Another Monday.

It was a difficult weekend.  If you want to just X on the corner of your browser now, I completely understand.  

Robb was out of town on Friday and Saturday, out to Wisconsin to trade cars with Maddy and Matthew.  While I was totally jealous of his trip to see them, I was also anxious to see my mom and dad too.  

Meri came with me again.  Third weekend in a row!  She's great.  We know exactly which areas on the trip are cell phone dead zones now and can almost tell you which mile markers to just turn off your movie/spotify/youtube videos and just tune into a local radio station.  Or just talk...  

We left early again and got into my hometown around 8am.  Picked up the keys, kissed Dad and headed to the church to work on the coffin again.  The time just flew and suddenly it was 10am already.  Most of the final work was on me.  Meri was watching the Twilight series and using up my data plan while I hot glued, stapled and sewed more ribbon strips.  

At 10, we headed over the nursing home to see the folks.  We invited Mom to go thrifting with us at a nearby Goodwill.  She's always been gung ho for thrifting and hadn't wanted to leave the nursing home for some time except for attending church with Dad, so this was a big deal that she went with us.  

I held her hand as we browsed and she picked out a summer shirt for herself, a lion costume for a great grandchild and a London mug for Dad.  Meri went off and browsed for clothes for herself.  Mom sat down in any chair that she saw and rested.  When she and I were done, we sat down and looked through my cell phone pics until Meri was done, then headed back to the home.  Dad was up from his 2nd nap of the day and joined us for lunch in the dining room.

For years, I've told the kids how when I go to take a picture of Mom, she always puts something in her mouth.  In her opinion, a photo is more interesting if there is action.  As far as I can see, it just makes you look like you eat all the time...  So when I asked Meri and Mom to get together for a pic at lunch time, Mom instantly grabbed her bottle of water and put it up to her mouth.  MOM!!!  So Meri filled in for her and did the action part of it instead.  sigh...  Will I GET a good picture with those two?

Then when they went down for their 3rd nap of the day, Meri and I headed back to the church.  We actually got done with the coffin lining!  It took two weekends and lots of work in between, but it's done.  I had brought lots of family photos to stick in the pockets but Meri took the picture of that and I don't have a copy yet.  Will show that later.

We didn't get done in time to join Mom, Dad and a sister for afternoon chapel at the nursing home, so I took Meri to ye ol' ice cream joint where my dad would take us for the tallest ice cream cones you could imagine after a garbage dump run on Saturdays.  YUMM!!!  They don't make them that tall any more but the guy working there tried his best when I told him how tall they used to be.

As I drove along, I'd point out what used to be there and apparently Meri decided to get snarky...  She'd point to a car wash and say, "That's where I got picked up by the police for loitering on the corner."  "And that's where I used to... " fill in the blank...  It's a good thing I'd already bought her ice cream, because little girls who mock their mothers, don't GET ice cream.

We got back to the nursing home and spent maybe 30 minutes visiting.  I would have liked more time, but after talking with Robb, found out that the central to eastern part of Iowa was very yucky due to all the snow they had and were getting.  Since I was on the west side of Iowa, I didn't know how far I'd be able to drive without snow and ice hindering us.

I feel bad that we couldn't stay longer, but promised Robb that we'd be safe.  So we said our goodbyes and Dad left at the same time, leaving Mom at the door waving to us as we drove away.  I plan to come back next Saturday too.  

But this time was the hardest to leave.  Mom is getting more and more jaundiced every day and is so much more colorful than last week.  

I've cried a lot spontaneously in the last couple days, but keeping busy helps.

The puzzle is almost done.

the Christmas decor is 50% put away.

laundry is getting caught up.

I'm not sure what is going to happen, but this week, I live in hope that I get to see her again this next weekend.

Rolling Tides of Birthdays

Robb, Leon and I got back from a Wisconsin trip to see Maddy and Matthew yesterday.  More about our actual time spent there later this week.

We had a leisurely breakfast with them in the morning and Leon was determined to play Minecraft with them and did get to briefly until Matthew had to leave for work.  Then he was content to play it whilst sitting on Maddy's lap.  Then we figured we better head out so we could get home in time for my birthday party that night with the rest of the family.

Oh yeah, it was my birthday yesterday!

Once on the road, Leon sat in the way back of the minivan and concentrated on watching videos on Robb's phone.  We had misplaced or lost his tablet somewhere in the car...  or it had fallen out.  We found it about 2 hours into the trip tucked into a bag that contained plastic silverware.  But by that time, Leon had already vomited from the way back and the heat.  We were loath to start that up again!

