Baby Days

As if that two-week catch-up wasn't whirlwind enough, one week later and every day has been chock full of babies and birthdays and . . . well, I'll let the pictures help tell the tale :)

With all that happened before and during and after the trip to Utah, I was majorly behind in catching up with friends! I put it on my to-do list to contact one friend per day and get something on the calendar with them (I still have a BUNCH yet with whom to connect!) It turned out that on one particular day, two friends were available to meet--bonus: Mr. M's evening baseball game was just a baseball's throw from one of their homes! 

Well, I set out at 9:30 in the morning to visit my sweet friend C, and her golden-red-haired baby girl R . . . spending time with her is always a treasure, and I feel like I leave knowing something richer and deeper about God and life and friendship. Every time. Her son is the one whose boss bought the house for the boys to rent--I've been thinking about it--and I'm going to blog name it the CRYLER house. If Brennen moves in this summer, I'll have to change it again, lol :) It took a bit, but sweet (and also spunky) two-year-old warmed up to me and we became friends. I mean, we had plenty of time--a look at the clock and it was 3 PM!! That day completely flew by! And we could have kept talking for who knows how many more hours, BUT I'd told my other friend that I'd be to her house between 3:30 and 4.

Both of these friends live pretty far from me, like a 30+ minute drive in different directions, but according to the Googles, they actually live pretty close to each other. A little diagonal drive, and I was at S's house in like 10 minutes. I quickly checked text messages and the weather--which was looking super iffy for baseball--and then joined S and her two sweet girlies for a couple hours' chat. It's fun spending time with a mom of a two-year-old who is my age, and a mom of a two- and almost four-year-old not much older than my daughters' age. She's got another special delivery coming this fall, which is wonderful! Her girls were super comfortable with me this visit, and I spent a solid 30 minutes drawing pictures of myself gathering the mail with their family, going to the park with their family, out in the yard in the rain in front of the house with their family--it's nice that E was approving of my artistic ability, lol! By her direction, everyone got hairbows and dresses and oddly shaped feet (a.k.a. shoes).

Pretty soon, the skies opened and it absolutely poured! I texted my brother and he confirmed game canceled, then invited me out for a visit. But, it was nearing 6 and I knew I had hungry doggies at home--I did forget the boys might be there to take care of them. Either way, that was one wild ride home! At one point, water flowing across the highway perpendicular to my van lifted me right up and carried me sideways toward the ditch. Brennen said he had a similarly challenging commute on the interstate where speeds were 25 and visibility was maybe two car lengths. Eeek!!

An hour or so later, the rain dried up but the ground did not. Brennen very kindly helped me address the mud puppy situation that ensued while I made dinner; Daisy made a mess. Then jumped all over Olive and made her a mess. But, I guess they were both due for a good scrub and shampooing . . . they didn't like the freezy hose water very much, though (actually, neither did we as they ran in circles trying to escape, and we inevitably got sprayed trying to keep them in one washable spot :).

At this point, I was pretty sure I couldn't be social any more, but our trip leader called to go over the Africa planning that I'm in charge of, so another 45 minutes on the phone rounded out my very social day! Baby count three.5, with an additional opportunity saved for a not-rainy day :)

The very next morning, I set my alarm for 5:35 am!! What? Me?! Yup. Because of some ongoing medical complications with her father-in-law, H needed someone to care for Vi while she went to do a several-hour scan (for herself) at a medical clinic. Vi and I watched some Bluey, read some books, then she took a snuggle nap (for nearly an hour). She awoke about the same time her mama returned to collect her. I asked how the test went, and both of us got the giggles when she said she fell sound asleep and they had to cancel it. That doesn't seem like a funny scenario, I suppose, but H said they put her in a dark room, with a lullaby-like whirring noise from the machine, gave her a pillow, and then left for an hour--what did they expect to happen?! She's an exhausted single mom and it's 6:00 in the morning! So, she will reschedule. The little ones start, what my in-the-know Czar friend says is, a really wonderful childcare center this week. I may not have as many opportunities to spend time with the girls now, but I'm on the list for any unexpected care needs. 100 percent!

