Shibata Household Happenings

Grandpa Boeds

2012-01-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

Cyril L. Boedeker
November 30, 1918-December 11, 2011

As I mentioned previously, we said farewell to my Grandpa in December. He was 93 years old and lived a full life…enjoying his family and the things he loved for longer than most. I can't count the number of people that said the thing they remembered most about Grandpa was his laugh or his smile. I have to admit that is one of the things I remember the most as well.

Grandpa had his share of hard times, that's for sure, but he always had a song in his heart and in his step. You might think that is an exaggeration, but it's not. Even when he didn't have music playing at his house (which was very frequently) he was always humming or singing some tune. He would very often share a line or two if something reminded him of one of his favorites. I remember distinctly listening to him sing in church and feeling nervous about dancing with him at my wedding. He was a MUCH better dancer than me after all. I've heard stories about how he loved to perform in variety shows when my mom was growing up and can picture it easily.

Grandpa served in World War II. As with many veterans, he had an obvious loyalty and love for his country. He didn't always say it with words, but you just knew it. I loved seeing that glint in his eye when he talked about being in the service, especially when he talked about meeting my Grandma. He remembered fondly those days of being young and in love. They had a military wedding (as I understand it) and then spent the early days apart from each other. Eventually they settled in St. Louis and continued to have fun while raising their family.

The one thing that was probably more important to Grandpa than his country and family was his faith. He was always very active in his church life and generous to the needs of his parish. Grandpa was not a complainer, but when he was feeling ill or weak, the one thing he complained about was not getting to go to Mass. The example of faith that he lived and his rosary beads at his chair spoke much louder than his speech.

Grandpa's funeral was a special time to remember him and to be with family. The Mass was beautiful and burial service, complete with military salute, was powerful. It was (and is) hard to say goodbye but easier first because I can imagine that glint again as he was reunited with my Grandma 26 years after her death and secondly because of our hope that we will see him with Jesus when it is our turn.

Love you Grandpa...

On to 2012...

2012-01-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

It wasn't 10 days after we got back to Michigan that Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart came up for a visit. No, it wasn't that they couldn't stand to be away from us that long. I had known for a couple of months that I would need to go to Atlanta for 2-3 days for work. So, we called up the reserves! The great thing about that was that we got to celebrate Grandma Meinhart's birthday with her. Marie was CERTAIN that Grandma would love to have apple crisp for her birthday dessert. It turned out pretty well, but we'll know next time to let it cool a little bit more before putting in the candles…it doesn't take long for those to melt!

So I think we've pretty much gotten back into a routine around here. I guess we should by now since it is almost February. Marie is thriving at school. I just went to a parent teacher conference last week and the teacher said Marie is doing very well with all of her studies and is particularly impressed with her reading. Her only real complaint is that Marie can be a bit of a slow poke when it comes to transitioning from one thing to the next. This was not at all surprising to us since she is very much the same way at home.

Somewhere in all that December traveling, Joey was potty trained. He had been doing excellent with #2, but was always to distracted or busy to worry about #1. To be honest, we were not stressing out about it too much and would venture to say that we really hadn't committed to getting him trained. But, all of a sudden during the early December drive down to Illinois, he was dry…the whole time! Sure we've had some accidents here and there, but for the must part, he is doing great. He is started to recognize numbers and letters. A few of the letters he is able to associate with sounds and can do some basic addition and subtraction. He still skips "15" when he counts to 20, but we'll keep working on that.

Stevie is quite the card and still gets into everything. He frequently makes a series of faces at us as if he is giving some sort of treatise. He is really very animated. The stairs seem to be a a magnet for him with the sole reason to just climb up and down. Yep, he really likes climbing down them but is not quite good enough yet not to worry his mother. And his latest trick just the last day or so has been WALKING. He has been able to take quite a few steps in a row and has covered 6'-8' on his own. He thinks he is pretty hot stuff. He is almost 11 months old, which means he is 3 months ahead of when Marie and Joey walked.

Even with the mild winter, we have been able to get out to the sledding hill a few times. Marie and Joey still really enjoy it and since the snow has not been that deep, they have both been able to climb back up on their own. Well, Joey likes to hold our hand, but at least we're not towing him up. We've also taken Stevie a couple of times, but he doesn't like it. We can't quite figure that out since he is a bit of a daredevil everywhere else. We're guessing he'll grow into it.

So, I think that brings us up to date. I have the best intentions of not letting things go this long before I post again, but quite frankly I'm not making any promises. Thanks for hanging on with us this long and hope to see you again soon in the blog-o-sphere.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-28T23:40:00.001-05:00

After Joey's birthday weekend, I was thinking it was time for me to focus on the upcoming Christmas holiday. After all we had already celebrated the first two Sundays in Advent. There were decorations to get out and put up, shopping to do, and parties to attend. Saturday the 10th, we went to the annual Christmas party hosted by our dear friends. That is the one night a year that we REALLY don't worry about staying out too late or getting home at a decent time.

The next morning as we were getting ready for church, we got a call from Grandma Meinhart, saying that Great-Grandpa Boedeker had passed away through the night. As soon as I saw that she was calling at that time of the day on a Sunday, I knew something was wrong. There will be pictures and more on Grandpa later, but for purposes here, that just meant that we quickly made arrangements and packed up the family to drive back down to Illinois / St. Louis for the funeral and services. We left Michigan on Wednesday and drove back the following Sunday.

By this time, it was less than a week before Christmas. We quickly got Christmas cards out and did virtually all of our shopping online. We got by with the decorations that were already up and didn't worry about getting out any more boxes. We went to our very first Christmas program at SSA on Monday night. It was unlike any other Christmas program that I had ever attended. Sure there were still the cute little songs sung by the younger kids in their mixture of shy and barely audible and confident almost yelling voices. But, there was also a Eucharistic procession and a short time of family prayer and adoration in the chapel in front of the creche. Despite having three very tired young kids on our hands, it was definitely a good experience.

The rest of the week was a flurry of tying up things at work, unpacking and re-packing, wrapping presents, and getting ready for our traditional Midwest Christmas tour. First stop…Pittsburgh.
It was Friday by the time we had ourselves ready for our Christmas tour. We loaded up as much as we could on Thursday night and headed out the next morning. We stopped in Aurora to have lunch, spend the afternoon, and eat dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Shibata. Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn, and TJ were also there so it was good to catch up with them. We then drove the rest of the way to Pittsburgh and spent the night at Aunt Jess'.

