Nana Arrived

(Nana and Caroline)

Tonight James's mom (aka Nana) arrived. She kindly agreed to come and help me out as James will be out of town all week until Friday night. She can't stay the whole time, but any help is so appreciated. I am thankful that she and Papa live just a couple of hours away and are able to come here with relative ease. The kids were very excited to see her and are excited to have an adventure to the park tomorrow with her. I am so excited to have her help through the dinner hour, which has proven to be the hardest time of the day here. I also like the "visiting" time after the kids have gone to bed!

As I get older I reflect on my own parents. It is so funny how I can see things in such a different light now that I am an adult, and especially an adult who has children. These reflections make me so thankful for the parents I was given. They sacrificed so much in raising me and my siblings. I never had to be home sick from school alone. I never went hungry and was always well-dressed. One of my parents (but often both of them) was always at every play performance, choir concert, dance recital, sporting event, etc. They loved me enough to give me a curfew and a faith. They loved me enough to hold me to standards of excellence. They loved me enough to say no to things that they knew weren't a good idea, and to punish me when I defied their wishes. I was very lucky to have the upbringing I did. It wasn't perfect, but it almost was. Just like they were always there for me growing up, they are still there as an adult. My mom has been with me for the birth of each of my children. When I had a complication after Caroline was born, my mom changed her travel plans to stay with me an extra two weeks to ensure I was ok. My parents taught me how important family relationships are. I hope that I can do the same for my own children.

When I was little I LOVED going to my grandparents' houses. We went there every summer. I spent my time swimming at the country club, going to the neighborhood mom and pop market called Kleavers and playing outside. My favorite times were when my cousins were visiting at the same time. I adored playing with them. However, one of my favorite memories was of listening to my parents, my uncles and my grandma staying up late into the night laughing their heads off re-telling stories from their past. I couldn't wait to be an adult and do the same thing. I always hoped to have the kind of laughter in my life that they had when they were all together. My grandparents' house always seemed like a mansion to me. It had this wonderful, soft green carpeting in the living room that I loved the feel of on my bare feet. There was a box of amazing dress up clothes in the basement that I had so much fun playing with. Grandma even let us wear her high heels when we got dressed up. I loved eating radishes and tomatoes from my grandpa's garden. They were so delicious. Grandma had these funny tiny glasses for orange juice, and cool blue glasses for milk. My cousins and I used to love to play bartender at Grandpa's bar in the basement. This was when we were little and was strictly pretend- we weren't actually drinking.I loved sleeping at their house and hearing the sound of the trains go by. To this day when I hear a train I think of being in their house.

I never met my dad's mom. She passed away prior to my being born. I loved my Grandpa Arenz though. He was deaf and I took a lot of joy in trying to learn some sign language to communicate with him. I used to write him letters and was so excited when he would write back to me. We sometimes spent Easter in Streator with my grandparents. Although we always stayed at my mom's parents' house, when I would go over to Grandpa Arenz's, he always had Easter candies set out for me and my siblings. There was always a chocolate bunny for me and chocolate eggs. There were also peppermint candies, although those were a staple in his house no matter the time of year.  His yard had a statue of Mary in it that had marbles around the base. I loved to look at and touch those marbles. His house was fun because in the basement there were all kinds of fun toys from when my dad was little. I also loved to look around in my dad's old bedroom because I don't think they ever changed anything from when my dad lived there. I loved seeing his stuff. My grandpa also had really fun magnets on the fridge that I liked to arrange. Grandpa Arenz's house had an enclosed front porch that had a sleeper sofa on it. I always wanted to sleep on it, and I'm pretty sure I remember sleeping on it once. He also had a fun park across the street from his house.

I really hope that my kids will have wonderful memories of their grandparents. I think every day about how I can foster such relationships. After all, these relationships are what really matter in life. The rest of it is just fluff.

Papa and Daddy taking Ben and Natalie on a ride in Nana and Papa's yard

Grandma cuddling Caroline

And We're Off!

