What Have We Been Doing All Spring?

Part of my reason for lack of blogs (other than time) was the fact we lost our camera, so no pictures.  Pictures help make a relatively short post longer, and this blog is sort of our family photo album, since I so rarely print pictures. Anyhow - this spring we had the camera and then it was lost.  I seriously thought I dropped it at the zoo and it was gone.  Did I ever call the zoo?  Goodness no!  And then it snowed and when that snow melted, I was watching Sammy in the backyard and saw our camera on the ground!  It was buried in one our many snowfalls this spring!  So I grabbed it and it didn't work (by the way, it's a good thing I got it, because later that day, it snowed again!)  After it dried out, we thought it was working, but not really.  So we went awhile with no camera.

Before we went to visit my parents two weeks ago, Uncas ran out and bought a new one.  It's so nice to take pictures with something else besides my phone.  Although I did finally learn how to download pictures off my phone.  But now I haven't tried to download any pictures off the new camera!  Ugh - talk about first world problems!!!!

ANYHOW - as I mentioned above, I do have some pictures from my camera from the past month or so.  In all honestly, we haven't done anything too exciting - playing outside, going to the zoo, playdates, playing inside - a lot of the usual. Here are a bunch from my camera. If you follow me on FB, you'll recognize most of them . . .

Sandbox playing

Edith covered Sammy with her blanket

Locking me inside the backyard

Going for a ride

Watching a moose get trained at the zoo

I told her to look up (meaning at me) . . .

Reading a book together

Sneaking her brother's hardhat

Looking stylish for the summer time

I took a cake decorating class

Helping our new neighbor get her lawn mower unloaded.

Standing by our new compost bin that Uncas built

Out to dinner for Mother's Day

Hanging with our neighbor friend

Washing cars

Eating breakfast with our cousins.

Uncas building our new shed

Picking lilacs

The Big "C"

My dad posted the following status yesterday on his Facebook page:

The Big "C"
A friend or a relative has it
A friend of a relative has it
A friend of a friend has it
Someone you slightly know has it
Someone you don't know at all has it
I have it
Cancer
I'm going to fight it
First goal - third game of the Cubs World Series in 2015
Watch "ron-thismademelaugh@blogspot.com" for future updates

It's been a tough couple of weeks for our family, but as you can see, my dad has a fighting spirit. We look forward to the gift of time as my dad undergoes treatment for his lung cancer.  He started chemo on Friday. For anyone who knows my dad, you won't be shocked to hear that he is entertaining all the nurses and staff who come to his room. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family during this time. Please keep them coming!

Easter 2013

This year we stayed in town for Easter. My cousin moved up to the Twin Cities late last year and recently moved into a new apartment.  My aunt and uncle and his three brothers came to visit Easter weekend and we were able to spend time with all of them!  It was such a fun weekend and our kids loved the attention from everyone!

Saturday we went to SeaLife MN in MOA. We have been a few times with the kids, but they love and we hadn't been recently. Everyone had fun checking out the sealife.  I didn't take too many pictures. It was really nice have lots of extra hands to help with the kids and the stroller.

Checking out fish*

We then all headed to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  We chose wisely because the kids not only love chips and salsa, but also black beans.

Edith loves salsa*

On Easter morning the kids did a little hunt for their Easter baskets and a few eggs that the Easter bunny left them.

 Then we went to the hotel where my aunt, uncle and cousins were staying to swim! The kids loved it! Eddie had noodles around him and he basically swam around unassisted the whole time. Edith took a little longer to relax, but she did enjoy kicking, splashing and playing with the balls in the pool.

Cousins Brad, Kevin, Uncle Dale with Eddie and Uncas with Edith

Eddie and his noodles*

Edith and I taking a break by the stairs*

Actually not freaking out when taking a shower*

We headed home for the kids naps and got Easter dinner started.  The rest of the crew came over around 2:30 and hid a bunch of eggs for the kids to find in the basement.  Here is Easter Egg hunt round 2!

My aunt, uncle and cousins brought the kids some Easter goodies including candy, books, toys and sidewalk chalk! Even though it was cooler out, after dinner we headed outside to do a little drawing and burn off some calories!

Running with egg chalk*

We had so much fun seeing everyone this weekend. Of course I wish the weather had been a little nicer, but it didn't seem to prevent us from having fun!  Thanks for coming and visiting us Aunt Margit, Uncle Dale, Tyler, Kevin, Doug and Brad.  We can't wait to see you again soon!

*these picture were taken by my Aunt Margit

Happy Birthday!

About three weeks ago we celebrated Eddie's 3rd birthday!  I decided that this year we would invite a couple of his good friends over for a little party and we would have it the day before the big day to spread things out a little.  He requested a truck cake and after looking around online, I decided to just take him to our local bakery and let him pick out a cake. With our Vegas trip the weekend before, I knew that time would be precious, especially since I was bringing treats for his birthday to his school on that Friday. I'm learning to let certain things go in order to be able to enjoy the actual experience. Anyhow - I got some cute party favors for the kids and things were pretty well in order.

The week leading up to the big day was a bit crazy. Edith came down with a weird fever thing for a day, then Uncas was down for a couple of days after that with the fever and then sinus infection.  On the morning of I knew early on that we would have to cancel.  Eddie slept in until 9:30 and the only time he sleeps that late is because he is sick.  Sure enough - he got the fever thing and the party was canceled. Poor little guy was so sick that he didn't even realize it.  Fortunately family had sent some gifts, so he had plenty to open.  And that just meant more cake for all of us!