The next day was Christmas Eve. Everyone came over to Aunt Jess' to celebrate. There was pickle finding, craft making, present opening (and playing), church going, and of course lots of eating. The day went by quickly. The following day, we all went over to Uncle James' and Aunt Jaclyn's house. Uncle James made a ham and there were more than 10 kinds of Christmas cookies (thanks mostly to Aunt Jaclyn) to be eaten. We spent the day there just playing and enjoying the company. The day after Christmas, Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn and TJ had to head back to State College and Grandpa and Grandma drove back to Ohio. The rest of us went back over to James' and Jaclyn's house to visit some more and eat more of those Christmas cookies. Aunt Jaclyn was such a trooper to have so much company…did I mention that she was literally only a couple of days from her due date during all of this!!

On Tuesday, we started our trek from Pittsburgh to Illinois. We prepared mentally for it. It ended up taking us close to 12 hours in all, but that included stopping both for lunch and dinner. We made really good time during the first half, even getting to just east of Indy. But then, in the last two hours of driving time, we stopped 4 times. We threw in the towel and stopped at a little Mexican restaurant for dinner. The kids loved it. Marie got to try out the Spanish she's been learning at school. "May we have dos boxes, please?" We finally made it "home" welcomed by Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Matt and got the kids to bed as soon as we could.

We stayed down in Illinois for four days. While there we took Joey and Stevie to get their hair cut; it was Stevie's first. (Thanks, Ang!) We spent a good deal of time getting ready to host a baby shower for Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mark, which was held in Grandma and Grandpa's brand new dining room. We got to go to the Meinhart Christmas and enjoy the always heated Meinhart Mishap Award competition while catching up with quite a few of our relatives on that side. And last, but not least, we went to a bridal shower for the "Meinhart" next in line, Jordan Traub, who is marrying Cousin Brad in just a couple of weeks.

We celebrated New Year's Eve with drinks, food, and a rousing game of Mexican Train Domino's (house rules). But probably most exciting was getting the news that our new niece, Joy Aiko had been born! I couldn't think of a better way to bring in the new year!

Needless to say, our time down south was a busy time, but as always loaded with tons of fun. During "down" time, the kids got to help "the guys" install some shelving, drive the tractor, feed the kitties, read lots of books, visit the farm, and generally get lots of well-deserved attention. We drove back to Michigan on Monday which turned out to be not a very good day to be driving. There wasn't a lot of snow, but the temperature was just right and there was just enough to make the roads treacherous at times. In fact, we spent over an hour and a half in Indy stopped on the freeway and pulled over north of Fort Wayne due to almost white out conditions. Miraculously, we didn't have any screaming children and no urgent potty issues. We made it home late and got the kids in bed just as soon as we could. Thankfully, Marie had another day before she had to start school. Poor Jon had to get up the next morning and get to work.

As with years past, the Christmas road trip was busy and tiring, but we came away from it so thankful to have had the chance to see and visit with so much of our family and knowing that we wouldn't blink an eye about doing it again…in about a year. :)

Thanksgiving and Early December (2011)

2012-01-28T23:39:00.002-05:00

If I were to pick a theme for the end of 2011 I think I would choose…road trip.

The last update from the Shibata's was at Thanksgiving time, when we were in Illinois to celebrate the holiday with the Meinhart clan. Marie did not have school on the day before Thanksgiving, so the plan was to take that day to drive south.

As it turned out, we did use that as our driving day, but we didn't get as early a start as we had hoped / intended. You see, the day before, I had noticed that the furnace wasn't working. I had this realization in the morning, when it was still in the low to mid 60's in the house. I figured it wouldn't be so bad; I'd have the repair guy come out and take a look at it. He had all day, right? I decided to use the day to do a bunch of baking (at least the kitchen would be warm) and waited for him to arrive.

It got to be 4:45 PM and still no repair guy. I called the repair company back and learned that somehow the work ticket had been misplaced and that is why no one had come to check out our furnace. I was assured that a repairman (presumably the guy in charge) would be there right away, and in fact he was. He went into the basement, and when he came back upstairs, he informed me that the furnace required a new part and that he might have the part back at his shop. If he didn't, then he would need to pick up the part the next day and then install it. I really hoped that he had the part…

He drove back to his shop and called me back to inform me that he in fact did not have the part. This meant that we would have no heat through the night. So, we got our (gas) fireplace going and decided to have a camp out in the living room. Hopefully it was something fun and out of the ordinary that at least Marie will remember. At any rate, it was out of our routine enough that we didn't get started as early as we had intended. (For those of you that are interested, the repairman came over later, replaced the part, and fixed the furnace. Thanks Uncle Mark for checking on things later that night!)

We were able to make it home and enjoy a very nice Thanksgiving Day / dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart, Uncle Matt, Uncle Dave, and Itxaso.

Our original plan for Black Friday was to have the whole family head over to St. Louis to celebrate and visit with Great-Grandpa Boedeker. Since Grandpa wasn't feeling that well, just a few of the adults went over to visit for a bit. It was much more time in the car than time to visit, but I think that Grandpa chatted just a bit and I think genuinely appreciated it.

On Saturday, we celebrated "Meinhart" Thanksgiving and Marie and Joey were able to play with and spend more time with that side of the family. Marie is getting old enough to play with and remember some of her second cousins (and great-aunts and uncles), which makes those gatherings even more fun.

We headed back to Michigan on Sunday, thankful for the time to spend with our family, but as expected, tired.

Not a week later, it was time to celebrate Joey's 3rd birthday. Mom and Dad drove up to Michigan a couple of days early and helped out with getting the house in order and getting food ready for the party. That also allowed us to celebrate Grandpa Meinhart's birthday with him. We are guessing that this might happen on a regular basis in years to come since Grandpa's birthday is the day before Joey's. We're not complaining! :) This year, we had apple pie and ice cream and the kids' gave him night crawlers as a gift. Boy was he surprised!

For the kids' birthdays we never have a really big get together or go too far out of the way, but I like to have a little something to make the day special and don't know how I would get it done without a couple of extra sets of hands. Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah came over and Grandpa and Grandma Shibata and Aunt Jess come up for the afternoon.

The day after Joey's birthday, I was again able to take advantage of the extra hands and we put up the outdoor Christmas lights and also picked out our tree. This year we opted for just picking out our tree instead of cutting it down ourselves. We were running out of sunlight and decided if we didn't get it done that day, then it would be difficult to impossible to fit it in some other day. As it turns out, it was much less work, the kids still enjoyed it, it was less time consuming and less expensive, and we still got a nice looking and smelling tree out of it.

