Birthdays and Holidays

I need to get out of the habit of not posting for two weeks.  My excuse this time was that my mom was here last weekend and I thought it would be rude to type up a blog instead of visiting with her.  And I'm just so busy during the week that it's hard to carve out an evening to do it.  So there you have it.

Last weekend was indeed a big weekend for the family Grodack as Calleigh turned seven on Sabbath (17th) and Aubree turned five on Monday (19th).  I will say that I did kind of feel bad for Aubree because by the time Monday rolled around after celebrating Calleigh's big day on Sabbath and then having a party on Sunday, you're kind of partied out.  It felt like it was the never ending birthday, to be honest!  And to think we get to do it all again in a few weeks for Brady.

My mom wanted to come for a visit and was able to work it out to come this particular weekend.  She arrived on Thursday evening (15th).  It was sure nice to have Ricky around to pick her up.  Duncan had driven up to Hammock Beach for a work thing on Thursday morning and wasn't coming back until Friday afternoon.  The flight was a little delayed so it didn't arrive until the time Colby was going to bed so I was glad I didn't have to pick her up.  Calaubra had their faces glued to the window awaiting her arrival and ran out the door as soon as the car pulled up.  Always fun to see their excitement..."Gigi! Gigi!"

On Friday, Gigi, Ricky, and Ana took Calaubra to the beach for the day while I stayed behind to do a few yard sales and some last minute party stuff with Colby.  They took the van and I took Ricky's Toyota Corolla.  I knew it was old, as evidenced by the cassette player, but I realized just how old when I got behind the wheel and happened to notice a few minutes later that the odometer was on 299,999.  I got a little excited thinking that I was going to be part of such a momentous event as a car flipping to 300,000 miles.  I mean, how many people can say they were part of that??  I had my camera poised for the big event but it....never...happened.  Yup, the odometer has been stuck at 299,999 for like over a year so who knows how many miles it actually has on it.  Ahh, well.

Everyone had a good time at the beach but we couldn't t help notice upon their return that there seemed to be certain parts of the kids' faces that were bright red.  I won't name names to protect the guilty but sunblock application and good job were not two phrases that went together on this excursion.  We were a little concerned on Sabbath that people might report us to the authorities once the public took a gander at their faces.  And indeed, Aubree practically scared one of her classmates.  "Is that you, Aubree?" one of them asked.  "I thought it was a monster."  Poor, poor kid.  Fortunately, they all seemed pretty unfazed, most likely because they're too short to look into any mirrors as they walk by.  

Just a tad red around the eyes.

Food trucks Friday night included a visit from Bob & Karen McDougall including Dewey and granddaughter, Kenzi.

Maddy's like "Whatever!"

I couldn't have ordered up a nicer day on Sunday for the party had I tried.  Just gorgeous weather.  A month or two back Calleigh had requested a bike cake for their party so I went with that as the "theme."  As I've mentioned on this blog a time or two, I am not a big fan of birthday parties in general and pouring hours and hundreds of dollars into their creation.  I would prefer a simple approach.  The kids and I did go to the party store and picked out some decorations.  We went with the red/white/blue theme to match the blueberries and strawberries on their bike cake and plus, I figured Memorial Day wasn't too far off.  The main event was a bike scavenger hunt (or maybe road rally was a more appropriate term).  Those are the kind of things I have more fun planning than parties!  We split up into two teams, mainly boys vs girls, and then they were off.  There was a list of 17 questions they had to answer like "How many rungs are on the monkey bars at the playground on the hill?" and "What color door does the house have at 2547 Smith St."  Since Aubree and Brady don't ride two wheeled bikes yet, Elaine pulled them in the trailer so they could still participate.  I think everyone had a good time and I was pleasantly surprised that the girls' team finished first.  We started the party at 9:45 to avoid having to ride around in the hot sun so we served a light brunch and then it was over by 12:15.  The girls then had the rest of the day to play with all their new stuff which consisted of a LOT of American Girl doll stuff.  Definitely makes it easy to figure out what to get for them!  Aunt Toni and Uncle Terry also came by on their way to visit Uncle Terry's mom in Avon Park so we capped the day off with supper at Macaroni Grill with them.  Gigi left the next morning at 7:00 so it was an early morning getting her to the airport.

