grandpa

Yesterday, my grandfather went home to be with the Lord.  He kept us on the edge of our seats for a few days, but I guess your body just doesn't give up easily when it's been pretty healthy for almost 90 years!  We're glad he's not suffering anymore, but it's still sad to see him go.  He was a kind, caring, godly man.  As much as I love travel and adventure, I love living in the same community that he lived in for much of his life and running into people that knew him, and I am proud to be known as his granddaughter - he definitely had a reputation of being one of the nicest men you'd ever meet.  When people ask about our house (which my grandparents lived in for almost 30 years, and we bought it from them 4 years ago), I especially love sharing the story of where my grandpa moved to.  My grandma was in a nursing home and my grandpa was spending all day every day with her.  Once it got to the point that he shouldn't be driving, HE BOUGHT THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR to the nursing home.  Hello, is that not the sweetest thing you've ever heard??  What a great example of Christian love in a marriage - giving it all he had right up until the very end.  He had a rough time for awhile after my grandma passed, but then, to see how excited he was after meeting his girlfriend...  The first time he was telling Mike and I about her he was seriously like a teenage boy.  Cracked me up.  It's been neat to see them together the last couple years.  Anyways, now I feel like I'm starting to ramble.  I'm thankful for the Christian heritage he has left, I'm thankful to be a part of this family (Mom and Dad, did you catch that??), I'm thankful he got to spend time with the boys, and I'm thankful I'll see him again one day.

naps

We've had a major naptime change here.  For a little over a week the boys were NOT napping well.  They would seem ready for nap, but then for some reason get riled up and not fall asleep for a long time.  One day I tried putting Logan down first (because he was incredibly cranky and definitely ready for nap early), and awhile after he was asleep I put Caleb down (he actually did halfway decent staying quiet).  That didn't work - Logan still ended up waking up not long after I put Caleb down, and he never went back to sleep, but Caleb did eventually.  Anyways, now I've resorted to separating them and that seems to be the trick.  Caleb gets their room, Logan is in a pack'n'play in our room.  I tried alternating them, but Caleb didn't do as well in the pack'n'play (I was not surprised, but wanted to give it a try anyways...).  The first couple times Logan seemed extra sad about going down for nap, and even today after putting Logan down and I was going up the stairs with Caleb, Caleb kept saying "Baby nigh, nigh" or "bye-bye Baby".  (Still can't get them to say each other's names...)    Also, so far Logan hasn't done as well at the end of naptime - instead of waking up and playing for a bit, he's right away upset and crying "down".  He doesn't like being alone.  :(  But, he did better going down for nap today, so maybe he'll do better at the end, too.  Anyways, the overall naptime is much better now.

Both of the boys have had a small cough since the end of last week.  Random.  Now this morning Caleb woke up stuffy and sneezing.  I am on major nose wiping patrol.  It's constant.  And if I don't keep up it gets wiped on everything else.  I'd be fine if he used his sleeve, but he chooses things like the couch and pillows that are harder to clean.  For the most part he's not acting sick, but I can see that look in his eyes and hear the sniffles.  Poor guy.

The boys were extra naughty this morning.  Either they've been pretty good for awhile, or I've had alot of patience for awhile and just ran out today...

catch-up

This past weekend our church has some celebrations for it's 40th anniversary.  Saturday was an open house where people could come and learn about the church - each committee had a table/display set up.  I am on the Social Committee and had to man our table for an hour.  Honestly, it was rather pointless for me to be at our table, but otherwise the open house was very nice.  Mike had fun walking around with the boys while I was busy.  There were treats at each table, some games that they did actually try to play, and they got balloons from the clowns.  There was one person dressed up as a dog, and one as a lion - the boys were scared but yet intrigued.

Saturday evening we paid a visit to my brother's who were both camping out at Holland State Park.  It was a nice night and the boys enjoyed playing in the sand.

Sunday afternoon we went for a walk to check out some of the construction on Chicago Dr.  Took a look at the culvert area on the westbound side since you can't see it good driving by on the eastbound.  Here's a few pics:

 Looking westbound just west of 48th.

 The old culvert.

 The new culvert, just a little further west.

 One of my handsome little guys.

 Both of my handsome little guys.  Note that Logan has two left shoes on.  I guess that's the peril of having two pairs of the same shoes around.  He's really into getting these shoes out of the closet and putting them on.  (Sometimes it's frustrating because these don't always stay on good and he immediately gets upset about it.)  Anyways, before we left home I DID notice that he had two lefts on, but let it go.  Aren't you proud of me for being so easygoing??  :)

 The boys pushed the stroller like this for quite a bit of the way back.

veg

Cousins Boden and Heidi stopped over to get some celery and onions last week.  The kids had fun playing out in the driveway.  I'll miss evenings like this when winter sets in!

 Good times pre-Caleb using his head as a weapon on Heidi.

Back to the fun.  Note that Caleb is now in the back.  :)

holiday

I guess I didn't write much about last week!  Wednesday evening we had a get together with our Sunday School class from church.  I went ahead with the boys as Mike was going to be a little late.  Thankfully he wasn't too far behind us - gets a little hard to manage the boys in a situation like that.  And, the most trouble happened later when we were both there!  It was nearing the end of the night. The boys were just starting to show some interest in the kiddie pool.  I asked Mike if we should put their suits on, and he thought we'd be going soon....well, I think you can guess what happens next!  Yup, two fully clothed boys completely soaked.  Oh well, they had fun.  :)

Friday I went to see a friend I used to work with who was selling some toys and things.  They boys had fun playing in her backyard for a little bit, and loved the toys I got for them.  It's great to have toys that keep them occupied, but especially that first day they were VERY sad at naptime.

We had a much, much needed low-key holiday weekend here.  After a pretty lazy day Saturday, we took the boys over to the farm.

Monday we went to the zoo.  It was a little chilly, but an enjoyable trip.  I think the boys especially enjoyed the monkeys and fish.

 The bears.

 Check out how the bear in the back is sitting.

Petting a goat.

Funny story from the day:  My mom and dad went with us and we all piled into our van.  We made the guys crawl in the way back, so I was driving.  We're just a little ways down the road when Mike realizes he left his sunglasses on the roof of the van.  Bummer.  He has a hard time finding ones he likes.  So, all the way down the highway to the zoo in GR, and all the way down the highway to come back (and I must admit, there were times I MAY have been going up to 85mph, I'm not a slow driver...but, most of the time it was more like 75-80...).  When we get back Mike mentions his sunglasses again, and my dad was going to look around the driveway to see if they fell off right there and survived, and what do you know, he looks up and they're caught on the rack on the roof!!!  They were there the whole time!!

posers

 Oh yeah, big muscles.

 "flex face"