Here a few pictures of the big day:

Of course the birthday cookies need to be orange!

Birthday cookies

Truck cake

Eddie is 3!

Seeing his birthday cake for the first time

Playing with new trains from Edith

Opening new book from Auntie Lisa, Uncle Brian, Caiden and Ezra

Cars from Papa

Birthday morning present opening 

Tool Bench from Mama and Daddy

Our little construction worker

Blowing out candles!

Cake time! No construction hat on while eating!

Vegas Baby!

Late last year when we found out that my mom was retiring in January, Uncas and I decided to approach JoJo and see if she was interested in baby-sitting the kids for a long weekend. Like Super G would say no?! Once she agreed (ok, we might have already been brainstorming ideas before we actually popped the question) we needed to pick a location.  After much discussion, we thought that Las Vegas would be fun.  But since we had both been there before, we thought it would be fun to rent a car and check out some other cool sights that Nevada has to offer.

We set out on a Friday afternoon.  It was the first trip that I literally didn't care if the plane would be delayed.  I was just so excited to have some time to relax, read and spend with Uncas. But our plane was right on time and we even splurged to have extra legroom which Uncas was super grateful for!

 We stayed at MGM and that first night we just checked things out a little and had dinner before crashing back at our room.

 We were up early the next morning and when I called home to talk to the kiddos briefly, I found out that my grandmother had passed away.  I'm not going to lie - it made for a difficult day. We went to a great breakfast buffet at our hotel and walked up and down the strip.  We took a little to nap and then went back out to ride the roller coaster at NYNY hotel (so fun!) and had some dinner.  We were back in our room early again, but we also had to get up early the next day.

Sunday we rented a car and headed south to the Hoover Dam. It was truly amazing. Besides the dam itself, just the drive there was incredible - completely different scenery than what we are used to!

 After taking our fill of the dam, we stopped for lunch and headed northeast to our next hotel.  We decided that on Monday we would check out Valley of Fire State Park. This part of the trip was really relaxing and the sun was shining and temperature was up to the 60s. Valley of Fire was beautiful and we could have easily spent more time there, but we had a flight to catch.

 Our trip home was uneventful and we once again purchased seats with lots of legroom. By Sunday afternoon I was really missing the kids and they were asleep when we got home Monday night.  I went and checked on them and all seemed fine.

A very big thank you to my parents for taking care of the kids while we were gone.  I know how much work the kids are these days!

Nature Center Fun

I don't know how much I have written about this, but I am a part of a MOMS Club. Its very well organized (I'm even on the board this year) and as a result there are many activities during the week that we can attend. It's often very helpful, so we can get out of the house - especially in the winter. It's great socialization for not only the kids, but for me as well.  In early March we met up with some moms from the group at a local nature center.  It's a great nature center (I think I have posted pictures on here from there before) and I have taken the kids there many times - sometimes with other people and sometimes just by ourselves.

One of the great features they have is a two rooms upstairs that have walls which are floor to ceiling windows.  They look out to a forest with bird feeders, so you often see squirrels, birds of all kinds, chipmunks and turkeys!  When we went this particular day the turkeys were right by the window! And then one jumped up on top of the bird feeder! It was a fun morning!

Our friend Aurora checking out the turkeys

Aurora and Luka checking out the turkeys

Snack break while watching the birds

Eddie with his friend Eleanor reading about nature

Turkey on top of bird feeder!

Playing with some puzzles!

Grandma R.

I've had this post started for quite awhile now, but for some reason it's been really hard for me to finish. On March 9th my grandma passed away. I called her Grandma Rezabek, although most of the grandkids called her Grandma Vi.  The problem was, my other grandma was also named Viola, so that would have been confusing! Anyhow, I am really going to miss my grandma, but I will always have fond memories of the times I spent with her.  She was an avid reader and I have the Anne of Green Gables book that she read when she was a child. I also have great memories of staying at her house when I was very young. She had a wonderful big backyard with a huge swing set and a pool! Oh how I loved going to visit there.  She and my grandpa also put together a huge dollhouse that I loved playing with when I visited.  Their freezer was stocked with Pudding Pops (remember those), ice cream sandwiches and ice cream. My brother and I loved having breakfast there because they had a microwave long before we did and she would make bacon in it!

For a long time my grandma and I were pen pals - when I was in high school and college.  It was fun receiving letters from her and I know she liked hearing about my life too.

When I think about my grandma, I remember her as a kind, patient, soft-spoken, happy person. I never remember her rushing and she always had time for me and others. I know these last few years were tough for her, so while I will miss her, I know that she is at a much better place.  The last time I saw her, only a week before her death, I knew she was not comfortable or very happy. I knew that day that I left her that it would be the last time I saw her alive.  It was so bittersweet.

Below is probably the last picture that was taken of her - about 8 days before she passed away. I wanted to make a trip with the kids as soon as possible and we ended up postponing it because we were sick. She was happy to see the kids, but I know they tired her out quickly. I'm glad I have this picture to remember that last visit.


I don't feel like I can adequately convey how much she meant to me or what an impact she has had on my life. She taught me so much. I am grateful that she was in my life for 35 years.