For Christmas this year, we drove to Florida. Florida is nothing new for us for the holidays, but the driving part is. Let me say, I'm pretty damned proud. Out of about 38 hours total drive time, my kids played on electronic devices for about 3 hours, total....and that was because Husband and I needed a break from their playing and talking! Not one movie was watched in the van. Plus, the only games they had were educational ones for their Leapsters. Anyway....off of that proud note and on to another. Sunshine only had trouble sleeping on the way down in the hotel and the first night we at the house, the rest of the time, she slept like a champ! The girl doesn't sleep, which is why we are so very proud of her on this trip. Other than those two big things, there were so many other wonderful parts of this trip! We swam everyday. We went to the beach every day. We had true quality time together and with Grandpa. The trip was awesome! Husband put together a slide show of highlights. Hope everyone had as merry of a Christmas as we did! ***As a side note, Weebly has been down on my computer for some reason and Husband just got it back up and working by rerouting it through a different server, so that's why this took so long to get up.
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This week, my uncle passed away. People keep asking, "Was it sudden?". I never really know how to answer that question. He was 82. He moved to Ohio because he was told by doctors he could have another massive stroke at any time. It's not like he didn't know this could happen. We should have all been prepared. But was it sudden? If that question means was he lying in a hospital bed sick and suffering then, yes, it was sudden. He was actually in pretty good health. So yes, it was sudden. Or do people mean did he die quickly with no pain? Maybe that's the part of this story that is so awful because the answer would be no. His death is the part of his life's story that is the saddest. I won't share exactly what happened, but he suffered, alone, trying to get help and not being able to. The thing is, if we focus on that, people would never know what a full and adventurous life he led. My Uncle Bill was the most lively man you could have ever met. I don't usually use real names, but I want people to know him. There was not a single person who ever met him and didn't like him. Seriously. He was just that way. He embraced life. He thought it was worth living and he lived it to the fullest. He had adventures in his life most people, including myself, only dream of. He traveled to more places than I could possibly list. And he had stories from every last place. When he was right out of high school, Uncle Bill would get jobs here and there just to make enough money to go someplace. Once he saved a certain amount, he would pack up, and just go someplace. Once, he moved to Hawaii just to hang out on the beach. He did that until he ran out of money. Then he'd pack up and come back to the Cleveland area. He'd get another job and start the process all over. Even once he decided to "settle down" and take a job as a postal worker, he never stopped traveling. He would go on one or two trips a year to wherever he thought was an interesting place at the moment. He really enjoyed Switzerland. If I recall correctly, that's where he traveled to most. The last time he was in Switzerland was only about 5 years ago. My uncle had a story for everything, but he was also great at listening. I think was part of what made him truly special. He didn't just listen to your story, he listened to your stories. It's one thing to be able to talk and talk and another to be able to sit and actually listen. And he remembered. He could remember people he met by stories they told him. He also would retell those stories as a way of passing along parts of history. Uncle Bill was not one to live with the "what ifs". He also wasn't one to question the "why" in life. Things just were and he accepted them. Right now, if I stop to really think about his death, I have the "whys" and "what ifs". So I won't be thinking about his death. I'll be thinking about his full life. As I told my son, "We can be sad Uncle Bill is gone, but he lived such a full life. We need to be thankful that he was able to live such a great life for as long as he did." I'm hoping my dad will someday find comfort in this. I hope my dad will be able to find comfort in knowing how many lives Uncle Bill touched and how many people he helped along his journey. Death is sad for those left behind. We need to remember to keep celebrating the life he led. ***These are two of my favorite pictures of Uncle Bill with my kids. I'll be going through more pictures and adding more as time passes.***
I know I've said it before, but autumn is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. It's also our busiest time of the year. For some reason, I feel like this particular autumn has been our busiest, and maybe it has since our only "free" day happens to be Fridays. We are booked with activities until December. To add to it, I've been advocating for the school levy coming up. I feel like everything I've been posting revolves around this levy, so sorry everyone who doesn't live here (and if you do live here, make sure you vote YES for the school levy!).
Even with all the craziness, we've been having a great time! We've spent every weekend hiking. The past two weekends, we just beat the rain. Well, last weekend we actually ended up eating lunch in the rain, but it held off through the hike! All of our new hiking boots have been put to great use! Autumn wouldn't be autumn without many, many fall activities. We've hit several, but the best was this past weekend when we went on our annual trip to Pinecrest Farms. This was either our 5th or 6th year going with friends. In all those years, this was by far the nicest weather we've had! It was a sunny 75! We went on a hay ride, picked pumpkins, went through the hay maze and played in the soybean box! Aside from all the outdoor stuff we've been doing, I've been doing a few crafts. I think our Halloween door hanging turned out pretty cute. My list of things I want to get done this fall is growing and my time is getting shorter. I'm just hoping I can make it to the end of October without completely burning out! For months now, I've been counting down until Husband and I have known each other half our lives. I kept wanting to write this post but had to keep waiting until closer to the date. Then, I missed it. September 3rd marked the anniversary of meeting Husband. We have officially known each other half our lives. We are going on knowing each other longer than we haven't known each other. That's incredible to me. My life is so much better having Husband by my side. He has been my best friend from the moment we met. I can't wait to spend many, many, many more years together.
