Lagoon Trip, Year 2

Many of you will remember our Lagoon Day from last year. It's kind of crazy that I've been writing on this blog for over a year now.

This year, we invited some different family members to come with us. Last year we took Grig's sister and brother-in-law with us. This year we invited my sister, and Grig's two brothers.

Grig had work the day of the event, and I was on my way back from Idaho. It didn't start until 5:00 p.m., so things worked out well.

We had a great time!

Havelock drove down with us and my sister, and we waited outside the entrance until his other brother arrived. His friend was kind enough to drop him off.

This was outside of the park while we were waiting. Havelock and Kevin were having a great time!

Once we'd gathered our complete party, we entered the gates. That's when I realized that we had forgotten our stroller! I convinced Grig to let us rent one, even though that was a little expensive. That was nice of him. It ended up carrying everyone's stuff, so it worked pretty hard throughout the night.

Hooray for strollers!

Once we got inside, we did one of the water-rides right away so hopefully we would have time to dry, and then we convinced Grig's brothers to try the Samurai.

Don't they look happy?

Grig's older younger brother liked it, but Havelock thought it was too scary. After that, we went and ate dinner, which was delicious. They served hamburgers, hot-dogs, and fried chicken. We also could get ice-cream, as much soda as you wanted, and chips. We rolled away from the tables and decided to stay away from the intense rides while our food digested.

Havelock and my sister decided to try bumper cars while we took Kevin on the Twirl a Whirl. It was approved for all ages, so we assumed it would be pretty tame.

I thought Kevin was laughing in this picture. Actually, I don't think he was.

It wasn't. However, Grig and his brother thought that Kevin had been laughing at the end, so I decided to go on the ride with him again. He wasn't very excited about the idea and he wanted to sit on my lap. I wasn't sure that was allowed, so I made him sit on the seat just before the ride got started. 

This picture was taken before I removed him from my lap. He might have been okay if I had left him there. 

He screamed nearly the whole time. Afterward, we decided we needed to stick with tamer things, like the merry-go-round. First though, we took turns on the bumper cars. First, Havelock and my sister went.

Then, when they finished, Grig, his other brother, and I tried our hand. I wasn't very good at it, but it was fun.

 After that, we went to the merry-go-round. Kevin had some trepidation about riding on it, but eventually he started to enjoy it. He liked the lion that he rode on.

After the merry-go-round, we wanted to ride on some roller coasters. We decided to start with the tamest one, and really old white one. Havelock didn't want to join his brothers at first, but they "convinced" him to go with them. That turned out to be one of his favorite rides.

Havelock's brothers talking him into going.

While they were riding that, my sister bought some cotton candy and shared it with Kevin and me. It was really good. At first, Kevin didn't want to eat it. He found the consistency to be strange. Eventually, he tried it, and then he couldn't get enough of it.

Kevin is angry that she's not sharing.

About this point, it became too dark to take pictures, so we just enjoyed ourselves and put the camera away. We rode on a lot of different rides, but we were waiting to go onto one called "Wicked" until the end, because we were hoping the line would be shorter. Compared to normal, it really wasn't bad, but we didn't want to wait if we could help it.

By the time we finally went on it, only Grig and I were able to go. My sister was nice enough to watch Kevin, but they closed the line before Grig and I finished. We felt bad that she and Grig's brother hadn't gotten to go (Havelock didn't want to), but I think everyone had a really good time.

Kevin sure did. He didn't even make it to the car before he passed out on his father's head.

We had a fantastic time, and we can't wait for next year (as long as Grig is still working at the same job). We'll probably invite different family members so more people get a chance to come with us. It's fun to do things with family, and roller coasters are exciting!

Forcing Myself to Go

For the last couple of weeks, I've been meaning to go play indoor soccer with the women in our congregation. Every Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. they've been playing, and since I love soccer, I really wanted to go. However, there are a few problems with the timing.

The first problem is generally we go to bed at 8:00, or at least, that's the time we're supposed to go to bed. Grig isn't getting up quite as early anymore, but in order to get 8 hours of sleep we're supposed to be in bed by 8. That's the main problem. If I go, Grig has to watch Kevin, and usually that would entail staying up to do it.

The second problem was that last week we were sick. I was not doing well on Tuesday, so I chose not to go spreading lovely germs to everyone.

