Gee-Gee

My Gee-Gee passed away this afternoon and it just got me thinking about all the things I loved about her. This post is for my benefit but you are free to catch a glimpse of this piece of my heart if you wish.
I remember...
...driving back to Santa Rosa to visit for a while and we'd stop at a place on the way where we'd ride a little train and go feed the animals.
...going for walks in the woods and being so quiet that we could see the deer up close.
...the little basket of Barbies that I'd play with in the guest room.
...sitting on the bed to listen to her recording her voice reading us stories.
...peanut time, about an hour before dinner when I could go down to the garage to get a short can of soda and eat peanuts in those little wooden bowls.
...Pops' incredible model train set up downstairs.
...swimming all the time and feeling the soft tan skin on her arms.
...playing "Go Fish" on the beach towel.
...seeing raccoons in the early morning out on the deck.
...eating my favorite meal that she made for me- hamburger stroganoff out on the deck.
...my friend across the street who was a granddaughter of Gee-Gee's friend. I was given two fudgesicles for her and I to share.
...playing Barbies with that same little girl while we were at a funeral reception for one of Gee-Gee's friends.
...spilling juice on the oriental rug and being scolded for it.
...playing "Memory". There was a card that had bugs on it and whenever she would turn it over, she'd scream in mock disgust. Later, when I was in high school, I went on a trip to Colorado and bought her a souvenir. It was a purple paperweight with a scorpion inside. She and I mailed it back and forth to each other several times. :) I have it now.
...coffee cake.
...goofy cake.
...snickerdoodles. We'd cook them together and she'd send them back with me for my dad- they were his favorite.
...my green Tinkerbell toothbrush.
...that big plastic pink fish in the bathtub.
...going to church and kneeling on that thing that you kneel on.
...going out to North's brunch for dinner.
...one time she took me to a miniature horse show and I got to ride in a little carriage pulled by the horses.
...creamed spinach.
...rolled up dollar bills tied with a red ribbon.
...sometimes, she'd send me money on my brothers' birthday so that I wouldn't feel left out.
...the smell from their house- I loved it and was so reluctant to have my mom wash my things when I came home.
...when they moved to Mission Viejo and she called the security guard to say that there was a rattlesnake in her back patio. They came out expecting to see a garden snake but sure enough, Gee-Gee knew what she saw!
...Gee-Gee teaching me to cross-stitch and to knit.
...the Suzy's Friends ornaments that she made for our Christmas tree.
...my pink baby blanket that she knit for me. I left it on the heater once and now it has two large holes in it.
...driving with Nick and our new baby to Palm Desert to introduce Adam to his great grandma and grandpa in the 117 degree weather.
...the one and only time that Sam and Gee-Gee were able to meet this past December.
...all of those Christmas and birthday cards that she always remembered to send and signed with xoxo.
...that she used to spell my name "Missie" when my name was "Missy". I liked it better her way and changed it in 6th grade.
...that I loved her.
...that I already miss her.

The world just got a little sweeter

Emma Grace Board was born this morning to my best friend April and her husband Darren. What a sweet precious little girl! Congratulations and we love you!

Adam's favorite spot

We have been blessed with a beautiful backyard. Adam loves climbing the hill, climbing the tree, swinging, playing baseball and soccer and basketball, roasting marshmallows, or just running around on the grass. And yet, his favorite spot to go is a lonely plot of dirt behind a bench to play in the dirt and pour it on his head. Go figure.

Did you know?

Did you know that when you go cherry picking, that it is all you can eat cherries while you pick? But more importantly, did you know that a toddler can ingest over 20 cherry PITS in one sitting with seemingly no harm to his digestive tracks?

The boys

What a joy to have these boys! We love to watch them grow and learn daily. Adam adores his daddy and puts Nick's hat on whenever he gets the chance. He loves anything to do with Nick. He doesn't call something red- he says "dada's car" because that's the color of Nick's car.
We always had to work to get a smile out of Adam when he was little but Sam just dishes them out to anyone who looks his way. He's our little social butterfly.
I love to watch them play together. Or, more accurately, I love to watch Sam smile and laugh at his big brother as Adam drives some vehicle over Sam's head or tries to tackle him.
So, as Sam is our social one, Adam has become quite the scientist- making experiments with every dinner meal. He usually combines all the contents of his plate into his cup of water and, much to our disgust moments later, he eats the food and then drinks the water. To each his own.

