This is going to be a short post. Just something to remember the moment for me.
This morning I learned that my Grandpa Waite passed away last night January 15, 2012. He was 90 years old and has suffered through years of Alzheimer's eating away at his memory. The last time I saw him he had no idea who I was but was a happy man. He was never an angry man or bitter over the lot that life seemed to hand him. He had many struggles in his life, including the loss of his 3 year old daughter during an attempt to repair a heart problem and fighting in WWII. He also had many triumphs he was well educated, a teacher and always desiring to learn more. He was always fiddling with things and building and creating things in his little shop. My Grandpa sang songs and laughed and played. He had the best dog ever and a swing set made from tires. He used to push us on those swings for hours. Grandpa was a very patient man and raised 5 wonderful sons and a daughter who all love and adore him. I did not get to know him like many of my cousins did who lived closer. I envy their relationship with him But I look forward to the day when I will have the opportunity to sit and talk with him again one day.
I love that man and pray that I can make him proud in the way that I live my own life. He was truly a great man there is no better way to explain it. I am sorry that I do not have more to add to this short memory. I am proud to be part of this great man's herritage Proud to be a 'Waite' and releived to know that one day we WILL meet again.
I love you dad and I am so sorry for your loss.
Monday, January 16, 2012
catch up
I would like to tell you now that I have had a wonderful past few weeks. Even if I didn't take the time to post about everything I did all those weeks I still had a great time... at least that's what I remember about it so all those random break downs in the middle of those weeks must not have ever happened right!?
Seriously though I don't want to take too much time doing the random update stuff this week in a vain attempt to catch up on everything that has happened in this year so here are some of the highlights.
The last week of December Ben had the week off. We had a fantastic week of relaxation and doing a whole lot of nothing. We tried to do some kind of activity every day of the week that Ben was home and mostly we tried to keep it simple because Ben took the week off and promptly got sick! poor guy has been working way too hard!
Monday 12/26 I had a baby appointment. It was pleanty early in the morning and I was lucky enough to be the only patient in the office that morning so I got to have an ultra sound and see that little munchkin again! I love to watch those little black and white blobs wiggle all over the screen and see that little face that is going to snuggle in my arms soon! We went to dinner that night as a family with one of the gift cards we got from Christmas.
Tuesday 12/27 we went to Cinzettis, an itallian buffet in denver. Thankfully we went really early and only had to wait until they actually opened to get seated and fed because as we were leaving the wait for dinner was 1-2 hours!!
Wednesday 12/28 I took the girls and we went and played with Katrina and Sandy a couple of my friends from highschool. We had a good time letting the girls play and the adults chatted it up until we all had to go our seperate ways! I was very happy to hear the proposal story from the newly engaged Sandy!! fun times! Ben spent the day with the Young Men having a 'sports' morning which he thankfully didn't come home broken from!
Thursday 12/29 Ben and I took the girls to the Children's Museum to have some fun. It was insanely busy and I was reminded how much I dislike crowds but the girls had so much fun running around and doing all the things they didn't do last time we were there. After that we took the girls home and napped. Alayna sadly woke up from her nap with a nasty cough.
Friday 12/30 Happy 5 year anniversary to Ben and I!!! It has been a wonderful and amazing 5 years full of many adventures! I spent the day taking Alayna into the doctor after a very difficult night and finding out that she has croup (again). Not a good thing. Apparently it's not normal for kids to get it this often... Ben and I had made plans to go on a little overnight trip about 4 hours away to celebrate but we ended up canceling all our plans to take care of our sick baby girl. Eliza still spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Merritt's and Alayna played there while we went out to dinner and a movie. Eliza loved it and still asks to 'live' at grandma's house again.
Ben went back to work on Tuesday the 3rd. It was kind of bitter sweet because I really found that I love having him home but at the same time the house is a bit of a disaster and I needed to get back into our normal routine! The girls and I found our way back into that routine (sort of) the rest of the week. Friday 1/6 Ben and I went to Crystal Despain's open house for her 52 weeks of Free Art. Where she did the painting for my mom of my two girls with their cousin Hailey in the dresses that Grandma crochet for them! It was a good time to see the awesome paintings and then going to dinner with my parents afterward was also a wonderful perk!
This past week...
Monday night I went to the stock show with the best Mother-in-Law ever! We had a great time together and Ben got to watch the girls.