Gigi making the fruit sticks.

Colby "helping"

The girls team 

The boys team

One of the birthday girls

And the other.  Brady really wished it was his birthday too.  He kept wanting to open a present.

Birthday cake by Jennifer, of course!

New ponies for Olivia and Penelope

In other news, seemingly a long time ago it was Mother's Day.  For my usual treat, I got the day to myself. This time I didn't want to have to come home midday to nurse Colby so I left three bottle behind and begrudgingly took my pump with me.  I love nursing, don't get me wrong, but it's these kind of situations in which I will be glad to be done with it.  Around 2:30, as I was driving from one Goodwill to another, I hooked myself up.  I actually thought I was pretty cool because I was using the special bra that holds the pump in place so I didn't have to hold it and then I was using the hands free feature in Duncan's car to talk on my phone.  So I could pump, talk, and drive and still have both hands on the wheel.  I have no idea how many trucks may have driven by and seen me in action but hopefully the window tint worked pretty well. Actually, who am I kidding??  I really don't care!

At the last Goodwill, I had a little dose of reality.  I was waiting in line to pay and the lady in front of me had a baby boy in a stroller who looked similar in age to Colby.  I struck up a conversation with her asking her how old the baby was.  "Nine months" she said, so a few weeks older than Colby.  To myself, I was kind of thinking "Haha, poor lady.  Her husband isn't as great as mine to watch the baby so she can go out by herself on Mother's Day."  Yeah, I was feeling a little smug.  We chatted a minute or two after I said I had a baby a similar age and she said "Oh, so you're out by yourself for the day?"  I said "Yes" with a big smile. She said "I really wish I had the option but my husband is in the army in Afghanistan.  We haven't seen him since the baby was two months old but I think he may be coming home soon."  Boy, if that doesn't make you ever so thankful for what you have.

This week we didn't do a whole lot although Thursday we did make a trip over to our pediatrician.  On Wednesday afternoon Colby's eyes started filling with gunky stuff and I was figured it was probably pink eye.  Sure enough, it was and he had an ear infection in his right ear.  That totally figures.  Last week I had been talking to my cousin Shannon who was reporting that her son Griffin had two ear infections in a row and did my kids ever have that.  I said the girls had them a few times but it had been years.  On Saturday night before the party, Colby woke up at like 10 pm and was crying and crying and mom thought he was pulling his right ear.  Well, now we know why.  So Colby is now on an antibiotic to cure both things. Naturally, a few hours later, I saw one of Brady's eyes start to get the same gunk in it.  I had some old drops from the last round of pink eye a few years ago and although the bottle was expired, figured it wouldn't hurt to use them.  The next morning, I called the pediatrician's office to see if they could just get me a new prescription without having to go in since Colby had just been diagnosed and pink eye is very contagious.  I described what Brady's symptoms were and after some questions, the nurse proceeds to say "Well, from how you describe it, I really think this is more of a viral infection rather than bacterial (or maybe it was the opposite...whatever it was but she made it clear that it was the OPPOSITE of Colby) so I really think you should just use some warm compresses three times a day for it."  I was like "Really?? So my one kid is diagnosed with pink eye a few hours earlier and the other one comes down with the exact same gunk in his eye and you don't think it's the same thing?  I mean, aren't we dealing with 1 + 1 = 2 here?"  But she repeated her instructions so I said "Ohh-kayyy, I'll just continue to use the expired drops then. Goodbye." I mean, seriously.  The expired drops have worked fine.  Brady's pink eye went away and nobody else has gotten it thankfully.       

Thursday evening was the start of the homeschool convention so we headed down to the Gaylord Palms to walk around the exhibit hall.  Duncan, Ron, and Elaine met us down there and we all had a good time.  I am trying to decide if I will continue with My Father's World for second grade so it was nice to able to look through that and then look at other options, namely A Beka. Also, I stopped at a booth that sells paper and writing utensils and was referred to a few erasers that I can try with Calleigh.  As previously mentioned, Calleigh has a really BIG problem with the sound of an eraser.  She really can't stand the sound.  If she erases something, she tries to cover both ears while erasing - - very hard to do - - or if I erase and don't warn her ahead of time, she freaks out because she didn't know to cover her ears.  So I'm hoping that erasers made of of different kinds of material will help with the sound.  We will find out when school resumes on Tuesday (although we may have school tomorrow despite the holiday).  Incidentally, I didn't go to much else of the convention this year due to Colby.