The still-early morning hour gave me an opportunity to run up the hospital for my next round of bloodwork--I've got two new rounds of orders, no three! as of today's appointments, but I'll get to that. Anyway, during that (long) lab visit, the fire alarms started going off--and then continued going off. It took forever for the squawking and flashing to end. Not the most relaxing situation to have someone putting a needle in my vein :) I did go home and take a nap after that, because--not only was I wiped out--it was a big day! My sweet sister-in-law celebrated a milestone birthday, and my brother invited us to the party :) Only a few of the Crew could attend, and Graysen just by a whisker, but we fully enjoyed fine dining (Caelan and I ordered the same thing), good company (lots of things to talk about with all the recent happenings), attentive staff (who were quite entertaining), and an endless amount of Bundt cake (the birthday girl's favorite :) 

Baby H wasn't feeling great, but she drank most of her bottle for me, then sat up and grabbed my silverware with some amazing kind of extend-o-reach that only babies have. Caelan did her best to clean the garlic butter from between the 8-month-old fingers (H somehow grabbed my appetizer plate, too!) Then baby went around the table to sit with her grandma while I enjoyed my salad. Mmmm, it was all so delicious!

At one point, my brother asked the waiter to refill the cup of "the little boy in the blue shirt." The waiter looked at Graysen and said, "Well, you don't seem that little, but . . ." That made us laugh for awhile! Not only are the three "boys" to Graysen's right wearing blue shirts, but so is the one sitting to his left. Unintentional color theme! G$ chose to sit where he did to have the best view of fun cars driving through town. Not quite the number or variety as we saw in Utah, but there were still a couple of winners in his book :) We felt very fancy (at least Caelan and I did) being treated to the multi-course dinner and valet parking by my brother. It's fun to have a relaxing evening where everything is just taken care of and all you have to do is enjoy the company and the meal.

Such a pretty birthday girl! I'm always thankful she's part of our family's story <3 Oh, and baby day count: three.75! T's baby is due in weeks? days? and her youngest is nearly two, too :) 2022 really was packed with baby girls!

The next day I spent in full planning mode--groceries, finances, craft and VBS activities for Africa . . . ALLLLLLLLLL day! Brennen came home from work and said, "Can I go to a concert tonight? R has tickets." So, he grabbed his cowboy boots (couldn't find his hat) and headed off to see Alabama. His post-concert summary, "He's pretty old, so he wasn't very energetic. But he still sounds awesome! There were a lot of songs I knew, but didn't know were by that band." An observation Buck guessed ahead of time (also Buck was a bit bummed there wasn't an extra ticket for him ;)

This past week has just been . . . wow!! So much going on, like even moreso than our usual so much going on. The next morning, Mr. M had a baseball game in a nearby town. I drove over to watch and got to spend some more time with Baby H. My brother was the crowd entertainer, pretending to voiceover the "commercial breaks" (my mom and M's other grandma were watching the livestream C set up), reading off the banners in the outfield. I have to say, he reminds me more and more of our dad all the time :) Oh, and while we were there the karate twins rolled up in a cart pull-behind their dad's bike! They were covered in grass clippings, collected for birds' nests, I was told :) It was fun to see them, goodness, they are nearly four! I'm still counting them as babies, though, it fits my theme, lol!

Around this time Brennen texted, "Hey, am I busy at like 7 pm?" I told him he was free. So he replied, "Sweet, my pilot friend wants to take me and C up to fly around for awhile." Wait, what?! What did I accidentally just agree to?? Lol! As it turns out, he has multiple pilot friends, this is not the one he told me took his gf up to see the Northern Lights when they appeared on our horizon (did I mention Buck and I tried to see them, but didn't know you had to look through your camera for the colors to show up--how did everyone know that but us?? :)

Okay, so after Mr. M's game, I decided to miss the first grad party I was invited to--reluctantly; I even had her gift in the van with me. I just knew there wasn't enough time in that particular day to do all the things that needed to get done. At home, I worked on organizing all the links and photos and scans and ideas and craft list items and music and . . . ALL THE THINGS into one useful document to share with our trip leader prior to our next team meeting. Well, an hour wasn't enough, but I made good progress. Then I texted the boys (who are rarely home) that I needed them at the house at 1:45 to leave for our marathon of afternoon eye doctor appointments. 