Tuesday Ben took Eliza on a daddy daughter date to the stock show and they had a great time! Eliza apparently made herself a little friend sitting near her and she loved getting to watch the bull riders. When Ben tried to walk around the arena with her she kind a booked it and he didn't expect that but she still somehow ended up with a pink cowgirl hat with a princess crown on top! Lucky girl sure loves her daddy! Alayna and I hung out that night and watched movies and baked!
Wednesday who knows I can't actually remember
Thursday was insanity. I had playgroup at my house then after that we had Hailey Reedy over to play for a little bit. I cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned again. It always amazes me how much more I can get done when there are other kids around to entertain mine!
Friday I took the girls on a playdate to go swimming with Natalie and Jackson. We had a great time and then ended up staying in Loveland playing at grandma Waite's house the rest of the day. It was a great time. I teamed up with Diane to take dinner to a wonderful family who had a full term still born last week. My heart is broken for that wonderful family and I pray that they find peace in this time of trial!
Saturday Eliza went to a birthday party and that was about it!
Sunday was excellent and church was wonderful!
That's the last 3 weeks of update. in short.
Seriously though I don't want to take too much time doing the random update stuff this week in a vain attempt to catch up on everything that has happened in this year so here are some of the highlights.
The last week of December Ben had the week off. We had a fantastic week of relaxation and doing a whole lot of nothing. We tried to do some kind of activity every day of the week that Ben was home and mostly we tried to keep it simple because Ben took the week off and promptly got sick! poor guy has been working way too hard!
Monday 12/26 I had a baby appointment. It was pleanty early in the morning and I was lucky enough to be the only patient in the office that morning so I got to have an ultra sound and see that little munchkin again! I love to watch those little black and white blobs wiggle all over the screen and see that little face that is going to snuggle in my arms soon! We went to dinner that night as a family with one of the gift cards we got from Christmas.
Tuesday 12/27 we went to Cinzettis, an itallian buffet in denver. Thankfully we went really early and only had to wait until they actually opened to get seated and fed because as we were leaving the wait for dinner was 1-2 hours!!
Wednesday 12/28 I took the girls and we went and played with Katrina and Sandy a couple of my friends from highschool. We had a good time letting the girls play and the adults chatted it up until we all had to go our seperate ways! I was very happy to hear the proposal story from the newly engaged Sandy!! fun times! Ben spent the day with the Young Men having a 'sports' morning which he thankfully didn't come home broken from!
Thursday 12/29 Ben and I took the girls to the Children's Museum to have some fun. It was insanely busy and I was reminded how much I dislike crowds but the girls had so much fun running around and doing all the things they didn't do last time we were there. After that we took the girls home and napped. Alayna sadly woke up from her nap with a nasty cough.
Friday 12/30 Happy 5 year anniversary to Ben and I!!! It has been a wonderful and amazing 5 years full of many adventures! I spent the day taking Alayna into the doctor after a very difficult night and finding out that she has croup (again). Not a good thing. Apparently it's not normal for kids to get it this often... Ben and I had made plans to go on a little overnight trip about 4 hours away to celebrate but we ended up canceling all our plans to take care of our sick baby girl. Eliza still spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Merritt's and Alayna played there while we went out to dinner and a movie. Eliza loved it and still asks to 'live' at grandma's house again.
Ben went back to work on Tuesday the 3rd. It was kind of bitter sweet because I really found that I love having him home but at the same time the house is a bit of a disaster and I needed to get back into our normal routine! The girls and I found our way back into that routine (sort of) the rest of the week. Friday 1/6 Ben and I went to Crystal Despain's open house for her 52 weeks of Free Art. Where she did the painting for my mom of my two girls with their cousin Hailey in the dresses that Grandma crochet for them! It was a good time to see the awesome paintings and then going to dinner with my parents afterward was also a wonderful perk!
This past week...
Monday night I went to the stock show with the best Mother-in-Law ever! We had a great time together and Ben got to watch the girls.
Eliza at the Stock show
Alayna bull riding with the pink bull at Grandma's house!
Wednesday who knows I can't actually remember
Thursday was insanity. I had playgroup at my house then after that we had Hailey Reedy over to play for a little bit. I cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned again. It always amazes me how much more I can get done when there are other kids around to entertain mine!
Friday I took the girls on a playdate to go swimming with Natalie and Jackson. We had a great time and then ended up staying in Loveland playing at grandma Waite's house the rest of the day. It was a great time. I teamed up with Diane to take dinner to a wonderful family who had a full term still born last week. My heart is broken for that wonderful family and I pray that they find peace in this time of trial!
