110 with Rachael and Ben: Spring Break edition

So, this stay home day wraps up a week's worth of 'em....it was Spring Break for the preschool as well as the local public school system. This is what spring break USED to look like in my life:

Now it looks like this:

While I wouldn't trade it for A MINUTE, it's definitely NOT what it used to be. 

All the while, though, we had a fabulous week -- the weather here was top-notch -- mid-upper 70s each day (mid 80s one day!) and sunny and blue skies were abundant. This meant that the park or other outdoor venue was always on our list. There were school friends to meet, neighbor friends to play with, and sandboxes to discover. I had the chance to make and take meals to families from church who were just welcoming a new baby and/or were recovering from surgery. I got the chance to play and play and play some more with the kids. Nana was here doing some house hunting (again,a whole 'nother post!) and so that was an adventure for her! 

110 with Rachael and Ben: March 2014

March brought the bipolar weather pattern: three weekends of 70 degree weather and yet, an ice storm on St. Patrick's day! Make up your mind....is it spring, or not??? Much like our family life of lots of bright days with a few dark clouds to remind us to be thankful.
March started with some traveling -- Mike to Charlottesville, VA to be with our Amigo guy friends to help and care for our friends Jennifer and Matt. {Jennifer is fighting a valiant battle with ALS and is doing so with a grace and strength that is only found in our Lord and savior.} He was thankful for some guy time and I *mostly* treasured some one-on-two time with the kids. On most days of the week, I go to bed exhausted from the chance to love them and give to them and be with them and take care of them and raise them....what a good kind of tired that is.
Then, it was my turn to be on the road. I took the kids by myself to PA for Dad's open heart surgery. He came through with flying colors and the trip wouldn't have happened without Nana and Mimi's help....thank you! The weekend of Dad's surgery also brought a chance to visit with his sister and brothers....we prayed together and broke bread together in honor of my Dad.....glad I could be there for him and to be with my aunts and uncles. Rachael and Ben were AH-MAZING during the trip...very patient with 2 8-hour trips in the car and went with the roller coaster of the hospital and Mommy being in-and-out and staying up too late and busy days playing with grandmas and cousins.
The month was brought to a joyful wind down: Ben is THREE!
Can.
Not.
Believe.
It.
Where did my baby go???? We celebrated with a race car party and pizza! He is all boy and continues to enjoy cars, trucks, trains, planes, bikes...anything with wheels. He's also in to construction....wearing his construction dress up almost daily.

In a future post, I'll give the run down of both kiddos at this age...they are complex and precious miracles, indeed.

110 with Rachael and Ben: February 2014

This month was our true winter...the space between holiday fun and spring time renewal.
Our weather brought the most trying winter I've had in Raleigh in the 10 years living here -- celebrating that on April 12...a decade. Wow.

Fortunately, the month of love brought us just that: love and fun and time to begin to move forward after the loss of my grandmother. As she would have wanted us to 'get on with it'.
We had an adults-night-out with our neighbors....the wonderful folks with whom we get to share this parenting journey...living beside, loving our time together to talk, laugh, learn, share and support -- we are so grateful for them!

Sadly, the harsh winter weather kept me from the memorial service (1st of 2) for my grandmother, so, I honored her from afar by loving more on my kids and focusing deeper on my faith.

The kids celebrated the Valentine's day holiday with lots of love and the viewing of their first theatre movie: Frozen! It's taken the world by storm and my kids are no exception. There's been lots of singing of the beautiful music and playing games stemming from the ice queen and her ill-fated frozen heart.

Mimi and Papa were fortunate enough to visit this month during the most beautiful weekend of the month -- 2 70 degree days in February...a MUCH needed reprieve from snow/ice/20 degree days. We all enjoyed our time together....Mimi spoiled the kids with their first visit to Build-A-Bear workshop and took Ben to the "choo-choo park" while Mommy and Rachael went to the circus with friends.
The visit was some much needed fun and distraction from the winter of our lives.

110 with Rachael and Ben: January 2014

What just happened here? Where did the first quarter of 2014 go? YES...I said, 2014. Last we met, I was blissfully wrapping up 2013 as a mostly wonderful year in the life.
Well, here we are. More than 3 months in. Lemme see if we can catch up. {Disclaimer: photo stream is not working properly on the trusty computer here, so, I will be devoid of picture posts until I can talk with tech support -- AKA -- my wonderful husband!}

January...what a month! Confession time: My grandmother was diagnosed with supposed lung cancer in September 2013. I say supposed because when you're 93, they're not really going to find out, since the procedure to do so could do more harm than good. She agreed that she'd live like she did the day before the diagnosis -- with the faith that God would take her when it's time. So, fast forward to January 2014...the beginning of the end. Family came from near and far to see her (and by proxy, since we live by an awesome airport, to see us!). The treasure of the family visits was not lost on me....a 2nd cousin from Cali, my first cousins from Arizona and Colorado, my Uncle from Alaska.....all came to my home within a 10 day span....what a treat. Time with them that I will treasure because it's a once-every-10-years kinda thing.
The kids were troopers while all of these new-to-them folks came in and out the house and guest bedroom.
Meanwhile, my grandmother was declining. She was pain-free through the end; the work of breathing was the hardest part (and that's HARD work, for sure!).
On Friday, January 31st at 11:45pm, she took her last hard breath and went peacefully and beautifully in to the eternal kingdom. I wish her kind of exit on all of my loved ones....surrounded by her daughters and with no pain nor much suffering and with her most valued relationships all in the upright position after precious visits just weeks before passing on.
I miss her more today than yesterday and I'm finding that I just long for one more conversation...not that I'd say anything differently than I did any other time. I feel blessed and at peace that I said all of the I love you's I knew how to say. I gave of my time and energy and heart to her -- just like she did to me. She's my precious one and I am thankful, so deeply thankful, for our relationship.

