Weekend with Family

 (Note - pictures are out of order, and I have no sense on how to rearrange them. Ugh.)

A couple of weeks ago, I got a message from my cousin letting me know that she and her entire family would be in Omaha the following weekend.  Family that lives about nine hours away were only going to be three hours away. Family with which I loved to spend time. Family I don't get to see often. I was honored they wanted to include my family; and I am thankful for a husband that knows my heart.  He got back from KY on a Thursday afternoon, and we loaded up Friday morning for a getaway.

These are the adults of the crew; my two girl cousins and their hubbies. We spent Saturday morning at the children's museum. Brandon played with the girls, and I talked with my cousins. :)

These are all the kids from three cousins. We multiplied!

My mom's sister, AK, blessed my girls with a Valentine goodie. She treats them like her own grandchildren.

The girls discovering Nebraska at the museum

Analise enjoyed acting as the weather woman. She got a kick out of the fact that since she was wearing a green jacket, you couldn't see that part on the screen. She was like a head floating around on a weather map.

 

 

 

Friday afternoon we met up with J and her family for roller skating. Analise was the only one who had skated before, yet all three were excited. They were glad to have the help  with the rollers, and they tired quickly. But they all had fun!

 They loved this section at the museum.

 

A quick recap of our weekend. We hit the outlet malls before getting to Omaha. Analise had some Christmas money she wanted to spend. I knew we wouldn't have long, so we hit the two major stores: Under Armour and Nike. She was thrilled to shop, and I was thrilled she had her own money. Fun thing to remember - we came out of the dressing room, and there was Sadie's teacher! What a fun treat seeing her. :)

After roller skating, we all (18 of us!) met for dinner at Spaghetti Works in the old market. We enjoyed all being together, and I loved connecting with cousins. 

We then went back to the hotel for the girls to swim. This gave me more time with family. 

Saturday morning we met up at the children's museum, and then we had to say goodbye at lunch time. They needed to start thinking about their afternoon of volleyball, and I didn't want to get home late. We ate lunch at Raising Cane's and then stopped at The Cheesecake Factory for our Valentine's gifts to each other. We each got a piece of cheesecake as our gift. Simple but delicious. :)And that gift lasted four nights.(You know - spread out the calories. :))

I am thankful God allowed this to all work out for me to spend time with family and get out of town for a bit. I find that's always good for me. 

Fall Frenzy

This past fall was one of the busiest times in my life. Ever. Let me give a little background - when I subbed several years ago, I fell in love with 2nd grade - especially 2nd grade at our school. For some reason I have fond memories there. So when my principal approached me last spring about subbing a maternity leave in 2nd grade during the fall, my heart beat a bit faster. However, I also had those, "Am I crazy?" thoughts. I knew it would be a lot. After prayer and discussion with Brandon, I decided I would do it. The best perk - having Maisie in my class. :)

I began the year with my normal para job/hours of 8:45-1:00.  I observed my teacher for a day in September, about two weeks before her due date. It was super beneficial. She was going to have the first week's plans finished and possibly the following week since it was a three day week.
That was all going well until Sunday afternoon at 2:30 when I got a text from her letting me know she'd just had the baby. And she hadn't finished her lesson plans.  I went into panic mode. I immediately called the principal so I could get into the school. I left Brandon and the girls at home while I went and attempted my first week of plans. All the while thinking, "Pam, what did you just see; how did she do it?" I think I got home that night around 7:30.  I was so thankful that I already knew the staff up there; they were so supportive and helpful when I needed it.

Monday morning came, and off we went - four Luke ladies on a new path for 12 weeks. And Brandon left for out of town this week. And I started a new ministry at church that had our first meeting that night. It all came down to the same day. CrAzY.  But God saw me through.

So for 12 weeks I poured my heart into that job. I rose each morning at 5:30 so I could exercise on the bike downstairs, got ready, finished lunches and got the girls out of the house by 7:40 (20 minutes earlier than usual). My days in the class were fun, fast, rewarding and tiring. The girls patiently hung with me until 4:00 each day. Even they helped after school; each girl knew what she could do to help. Most days we seemed to have after school activities. We'd run home, unload all the school things, work on homework, and I would run someone to piano, gymnastics, or music class. Then it was dinner, post dinner and then pack lunches and get ready for the following day. By 9:30 most nights I was shot.