We weren't even out of town before we realized that our air conditioner had bit the dust.  So the windows were either down and the fan was on, but not doing much.  It. was mostly circulating sweat...  

A couple shakes and slurpies helped us tolerate the heat, but the best help was a large cup of ice from Wendys.  We either sucked on them, or in Leon's case, dropped them down his OWN shirt for once.  Squeals of cold horror was annoying, but better than vomit sounds.  Most things are.

Leon asked questions like...

"How many hours until we're home?"  "a little more than two"

"Does that mean 3 or 4 hours?" "no, two hours and then just a little longer"

"But 3 is more than 2, so it is still 3 hours?"  "no, we'll just round it to two. Two hours left!"

"So how many minutes is that?"  "sigh...  120 minutes"

"How many hours before we're home?" "take a nap!"

He settled down and promised he wouldn't ask any more questions about when.  That lasted at least ten minutes.

We moved him to a middle seat so we could reach him in case of vomit, etc.  AND that seat reclined.  GREAT!

We got home finally around 3pm.  Leon could see the water tower from the interstate because of his super powers so the last 3 miles was excruciating.  

Robb took off immediately in another car with working air to go pick up his mom and Leon attacked the computer as if he hadn't seen one all day.  Youtube videos of other kids playing Minecraft is almost as good as playing them yourself.  I took a shower.

Then made a birthday cake for myself and set the table with china.  Ryan, Jen, Meri and my mother-in-law were going to join us for a pizza dinner.  Yay for Caseys!!

I found a tub of pop in the kitchen.  Meri must have had a party while we were gone... So I set it next to the table for our drinks for the evening.  

Then lounged until everyone arrived.  Whew!  That felt good!

After dinner, cake and gifts, we enjoyed a game of Bears vs Babies and I won for once!!

Not sure if they let me win...  But it's kind of hard to rig it that way when there are rogue babies on the loose.

All in all, it was a good birthday except for all the sweaty stuff.  I'm hoping that translates into pounds lost.

Big Ben, Parliament & Planning Weddings

Can you tell I'm watching the 1933 version of Little Women?

So what if she's in trouble?  what beautiful penmanship!

 So we're driving through St. Louis on Saturday...  

It sounds like the lead up to a joke, like So three penguins walk into a bar.

I guess the punch line would be the same.  

OUCH.

Getting back to St. Louis.  The architecture of the roadways & buildings is pretty spectacular!  

As we were going over the big bridge, one of them, I snapped as many pics as I could from the back seat,

 admiring all the beautiful scenery around me.

 Hey look!  The Arch!

We went up that in the late 90s.  Ryan and I were VERY impressed, but Robb and Maddy stood by the elevators waiting for the first opportunity to go back down.  It was a windy day.

Look!  There it is again!!!

On the other side of the bridge, I was supposed to be navigating and accidentally told Robb to take the wrong exit.  

No wait....   Too late.

My brother took over the navigating at this point and led Robb around a huge circle taking us back to the same bridge again.

 HEY LOOK!!!  *sssshhhhh.  don't talk.*

 

 

On the way back, I figured we had enough pics of the arch and took pics of other bridges.

The next time we're there will probably be for another wedding.  A five year old girl caught the bouquet, so I'm guessing at least 15 more years before the next Kentucky roadtrip.

I'm hoping "beaming" will be perfected by that trip.

Wedding Weekends

My big and only brother arrived late on Friday night and leaving early the next morning, drove with us to Kentucky for my nephew's wedding.  Nine hours of Chuck Norris jokes and stories of our youth and our kids made the trip go faster.  Although my bottom hurt after sitting for so long...  

Yes, that is the St. Louis Arch.  We passed it twice in the same morning.  Long story...

but roll em up!

I filled the time by doing some hand sewing.  I'm still not done with the hand sewing, but did make some great progress on some Christmas gifts.  I have more road trips between now and then, so they'll get done.

Robb rented a car and besides being cleaner than ours, it was better on mileage than our current cars, so win win!  Plus it looked GOOD!!  and had some futuristic dash that could transform into a jet (or at least look like it) with the push of a button.

We got to our hotel in time to get cleaned up and into nicer clothes, then off to the wedding.

The place was gorgeous!  I couldn't get enough of the chandeliers.

My sister (mother of the groom) being walked in for the service.  She was lovely.

My nephew, the groom.  David.

A few of the groomsmen with the groom.  There are 3 more brothers and two sisters.

After a lovely buffet, the dance started.  

Tammy got her mother/son dance and that was so sweet.