I just now realized I was invited to a total of four grad parties that day; two were out of state, so not options. But I could catch the one at our church, if only for a little while! This one was for our kindly retired gentleman neighbor's granddaughter. She's grown up in our youth group, and, even before that, I knew her older brother who attended youth group at our previous church when I helped out there. Their mom often checks in with me on homeschooling curriculum and events to gather some insight, some inside scoop, lol ;)  Anyway, Syd's party was so well planned with so many awards and accolades, organized, and informative! I'm gathering ideas--to tell to Caelan! She's my party planner this round :)

Back to my baby day count: five! I only had about 25 minutes at the graduation party, but spent some time catching up with our former youth intern, her hubby, and baby T (that's my hand on her head, lol :) And I was dangerously close to getting distracted by my friend C and little R, who walked in right as I was walking out. Confronted unexpectedly with a room full of people and balloons, R squeezed her eyes shut. "If I can't see you, you can't see me," explained her mom ;)

At home, I gathered the boys. We then proceeded to knock out our four appointments (Gabby took care of hers earlier and brought her dad a coffee, aww!). The boys got started, after some convincing, on the grocery list item acquisition--which actually saved us a solid amount of time. G$ originally wanted to get down to the farm to help on projects, but then got distracted by . . . a dirt bike. He'd been waiting for an address all afternoon, when I noticed the Utah spot on his leg had grown to somewhat epic proportions. I texted a pic to Doctor Auntie and she was like, "Yup, he needs to go to the walk in clinic." 

I had him in the car, en route (because six appointments in one day is fun!), when the seller guy binged him back an addy. We circled home, he grabbed the truck and then his bro-in-law; I grabbed another grocery list, and away we went in different directions. By the time Buck arrived home, I was exhausted and craving protein. He was willing to go get burgers and fries (sweet potato for me) at a restaurant it turns out he's been craving for weeks or maybe months, IDK. He always lets me pick!

I wondered how it was that both our boys were out doing "dangerous" things while we sat propping our eyes open and eating bar food at table 31 ;) It wasn't much later that Brennen flew over our house in the airplane! I wish we would have timed it right, because we were out there checking on the chickens and admiring the spring flower bloom!

Graysen was ripping around the farm on his new bike, but I don't have the pictures he showed me to show you (yet :) Pretty awesome weekend for the lads! But wait . . . there's more :)

Alarm set for 7:35--the next morning I was in the nursery, babies galore!, with my best helper friend--it was our last time before the summer schedule takes us apart. She's also a librarian, which makes her extra cool! We entertained the tiny crowd, and then did our usual Ms. Fix-It tasks--tightening tables and spiffing up toys. Baby count: five!

Buck actually had a Sunday off and we got to sit in church together, while G$ helped in the tech booth. We all drove separately, so I guess that brings my baby day count to six, because, after they left, I got to see Vi and give her momma a hug :) I caught up to the guys at home, then we jumped in the van and drove to meet the other five after they all finished up church and lunch. Noah and Caelan initiated the rest of our day, making a reservation for eight at a mini-bowling game place. Mini-bowling is fun! The young men formed one team, and the ladies plus Buck formed the other. The young men were hucking the ball down the lane at like 50 mph . . . our lane was in the 20s and 30s. My very first roll was a strike!!--and then plenty of everything but that. 

We played two games before our time ran out. It was still pretty early for dinner, so we visited an ice cream shop Caeloah are big fans of--now the rest of us are fans, too! Also, the ice cream was filled--like they soft serve it so there's a middle and they put sauces or treats inside, and then roll the outside in crushed cookies or candy. Pretty creative, and very creamy! Plus BeReal went off, so lots of photos :) 

Dessert before dinner is fun! But when your dinner destination is the Trash Panda Palace . . . 