Saturday Eliza went to a birthday party and that was about it!
Sunday was excellent and church was wonderful!
That's the last 3 weeks of update. in short.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Merry Christmas!
Well apparently I must have been busy the last few weeks with the holidays and everything because the blog, the house hold duties and everything else seems to have gone by the wayside for a couple of weeks.
Let me just start with saying that our Christmas week was wonderful. It was complete and utter madness all week long but it was worth every bit of it by the end of the week. Honestly most of the week has become a really big blurr. I guess that is why I usually try to blog once a week so that it is less likely that I forget everything I have done all week. Monday thru Thursday was a lot of stress, some anger, some outright irritation with other people trying to do exactly what I was trying to do (last minute shopping of course) and then of course the difficulty of getting the girls to only halfway participate with me in all of this. I don't recall the last 'sick child update' but Alayna got some kind of bacterial infection which she shared with Eliza so both of them were on antibiotics for that week. Wednesday night Ben and I took the girls out to do their shopping for each other and for Mommy. After we finished our shopping we went and drove around in the snow storm to look at lights until mom got too car sick to keep going so we went home. LAME! who gets car sick that easy!? apparently this pregnant lady does. The girls had fun looking at the lights though and thankfully the snow was just pretty at that point and not a hazard like it was going to become through the rest of the night. Thursday I had made plans to see some old friends and do lunch, it was an excellent plan until I got up in the morning to nearly two feet of snow and still more falling, which made me quickly change my mind and cancel my plans. Thankfully everyone else who was involved in the plans all live in the same town so they still got together for lunch (I was honestly glad! I didn't want to be the damper on the party!) the girls and I hunkered down and enjoyed the warm comfort of our home for the rest of the day!
Friday I went to Loveland to retrieve some of Santa's big things. You know, the things that are super hard to hide in your own home so you thankfully have family (or friends) who will allow you to occupy their garage for months on end with a huge toy that they will see no use from. I was so glad that I went not only because I finally finished my shopping but also because I got to get together with one of my very best friends from high school, Melinda! Poor girl got dragged all over the place and became my shopping cart in at least one store but I had such a great time getting to talk to her and hear all about how life is going in CA. She was even nice and listened to some of my boring mommy stories! Sometimes it really makes me giggle that I am in such a completely different stage of life than many of my old friends who are mostly unmarried and without kids yet! It's interesting at times to compare notes and see what my life might have been like had I not met Ben and had babies... I wouldn't trade my life ever for theirs, dating is HARD I don't ever want to go back into that world! But it was wonderful to see Melinda!
Saturday was Christmas Eve. We had a great day as a family just hanging out doing little things here and there, wrapping gifts for each other and reminding myself with a little mantra "it's ok if it's not pretty because Eliza is so proud of doing it herself" or "it's just tape, all over the package and not a single piece to hold it closed, it's just tape". I expect wrapping improvement for next year. Saturday night we went to the Merritt's house for devotional, The "abby&zach" had Zach sing and play the guitar (very impressive voice and playing skills!) "mallory&evan" minus the Evan half who was working) had Mallory sing with her stunning voice, "ben&sarah" played the new nativity that the church has recently released. Grandma read a story and Grandpa had a sweet thought for all of us. After all of that my kids may never want mommy to sing another bedtime song but it was a wonderful devotional to be reminded once again the reason for the season.
Sunday was Christmas!! We got up wayy to early threw some french toast in the oven and got ready for church. Then Eliza and Alayna got up for the day and were so very excited about seeing all the new things from Santa and all the gifts to open!! I love the magic of little kids and how much they see this season only for the wonderful joy of it not the stress or headache that it all too often becomes as adults. I love getting to be the mommy now and watching them open their gifts, it really has become a holiday about giving them a day to remember instead of getting whatever 'new thing' I wanted. After opening gifts forcing some breakfast on the girls and getting them into dresses at the last second we went to church. That meeting took longer than we expected but it was filled with lots and lots and lots of beautiful music. After church we went to the Waite's house for opening gifts there. Eliza was our little gift delivery person for everyone. Alayna jumped in every once in a while to help but she was pretty tired so she didn't get too involved. After opening gifts and eating way too much food we made our way over to the Merritt's for a gift exchange there. By the end of the night Miss Alayna curled up in my lap and passed out cold. She was so wore out she didn't know what to do with herself! By the end of the night we had all been spoiled rotten all the gifts were hauled into the house and our exhausted bodies put to bed.