We really aren't normally spontaneous people. I mean, yes, a trip to the ice cream store once in a while, or stuff like that, but nothing that requires a lot of time spontaneous. Yesterday, we found ourselves with a free Saturday. These are coveted. Sunshine has two weeks until soccer starts and Monster's karate class was canceled. The weather was beautiful. We had to be here in the morning for a meeting with a contractor, but that really wasn't anything big because we decided to just have a lazy morning with omelets and lots of playing. Then, Husband decided he wanted to DO something. He and I sat around trying to think of things. We didn't want to do a museum on such a beautiful day. We decided against Amish country because we didn't feel like shopping. Niagara Falls would have been great, but that's a 4 hour drive, so it requires a bit more planning than figuring out what to do at 10am. We loaded everyone up and headed south, with having a couple of options of places in mind. There was a lot of "Where are we going?" and "Are we there yet?". There was also a ton of laughter and playing. Our kids absolutely love each other. They are truly best friends. We stopped off for lunch at Cracker Barrell....that's the road trip place to eat after all, right? Then we continued on our journey. We finally ended up at Mohican State Park. I have extremely fond memories of Mohican from my childhood. We almost always went there in the winter, but the area is still the same. We did a little hiking and visited the lodge. Husband had never seen the lodge either and we agreed that this would be a great place to go for a quick weekend getaway in the winter since there is a lot to do there regardless of season. We all had such a great time. We took the long, scenic way home. On our way back, we stopped at the orchard and picked up some fresh peaches. Perfect way to end the day. This morning, our plan was to get stuff done. I sat down and started working on this. Husband was working. Monster finally woke up and came down and read. Sunshine slept until 9:00. Since it was so late, we were once again spontaneous. We picked up and went out to brunch, which anyone who knows us knows we have never, ever done. We headed out to one of my favorite breakfast places, First Watch. After brunch, we really did plan to head home. But, with spontaneity being this weekend's theme, we decided to head to one of the local parks. While there, a very kind lady offered us some bird seed to feed the chickadees. They will eat right out of your hand if you are still enough. Both kids got to have them eat out of their hands. I wasn't fast enough with the camera for Monster, but got a couple shots of Sunshine having birds eat out of her hand. After a nice walk, we meandered home, hitting up another park on our way. When we got home, we buckled down and got to work....Well, OK, we didn't. We played outside, did a little shopping (that was work, right?) and played outside more. We even got ice cream before dinner!
Work can wait. Surprisingly, the laundry is still going to be there tomorrow. Opportunities like we had this weekend don't come along too often. I am so fortunate that I have such a great husband and easy going kids that we were able to just pick up DO things this weekend, even if they weren't planned out! We're coming off of a party weekend. Now, when I say party weekend, I don't just mean a birthday party one day. I mean a weekend filled with fun, not every weekend, activities. This weekend we had the kids' joint birthday party. It started out with Grandpa and Grammy coming in from Illinois. It was awesome. My kids love them so much! When they are here, they are all about the kids. Monster and I had the annual fun run to do Friday evening. Everyone met us at the finish line. It was huge for Monster to have the support. We shaved time off of last year, too. Sunshine really wants to run it next year with us. Not sure if my back can handle two kids pulling on my arms, but we will most definitely try it! Saturday, Grammy came to Sunshine's soccer. Poor Grammy couldn't even curb Sunshine's not-so-sunny disposition that morning. From there, there was bike riding, playgrounds, baseball and a cookout. It was such beautiful weather, too. Sunny and warm. Perfect for everything outdoors! I really wish I would have gotten pictures of everyone playing baseball. That was probably the kids' favorite part of Saturday. Monster was hitting pitches out of the park and Sunshine was using her tee like a champ. Sunday was the actual birthday party! Again, beautiful day for being outside! There was more baseball and soccer. All the family was there to celebrate. The kids had a blast! It was a fantastic way to celebrate birthdays! At breakfast this morning, Sunshine was eating like you've never seen a kid eat. She at a two egg hairy man (eggs made into a patty and then a face cut out and cheese put on the head), blueberries, dates and strawberries. As I was doling out the blueberries, I was thinking of how I can't wait to pick blueberries this summer. That got me thinking even more of what I really wanted to do with the kids this summer. Monster and I had come up with some ideas a couple of weeks ago on a Mommy/Monster date, but now we can't find the paper. So, I'm starting again, and this time documenting it for the world to see. Here it is, the Rock Summer 2013 Bucket List, with ideas from everyone in the family, including Puppy (or what the kids think Puppy wants to do).
This is what we've come up with so far. I'm sure I'll be adding to it the closer summer gets!