Okay, that's not the official name, but that is the official mascot! Only the best for a triple birthday dinner for our March and April birthday crowd :) Two-thirds of them voted yes on this, and the third-third by default. It really felt like being in a throwback Marvel movie scene or some other warp in the "time line" ;) The fried chicken was spot on! The cleanliness was spotty, but I mean--raccoons are the dinner show, so . . .  lol!! (the waiter showed us pictures of when up to 60 raccoons swarm on the deck!!)

We arrived home in time for our Africa meeting, and I made carrot bars--and then I finished that document I mentioned earlier. Good gravy, Marie!

You'll never guess what happened next . . . I set ANOTHER alarm for 7 a.m. . . . ooof! I had three doctor appointments, the girls each had one, and then when I found out G$'s boss was out of town, so G$ wasn't at work--I got him to the doctor before noon, too (and yes, if you're keeping track all of those appointments took place, in two separate states, all before lunchtime. Gah!) The only baby was one I heard crying during G$'s appointment (it was about to get some shots), so we won't count this as a baby day. However, it was a day of accomplishment as post-appointments, I also shopped for graduation and a smidge for Africa, knocking out three stores and lunch . . . then home to watch training videos for my new job after all the groceries were put away. Stack on top of that, this lovely recounting of one week's wowza!

Up again early tomorrow--for my first day of work! I feel like I need a new backpack or something, heehee :) I should probably set an alarm . . .

It's Been . . . Two Weeks Since I Blogged With You

I'm so songy lately, must be echoes of choir ;) It's been two weeks of . . . so many things . . . I'll try to go in sections, like when homeschoolers do unit studies (which we never did). Let's start with . . .

--Family! As the winter months kept us mostly in hermit mode, we really didn't get many opportunities to see my brother's family. Then--boom--it's spring and we bump into each other four times a week! Well, at least these two weeks it works out that way :) I'll say the kickoff was when I agreed to sub in the nursery. It worked out that that morning's volunteer could cover for me in June. It worked out even better that it was Baby H's first ever time in the church nursery! Her momma said she got a little teary-eyed walking away, knowing that H was getting to spend that time with her aunty. I loved having her in the room with all the other babies!! She loved the sparkly purple dress and rhinestone-decked Sketchers of another little girl :) It was a good morning!

Just a couple of days later, Buck joined me for Mr. M's spring concert. It was delayed a week due to heavy storms in the area when we arrived home from Utah. This timing worked out in our favor, and in his Grandma C's favor, because she (and we) got to see both the concert and the next day's first baseball game of the season!

Caelan and Noah joined us for that adventure, too! And we brought Daisy Baby, because to her, they are boss. And that is awesome. Daisy listens very well to Caelan, and being out in public in her vest (Rabbitgoo, not service :) makes every future attempt by us, easier. I like that :) A little five-year-old girl adopted Caelan and Daisy as her new BFFs and was arranging Caelan's hair before the live pitch game was complete. Mr. M played catcher (it runs in the family :), so when he got his at-bat as last in the line-up, he got to run all the bases home. Who wouldn't want to be the grand slam king of little league?!

Meanwhile, graduations and graduation parties are in full swing! I think we've gotten 12 invitations to celebrate this year's graduates. We started with our pastor's son, C's. Caelan and I went together, and it was an intense social experience. I forget what it's like to know everyone in a room and to have conversations with allllll of them, lol! We were both socially fatigued a bit after that one, but glad we went. I don't have any pictures, but I DO have pictures of the remote graduation ceremony (well, I was the remote one :) of my super awesome, super smart, super God-loving nephew, C! I remember watching him and Caelan run around in my mom's basement, when I was his two-year-old self's childcare provider. Fast forward nearly two decades, and he led both our boys on their first mission trip. What a cool cousin for them to have! While we didn't get to the ceremony in person, the wonders of technology helped us tune in to see the big moment!

After that, I headed to celebrate one of the kids' friends' graduation party at our church. This young lady was part of my Bible study small group, and we've watched her grow up over the past half decade--pumpkin parties, dances, youth activities; our kids were on several of her memory posterboards :) To my surprise, Gabby arrived from out-of-town, where she and Caelan helped set up Noah's youngest sister's graduation party! We ended up talking for quite a long time, then she stopped by the house to grab some eggs--we always have eggs (well, during this time of year we always have eggs :)

While all that was happening, Buck and the boys were out golfing . . . with cows! They spent their late morning sinking balls into nine holes of countryside course. They refueled at Panda Express, and then did some shopping for my special Sunday gifts.