Fall 2011

2011-11-27T19:00:00.000-05:00

I know I can't be the only one out there that just can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already! Just when you think that time can't pass any faster, it does! We had a good fall. We made our usual couple of trips to the apple orchard to pick apples. The kids always enjoy the outings and Marie continues to be more and more helpful throughout the process. Joey on the other hand wasn't so much helpful, but did pick one apple that he happily munched on for the rest of the time among the trees. The last stop before heading back to home is always to pick up some doughnuts and apple cider. The powdered doughnuts are the best, just ask Joey and Marie. After making it home with all our goodies, there were a couple of messy days in the kitchen as we made and canned applesauce.

In addition to our family trips to the orchard, this year we made an extra visit because Marie's class went on a field trip there. Almost all of the kindergartner's moms went and there were also quite a few younger brothers and sisters along. So, it was a good chance for me to meet other parents and get to know a few of Marie's new friends. Joey and Stevie were able to tag along as well. The weather was beautiful.

We arrived at the orchard and finished up our picnic lunches. Then it was time to listen to the presentation about apple trees and bees. We then loaded up the hay wagon and took a ride out to the orchard. All of the kids (including Joey) were able to pick one apple. Another short ride on the hay wagon brought us to the pumpkin patch, where the kids were also able to choose what pumpkin they wanted to take home. Boy were our hands full by the time we got back to the barn!' Thankfully, we were able to find a way to enjoy the donuts and apple cider that was waiting for us when we got there!

Other than that, we were busy carving jack-o-lanterns and doing "experiments". Marie has really enjoyed learning about solids, liquids and gases and figuring out just how many helium balloons it takes to lift her "airplane". We had our first snow of the season on November 10. It didn't stay around long, just enough to excite the kids and get a couple of requests for hot chocolate. We also have survived our first sickness bug. Thankfully, it wasn't the throwing up, stomach bug variety. But, all five of us ended up with some combination of sore throat, stuffy nose, cough, ear infection, and/or sinus infection. Thank goodness for Kleenex and Amoxicillin.

Marie has finished the first quarter of school and is actually a couple of weeks into the second quarter. Her grades were good and the parent teacher conference went well. She reportedly is one of the top in her class academically and is pretty good at making friends. She has settled into her routine a bit more, though still doesn't like having to get up so early in the morning. Her favorite part of school is still recess and quiet time. Her favorite days are Monday, because it is chicken quesadilla day at lunch, and Friday because not only is it pizza day, but it also means that Saturday is right around the corner and she can sleep in as long as she likes.
Joey will be turning three in just a short week! He is still a pretty busy little guy. He loves playing (his version of) baseball and football, either indoors or outdoors. We've been trying to head to the library every week for story time. He is technically a little young for the Thursday morning story and craft time, but he is doing well and enjoys it. He particularly liked a recent visit from "Fire Marshall Shoe" when he got to climb into and sit in a real fire engine.

Stevie continues to be more mobile and independent, whether we like it or not. He stands on his own for a few seconds at a time, walks around the furniture and train table with ease, and is able to take a few steps if he is holding on to our hands. He is up to six teeth, four on top and two on the bottom and frequently gives us loving (I'm sure) bites on the arm or leg. Whatever Marie or Joey are playing with is definitely the most interesting thing for him to have, much to their chagrin. He certainly has a mind of his own when it comes to what he should have or should or should not be doing, which make bath time and diaper changes particularly challenging. Oh Stevie, it sure is a good thing that you're cute.

We will have to update you at a later time on the visit to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving. We will have more to share soon regarding Joey's birthday. We aren't certain how will will accomplish all of the shopping, decorating, and preparing we'd like to do for the Christmas holiday, but hope that it will be a low-stress time to enjoy all that we have to be thankful for. We are all, especially the kids, looking forward to a little time off to spend with our friends and family and all those that we love.

Lions, Tigers, and Saints?

2011-11-20T22:28:00.001-05:00

This was the first year that our end of October activities required two sets of costumes...one for the All Saints Festival at Marie's school and one for our traditional Halloween trick-or-treating with Rosie, Lilly, and their family. I wasn't too worried about dressing up for Halloween, but was a little daunted by the need to first figure out which Saint Marie and Joey wanted to be and then put together a costume.

Marie had originally asked to dress up as Padre Pio for the All Saints Fest, but settled on St. Therese of Lisieux (thankfully!). Joey on the other hand didn't really have much to say about what saint he wanted to be. He just knew he'd need to dress up if he wanted to go to and participate in the festival at Marie's school. So, it was decided that I would make him a basic Franciscan robe and we'd go from there. It seemed like a natural extension to grab a couple of stuffed animals and go as St. Francis.

The day of the festival was a busy one. I dropped Marie off at school and stayed for daily Mass. Afterward, there was a Saints parade in the gym. It was neat to see all the different costumes! Afterward, I went home and picked up Joey before going back to school to help with lunch duty. Joey and I stuck around for the festival later that afternoon. There were 10-12 stations set up in the gym with games for all the kids, bowling, fishing, golf, basketball, pin the wings on the angels, etc. By the time the hour was over, both Marie and Joey had a full bag of treats! It was nice to get to know some of the other parents and match more faces with names of Marie's classmates.

The actual day of Halloween, we had arranged to meet up with our friends the Roberts' family. We have gone trick-or-treating with them the last couple of years in Northville. We reused a couple of costumes from years past, Joey was a cowboy and Stevie was a tiger, which was especially cute since Leo who is about the same age as Stevie was a lion. Marie got a "new"costume this time around...she was a firefighter (notice the reflective tape in the pictures!).

Northville is known for their trick-or-treating and it is always a busy place. It took a lot of vigilance on the part of the parents to keep track of our six kids ages 5 and under. Thankfully, the kids were happy to just hit a few houses and then head over to Aubrey's for pizza. It was a fun, memorable, and yes tiring evening!

Love These Kids

2011-10-18T17:35:00.000-04:00

Thought we would share a few pictures that we had taken of the kids about a month ago. Thanks, Melanie Reyes!

Yep...sure do love these kids! Enjoy!

The Month of Marie

2011-10-02T22:51:00.001-04:00

September was definitely the "Month of Marie" around our house. To start the month (actually on August 30), she had her first day of Kindergarten. She had been counting down the days and was pretty excited to say the least. She had met her teacher a couple of times and already knew and was friends with a couple of the girls in her class. The first day came and even though she was up really early that morning, she was still pretty chipper. If the rest of the days went similarly, should be a breeze, right?