I am new to the world of blogging. I suppose this is the 21st-century version of a diary or journal- neither of which I've ever kept. Now that I am an adult, a mother and a wife, it seems important to write down what is happening in our lives. Neither my, nor James's family lives here in Montana, so maybe this is yet another way to keep in touch.

As I stated before, I am an adult. I was born in November in 1975. I spent most of my childhood in Minnesota, and no matter how long I've not lived there, I always refer to it as "home." I must be hoping to someday be able to live there again. I used to be an elementary music teacher. I've also taught choir (anything from children's to adult choirs), college-level music education courses, and most recently, I am teaching an online country music appreciation course for the University of Montana. For those who know me well, this is totally ironic seeing as I have never in my life had an appreciation for the genre.

I am a mother. I have three beautiful children. Ben is my oldest. He is three and a half. He marches to the beat of his own drummer. He will tell you that he likes to go slow, not fast. This is the truth. He reminds me constantly to slow down and take time to smell the roses. He literally does this. Anywhere there is a flower he has to stop to smell it. He takes joy in simple things like laying in the grass to watch clouds or examine a crunchy, fall leaf. He also loves to watch bugs in their journeys on the ground to wherever bugs go. He is a thinker and likes to figure out how things work. This is both wonderful and completely frustrating as we have so many "Oh-he's-so-smart!" moments, and then on the other hand we have the "how-the-heck-did-he-figure-out-how-to-undo-that-child-proofing-device?!?" moments. He loves all things vehicle related, playing outside, reading and doing anything creative. He remembers EVERYTHING.

Natalie is our second child. She is 21 months old and is a nutball and extremely bright. She amazes me everyday with her vocabulary, agility and good-natured personality. She is very loving and nurturing. She laughs loudly and plays hard. She is not afraid to get dirty. She adores being outside and is filthy after every trip out there. She makes me think of that quote, "All who wander are not lost." She is an explorer and you can see that she oozes enthusiasm for life. She loves to sing, read, color and be the center of attention. She is the life of the party. I have visions of her being a class clown or someone who is reprimanded in class a lot for talking. She is always talking.

Caroline is our sweet little newborn. She is 7 weeks old. From the minute she was born, her eyes were focused and taking everything in. She is a wonderful eater, sleeper and snuggler. Her siblings adore her. Ben constantly says, "Hi, Caroline! I'm your brother." Natalie smothers her with kisses and hugs, tells her how cute she is and that she loves her. They both love to hold their sister. I can't wait to see who she blossoms into.

I am a wife. My husband, and father of these wonderful human beings, is James. He is extremely hard-working, an incredible father and a patient and loving husband. He is ridiculously smart and is a thinker, much like little Ben. Although his job can be demanding, he loves us dearly and no matter how tired he is or how much work he has for his job, he will always do his best to be available and present in our lives. We love him so much and attribute much of our happiness to the love he gives us.

My goal with this blog is to write down the little things in our lives, and not just the big things. Hopefully this will be worth reading! :)

Today we went to Xavier's house. Xavier is a little boy that Ben met in Soccer Tots a year ago. Ben's first day there was a little taxing because both James and I were so conscious of if he was following every direction perfectly, etc. We were sucking the fun out of what should have been a wonderful opportunity for Ben to explore interacting with other kids and learning a new skill. Xavier's mom and dad were sitting by us and they reminded me that it really didn't matter if Ben didn't follow every command. Soccer Tots is about fun and we should let him be him and explore this new activity. They were totally right. We have been great friends with them since and have enjoyed many fun times with them. It's nice to be friends with people who have similar parenting styles. Matt (Xavier's dad) made us spaghetti tonight and didn't mind a bit that his house looked as though a tornado had been through it after our kids were done playing. We missed Kim (Xavier's mom) as she was out of town in Las Vegas seeing Jimmy Buffet. Ben got to see Xavier's chickens in the backyard. They have three chickens that they got this summer that give them delicious eggs. Ben and Natalie both thought that was pretty awesome.

Here are some pics:

Caroline at 7 weeks

Ben and Natalie found a grasshopper

Daddy and his girls

Natalie

Ben providing Caroline with comic relief