Later that evening, as a pre-Mother's Day treat, I got to attend the ballet with my sister-in-law and her mom. We met to ride over together, enjoyed a nice meal in a very quaint, quiet hotel restaurant near the theater, and then off to the show! It really was so nice to share prayer, conversation, the comedy of the stepsisters (I didn't even know ballet could be funny!), the beauty of the dancers with curtains of snowflakes and glitter twirling all around them, the costumes, the music--a really special girls' night out!

And that brings us to Mother's Day! In the morning, G$ got up to go to church with me--early service, too, because Baby H was dedicated at first church. The same pastor who married Caeloah spoke all the Scripture and prayers over the princess-pink baby. Big brother, Mr. M got fully kicked in the face by a flailing baby leg during one parent transfer, and he just grinned and went with it. Such a good guy!

After church, G$ and I returned home (I forgot my van was sporting the gas light) and bumped into Brennen. I worked on my stack of graduation gifts and cards, until G$ said, "Well, we should probably go, the reservation is at 12:15." Oh! Okay! We stopped for gas, because we had to, but still made it to the restaurant for brunch with plenty of time to spare. Chase and Gabby arrived from their church, confirmed the reservation Chase had made (awww), and then we stood in the sunshine and visited--until it got too hot in the sunshine and the boys found shade instead :) Not too much later, we enjoyed a super yummy breakfast at the restaurant where apparently all four of them have "usual" orders, so I was the only one studying the menu, ha! It was a fun meal, captured in part by the daily BeReal :)

 

My neighbor let me borrow his mini chainsaw last year while I was trimming our Weeping Mulberry tree--I've wanted one ever since! So, yes, I got power tools for Mother's Day, lol! And a pretty crocheted bag that Caelan made, a cool book emblem maker with my name on it from Gabby, and a plant to fill the empty space in front of our slowly regrowing front bush from Graysen--which even *came with* former plant stump removal and new plant placement :)

--Daisy! This is actually a fairly full category. Daisy (formerly known as Fern) and Piper (which isn't still her name) didn't pass their hip test at a high enough score to become service dogs. We've always been a little attached to Daisy, as you might have gathered from previous blog posts. Caelan has, but I've not, seen Piper since her testing last fall. We found out they were both up for adoption, and Buck said absolutely, "Yes!" to Daisy. And then he said, "Well, unless she is crazy expensive." Well, she is crazy expensive, and we decided to not to. But weeks went by and no one else stepped in. We decided that ultimately, her costs go to help continue the service dog training program--it's not lining anyone's pocket. It covers her training, her recent surgery, her challenging arrival into the world, etc. etc. Olive loved having Daisy over to play, and would always look for her whenever a car showed up (or a car showed up with Caelan and the wrong dog, lol). We figured she'd enjoy having a buddy to play with and work out some energy, and as odd as it sounds, in reality, we've mostly always had two dogs in recent years. So, when the organization said they would take payments, we switched the answer back to, "Yes!" 

One of the trainers kept Daisy for us a little longer while she healed up from surgery and we went on our planned spring break trip. Olive was delighted to see us when we showed up at the center to get her post-Utah, and Daisy went into her happy whimper as soon as she realized it was us. She continues the happy whimper every morning when we are reunited (I bought her a kennel, because she actually loves it, and spends part of her day in it with the door open--Olive even pops in for a nap from time to time!)

Caelan came over the day after we returned to gather her luggage, wash laundry, help plan Brennen's grad party, and to start training Daisy on the buried fence. We jimmy-rigged Muriel's old collar (which was too small for Daisy's neck) and gave on-leash perimeter testing a try. It turns out, Daisy is really good at staying in the boundaries--when she's not running at an all out sprint. She's been retrieved by Graysen (he picked her up and carried her home from well down the street after chasing her--good thing he's got long legs!) and by Caelan (when Daisy ran next door to meet the neighbor dog without permission). As long as Olive is with her, she tends to stay in the boundaries--they dash in circles and up and down the hill and come in panting (sometimes with logs from the fire pit, but those are not allowed in the house).