Well, the first week went pretty smoothly. The mornings were still early (if you know us, you may also know that none of us are really morning people), but it was only three half days, so we were still able to have afternoon naps and she didn't feel like she was missing out on too much.

The following week consisted of four, full days of school, starting at 8:00 with Mass and being picked up at 3:00. She would come home and give us little details of her day. We started learning some of her classmates' names, the daily schedule, what she liked and didn't like at snack time, what she usually did during "rest" time, etc. We learned that there was a James that sat at her table in her class, but "James" was also the name of her 7th grade Mass buddy.

She generally told us that her favorite time of the day was recess. We knew she was making new friends, sometimes older kids in the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd grades. We learned that she had gym class on Mondays and Wednesdays, Spanish on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that Tuesday was "Library" day, and that Thursday was "Computer Lab" day.

That first week, we also started hearing and noticing that she was having at least daily episodes of crying. It might happen at recess, at lunch, or even during class. Sometimes she would say that she missed me, sometimes she was "just tired", and sometimes it seemed the littlest thing would upset her. Mornings were also getting to be rougher. I had a brief talk with her teacher, and we basically decided that she was still getting used to school and needed to get more sleep.

So, we instituted a rest time after getting home from school and also bumped her bedtime up as much as possible when we could. She was still excited about school, but would also make comments that she didn't want to go because she had to get up so early. We took comfort in the fact that at least by the time she went out the door, she was chipper and smiling.

Now that we have four full weeks under our belt, it is still sometimes a struggle, but she is doing much better. We have gotten a couple of encouraging emails from her teacher. And, as far as we know, she went the last two without crying at school. PROGRESS! It has been a transition for us all. Going to bed early, getting up early, spending more time in the car, adjusting nap times for Joey and Stevie, etc. It has been good for us all...I'm sure we'll settle into a routine sooner or later. We are looking forward to seeing everything she will learn and how she will grow this year.

Marie and her classmate and "BFF" Sarah on their first day.

In the midst of the starting school transition, we also celebrated Marie's 5th birthday. It snuck up on us a little bit. But, we enjoyed immensely a visit from Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, Gracie, Aunt Jess, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart. Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah also made it over for a big chunk of the weekend. The weather was nice; the kids got to play outside a decent amount.

On her actual birthday, she got her present from us and requested to be able to go out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. She was super excited about her new matching raincoat and boots and it was a good night out, and by good, I mean that everyone pretty much ate their meals, there was no crying or screaming, and we didn't draw too much unnecessary attention. Marie even got to enjoy a Birthday Sundae to finish off her meal. It is hard to believe that our little girl is already five years old. She is growing up so fast!

I'll close with a kid-ism from Marie and a few recent pictures of her little brothers as well.

Marie has been enjoying Mad Libs lately and at one point, I was doing them with her.

Peg: "Name something strange."
Marie: "Toilets."
Peg: "Toilets? What makes toilets strange?'
Marie: "You know when they flush all by themselves and you're not expecting it."

Okay. Now I get it. Yep, that is kind of strange.

Chapter 5. Summer's End

2011-09-13T21:42:00.001-04:00

Note: Re-posting due to technical difficulties with the video...hopefully it will work this time. For those of you that get these updates automatically, you may have to go to the blog itself (instead of reading it in your email) to watch the video at the end.

Even though it is mid-September as I write this, I'm still a little hesitant to admit that the summer is actually over. But, let's be realistic, school has started (more on that later), we are now watching football on the weekends, and the first leaves have started falling from the trees. Yep. It's official. Summer is over. But, in a last ditch effort to hang on as long as possible, let's review what we did in August.

The first weekend in August brought us visitors from the state of Wisconsin. Jon has a close buddy (and by close, I mean he convinced Jon to wear a kilt at his wedding) that lives near Milwaukee with his family. Carl's daughter, Aneliese, is Jon's goddaughter. Every summer the Conrath's drive to Erie, PA to visit with family. This year on their way back to WI, they decided to swing by our place. It broke up the drive for them (they usually have to stop to spend the night somewhere anyway) and gave us a chance to catch up after what has turned into a couple of years. Aneliese is just about a year older than Marie and boy did they hit it off. They also have a son, Hayden, who is just a little bit older than Joey. It was fun to see them all get along so well.

Also, in August, the kids and I took off to go to the "beach". This is something that I had promised Marie we would do and she probably would've forgotten all about it...but I wouldn't have. The "beach" is on a lake that is literally 10 minutes from our house. There is also a picnic area and Splash Zone for the kids. The three of us (Marie, Joey, and I) went last year as well and Marie had a great time. It was a good thing that we went on the spur of the moment this year because if I would have had too much time to think about taking all three of the kids by myself, I just might have chickened out. But, they of course did great. Marie and Joey loved playing in the sand and water and obediently stayed close to the shore. Stevie chilled in his stroller, watching them and all the other kids play. Marie and Joey were pretty hesitant to go into the Spray Zone at first, but finally worked up the nerve to venture into an area that was a little less daunting. They had fun and boy did they take good naps that afternoon!

In the middle of August, we had a visit from Grandma Meinhart. It was a good thing she was here because otherwise I'm not sure what I would have done with all the green beans and tomatoes. We got a lot of canning done and marinara sauce made for the freezer. We even made a trip to a raspberry patch / peach orchard but were disappointed by the fact that it wasn't a good day for picking either of them. :( We'll remember to call ahead before we drive there next time.

The week of Grandma's visit also corresponded to when Marie attended her very first Vacation Bible School. This was also the first time that our parish offered VBS, so we didn't really know what to expect. I figured Marie would have a good time AND that it would be a good chance to get primed for going to kindergarten this fall. Overall, I think it was a success. Marie did make a couple new friends and also learned some things.

On one of the days while Marie was at VBS, we decided to Joey to a petting farm that is about a minute away from our church. It took him a little while to warm up to the animals, but thanks to a nice volunteer and the cutest little baby bunnies, he finally did. He ended up feeding the goats and also going on a wagon ride. He was pretty interested in seeing the pigs for some reason...

Other than that, we were busy getting ready for the school year to start. We had a fun family outing to Target when we got all the necessary school items (supplies, extra booster seat, shoes that met dress-code, etc.). The kids were pretty excited about this because the trip also involved a trip to Wendy's, their absolute favorite restaurant. :)

We also took a trip to the doctor for Marie's 5 year and Stevie's 6 month check ups. Marie is still roughly 90th percentile for height, but closer to 65th for weight. Stevie must have hit a little bit of a growth spurt, because he stretched out to 95th percentile (26") while his weight was closer to 85th (19 lbs 4 oz). We aren't surprised given his older siblings and are just thankful to have such healthy kids.