Lenore Margaret Heinz Eavis (September 30, 1920 - January 31, 2014)

Now....explaining to the kids....that's a whole 'nother post.

The other major highlight from this month:
Rachael is 4! Rachael is 4! Rachael is 4!
We celebrated "princess style" with a pink castle cake, wand-making, and with a visit from Cinderella herself. Again the feeling of thanksgiving washes over me that we were able to celebrate with her in this way and to be able to bring her that special guest was a memory in the making and one that took her breath (and mine!) away. I do have some photos:

To say January was an emotional month would be an understatement. If it's an indicator of 2014, we'd better hang on for the ride!

Christmas Eve in pictures...we're ready for ya, Santa!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Boy. the energy is high around here. The excitement is almost palpable. The anticipation of Santa is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Nana arrived in town on Wednesday and since then, it's been on. Holiday preparations are in full-swing: shopping, wrapping, baking, eating, cooking, you name it.

We didn't manage of picture of today's stay-home day, but, we did manage a trip to the park -- no jackets required. Nana finished her wrapping. We spent Saturday finalizing our last-minute shopping and Nana had special one-on-two time with Ben and Rachael while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a movie date with friends -- thanks, Nana! The weekend concluded with the Flotilla on the lake -- lots of fun with friends and the warmer outside temp made it enjoyable.

Stay tuned for pictures from our Christmas celebrations....

110 with Rachael and Ben: Daddy's birthday

This weekend was a bit different. For our 'stay home day', I was away spending some time with my grandmother, mom, aunt & uncle. My grandmother, at 93 years young, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She has lived a life that most people dream of...a beautiful family, a wonderful home, a church community of 60+ years, a noble career, world travels, friends, near and far -- young and old. The only thing she wishes for is for more time with her husband, who passed away 25 years ago.

Mike, once again, stepped up to the plate and held down the fort while I went to be with my family. {How did I get so lucky to marry a man like this? I ask myself this every. day.}

Upon my return home, we kicked off celebrating daddy's birthday with some birthday donuts! I took both kids to dance (Ben was so happy to watch his sister in her lesson) and then to Christmas pageant rehearsal. Rachael was signed up to be in the pageant, but, Ben, in his always-ready-to-be-like sister way, jumped in and joined the action. In their first roles, Rachael was a Dalmation dog and Ben was a bumble bee....two animals that I'm sure were not present in that manger, but, nonetheless, the two had a good time being a part of this big tradition at our church. Ben enjoyed it just a bit more than Rachael, I think...he's our ham...she's got a bit of stage fright. Mike and I were thrilled to cap off his birthday with a date night to a great New Orleans eatery in downtown....yumm-o.

We capped off a very busy weekend with a girls' viewing of Disney on Ice. We went with a couple of friends and their moms....it was so much fun. What a nice night to be with Rachael...special treat to have some girl time with my favorite little girl.

110 with Rachael and Ben: Preparing...

With the season of Advent upon us, we are in a mode of preparing. Preparing for the celebration of Jesus' birth. Preparing for the arrival of Santa. Preparing for a special holiday time where family and friends gather to be together and to spend time.
So, today was about preparing and these two were my helpers. We made a deal: park first, shopping at Target second. We joined our sweet neighbor friends at the park for a beautiful morning walk -- 65 degrees....at Christmas time! This is why we love where we live. :)
After running out our energy at the park, we headed for Super Target. These two hopped in the cart and off we went. I piled things on top of them, beside them, next to them, under them. Most importantly, while we were there, we purchased clothing and gifts for the children we selected off of the Angel Tree at church. Mike and I are committed to teaching the kids about giving to others and this is the best way that I know how to start doing that.

110 with Rachael and Ben: Thankful

During this weekend of Thanksgiving...I am full of things to be thankful for! We celebrated the holiday with Mimi and Papa coming for a visit. There were pies, cake, a tasty turkey and all the trimmings. There was football-watching, walk-taking, Black Friday shopping, leaf-blowing and movie watching.
Papa and Mike went to a Hurricanes game. Mimi and I took the kids to see Frosty The Snowman musical.
Papa and Mike built a train table for Ben. Mimi and I took the kids on an adventure walk on Thanksgiving day....which was followed by a 2.5 hour nap from both of them -- hallelujah!
Here are some photos:

110 with Rachael and Ben: Storytime, Shopping, Partying

We're living it up on our Friday adventures, I'll tell ya! Today we indulged in our bi-weekly storytime and read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. After securing an arm's full of books, we headed to do some shopping in advance of the turkey-cookie-making project for Rachael's class. We capped off our morning with a stop at Ben's classroom for the Thanksgiving party. This week, Rachael's class performed a little song and dance about Thanksgiving while 12 parents with cameras galore watched adoringly.
What was evident is that Rachael is not (yet) a performer....she was interested in being in the front row, smiling sweetly, but refusing to do anything that the teacher was directing.

Ben's class had a nice cookies-n-milk party to celebrate the Turkey day happenings.

The final picture is the sample of the cookie that I helped the friends in Rachael's class to make in honor of Thanksgiving -- lots of fun!