Category: Family (Page 2 of 26)

Last weekend Nana and Bumpa came to visit–partly because of Maddie’s 1st Birthday and partly because they needed to pick up all their stuff from WI to take back to TN and partly because of a former exchange students parents being in Chetek for a visit.  So, it worked out perfectly to be able to do everything in one visit!  They were also able to check up on the rentals near Chetek and wrap up some loose ends there.  So, all in all, a busy week for them!

They arrived here on Saturday afternoon and spent the night.  The kids were beyond thrilled to have them here–and especially to be able to wake up with them still here.   We enjoyed our morning coffee on the deck, soaking up the sunshine while Bumpa finished telling the kids stories (which he had started the night before before bedtime).

Then Chloe wanted to show Nana her recital song on the piano (and a few other of her favorite songs).  I even heard them play a duet together.  🙂  I was in the kitchen trying to make a beehive cake at this point, rather unsuccessfully I might add… but I did manage to get a picture of Nana listening.  You can’t quite see Chloe but I didn’t want to open the studio door and disrupt the beautiful music.

Madison eventually warmed up to both of them–she’s VERY slow to warm up to people these days–and we had some good giggles and happiness all around.   At one point we wore Bumpa out and he fell asleep on the deck.  The kids and Nana had been outside with him talking and playing and he was able to fall asleep even with all the noise and activity all around him!  And if I remember correctly it was extremely hot that day, so that probably helped…

Oh, and they even brought us some of the amazingly delicious bread sold at their bakery in Bristol.  It was so dense and sweet–it was amazing.  The loaf of bread weighed at least 3 times what you would expect a loaf of bread to weigh.  It was impressive!

We all enjoyed sitting around and catching up.  I was able to see pictures of the house they are fixing up in Bristol and they were able to enjoy hanging out with the kids.  Tim and I laughed at how exhausted they must be by the time they leave here with our kids demanding so much attention!   HA!

I looked outside this morning to find the kids in the hammock with Chloe reading to Josiah.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

The recitals yesterday went really well, but I’ll write more about that tomorrow.  Today was my official first day of summer break–so I don’t have any lessons this week.  Most of the morning was spent cleaning up from the recital chaos yesterday…  But we also went grocery shopping, went to the chiropractor, played outside, gave Maddie another successful bath in the sink, and after supper we made popcorn and watched a movie.   All in all, not too bad for my first day.

Chloe has four more days of school left, but she’s going to the MN zoo tomorrow for a class field trip.    She’s most excited about having a bag lunch with a Capri Sun in it.  😉

Today is Tim’s birthday.

I decided to make him homemade ravioli again since he liked that (plus I had the ingredients, ha!) as well as his traditional chocolate cake.  As per the norm, he gave up Mountain Dew for the past month leading up to this, so having that again is normally the highlight of his day.  🙂  But this year the kids really got on board with the excitement of his birthday–they’ve been counting down the days for almost two weeks now.  They kept asking him if he was excited for his Birthday.  It was adorable.  We celebrated (quickly) over my 30 min dinner break by having supper and then cake and opening gifts.  Josiah was quite disappointed that I didn’t hang up the streamers and balloons for Tim, but I reassured him that I would still hang up all the Birthday stuff when it was HIS Birthday.  That made him feel better.

I’m totally stealing this from Tim’s Facebook page, but I wanted to post it on here so I wouldn’t forget it… this is what Tim had to say about his Birthday:

A few observations from my 36th birthday:
1. My kids are more excited for my birthday than I am. They were seriously counting down the days for the last 2 weeks.
2. Even when I say I don’t want anything special for my birthday, my wife ignores me.
3. Mountain Dew and Chocolate cake have been a staple of my birthday for more years than I can remember.
4. For the past 5 or so years I have tried to make a personal comment to each FB birthday wish. This year I just didn’t have time….. Kinda makes me sad.
5. I have seriously had an awesome 36 years of life. I have very few regrets and more blessings than any man could hope for.
6. Bacon. That is all.

The kids made homemade cards for him (Chloe has been working on hers for days) and they are super cute.  Someday we’ll look back on these cards and laugh.

Happy Birthday Tim.  I’m sure glad you were born.  😉