Feeling Nostalgic

Yesterday, we received the culmination of weeks of phone calls, arrangements, and headaches in the form of 4 boxes of freight from Trenton, Missouri. Delivered in two loads from an eighteen-wheeler that couldn't come down our driveway, the eclectic mix of linens, furniture, kid toys, and old photographs sent by my Grandma Greiner were the result of purging as she prepares to move from her home in her childhood neighborhood to a retirement complex in Arizona, closer to two of her daughters.

It was surreal to watch my daughter inspect and play with toys that I had played with when I was her size, that my mom had played with when she was her size, and that my Grandmother had played with when she was Audrey's size. There is something to be said about never, ever throwing anything away.

When I opened the boxes, I was hit in the face with the smell of old fabric, mothballs, and the odd off-brand fabric softener from Hy-Vee that Grandma always uses... in other words, I was immediately sent back to the home that she's occupied since I was maybe in kindergarten (and really the only home I associate with her).

As I unpacked the antique baby doll buggy, the doll highchair, the boxes and bags and odds and ends, and really, the memories, I started remembering all the times I had encountered each thing in her home. Even now, after the excitement of unpacking the shipped treasures has ramped down, I still feel nostalgic... and a little sad. At no other time in the recent past have I felt so acutely the passage of time. It is almost like I can feel myself aging, my parents aging, and time slipping away.

It was just about two years ago that my Grandfather passed away. Now my Grandmother is moving to a retirement village, and the context in which she has always existed in my mind's eye is changing completely. Honestly, I can still remember when my grandparents still had color in their hair, could get down on the ground to play with their grandchildren, and were still pretty much the heads of the family. As pictures of them 10, 15, and 20 years ago slipped through my mind, I couldn't help but notice the gray in my mom's hair while she flipped through the box of old photos tucked in with the furniture.

Time really does fly. It's a beautiful and a scary thing. Today, I choose to focus on the beautiful.

Yellow Guy in the highchair that now belongs to a 4th generation

Audrey sitting in the little red chair that was my Grandpa's when he was a boy

Inspecting the baby buggy that belonged to her Great Grandmother when she was a girl

I remember when it seemed this big to me

Switching the canopy back and forth

Stuffing Yellow Guy inside...

...and off she goes!

Almost as exciting as the buggy and the chairs: the boxes they came in

Exploring the skylight

Reminiscent of that wack-a-mole game

Having a rooftop chat

It is a bittersweet thing, this Circle of Life... I guess, when you become melancholy and start pondering its ebb and flow, you can either become depressed by it, or choose to celebrate the memories and experiences that are provided by it. Here's to our family, our history, and it's continuation.

Independence Day Weekend

This Independence Day weekend was busy and full of friends, family, and food! It started out a blank slate with nothing planned, and ended up with two cookouts, fireworks, and lots of company!

Friday started like any other day: cloudy morning, lots of coffee, good breakfast company, and a few things on the to-do list...

Friday morning waffles with peanut butter, Audrey's favorite

Audrey gets caught digging the peanut butter out of the waffles

After breakfast, dressing, and a little housework, we played dress-up... Audrey's favorite part? Beads! Isn't she good at coordinating with her outfit? I thought so!

Tossing beads

Accessories make the outfit

When Daddy got home, we ate dinner, started thinking about the weekend, and played until bed time. We ended up figuring out that our friends, the Giddens Family, were having a cookout Saturday afternoon, and so we headed their way...

Audrey, Emmelia, and Ellie play with a water station in the backyard

Elias, Noah, and Audrey on the back porch

Pre-dinner baseball

Audrey and Noah

Smiley Elias

The kiddos

The babies

No one really had a problem with sharing... it was amazing!

Noah watching Audrey eat bread

We managed to escape yet another rain storm while visiting at the Giddens' house, and when we got home, we found a soggy Leeloo and big puddles in the driveway. Audrey splashed her way inside, and we finished our evening at home.

When the 4th rolled around, we bustled around all morning, getting ready for a group of family and friends that we invited over for snacks and fireworks. Kyle mowed and edged, Audrey and I cleaned and cooked, and by about 5pm, Grammy, Gramps, Mimmy, and Pappy were playing with Little A, and more were on the way...

Audrey in her firecracker shirt

Mimmy reading to Audrey

We had brisket sliders, two kinds of hotdogs, brats, baked beans, pinwheels, veggies, watermelon, chips with various dips, margaritas, and lots of tasty dessert things...