Last items of note for the month of August have to do with and update on Stevie. He is really changing fast. First of all, he became the proud owner of two bottom teeth. It seemed like it took quite a while for them to actually poke through, but they finally appeared. Then we introduced solid foods to him. He made the expected sour face the first couple of bites, but he has really taken off. It's as if we weren't feeding him!! He is also now crawling. He's pretty slow, but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in determination. And, he is definitely fast enough to annoy his big brother and sister. The toys and books that they have are always more appealing than any baby toy we might try to use as a distraction. He is settling into his little brother role quite naturally and it won't be long before he is rolling around and wrestling with Joey I'm sure. :)

Chapter 4. Trip to the 'Burgh

2011-09-11T21:19:00.010-04:00

A couple of weeks after getting home from our shut-down week tour, we embarked on another trip. We took an extra day of vacation and spent a long weekend in Pittsburgh. We drove down Thursday night and arrived at Aunt Jess' house late in the evening.

The next day, our plan was to meet up with Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, and Gracie at Kennywood. It has been a couple of years since the last time we were there and Marie was very excited about going back. Joey was likewise excited, though not because he remembered it (he was only 9 months old at the time). Marie, Jon, and the rest of the family had really talked it up, so we were hoping that he wouldn't be disappointed.

On Friday, the kids took early naps and we headed out, meeting the others in the middle of the afternoon. It was a pretty hot and sticky day, but that didn't slow them down. We went straight to "Kiddie Land" and they spent all their time going from ride to ride, with brief pauses to hydrate. There were swings, motorcycles, flying elephants, roller coasters, cars to drive, and the much loved "Whippersnapper".

After a few hours, we decided it was time to get some supper, so we walked over to the cafeteria. While we were there, the sky grew dark and the wind picked up. Rather than heading back to the rides, we decided instead to go back to the car. It was a bit of a hike though and by the time we got there, the rain had really started to come down and we were drenched. Guess it wouldn't be a trip to Kennywood without a good rain shower!

On Saturday morning, we headed over to Uncle James and Aunt Jaclyn's house for lunch. Peg's dear friends from college, the Coffields, also joined us for a short visit. It had also been a couple of years since we'd seen them. My how the kids have grown!

Aunt Jess had brought some fun crafts for the kids to work on and then it was time for naps. After nap time, we got everyone in their respective baseball gear to get ready to go downtown for the Cardinal / Pirates game.

We were a little uncertain how long we would stay, but were completely prepared to call it a night whenever needed, no matter the inning or score. We were quite pleased with how the kids did. PNC Park is very kid/family friendly. Marie, Joey, JJ, and Gracie spent a good bit of time playing on the playground they have on site (with LOTS of other kids their age). On the walk there with Uncle James, they even got to give the Pirate Parrot a high five...or at least that's what Marie and Joey tell us.

We ended up staying until the middle of the 9th inning. They Cards were well ahead, so we felt okay not staying until the very end. Plus, we wanted to try to avoid having to deal with any potential crowds and traffic after the game. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired by the time we hit the sack.

On Sunday morning, we went to church, had lunch, and relaxed a bit before heading back home. Marie and Joey were so tired, they even took naps during the drive. It was a short visit, but packed full and well worth it.

Chapter 3. Shut-down week.

2011-08-29T09:01:00.001-04:00

Every year around the 4th of July, Jon has a week off of work. It is basically mandatory vacation time when (almost) all of GM shuts down for maintenance, re-tooling, and other big jobs that quite frankly are easier to do when no one around. It also usually coincides with the annual Speckhard family reunion in Mishawaka, IN so that works out nicely for us. I (Peg) also take vacation and we spend a week on the road visiting with as many loved ones as we can. This year, there was also a baptism, wedding, and birthday party thrown in, so it was busy!

This year's road trip started with short drive to Canton, MI. On Friday, July 1, our Godson, Leo Benjamin (Rosie and Lilly's baby brother) was being baptized. Of course we couldn't miss that! It was a nice, intimate ceremony followed by ice cream and visiting at Leo's grandparents' home. Leo and Stevie are just a few weeks apart in age. It was already fun to see them interacting and "talking" to each other. We think they will turn out to be pretty good buds!

PS - Thanks to Tabbatha Plomaritas for the great pictures!

As an aside, at the after-baptism party, Marie tripped while running in the yard, landing squarely on the sidewalk on both knees. There was quite a bit of blood and crying, but we eventually did recover from the first really good knee scraping of the summer. This provides the explanation for the band-aide theme you might notice in some of the subsequent pictures.

After the baptism, it was time to hit the road. We had never attempted the driving at night approach with our kids. We were a little leery about it, but we just needed to do it this time. On Saturday, July 2, Jon's cousin was getting married in Mishawaka, IN. Marie and Joey did fine...but didn't sleep. Stevie, who was (and is) still not a big fan of riding in the car, cried a good part of the way. But, alas, we did make it to the hotel and finally got everyone settled in for some restful sleep.

The next couple of days were packed full of wedding activities, playing with the Shibata's (the event was also attended by Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, and Gracie, and Aunt Jess), catching up with family that we hadn't seen in a year or more, swimming, eating, outdoor games, celebrating Gracie's 2nd birthday, and the like. The weather was hot and humid. (Though that is reportedly not the reason the groom was in a kilt!) The pool was refreshing and thoroughly enjoyed. Joey did get a couple of wasp stings, but after a bit of ice, he was as good as new. Even though we don't get to see Jon's aunts, uncles, and cousins all that often, we always feel right at home and cherish the time with them. We are so grateful to have such wonderful extended family.

Gracie, the newest 2-year-old!

Needless to say, all the time outside in the sun and all the tremendous fun that we had really wore us out. Back at the hotel, Marie and Joey slept together in the pull-out couch. When they are teenagers and can't seem to get along, we look forward to pulling out this shot!

After a couple of full days, we got back on the road. We drove down to Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart's house on Monday, July 4th. This time the drive was during the day and went much more smoothly. By this time, we were beginning to figure out how to keep Stevie and happy as possible. Instead of Jon doing the driving (he almost exclusively did the driving up until that point), I drove and Jon sat right next to Stevie. Hey...whatever works.

Down in Illinois, there was lots of stuff to do and see. Marie and Joey got a kick out of the new kittens that Grandma and Grandpa had. The kids were kind of scared of them at first. (Scared of kittens...I know!) But, after a couple of days, they realized they were completely harmless and got up the nerve to pet them and pick them up. Marie and Joey still talk about them now!