Robb even got out on the dance floor with me twice!  Then a dance back by our table.  Tammy pulled me out onto the dance for a lot more and by the end of the night, I was exhausted and my throat hurt from singing along with the songs.

and yes, Sister Sledge and We Are Family.  That needs to play earlier wedding dances...

But I was glad it played when it did here.  Almost all the guests were gone except for our immediate families and little kids dancing around chasing balloons.  I don't mind acting like a fool in front of them!  So my big sis and I cut a rug and sang at the top of our voices.  Tammy is going to have to learn the words better by the next wedding.

Here is a video of several of my nephews getting DOWN!
Too funny!  Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle!

Tammy and most of her kids dancing together.

There were lots of photo ops of this.  These two lovebirds were so sweet.

  

What a beautiful evening.

Tammy and one of her girls went back to the hotel with us and we sat up and talked for a while before everyone decided they were too tired to sit up and snack anymore.  And we left bright and early the next morning (well, a hour or so later than Saturday) and headed for home, picking up Leon on the way.

What a long but swift weekend.  I can't believe I'm sitting back at my computer desk already!

Vegetables are good for you

Saturday - after lots of hugs and goodbyes, Maddy stayed behind and we headed for home.  We broke the record for number of stops on the way home to six...  One was his joke...  When a kid tells you that he has to go to the bathroom, you don't doubt him.  And when you finally get him into the bathroom, he's trying to convince me that it was his joke.  He didn't really have to poop.  KID, you're going to poop or we're not going back to the car.  Well, I am not a woman of my word as we ended up back in the car anyway.  

I'm a sucker...

So as we're standing in line after I've caved and buying Meri a bag of chips that she'd asked for so we could make her happy, someone behind us dropped a glass jar of juice.  

I felt a huge drop hit me square in the back...  

Thankfully no one was hurt and no blood.  Just juice.

We got lots of photos of Colorado cows and Colorado horses and eventually Nebraska cows and Nebraska horses and then normal cows and horses.  Iowa animals aren't that special apparently.

Leon was a great traveler this trip with minimal complaining.  He figured out his sticker books and made some interesting Lego monsters.  And a couple movies and naps.  

If we never go back to Colorado, I'm safe in the knowledge that we did all we could in Ft. Collins.  And if you're from there and shaking your head, oh well...  I'm sure we missed a ton of stuff, but we didn't have enough hours in the day, nor energy in my feet for more.  

Furiously rolling my heels on frozen cans of veggies.

A Shower, 6 Hours and a Car!

I attended a bridal shower for my nephews lovely fiance on Sunday!  Immediately after church we headed to my hometown where his sister hosted it.  Robb helped me pick out some fabric in their wedding colors so I could make a matching pair of pillowcases to give them and Bunny liked them!

Wonderful day out with the temps 15 degrees cooler than the previous day!  WHEW!

This is Sam, my nephew!  A very adventuresome kind of guy!  I've got a story to tell about him, but I'll save that for another day.

Naomi, my niece and Sam's sister, (below on the right) had found a lot of ideas off Pinterest for what to serve and decorate.  She did an awesome job! 

 

And I got to play with her little boy! 

My niece Brooke mooched as much of my Pineapple/lemonade off of me as possible and then licked my cupcake...  I never did get to eat that... :)  But it looked so pretty!  And so did she.

One of my other little nieces, Stevie, took a liking to Leon and insisted on holding him on her lap on the swing.  

My soon to be new niece got a lot of nice things.  Her name is Bunny.  It's not her given name, but a nickname given to her as a child that kind of stuck.  It suits her!  She can wiggle her nose so prettily.  In fact, I didn't even know her real name until I got the invitation to this party...  And I've known her for years...

Sam and Bunny live in Colorado but travel all over the world for work and pleasure.  They've been to so many beautiful places that I doubt they can pick just one place for a honeymoon.  I can't wait to hear where they've chosen to go! 

Got to see little Braedon!!  My nephew that got such an early start in life 9 months ago.  Leon is only 4 months old and is 3 lbs heavier than him already... Darn.  No more hand me downs from them!

Here is a game that Naomi had us do for the party and I won the prize for getting 6 right!  Click on it to see it bigger and be able to read it!  Unless of course you have super eye sight...

Anyway, it was a wonderful day out and Leon did great in the car for a total of 6 hours! 

On the way out of town, we took the scenic route and drove Tiffany past my old homestead as well as the park Robb and I were married in.  

And then we picked up some dinner from our old college pizza joint for the drive home and to take something home to the guys.  mmmmm!

Another road trip in October to attend the wedding!!!