Fresh veggie tray

Mmmmmmmm-mmmm-margs

Picture-perfect watermelon

By about 8:30pm, a handful of the group walked up the street a couple of houses to a house foundation that had been abandoned... it's up the hill a ways, and offers a great view of Joe Pool lake, where the fireworks were. By 9:30pm, when the fireworks began, there were probably close to 25 people and their children from all around the neighborhood gathered on the slab to watch the show.

Our view from the slab, pre-show

A blurry Elias with a sparkler

Shakin' sparklers!

Will shares in the sparkler fun

The first of the fireworks

A candy wrapper-style burst

A bomb bursting in air...

...and a rocket's red glare...

Grammy and Gramps spent the night, and in the morning after breakfast, Audrey got to have little story time with Gramps before they hit the road!

Hop on Pop

The Foot Book

We had a good Independence Day weekend! Baby pools were splashed in, friends were played with, and mass quantities of watermelon were consumed. Plus, we got to meet more of our spread-out neighbors! I'd say the only downfall of the weekend was Monday morning, when Leeloo escaped the yard and ran through a burr patch. Oh well, if that's the worst thing to happen on a 4th of July, I'll take it!

Beatin' the Heat

For an early Father's Day celebration, we packed up on Saturday morning and headed down to visit the C-Town family. We started out at Grammy and Gramps' pool, where Audrey got to sport her fancy, high-tech swimsuit floatie:

Audrey in her OP life vest-swimsuit combo

The water was the perfect temperature, the weather was hot and muggy, and it didn't take long for Audrey to decide that being in the water was the place to be. The swimsuit made her quite buoyant, and Grammy had no trouble towing her around the shallows.

Audrey takes the plunge with Grammy

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Audrey and Grammy chat, poolside

Eventually, the neat-o swimsuit became a little cumbersome, and it was time for a wardrobe change. While changing, Gramps brought down some watermelon, and once in her more conventional suit, Audrey's attention temporarily shifted from pool to watermelon... and chalk...

Audrey wearing Daddy's hat, snacking on watermelon, and coloring with chalk

Quite a multitasker

It wasn't long before Audrey noticed the wacky noodles floating around the edges of the pool. She didn't know quite what to do with them, but she couldn't keep her hands off of them. Who could blame her? Especially when Grammy lets you whack her on the head...

Grammy showing Audrey how to whack whack whack

Trying to lift a water-logged "wacky noooooodlall"

Finally, Daddy jumped in, and Audrey got to splash, practice blowing bubbles, and run around the first and second steps at the shallow end of the pool.

Daddy and Audrey in the pool

Waterbaby

Splash Splash Splash!

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalor!"

We concluded the day with a second pool visit at Nanny and Granddaddy's, a cookout with some killer burgers, hotdogs, potato salads, and baked beans, and a smooth ride home, just in time for bathtime. It was a good day.

Changing View

This morning, I was looking out into the room where most of Audrey's toys reside, and it struck me how much I've changed in the past 19 months. After Audrey was born, I had to kind of redefine myself, and I struggled with that process. I had a new moms' journal, and even though I wrote in it about 3 times, one of those entries really sticks out to me:

'At 7:20am, I have been awake for more than 2 hours already, and sit in the living room, staring at her brightly-colored play mat. I still feel somewhat in denial, I think, about motherhood. She feels more like a chore or task I have to accomplish, not a permanent fixture and addition to the family. I get so focused on the daily to-do's that I forget about the implications of Audrey. Now, sitting here with her asleep, listening to the washing machine and looking at her play center, I feel a slight glimmer of realization that yes, she is a person who will be in my life always and will probably outlive me. Honestly, it's still weird to see kid stuff in my house.'

I think it's human to struggle with change, no matter how big or small. Change is uncomfortable. Change is difficult. But so are the things in life worth having. The discomfort, struggle, and work that comes with change makes the result that much better, and you that much stronger. That's been the truth for me so far, anyway (isn't hindsight nice?).

Today, I can't imagine my life or our family with out my Little One. She is the most amazing person I've ever met, and the most important thing I've ever done in my life. Her little Audrey-isms and quarks, her sense of humor, and her stubbornness have been beyond worth the struggle and adjustments that came in the beginning, and the view from the kitchen today is the best it's ever been.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, we packed up and headed down to Mimmy and Pappy's with promises of brisket, baked beans, mac n cheese, and other tasty traditional treats. We ate, we laughed, we played in the pink sand, and yes, we even attempted a dip in the pool... attempted, anyway... it was a good day.

Audrey digs in the pink sand, wearing her new bathing suit

Daddy plays, too

Daddy and Audrey

LOVE that belly

Coppertone Baby has nothing on MY baby!