We were kept busy checking the garden, looking for Purple Martins, fishing, watering flowers, driving the tractor, and lots of other fun stuff as well. Time always flies when we're down there!

Another one of our Illinois activities was taking the kids to the farm, where Grandpa Meinhart grew up and were his two brothers (and nephews) still farm. Marie and Joey were pretty nervous about the cows in the milking parlor and wouldn't even think about letting us put them down. They were also afraid of the dogs, calves, pigs, and steers. At least they're consistent! We were a little surprised about Joey being so nervous since last year, he got right in there and fed the steers by himself. But, they both still really enjoyed playing in the big pile of cottonseed.

We took a day to drive to St. Louis and see Great-Grandpa Boedeker. He is definitely slowing down and his hearing and eyesight is suffering, but he is still sharp as a tack. He always brightened up when the kids would be playing or running around. And, he could see well enough to comment a couple of times about how big Stevie was already! We can't get anything past Great-Grandpa.

After a packed few days in Illinois, we drove back up to Michigan on Friday, July 8. The next day, we celebrated again with our friends, the Roberts' family. This time it was to celebrate Lilly's 3rd birthday. No skinned knees this time, just pizza, cake, and ice cream.

Later that night, we celebrated with our friends, the Thomm's (and many others!), who were renewing their wedding vows and celebrating their 10th anniversary. Not only that, but Uncle Dave and Itaxso flew in for the weekend on their way to Chicago. Whew! So much going on, so much fun, and so thankful for safe travels, all the family that we got to see and events we got to celebrate. This year's shut-down week will be hard to beat in the years to come!

Chapter 2. Early Summer, Revisited.

2011-08-28T21:26:00.011-04:00

Chapter 2...Early Summer...let's see if I can remember that far back.

I do remember that we had a very nice visit from Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart right around Father's Day. Grandma came up for about 7 days and stayed long enough to help put up strawberries. We took the kids during the week and they did pretty well. Marie actually did some picking. Joey was interested in it for a few minutes and then got a little bored. He was much happier looking around for rocks and other boy-ish things. I'm sure Stevie will be a bigger help next year. :)

After leaving the patch, we stopped at the park to have a picnic. We've done this the last couple of years, so it appears that we are starting a tradition. Later on, Marie and Joey got to help prep the berries for putting into the freezer.

We were able to celebrate Father's Day with both Jon and Grandpa Meinhart. Marie and Joey had made special cards (with tools on them!) for Jon and had gotten a kick out of wrapping (and unwrapping) the presents. Then they got to learn all about Purple Martins from one of Grandpa's gifts.

They other "fun" thing that went on while Grandma and Grandpa were here was the Hamburg Family Funfest. This annual event happens to be about 1 1/2 miles away from our house. For one weekend a year, they have carnival rides and games, car shows, a petting zoo, concerts, fireworks, etc. We certainly didn't take advantage of ALL that was going on, but the kids enjoyed the rides and petting zoo for a couple of hours. It did take them a little while to warm up to the goats, but they eventually got close enough to actually pet them thanks to Aunt Sarah!

Other than that, I think June consisted of a lot of playing outside (and inside), planting the garden, going back to work (Peg), a visit from the Mitzels (and trip to the outlets), and getting ready for our shut-down week road-trip. Stay tuned...

Chapter 1. Remember us?

2011-08-23T23:30:00.000-04:00

Not sure how many chapters it would take to get caught up on all that has been going on around here. The busier we are, the more we have to blog about, the less time there is for blogging! The unfortunate result is that you haven't heard from us in way too long. :( So, in an effort to let everyone know that yes, we are alive and well, I'll include a brief synopsis of the summer along with some pictures. HOPEFULLY, there will be more posts to follow with more detail about trips and other events from the summer...there is always hope!

I (Peg) have been back to work (part-time) since the beginning of June. True to the nature of the business there have been times when I've been not so busy and times that I have been really busy. Somewhere in there, we also moved offices, from our temporary location to a more permanent home. The new office is really nice since we had everything to do with designing it the way we wanted and everything is well...new! I'm still enjoying the actual work, though during those busy times it does get to be a lot.

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden as well. The start of the summer was pretty rough with all the rain. We ended up replanting all of the green beans. Then we had a very hot, dry spell in July. Overall, I think we've weathered everything okay. We ate a lot of zucchini and cucumbers for awhile and now we're into tomatoes and green beans. It is a lot of work, but so good for the soul.

Jon has been keeping busy with yard work and maintaining the pool. It takes a lot of effort, but the kids sure do love it. There was that dry spell when he didn't have to mow the lawn for a couple of weeks. I'm sure he'd admit that he didn't mind, even though the grass was brown. He is still really enjoying his work at GM and was just awarded his first patent. And, it was for something that is actually being used in production! We were all very proud. Now he is getting ready to start his grad program again this fall. More late nights studying!

Marie continues to be a big help around the house, even when Joey would rather her not be. :) She had really taken off with her reading. It seems like it just clicked for her overnight. She had a great time at Vacation Bible School at our parish, which was a good warm up for school. She will be starting kindergarten in just a week! So far, it has been both fun and not so fun. The fun part has been getting school supplies, getting and trying on her uniform, getting to have play dates with her future classmates, etc. The not so fun part has been having to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. We have been gradually making that change and let's be honest, it is sometimes painful for all of us. But, it has to be done! It sure will be a change to have her at school every day.

Joey is turning into a big boy. He still has his 2-year old moments and can somehow find a way to narrowly escape serious injury (like when he pulled my almost 5' dresser and all of its contents over on top of himself...that will teach me to leave the room for 5 seconds). He likes to be doing whatever Marie is doing and has been doing a great job recognizing all his shapes and colors. He is even doing basic math ("Joey, if you have 3 bites of chicken left and you eat 1, how many will you have?"). He will surely miss Marie when she goes to school. We have been making some progress in the potty training arena. He is getting pretty good at letting us know and successfully going #2 on the pot. He is still not to interested in stopping what he is doing to go potty though. At least we're making progress.

Stevie is changing so fast...almost six months old already! He has been healthy and other than the last week or so (we think that teeth might be the culprit) he has actually turned into a pretty good sleeper. He is going to be just as active, if not more active than Joey. He rolls and scoots himself around the floor and gets up on all fours trying with all his might to get to whatever toy or colorful object he has his sights on. He can't quite figure out how to get his arms and legs coordinated so that he can really cover ground, but he is close. Then we'll really have to watch out. He has had a couple of check-ups this summer and all is fine. We still get the "You sure grow them big!" comment from the doctor, but we're used to that. He's big overall...most recently about 95th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight. Compared to his siblings, he's somewhere in the middle, a bit bigger than Marie but smaller than Joey. We are going to be starting solid foods here very soon...fun, fun!