The 10k from down under

On May 10th, I succeeded in convincing some unsuspecting friends that they wanted to run the 1st annual Wildflower 10k at the Los Vaqueros Watershed. This was the farthest I had run to date and I probably couldn't have done it without Judy. She stayed with me the whole time up huge inclines in the middle of nowhere. An experienced runner, Judy said this was the most difficult 10k out of the dozens that she had run. But we finished! It only took me an hour and 28 minutes- I like to set the bar low so that I have room to improve. From left to right: Judy, me, Alaura, and Shannon

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Adam turned two on Wednesday and we celebrated today with a Curious George party. There was messy finger painting and chalk drawing galore and the tables were decorated with bananas, mini bananas, and monkey paraphernalia. Nick is the creative one so he used he sweet skills to craft a monkey cake for the birthday boy. I found an old coffee table in my parent's barn and we cleaned it up so Nick could turn it into a train table. Adam's face lit up when he saw it and he started squealing "choo-choo" in a high pitched voice because he was so excited. Everything ran smoothly (other than Adam burning his finger on the candle while he was trying to blow it out.) and we all had a great time. Now I've gotta go work off that cake with a five mile run...

My first 5k

On Saturday, the boys and I ran in the Spring to Life Fun Run in Brentwood. The top three stroller runners won a prize and I was holding 2nd for the first half of the race then people slowly started passing me. If you want to see the posted results, I'm at the very bottom of the page in the stroller division. I was the very first double stroller to cross the line but I guess they don't give prizes for that :( I have a 10k scheduled for May 10th and I won't have to push around an extra 80 pounds on that one so we'll see how we do...

The great thing about weeds:

One day, when they were playing in the backyard, Nick helped Adam pick a flower and told him to bring it in to mommy. Ever since then, every single time he goes outside, Adam picks a flower and brings it inside to me. It's one of the highlights of my day- I love knowing that he's thinking of me while searching for a flower and all the way back inside to find me. That's a lot of focus for such a little boy! He'll be two years old tomorrow and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He's done such a good job at growing and we thank the Lord every night that He's blessed our family with Adam.

The big 30!

He made it! On April 11th, Nick turned 30! A bunch of us met at the bowling alley to surprise him and to celebrate this momentous occasion. I had everything planned to perfection but alas, things did not work out quite as well as I had hoped. We arrived home from Arkansas at two in the morning and spent most of his day recovering and unpacking. We were going to get some hot wings (his absolute favorite) for dinner and then blindfold him so we could go the the bowling alley. I was so proud of myself for having it all together- we drove up to "Wings to Go" and they sure had gone-OUT OF BUSINESS! On Nick's birthday! We were very sad but the rest of the evening was a hit. Adam especially enjoyed the Funfetti cupcakes. And I have no idea why this whole thing is underlined. I can't get rid of it so I am sorry. :)

Arkansas bound

4:00am- in the morning- before the sun is up when it's still dark outside and any sane person would still be sleeping soundly in bed. We arise and head off to the airport. We were crazy enough to each fly with a child on our lap so we could save a few bucks. The first 2 1/2 hour flight was hard for Nick and Adam (who was too excited to go on an airplane to go back to sleep). Toddlers do not like to be contained especially when there is a whole airplane to explore. They finally both conked out on the second flight as you can see! Sam, on the other hand, was an angel- other than his training me to change several diapers on my lap in an airplane seat. We survived all but one of them, and for the weak of stomach, I'll spare you the gory details.

We were able to see family that we hadn't seen in a year and a half. Adam loved wrestling with cousins Christian and Cameron. At Nana and Papa's house, he helped Papa mow his lawn and ran around with Chase. Sam got to meet everyone and he had an exciting trip too. He learned to roll over and also started eating rice cereal when we were out there.

The night before we were scheduled to come home, we bathed the kids and put them to bed early so they would be well rested for our day of traveling the next day. We were so proud of ourselves for being so responsible. Then the sirens went off... Are you kidding me? Are tornadoes really that serious? But I just put them to bed! The next hour and a half was spent in the tornado shelter. Adam loved it- running around with his cousins in a big room is so much more fun than going to sleep. So we saw the pictures of the tennis ball-sized hail on TV and then made our way home when the twister had passed. Home, kids to bed again, not ten minutes pass and the sirens go off AGAIN! I love living in California. We go back to the shelter again to hear stories of roofs being torn off and cars being flooded off the road. So, after two stints in the tornado shelter and hoping there was no rotation in the third storm, we survived our last night in Arkansas.

At Papa and Grammie's

On Easter, we drove Nick to the airport so he could go on the church mission trip to Mexico, then the boys and I escaped to my parents' house for the week. It was a nice break for me because there is always someone willing to hold the baby, read to Adam, get up to feed in the middle of the night... (oh, wait- I went to far with that one!) Actually, both boys are great at sleeping and Sam's been sleeping from 9pm to 7am for months now. We are blessed.


I am a big fan of scheduling and the boys' days are very predictable. During an afternoon naptime, we heard some noises coming from the room where Adam was sleeping. These noises were much to gleeful for a slumbering toddler. I opened the door to check on him and this is what I found: apparently, I underestimated the distance from the port-a-bed to my sister's dresser. But no problem for my son- he emptied almost the entire contents of the top drawer onto his head and into his bed.