However, last night I didn't have an excuse. Yes, it was still after bedtime, but Grig had told me that he wanted me to go, and I REALLY wanted to go. However, I was also feeling lazy, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to go. It's hard when the time finally comes to push yourself to go do something, even if you do want to do it. It's easy to be like, "Oh, I'll just go next week." However, I had told the women I was going to come, so that was motivating for me. Luckily, Kevin fell asleep before I even left, so we felt like that was a huge success! We were hoping that Grig could go to sleep too and they would both still be sleeping when I returned home.

I took off a few minutes late, but it's pretty close to our apartment, so I made it in good time. It didn't take long for us to get set-up, and then we began to play.

This is an older picture (pre-marriage), but I thought it fit well.

I had a lot of fun! We played four on four and it was great exercise. I found out that I don't make a good forward (though I did score one point) because I used to play sweeper in high school. I'm used to hanging back and watching to prevent the ball from going into our space. It took some prodding, but I was managing to overcome those instincts by the end of the game.

I also discovered I probably talk way too much during the game itself. Hopefully the other women weren't annoyed.

Needless to say, I lost track of time. At 10:00 p.m., we called it a night. I checked my phone, and I didn't have any missed calls or texts from Grig, so I ran to Wal-mart quickly and bought a few things. I thought I was going to be able to go home, take a shower, and go to bed.

However, when I got home, I was greeted by a happy Kevin. He had woken up only about a 1/2 hour after I left. Grig had to stay up with him until 10, when Havelock came out and watched him until I returned home at 10:20. Grig still wasn't asleep when I came home and he had a headache. It was nice of Havelock to help out, but I felt bad.

We managed to get up okay this morning, but after showering and doing a few things, Kevin insisted that I go back to bed.

I don't regret going (though Grig might regret that I went). I almost didn't go, but sometimes it's really worth it to do so. I badly needed the exercise, and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully I can go again next week, but we'll have to see. We might need to figure something else out for Kevin so that Grig can get more sleep.

My Thoughts on the Santa Claus Thing *Age Restricted to Unbelieving Adults*

I'm writing this post with the knowledge that this is every individual's choice to make, and it's none of my business what you decided to do with your Christmas holiday.  

Having said that, I love the tradition of Santa Claus.  More and more of my peers nowadays are deciding not to have Santa Claus as a tradition in their homes.  One particular person I know has decided not to because they don't want to lie to their kids, so they have told them from the get go that Santa Claus doesn't come visit them on Christmas Eve.

Personally, I can understand, but I don't fully agree.  Again, it is every parent's choice, but I loved Santa Claus when I was a kid!  I loved the excitement and magic Christmas morning when presents appeared and it was fun to pretend that a big man in a red suit had brought them to our house.

I believed in Santa until I was eleven.  I'm sure there were kids at school who told me he wasn't real, but I didn't care.  I didn't really believe he came down the chimney, but I had a personal theory that he was like a catalog.  The parents ordered what they wanted from him, and Christmas Eve he drove around and brought the presents to all the houses, delivering them via the front door.  My Santa was unconventional and somewhat practical, but I still loved him.

When I was eleven, my parents pulled me into their room and told me that he didn't exist.

I cried.  I really did.

And then I got over it.  I enjoyed helping my parents stuff stockings for the younger kids after that and helping to make it magical for them.  The excitement of BEING Santa replaced the excitement of BELIEVING in Santa.  That kept him alive for me.

I love pretending, and in that sense, Santa is real. Santa is the joy of surprising your children and increasing anticipation.  It is the fun of imagination and trying to figure out a holiday tradition. Santa was a real person.  He once existed and the tradition of giving makes him very much alive in our homes today.  Santa definitely shouldn't replace Christ, but as a fun Christmas tradition, I don't have a problem with him.  

Finding out that Santa didn't really come to our house on Christmas didn't cause me to question everything else my parents had ever taught me.  Instead, it simply turned into a fun Christmas tradition for me.  It reemphasized the point that Christmas was about the REAL Savior, not a man from the North Pole.

For me personally, it was just a lot of fun.

However, I understand that for others, the realization that Santa wasn't real had a different impact on them, and I understand that.  Due to that, many parents have decided that they're not going to lie and pretend to their children.  They are going to be honest with them and tell them straight. 