Photo booth one of the vendor's had

Nice!

I bought this really neat family tree that goes from Adam to Jesus.  Really cool!

Close up.  You could study this thing for hours.

Today was another beach day, this time at Winter Haven Park in Ponce Inlet. Seems like the thing to do for the Memorial Day weekend.  Actually, it was a big day for Colby because it was the first time he's been to the beach or submerged himself in any body of water.  And the verdict is in...he loved it!  He loved sitting in the water and having the waves splash up on him.  That was good to see because not all Grodack babies enjoyed this as I recall.  We had a nice time.  Great weather. We were with the Bergherms (minus Bruce), Isidros, Biris, Gregorys, and Braces. We only stayed about 3 1/2 hours though.  Around 2:00 pm Colby because pretty fussy and I wanted to drive home while he napped since it's a 1.5 hour trip and I certainly didn't want him to be awake the whole way home if we left later.  He slept the whole way home.

This looks foggy because of Duncan's phone.  

Colby wasn't the only one tired.  Love Brady's leg and look at Aubs in the back!

Okay, I think that's about all we've been up to that is of interest.  Here are a few conversations with the kids.

We were doing school and I accidentally pushed a basket of markers onto the floor.  I asked Aubree to pick them up for me but she was intent on something else and seemed to be ignoring me.
Me: "Aubree, can you PLEASE pick those markers up for me.  You know, you should really help me out here.  I gave birth to you, you know."
Aubree: "Okay! But what does picking up markers have to do with me being born?"

Our plans for when we leave for Nova Scotia have been contingent on whether Shawn was going to perform a wedding in Michigan.  We finally got word that he wasn't going to do the ceremony so I was trying to explain all this to the girls.
Me: "Oh good.  Uncle Shawn isn't going to marry her so we can leave on the Thursday for Nova Scotia."
Calleigh: "WHAT??  Why was Uncle Shawn going to marry her?  He's already married!"
Me: "No, silly.  He was going to PERFORM the wedding because he's a pastor."
Aubree: "She's texting herself that!"

The girls are onto me!  If they say something I want to remember I send myself a text message.

The Bruins lost 4 games to 3 against their rivals the Montreal Canadiens and I was sad to see their season come to a close especially when they had been up 3-2.  This had not sunk in for Aubree yet though.
Aubree: "Is Uncle Ricky coming over to watch hockey tonight?"
Me: "Nope.  The Bruins are out of the playoffs because they lost last night."
Aubree: "He can come over and watch other hockey."
Me: "To be honest, I really don't care about any other hockey now that the Bruins are out and won't win the Stanley Cup."
Aubree: "Well...that's okay.  We were watching too much hockey anyway."

Brady has his hands on my back as he stands behind me as I sit on the floor.
Me: "Brady, can you give me a massage?"
Brady (looks searchingly around the room): "Yes, where is it?"

A few more pictures before closing.

Getting bigger.

Duncan took them to get sunglasses on Friday to try and prevent the last beach/sunburn fiasco.  If you look closely, you'll see Brady's tag sticking up.  I would say 90% of the time, his shirt is on backwards.  You would think by default it would be more like 50/50 but no.

Such posers.

Oakland Nature Preserve yesterday.

The girls had been given a "paint your own tea set" like three years ago.  It was for ages 8+ so we stored it away until last week when Calleigh declared she was now old enough since she was almost 7.  Brady has managed to only break two pieces so far.

Another wound.  Walked into a clothing rack at Costco.

Maybe I should sue.  Ha!  It was that silver piece next to the white/blue dress on the far left (the piece just above the blue part of the dress).  Not sure why Brady thought the most direct route somewhere was walking THROUGH the clothes.

Never too young to play felts.  I think he might have been getting it down to eat it actually.

A really fair wrestling match.  An 8th month old vs. his older sisters.  No children were hurt in the filming of this.

Have a great week.