So, that is a brief update on us all. I'll include a few pictures and stories from the summer. Hopefully, you'll hear from me again soon to give you the update on our shut-down week road trip to visit the Speckhards, Shibata's, and Meinhart's, birthday parties and baptisms, our fun-filled weekend in Pittsburgh, lots of out-of-town visitors, and general summer fun...just to wet your appetite!

Marie: Joey, when you are seven your baby teeth will fall out. And then your big teeth will fall right in!

Marie dances and bops around the living room in her normal energetic fashion.
Itaxso inquires: Where do you find so much energy?
Marie: I just ate a lot of food.

Jon comes home from work and checks in with Joey on the status of his potty training efforts for the day
Joey, waking up from his nap.
Jon: Did you go stinky on the pot today?
Joey: I went potty on the pot.
Jon (in a disappointed tone): Oh. Did you go stinky in your diaper?
Joey: I hope so.

Joey: Dis-ter, do you love me?
Marie: Yeah.
Joey: Why?

Peg and Joey drop off Marie at Atrium and head to chapel at Domino’s Farm to go to a daily mass. The priest consumes the precious Body & Blood.
Joey whispers: He’s hungry!

Peg & Jon are talking...
With a very urgent tone Joey interrupts: Mom! Mom! Excuse me, Mom!
Peg: Yes, Joey!
Joey pauses: I can’t remember.

Overflowing with excitement from looking at the macaroni noodles on his plate Joey states: These are eyebrow noodles! I love them.

Marie: Mom! I just had a burp...and it tasted like Goldfish!

Joey climbs up to a precarious position on the side of Stevie’s pack-and-play.
Jon: Joey let go of that or you will fall.
Marie: And down will come Joey, cradle and all.

Joey talking to Grandma Shibata on the phone about packing and coming to visit when the baby comes.
Grandma: What do you think I should I bring when I come?
Joey: A present for ME!

Marie is talking to Peg while she is still very pregnant.
Marie: Mom? Does drinking Crystal Light always make you pregnant?

Joey, finishing his supper, very slowly.
Joey: I have a stomachache.
Jon: Well, I guess no dessert then.
A couple of minutes pass and Grandpa Meinhart asks:: Is your stomach better?
Joey: No, no yet.
Grandpa Meinhart: What do you think will make it better?
Joey: Uh. Just some milk... and a cookie.

Peg sighs as she is making dinner.
Marie: Mom? Are you getting tired of having three kids?

Joey has been making some progress in the potty training arena. Marie has been doing her best to encourage him. Jon and Joey return from the bathroom and come back into the kitchen where Marie is in the process of eating her dinner.
Marie (excitedly): Any news?!?
Jon: Yep. Joey went potty.
Marie: Good job! Don’t quit!

Joey: My tummy aches.
Peg: It does?
Joey: Yeah. Some goldfish would make it better.
Thinking he might actually be hungry, Peg reluctantly gives him some goldfish.
Joey downs some goldfish, brightens up and says: It’s good! I’m all better!

During the Knights of Columbus tootsie roll drive, Peg brought a couple home from the store. Quizzing Joey to see if he remembered what she had told him Peg asks: Joey, what are you eating?
Joey: A 2-year-old...candy.

Joey is drawing a picture and Peg overhears him talking to himself.
Joey: J-O-E-Y.
Peg: Hmmm. What does that spell?
Joey: Dad!

Peg and the kids are driving home from the park.
Marie: Mom? Can I have some pretzels?
Peg: We don’t have any. We’ll have to wait until we get home.
Marie (starting to whine): Why don’t we have any pretzels?
Joey: When we get home sweetheart.

After several weeks of watching Marie increase her speed at assembling a puzzle of the United States Jon is impressed at how well she can fit the pieces into the frame.
Jon: You sure love that puzzle, don’t you?
Maire: Yep! I can’t stop loving it!

We are nearing the end of our week long vacation. We started with three days with the Speckhard clan and were ending by spending a few days at Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart’s house.
Marie: Grandma before we leave tomorrow can you make all of my wishes come true?

Marie is talking on the phone with Grandma Shibata who is explaining how she had been sorting through some old toys still stored in their house.
Grandma Shibata: Grandpa and I have been playing with Legos... Can you believe that?
Marie (thoughtfully): Huh. I thought old people just rested and knitted.

Peg and Karen Mitzel enjoyed a fun shopping trip to the Outlets in Howell, small babies in tow. Meanwhile, Jon, Tim, and the rest of the kids (five in all) stayed back at the house to swim and hang out. As the Mitzels were leaving later that night...
Marie: Mom! I’m amazed that two dads could take care of so many kids!

Deja Vu

2011-06-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

As some of you may remember, it was at about this time last year that I posted about a portion of the tree at the corner of our house falling down. At that time, the kids got a kick out of getting to watch Jon cut the branches and logs and help to move them away. Well, it's happened again...

This time around, the I think the kids got an even bigger kick out of it AND they were actually helpful. And, if I do say so myself, they were pretty darn cute in their boots and hats. Unfortunately, the tree looks REALLY sad now. We're trying to decide what our next course of action should be before the rest of it falls down.

Happy Birthday, TJ!

2011-06-17T22:48:00.001-04:00

Well, we've got our first road trip with three kiddos under our belt! We wouldn't have missed the chance to head to State College the first weekend of June to celebrate TJ's first birthday with all the Shibata's! We hadn't seen TJ since Thanksgiving and boy had he grown and changed...they tend to do that at his age. :)

Since to this point, Stevie has not been a big fan of his car seat or the car, we opted to break the drive up as much as possible. On Friday night, we drove as far as Grandma and Grandpa Shibata's in Ohio. We took our time and stopped for supper about half way through...so far so good. The next morning, we got up and drove the rest of the way to our destination. Marie was pretty excited about getting to ride with Grandma and Grandpa, especially since they were going to stop in Pittsburgh to pick up Aunt Jess. In fact, she was SO excited that she and Joey got up at 6:30 in the morning! For those of you that know our kids' sleeping habits, you also know that this is COMPLETELY out of character for them.

Saturday's drive also went fairly well...just a single stop to feed Stevie and let Joey run around a little bit. We arrived in State College shortly after lunch, just in time to have a hot dog and some cake! A thunderstorm rolled through, so everyone moved inside for a while. No one seemed to mind too much; we all had fun watching all the cousins "help" TJ open presents.