However, before you tell your children that Santa isn't real, remember one thing.  There are a lot of other children that your child is going to make cry.  They may not do it on purpose, but a lot of other children out there are going to be believing in Santa, and your child is going to tell them that he is not real.  They will probably argue about it and it will probably cause a lot of hurt feelings.  Your child may also be hurt because their peers don't believe what they know to be true.  Other children will be hurt because it is fun to believe in Santa, and your child is removing some of the magic from their childhood.

I don't know what the right answer is.  Again, it's a very personal decision.  All I know is that what you decide does affect other children besides your own. Personally, I want my kids to enjoy Santa, at least for as long as they can. That's part of what made Christmas magical for me when I was a kid, and I want my kids to enjoy that too.  Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it up to me and Grig to decide what we want for our children?  Just like it's up to you?

Do what you think is right for your family.

Merry Christmas to all those who decide to be Santa and for those who decide not to be.  Either way, it doesn't change the magic of the season.  As we celebrate and remember the Christ child, there is a magic to that to, and it is a magic that never goes away.

In fact, it only increases as you get older.

Kevin's First Birthday

Last week, Kevin turned one.

It was a monumental day for me.  It is hard to believe that a year ago I was in the hospital.  If you are interested in the events of that day, click on the following link: Top Ten Injuries in My Life.  It's number four. 

Kevin obviously didn't know that anything was different on his birthday.  We ended up having three parties, which will be featured in this week's video.  The first party was a private family party.  We skyped with Grig's parents and with my parents simultaneously. It started out pretty good, except that Grig's father was on a business trip and had to be skyped seperately.  So, we ended up having one computer for my parents, one computer for Grig's mother, aunt, and siblings, and one computer for Grig's father.  It was very exciting.  At first, Grig's mother couldn't get her skype to work, but after some assistance from Havelock, they got things figured out.  We were glad they could join us.

Kevin quickly figured out how to open presents. In some ways, he enjoyed ripping off chunks of wrapping paper more than anything else.  He would rip off a piece, wave it, and laugh.  It was very cute.  However, once he saw what was inside of the wrapping paper, he was thrilled.  It took us a while to go through his presents, but when he was finished, we had a very happy little boy on our hands.  He just wanted to play for a while.

All Kevin's presents.  Family picture!

 The second party took place a different day with my local extended family.  We all had dinner at my grandmother's home.  I cooked the main course (hamburger and rice casserole) and everyone else brought a side or just showed up.  We ate dinner first, and then Kevin got to open a few more presents.  He was really excited.  He liked playing with his cousins.  I got a pretty neat present too, even though it was technically for Kevin.  I received some patterns and fabric so I can make him some clothes.  We'll have to see how that goes.  My mother recently gave me a sewing machine that she bought at a garage sale, so hopefully it works.

Kevin loved his new truck!

 After presents, we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and some fudge.  Everything was delicious.  Kevin couldn't figure out what to do with his candle, so another cousin had to help him blow it out.  Every time we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he looked really confused.  He enjoyed the pie, but he didn't eat it very long before he wanted to get down and play again.  We had a good time.

The third party involved a gift from Grig's parents and a friend of the family.  It was a new wagon.  Last night, Grig and I assembled it, and Kevin loved it!  While we were trying to put it together, he kept jumping on top and spinning the wheels.  Then, once we had put it all together, he wanted to get in.  We pulled him back and forth in our hallway, and the dog even joined him!  After he finished, he started pulling the wagon, which I was really impressed by, because it is not small. 

Kevin had a wonderful birthday, and we want to thank everyone who helped to make it possible.  Thank you for the birthday wishes, your love, and your support! 

LIfe Without a Microwave

I've had a microwave my whole life.  My parents always had one, and when I went to college the apartments were already furnished with one.  I've never really thought about not having one.

On my wedding night, my new husband and I came home to our new apartment with the leftover fried chicken, tired and hungry after a long day only to find that our new apartment didn't come with a microwave.  We ate some chicken cold and that was that.  The next morning, that was the first purchase we made as a newly married couple.  We bought a microwave.

When my husband was hired at his new job, we came and looked at the apartment.  Both my husband and I were relieved to have a larger microwave there, and I thought I saw it hanging over the sink.  So, we decided to give our microwave away to my brother and his fiance as a wedding present.  We wouldn't be needing it anymore. 

However, to our surprise when we moved in, there was no microwave there!  Both Grig and I could have sworn that there was one, but we decided not to worry about it.  We would start a microwave fund and buy one again when we had the money.  Things were pretty tight for a while though, and two weeks later, we still didn't have money for it. 