I learned I didn't get any down time on the weekends. Analise was playing volleyball on Saturday mornings; for a few weeks I was very busy with Operation Christmas Child, I'd have to buy groceries, clean and catch up on all the laundry.  Then I would spend a minimum of four hours at the school planning lessons for the following week. Sometimes Analise would come with me to help; it truly was a sweet time together.

At the end of the 12 weeks, I was so sad to say goodbye to my class. All 22 will hold a special place in my heart. However, I was ready to focus on being 100% mom/wife again. I seriously couldn't have done this without Brandon's help and support.

I am very thankful for the opportunity. I loved my two co-teachers; they are sisters in Christ, and I loved working with them. I loved having Maisie in my class for 12 weeks. Not every mom/daughter could do this. My girls were sad to see my time end, too. I was surprised but thankful that the extra hours at school had not burdened them. I learned a lot about the curriculum, fell in love with the free things on Teacher Pay Teachers, and poured into those kids the best I could for my time there.  When I met with my friend (also a teacher at heart) over Christmas, she asked me if my heart just soared while I taught. I couldn't have said it better myself. After all the crazy weekends planning and running morning to night, yes my heart soared while I was teaching.  I was made for it. That being said, I am not looking for any full time teaching positions. I honestly don't think I could give 100% to my class and 100% to my family. I am so thankful for this opportunity God gave me to have 12 weeks of my "dream job." My heart soared during those hours in the classroom. But my heart also soars now when I have a bit more time again to pour into my own family.

I leave with this advice - hug a teacher and tell him/her thanks. They aren't paid enough for what they do, so they need gifts of the heart.

Christmas Season

 I know it's crazy - here I am blogging within a week/month of an event! Here's to a start of a more current blog in 2015. (Go ahead and laugh.)

I will let all the pictures do most of the talking, but I do want to write things for my own sake of remembering.

The end of November brought about our season of OCC.  This year was different since I was working fulltime, but thanks to many volunteers, it got done.

This year the girls were even more excited to help and serve. Analise even begged me to let her take off Monday from school so she could help. I didn't let her, but she joined me at 3:30.  All three girls take ownership and love this ministry. They pack their own cartons, and I don't even need to help.

Here is what the room looks like, full of shoeboxes.  Our boxes were going to Mexico this year.

 These boxes have legs! 

 Oh, it's just Sadie helping. :)

And here are cartons full of those shoeboxes, ready for Denver. I never got a picture of the maxed to the brim semi, but we did collect 11,000 shoeboxes!

 

 

 

Sadie made this cute little keeper in school.

 

Maisie naturally loved this huge monkey at Hyvee.

Since we were going to Indiana this year, we decided to have our own little Christmas early. The girls were not bothered by this at all. :)

So Friday night after dinner, we opened our gifts.

The girls just love buying, giving and receiving gifts from one another. Truly - it's so touching as a parent to see this. Here they are showing off their gifts, with one nice photo bomb in the background.

 I think Caramel was waiting for her rawhide.

 I love how he wraps a gift.  LOL

 Sadie made this more for me at school.  She was really hoping I would forget that Maisie had made me one last year.

 

Maisie's gift from "Santa" was an I-pod. She was SO excited! She had wanted one so badly, and she's love having control of what music she listens to. She was so happy it came with "ear plugs."

Analise really, really wanted an I-touch this, since all her friends had one. Brandon and I  had many discussions about this - the launch into another season of life. We decided an I-pad mini would be better for a few reasons. She was thrilled!!! She loves listening to music on it, including my favorite Ft. Wayne radio station, playing games when allowed, and her favorite thing is texting other apple users - Grandmom, Aunt Peg, her cousins and a few friends.

 

With gifts of an I-pod, I-pad, for awhile Sadie was getting an I-don't know.  Seriously, she didn't even have her own list of what she wanted. She's always the hardest to buy for. I knew there was one thing she wanted, and it went against the practicality in me, but I decided it was worth it. She wanted a horse for her My Generation doll.  I was able to get the last one at Target.  She was SO excited and has loved it! Good job, Santa. :)

 

 

Sunday morning we left at 7:30 (a new record) and made the long drive to IN. Even with a couple of traffic delays in Chicagoland, we got there in decent time. And once again despite the cold and dark night, dad was sitting in the driveway waiting for us to pull in. What a guy.

Monday dad went down to get Peg and Danny from Indy, so Brandon, Analise and I went shopping for awhile. It was fun having just her, and the other two were thrilled to play instead of shop.