23 week belly shot
cookie decorating
playing in the snow as daddy was shoveling on Thursday
Christmas eve opening gifts from Zach!
Christmas morning! The doll house was a HIT they are loving it!
proof that Alayna does open gifts on her own! honest...
much awaited piggy bank
Let me just start with saying that our Christmas week was wonderful. It was complete and utter madness all week long but it was worth every bit of it by the end of the week. Honestly most of the week has become a really big blurr. I guess that is why I usually try to blog once a week so that it is less likely that I forget everything I have done all week. Monday thru Thursday was a lot of stress, some anger, some outright irritation with other people trying to do exactly what I was trying to do (last minute shopping of course) and then of course the difficulty of getting the girls to only halfway participate with me in all of this. I don't recall the last 'sick child update' but Alayna got some kind of bacterial infection which she shared with Eliza so both of them were on antibiotics for that week. Wednesday night Ben and I took the girls out to do their shopping for each other and for Mommy. After we finished our shopping we went and drove around in the snow storm to look at lights until mom got too car sick to keep going so we went home. LAME! who gets car sick that easy!? apparently this pregnant lady does. The girls had fun looking at the lights though and thankfully the snow was just pretty at that point and not a hazard like it was going to become through the rest of the night. Thursday I had made plans to see some old friends and do lunch, it was an excellent plan until I got up in the morning to nearly two feet of snow and still more falling, which made me quickly change my mind and cancel my plans. Thankfully everyone else who was involved in the plans all live in the same town so they still got together for lunch (I was honestly glad! I didn't want to be the damper on the party!) the girls and I hunkered down and enjoyed the warm comfort of our home for the rest of the day!
Friday I went to Loveland to retrieve some of Santa's big things. You know, the things that are super hard to hide in your own home so you thankfully have family (or friends) who will allow you to occupy their garage for months on end with a huge toy that they will see no use from. I was so glad that I went not only because I finally finished my shopping but also because I got to get together with one of my very best friends from high school, Melinda! Poor girl got dragged all over the place and became my shopping cart in at least one store but I had such a great time getting to talk to her and hear all about how life is going in CA. She was even nice and listened to some of my boring mommy stories! Sometimes it really makes me giggle that I am in such a completely different stage of life than many of my old friends who are mostly unmarried and without kids yet! It's interesting at times to compare notes and see what my life might have been like had I not met Ben and had babies... I wouldn't trade my life ever for theirs, dating is HARD I don't ever want to go back into that world! But it was wonderful to see Melinda!
Saturday was Christmas Eve. We had a great day as a family just hanging out doing little things here and there, wrapping gifts for each other and reminding myself with a little mantra "it's ok if it's not pretty because Eliza is so proud of doing it herself" or "it's just tape, all over the package and not a single piece to hold it closed, it's just tape". I expect wrapping improvement for next year. Saturday night we went to the Merritt's house for devotional, The "abby&zach" had Zach sing and play the guitar (very impressive voice and playing skills!) "mallory&evan" minus the Evan half who was working) had Mallory sing with her stunning voice, "ben&sarah" played the new nativity that the church has recently released. Grandma read a story and Grandpa had a sweet thought for all of us. After all of that my kids may never want mommy to sing another bedtime song but it was a wonderful devotional to be reminded once again the reason for the season.
Sunday was Christmas!! We got up wayy to early threw some french toast in the oven and got ready for church. Then Eliza and Alayna got up for the day and were so very excited about seeing all the new things from Santa and all the gifts to open!! I love the magic of little kids and how much they see this season only for the wonderful joy of it not the stress or headache that it all too often becomes as adults. I love getting to be the mommy now and watching them open their gifts, it really has become a holiday about giving them a day to remember instead of getting whatever 'new thing' I wanted. After opening gifts forcing some breakfast on the girls and getting them into dresses at the last second we went to church. That meeting took longer than we expected but it was filled with lots and lots and lots of beautiful music. After church we went to the Waite's house for opening gifts there. Eliza was our little gift delivery person for everyone. Alayna jumped in every once in a while to help but she was pretty tired so she didn't get too involved. After opening gifts and eating way too much food we made our way over to the Merritt's for a gift exchange there. By the end of the night Miss Alayna curled up in my lap and passed out cold. She was so wore out she didn't know what to do with herself! By the end of the night we had all been spoiled rotten all the gifts were hauled into the house and our exhausted bodies put to bed.
Alayna's choice of Sunday shoes for Christmas morning... slippers. haha! pretty dress, ugly shoes!
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