Have you ever lived life without a microwave?  It's kind of hard, but as my Grandfather reminded me, they didn't used to have microwaves at all.  I learned to reheat everything on the oven.  I had twice as many dishes because I'd remove the Tupperware from the fridge and then I'd have to put the food in a pan to reheat it.  I used to just be able to put the Tupperware in the microwave and be ready to go.  For a couple weeks, it was a pain and then I began to get used to it.  We probably could have gone on indefinitely without a microwave, except for one thing.

Microwave popcorn.

I love microwave popcorn.  I eat it quite frequently.  When I was pregnant I ate it even more frequently, but it still is one of my favorite snacks.  I could figure out how to cook anything without a microwave except my popcorn.  Its loss made me sad.  But I could endure, no matter how hard it was. 

But don't worry, the story has a happy ending.

A couple weeks after we moved, I received a call from my cousin.  They were in the process of moving, and the apartment we were moving into already had a microwave (for realsies).  She asked if we wanted her.  I am pretty sure that the Spirit told her to call us, because there was no reason why she would think we didn't have a microwave.  We told her we would love one, and a couple weeks later, we were able to go and pick it up!

I'm grateful to my cousin and to the Lord for providing us with a microwave when we didn't have the means to get one ourselves.  It just makes life a lot easier.  I don't regret the skills that I learned in those four weeks though.  I now can cook without a microwave, and we found out that fried quesadillas as so much better than microwaved quesadillas. 

Guess what the first thing I made with the microwave was when we finally got it home?

You guessed it. 

Microwave popcorn.

Babysitting

Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of babysitting our neighbors' daughter.  Kevin just loves her.  She is two, so she is at least a year older than him, and very sweet.  One of my viewers (Sarah) the other day commented that in some ways the balance of being a mom becomes easier when you have two kids.  I decided to see if she was right.

She came early in the morning, and was still sleepy.  Kevin was already awake, but she seemed like she wanted to go back to sleep (and her mom told me that she commonly sleeps until 10-11, so I turned off the light and took Kevin back to our bedroom.)  Kevin didn't think he was tired, which was a good thing because about ten minutes later I heard a quiet "Mom?"  I got up, and went out to find the little girl (who we will call Angela) standing next to the front door trying to get out.  She had two large tears running down her cheeks, and my heart broke for her.

I gathered her up in my arms and brought her to where Kevin was, we read a story.  After that, she seemed to feel better.  She asked me when her Mommy was coming, and, not being one to lie to kids, I told her that her Mom would be back in a long while.  Meanwhile, while she and Kevin played in his room (to Kevin's delight) I began to get breakfast ready.

They were pretty happy for a while, and I was thinking 'This is great!'  Then I heard a quiet "Ow.  Ow."  I went to see what was happening.  Kevin was standing behind Angela just happily pulling her hair.  She just sat there and said "ow" over and over.  Quickly, I moved Kevin away and gave him a toy to play with.  After that they were fine again.  I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and then we all ate together.

After breakfast, Kevin needed a nap.  I turned on a cartoon for her to watch for a few minutes while I put him to sleep, because her mother had said that she loved watching t.v.  Only five minutes later I heard her at my door saying, "mom?"  She called me that most of the day, which was endearing, but evidently she calls everyone mom.  Luckily Kevin went to sleep quickly so I could go out and give her attention.  It was difficult for me to get anything done, because she wanted a lot of attention.  I figured it was probably because her mom had just started working and she was in a strange, unknown situation.  We had a good time.  We colored and played and made a leash for a stuffed dog that she could drag around the house.

Eventually, Kevin woke up, and then we all did things together until lunch time.  Her mom called a couple times during breaks to see how she was doing, and she told her mom she was having fun, which is always good to hear.  Then, after lunch, I put Kevin to bed again, and then I went out to find that Angela was ready for a nap.  It wasn't anything she said, but when she dumped all of the crayons out, I said, "You need a nap."

She nodded and headed for Kevin's room.  He was on my bed, so she climbed into his crib and laid down.  Then, after I hummed her a few songs, she fell quickly to sleep and slept until her Dad came to pick her up.  It was a fun experience, for both me and Kevin.  Kevin loves having friends over.  He was sad when she left.

I don't know if it was any easier to get things done with Angela around, but I did have fun making punch with her and playing with toys with both of them.  More importantly, I think Angela had a good time too.