Monday night my parents had a surprise for all of us. I was excited; I can't remember when someone had a surprise for me like that.  All we knew was to dress warm. Peg and Danny didn't have much, so Analise shared with Peg. In fact the boots were too small for Analise yet fit her aunt.



Surprise - a carriage ride through downtown Ft. Wayne! How fun!

 

Mom and dad rode with the girls, while the rest of us had our own carriage.

The night was a little damp and dreary, but we bundled under warm blankets and enjoyed a Ft. Wayne tradition of their lights downtown. Thanks mom and dad! 

 

This was a light down the street, and it makes me smile. You know you're in Indiana when...

 

Tuesday mom and Analise made a two batches of cookies. I love seeing the tradition of baking getting passed to another generation.

 

They made sugar cookies! Again, I can't remember the last time the girls and I made sugar cookies where we actually used cookie cutters to make shapes and then frost them. (I've gotten lazy and just slice the dough.)

 

Tuesday afternoon between cookie baking, the girls, Mom and I went to see Annie.  It was a lot of fun! The girls didn't know much of the original Annie, so they loved this one. I actually did, too. We thought the music was lots of fun.

We then went back and decorated the cookies. 

 

In addition to playing with my old Barbie's, the girls enjoy creating/crafting at Grandmom's. I found this cute girl tucked under the tree. 

Since Peg and Danny were in Mishawaka on Tuesday, mom and dad took us to Texas Roadhouse. The girls met Santa there, and while we waited for our food, we had a magician perform for us at our table. It was impressive.



From there we went to the Fantasy of Lights tour. It was worth the long wait to see all the pretty lights.

Weds. afternoon brought more fun, thanks to Peg and Danny.  They treated the girls to an hour at Sky Zone. (I'm not sure who was more excited - the kids or adults...)

Analise had fun until she had back issues. I knew this was likely; a visit to the chiro after we got back solved the problem.

I love this one because is shows Maisie pulling up her pants; something she had to do often.

Impressive Danny

Peg still has it

Maisie can do it, too.

Weds evening we had a yummy ham dinner, and then we went to the Christmas Eve service at Wallen Baptist. It was refreshing, exciting, and a good reminder of why we celebrate Christmas. We enjoyed the time of worship.

Christmas morning the girls were up around 7:30, and they patiently waited until after 8 to open stockings. This is what the tree looked like - so pretty.

The traditional coffeecake along with egg casserole - my favorite breakfast all year. 

Opening gifts was a sweet time of feeling loved and blessed. My gymnast was excited to get a new, long sleeve leotard. 

 

Analise loves her Under Armour volleyball shirt. Perfect!

We each had our own wrapping paper. My mom knew me well and gave me the chevron print.

Brandon has always loved the little chap sticks for his pockets; they are just hard to find. So it was pretty funny when he opened a box with 50 of them.

Sadie loves her "8 inch" dolphin.

And the best gift  - my mom made Peg and I our own photo books full of pictures from our growing up years. LOVE LOVE it!

Maisie was excited to get this book from Grandmom. 

The house was decorated to the max with Christmas things. Here's the pretty dining room where we enjoyed our prime rib dinner. 

 

Christmas was a nice, relaxing day. The girls watched Dolphin Tale 2 with mom, so I was able to read during the middle of the day. Unheard of and thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday morning I was able to meet Karla at Starbucks. Always a blessing  to connect with a long time friend - one who challenges me in my spiritual growth.

Friday night was pizza night with family friends - the Vannatta family. It, too, was a such a sweet time. Brandon and I were so glad to connect with Gave and Lisa again. Here's my "older sister."

We had to leave Saturday morning for our trip home. Time never goes faster than when we are in Indiana. The girls were heartbroken to leave. For a mother it's heart wrenching. We decided to drive to Des Moines to make the day less stressful. The girls were thrilled to swim and watch NE play in the bowl game. 

 

Random memories from the week:

1.  Playing UNO with just the adults. Brandon winning the most.

2. Japanese, Chinese, America knees. (Oh mom, you had us laughing until we cried.)

3. The Cutco lady replacing several of my pieces. So nice.

4. Shopping with Peg - a rare treat.

5. Brandon let the girls go on a wild goose chase. Literally.

6. Mom gave me a new "bed buddy" and cover.

7. Unfortunately, mom did something to her back causing her to have major muscle spasms on Friday. She was in severe pain, yet she still opened her house for company. You're a trooper, mom!