All that to say, I forced myself into a marathon day to go get new collars at the fence place (Olive's was nearly worn through from holes Buck burned in it for Chauncey to make the old collar fit the zapper in it) and to turn Daisy's zap up a notch. I also went to Trader Joes to buy graduation gifts, Hobby Lobby to get cards and shop graduation party ideas, PetSmart to get Daisy a collar tag, the farm store to get chicken food, and grocery store to get human food! It was a loooooong day.

Buck and Daisy are still best buddies. He cannot lay down for a nap without her trying to climb up for cuddles (just like when she was a younger puppy)--he pretty much hugs her and says, "No, off!" Which she hears as "No off " :) and that's really what Buck means too, lol! Especially when it thunders outside, he has to make sure baby Daisy feels safe inside.

We took both doggos for a walk together, and it mostly went well! They certainly returned tired from their trek--and as we hear often, "a tired dog is a good dog." :)

--Concert! A friend from our former home town moved to a little town about 40 minutes north of here. Every once in awhile the boys bump into him at school events or the girls and I bump into his mom at work events or local shopping outings. We planned to attend his graduation party when the boys returned from work one recent evening, but they discovered it was their other buddy's final homeschool concert and decided to make that their special event of choice. I stayed home to work on all the things, but later saw they'd been invited up on stage for the final song . . . Brennen, Graysen, Chase, and Gabby are all on the far left in the photo, along with another friend whose wedding is fast approaching. Wow, so grown! And also the choir is huge, lol!

--Disaster Relief . . . you likely recall me mentioning the tornadoes that came through our area while we were in Utah, well, another came through after we returned. The organization, Samaritan's Purse, connected with Billy Graham, is an organization I've followed for many, many years. I read their newsletters and see the photos of the volunteers in their bright orange shirts, bringing hope, a helping hand (or dozen), and a listening ear to individuals and families affected by some unexpected turmoil in their world. I've wanted to be part of the ministry and to see it in action for many years, too, but not all of our Crew met the age requirements until fairly recently. I never expected to volunteer so close to home, but Buck and I wanted to help where our friends' church was destroyed. We were very impressed with the organization's compassion and work ethic. We even got to be part of signing the Bible given to one of the homeowners we helped--for just a couple of hours. It's very sad to see what the tornadoes did, in person. It's really unfathomable that much destruction can happen so quickly and completely. Keep praying for the families who have a long ways to go to regain a sense of normalcy.

That day also happened to be Buck's little sister, Z's, birthday day. We kept our hands and minds busy, helping at the two work sites, then we came home and baked a special lemon cake (which Z loved) and celebrated her in our own small way. Miss and love that girl!!

Speaking of birthdays, both girls brought Buck gifts and dropped them on the table for him to find. Gabby's was pretty funny, can you guess the theme?

He enjoyed Caelan and Noah's gift, which was inspired by a podcast that Chase enjoys (an ecstatic Chase got the same birthday present :) We sure had some unique gifts exchanged this year!

Let's see, I guess other big news is that I accepted a job! My brother's company hired me and I've spent a whole lotta time filling out paperwork. I haven't had a "real" job in . . . well, IDK. I have almost always worked for non-profits or as an independent contractor. This should be interesting! Also, my brother is my orientation leader :)

The boys are making progress towards finishing school! The skies opened and poured down a steady 18 hours of rain, which canceled both of their outdoor jobs. Three of their friends were in Colorado getting tattoos and camping in an airb&b (?), which meant our boys didn't really have anyplace to hang out while their indoor working friends were, well, working! And so, I checked with Buck and he agreed: if the boys could knock out a significant amount of their final chapters in science and math, we would spring for JJs sandwiches for a late lunch. It worked! And they worked, too . . . lots of tests taken, and we're officially a few steps closer to summer :)

And a few steps closer to Africa--our most recent Zoom meeting really seemed to lock some things in; planning, fundraising, and details seem to be falling into place. Pretty exciting!