When Monster was three, he went to a preschool in which the day was 4 hours long. School was the first time he had ever been away from me, other than when I was in the hospital delivering Sunshine. After about 2 hours, I would start to get anxiety and miss him horribly. Luckily, at the school he went to, pick up was pretty flexible. There were days I'd go in a whole half hour early because I just couldn't wait to get him. The next year, he went to a different school that was a 3 hour program. That was better for me. They had a normal pick up routine so we had to wait until the kids were dismissed. I was always either the first or second one there. I just needed to have my little boy with me. Last year , for Kindergarten was pretty much the same as the year before that. Even though Monster was the only walker, I was always the second parent there. Last year, he still asked me to walk him up to the school doors each morning. He still gave me a hug and a kiss before he went in. This year, he's grown up. He needed me to walk him to the doors the first 2 weeks of school, but he'd only hug me at the corner. Now, I can't even walk him all the way to the corner of the street and if I don't get a hug and a kiss in our driveway, I just don't get one. I still catch myself looking at the clock everyday around lunch time, and I think about the fact that Monster is eating lunch or out at recess. I still catch myself chomping at the bit to leave to go pick him up, even though he's asked to walk home alone. I'm running out of moments for him to just be my little boy and it makes me very sad. It makes the moments where he allows me to snuggle him, hold his hand, and give him a hug goodbye all that more special. I treasure each moment. It's passing too quickly.
I feel as though the past two months have just been playing catch up. Though I'm actually on top of tasks, I've been way behind on getting things posted here. I've also been extremely bad at taking pictures of, well, everything. Around Thanksgiving, I finally got my pictures organized on my computer from June on and realized that I stopped taking pictures. For all of July and August, I think I only have 40 or so pictures. This a hint to my friend, L, to get on emailing me pictures of my kids since I think she's taken more than I have. We did hand craft a lot of the Christmas gifts for neighbors and teachers. Sunshine made her teachers reindeer thumbprint ornaments. Since Monster's teacher this year is the aide from last year, he had already made her a reindeer thumbprint ornament. So, for her and the teacher on maternity leave, he made snowman fingerprint votive holders. To go along with those, we made essential oil hand sanitizer, hand scrub, and room spray. Monster had no interest in helping there, so Sunshine helped make all that. For our awesome babysitter, we made the reindeer ornament but with both kids thumbprints. Because we have plenty of beer bottle tops, I made bottle cap snowmen ornaments. They turned out quite cute. I've posted before how I can't stand party favors and how I'm constantly on the search for things that are not candy or just plain junk. Before Thanksgiving this year, I found some foam bookmarks and foam stickers to decorate them. I had also seen an idea on Pinterest for Christmas card display that I wanted to make. Funny thing is that a friend of mine made hers first, and I decided I really liked it, so I definitely had to make one. Pretty simple. Found a cute, cheap sign at Target, hot glued some ribbon on the back, and got mini clothes pins from Hobby Lobby. Whole thing cost less than $10. We also did a couple random crafts, some I got pictures of, some I didn't. This month has been different for the Rock household. This is the first time in 6 years we were in good old Ohio for Christmas. It was bittersweet. It was nice to have the kids open their presents here, but there's something really wonderful about swimming on Christmas day. Since we didn't have to ship presents this year, I procrastinated. All gifts were bought by December 1, but we had a wrapping marathon on Christmas Eve. For extra security, we set up the webcam aiming at the stairs so we could see if any creatures were stirring. Christmas itself was nice and quiet. We celebrated with my parents and uncle who was here from Florida. Sunshine got her Cinderella doll, paper, pencils, stickers and Squinkies (she promised not to eat them) she asked Santa for. Monster got more books than any kid should be able to read in a year, but, since he's Monster, he has most of them read already. He also got some great new spy stuff and Legos. I took about 3 pictures on Christmas. Can't believe I was that absent minded. We did take video though, so I guess that counts for something. Oee, our elf, was here again this year. He wasn't so creative this year, but much braver. He hid in a lot of places the kids could touch. He was extremely trusting this year and believed in the kids. Pictures of his spots are coming as soon as they are organized and uploaded from my camera. My worry for the polar bears is a bit less. We've had below freezing temps and lots of snow. In fact, the day after Christmas there was a blizzard that dumped about a foot of the white stuff. Since Husband has been home for a week, we've been taking advantage of the snow instead of damning it. When he goes back to work tomorrow, I'll damn it again. But, the kids sure have been having fun!
For the New Year, I decided to actually bake something fun for breakfast. I made some yummy caramel rolls. Well, at least Monster and I thought they were yummy. Sunshine liked the taste, but not he texture and Husband doesn't like sweet breakfast food. I have thoughts for another post about what I hope to accomplish in 2013, but it will have to wait at least one more day.
Hope that everyone had a great holiday season! Hurricane Sandy put a damper on Halloween this year. Literally. Because of the weather, trick or treating was postponed. Saturday was trick or treat day. We called it Halloween for Sunshine because was adamant that she is only dressing up on Halloween. Papa came to pass out candy and she was thrilled (Nana came, too!).
So, without further ado.... Monster, as a Monster and Sunshine as Tinkerbell! |
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