see, four of the six kids were present. Emma helped bake and decorate this LOVELY cake. We all helped him eat it.

But now the weekend's over, and the house seems emptier today. It is emptier today. Jon's back to work in Crivitz, and there's no tall, lanky David here anymore... walking back and forth, with occasional stops at the refrigerator, deep in his thoughts.

It was nice having David around... I really felt like I got to know him this summer. But he's no doubt glad to get back to his friends, girlfriend, and the comforts of home (including satellite TV, which he went without here for six weeks). Still, for a seventeen year-old, he adapted remarkably well to our quiet routine and arguably dull lifestyle. He patiently fielded Michael's questions, conversations, and requests to play chess. He tolerated Emma's tendency to belt out songs in the morning, when he was still in bed, and didn't complain (much) about the little neighbor girls who hung around our house like adopted children.

He didn't seem phased that his bed was an air mattress in our family room, or that we didn't have a proper closet for him. He gladly ate whatever I cooked but was also content to eat bowls of cereal if nothing else was available. He stacked firewood and did chores when asked.

Sometimes, when I was busy in the kitchen and Leila started to fuss, David would pick her up and walk around with her. She always stopped crying, for David.

We made it to Cornell one more time, on Friday. David was able to have another visit with his grandparents and we all had lunch together. Then the younger kids and I said our goodbyes to David and left for Rhinelander. David stayed with his grandparents until Jon got done with work that afternoon and could pick him up.

It felt strange to be gone for his last night here, but I wanted us to attend my cousin Jenny Bayer's wedding in Merrill. Also my brother Don's family (they're the ones from Arkansas) was there, so I wanted to see them again.

Anyway, Jon and Jonathan kept David company on his last night in Wisconsin, and it was kind of neat they got to spend some "guy" time together. They took David bowling, had supper at Mike's Smokehouse, and shared a pitcher of beer at The Joynt.

The following day, Jon drove David to the airport and helped him catch his flight to Charleston.

Meanwhile, the kids and I went to Rhinelander. Don's family had already been staying at Mom and Dad's for about a week. Here's a picture of the kids in their wedding clothes... of about eight pictures I tried to take of them all dressed up, this one turned out the best. It's not easy to photograph squirmy children in various states of crankiness.

The bride, Jennifer, is the only daughter of Mom's youngest brother, Dave. Uncle Dave was always very nice to me when I was a little girl; he made a big deal out of me and went out of his way to do special things with all of us kids. I remember fishing with him and being so excited because we caught all kinds of little sunfish. I remember going for a long walk in the woods by our house, on paper mill land. I remember watching Fat Albert and Bugs Bunny with him. He even took us to one of the Star Wars movies-- the one where Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father (I shed a few tears, sitting next to Uncle Dave in the dark theater, during that final death scene).

So anyhow, because Uncle Dave was always so nice to me, when he had his daughter Jenny I made a big deal out of her, too. I thought she looked like an Indian princess, with Uncle Dave's warm brown eyes and the shiny dark hair that seemed to pick up on Mary Pat's native American heritage. Whenever we'd go over and visit, her and I would play or she would sit on my lap. I'm not sure of the exact age difference between us, but I was a teenager when she was a little girl.

Over the years we've kind of lost contact, and I'm sorry for that. But I was very glad to see her again as a beautiful bride, looking very serene and sweet.

Pictured above: Uncle Dave with wife Mary Pat and son Josh.

The wedding was intimate and personal and, like our own wedding in the park 13 years ago, very brief. Guests sat in lawn chairs and were able to watch as a proud Uncle Dave walked Jenny across a foot bridge to the site where the wedding took place. A lady minister, who is good friends with Jenny, led the ceremony.

Uh-oh, Don and Hope. Kenny caught the garter.

My mom's other living brother, Don, was also there. Here Don is heading up a table with his family. He has three sons who we used to see quite a bit when we were younger: Joel, Jesse, and Jerod. The youngest son, Jerod, is married and has now given Uncle Don his first grandchild, a girl named Bella. You can see two of my cousins in this photo... Jerod's in the green striped shirt and Joel is sitting across from him in gray.

Dinner was nice-- guests could sit where they wanted, so my mom, brothers, and I were able to all sit at one table with our families. One of our servers was very nice to the kids, giving them lots of special attention and bringing them kiddie cocktails, etc. She came back at least three times to check on us. We found out later she was the owner of the restaurant, and were very impressed with her graciousness.

Emma had a hard time waiting for the dance to start. Here's Mom dancing with her grandchildren.

Another highlight from the weekend was having fresh salad with some of Mom's garden vegetables. Emma and Beth helped Grandma pick peas and beans. Kenny assisted with the onion washing.

Brothers John and Bob were also in Rhinelander this weekend. John helped Dad paint the house-- he wasn't able to finish in one weekend, of course, but was able to do the most tricky part, which involved standing on scaffolding.

So all in all, a very good weekend.