Thankfully, the thunderstorm was short-lived. It cleared up later in the afternoon so we were able to head outside and play. There was a quick baseball game, play-dough, a bean bag toss (with the added difficulty of simultaneously holding a child for the adults), a trip to the nearby park, and general running around.

We were all pretty tired by the time the day was done. We headed to the hotel and got the kids baths and into bed. They all slept pretty well, despite the noisy 14-and-under softball team that was hanging out in an adjacent room. I remember those days...

The next morning, we got up and got ready for church. We headed to Mass on campus and learned more about the Catholic Campus ministry and what's going on with it. Jon is pretty psyched that they have broken ground for a new church and home for the ministry AND that it has the Paterno name attached to it. Come to find out that Jo-Pa's wife Sue has been instrumental in the development of the ministry and finding the means for it to have a home of its own. But back to our trip...

On the walk back to the car, we stopped at the Lion Shrine. But, we couldn't just walk by the Shrine without taking advantage of a photo opportunity, especially when this was Stevie's first visit! However, it was clear that by this time Joey was tired and out of sorts as you can see by the picture. And this was the best one we got!

We then headed to Hoss's to have lunch with Jenn's parents and the rest of the Shibata clan before we all headed our separate ways. We attempted to get a shot of all the grandkids. At least I can say we were successful in getting them all in the frame at one time. We'll have to work on the smiles and actually looking at the camera when they're a bit older.

On Sunday afternoon, we drove back to Aurora to stay another night with Grandma and Grandpa Shibata. The weather was beautiful that evening and the next day. The kids got to go outside and practice their golf swings (note that Joey seems to have confused his golf swing and his slap shot), got to go to the park to play with Grandma and Grandpa, and even took a dip in the community pool before leaving. If they weren't tired yet, that sure did it.

We drove back to Michigan on Monday, with a couple more stops than we would have liked, but we made it. Actually, considering that the kids were in the car for 4+ hours for 4 days straight, they did just fine. I think we'd do it again. :)

PS - While I've been meaning to post this for awhile now, I guess it's appropriate that I finally got to it today since TODAY is TJ's actual birthday. Happy Birthday, Teej! We love you!

Loving Spring

2011-05-18T00:21:00.004-04:00

As with everyone else in Michigan, we sure have been enjoying Spring. Well, at least when the weather is spring-like. It has been an interesting mix of nice days with pretty frequent overcast, rainy, cool days. Oh and there were those couple of days straight out of August...hot, humid, and sticky. While it has required creative clothes organization (shorts or pants...that is the question) we have been getting outside as much as possible.

Marie and Joey helped to plant some seeds in the basement quite some time ago. We ended up with more dirt in the containers than on the floor, so that was positive! About half of their seedlings have since been transferred into the garden...during one of those hot spells. So far we've planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, peas, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, and basil. Even though it has been somewhat cool, it appears that everything is at least still living.

All of the attention being paid to the asparagus seems to be paying off. We have noticed most of the crowns sprouting. Yay!

Marie and Joey have enjoyed running around, up and down our hill, playing baseball, and using the Frisbees that were in their Easter baskets. Other than that, we still go on frequent bike rides and walks along the path near our house. One day, we even found two morel mushrooms! I was quite astonished to see them growing there just a couple of feet from the path. I nosed around just a little bit, but didn't see immediately see any. We'll have to keep an eye on that spot in future years. :)

On the Stevie front, things are going as well as can be expected with an 11 week old. He is much more interactive than Joey and Marie were at his age. He smiles, laughs, and talks with us on a regular basis. Saying that he is not a great sleeper would be an understatement. But, we are slowly learning his preferences (he is pretty quick to tell us when he doesn't like something). His two month check-up came and went...nothing unusual. He was almost exactly the same weight as Joey was at two months, 14 1/2 pounds. He was 24" long, 1 3/4" shorter than Joey. I told Jon that maybe he would be our running back.

As for Jon and I, there's not much new going on. Jon has been spending chunks of time trying to stay ahead of the lawn. Or more accurately, trying to stay ahead of the dandelions in our yard. I think he enjoys being outside, even if that isn't his most favorite task. I am gearing up to return to work at a slightly lower part-time level than before. I'm guessing I'll ramp up to my usual 20 hours per week sometime this summer. I've been into the office a couple of times to check in and I've already got a few items on my list, including helping with a pretty large report that is due the week after I officially return. I guess it's nice to be needed.

So, that's what's been going on with us. We have started to make some plans for long weekend summer trips to see family. We've got three (at least) scheduled for June and July. Hopefully the drives will go as smoothly with 3 kids as they have in the past. Stay tuned...

A Day Out with Thomas

2011-05-17T12:20:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, we took the kids to Greenfield Village because none other than Thomas the Tank Engine was going to be there! They had seen a flier at the library a few weeks earlier and were immediately excited about the prospect of getting to see Thomas. We decided to go for it...attempting to incorporate it into our plan of doing "special" things to celebrate the Easter season. As it turns out, Marie and Joey didn't really care why they were going to get to see Thomas as long as they were going to get to see him. I guess that's to be expected.

We set out from home around 10:00 in the morning, which meant that by the time we got to the Village, we had a little over an hour to check things out before getting lunch. First stop, finding Thomas. We watched as he pulled into the station, the passengers were loaded, and then he chuffed away. They were clearly impressed.

We then proceeded to one of the activity tents where Joey was right at home playing with trains. There is just something better about playing with someone else's trains and tracks. He would've stayed there all day had we let him. Marie played for a while, but then enjoyed doing some coloring and activity sheets.

We headed to find lunch. The food was good, but we admittedly spent way too much on the hot dog and macaroni and cheese. It must have been memorable though because that was toward the top of the list of the things Marie and Joey recalled.

After lunch, it was finally our turn to go for a ride on Thomas. We got our tickets ready, waited in line, and boarded the train! The kids were in heaven! Well, Stevie perhaps wasn't overly impressed, but I'm sure he was glad to be there.

After our train ride, Marie was pumped to ride the 1913 carousel. Unfortunately, we didn't time it very well and we had to wait in line for quite a while. They were both definitely tentative when they climbed on, but they relaxed soon enough. Eventually, they got a big kick out of finding Jon as we spun around and waving at him. The carousel was another of the high points of the day.

We spent a little more time in the activity tent...playing with trains and listening to stories. We were all getting tired, so we decided to wave farewell to Thomas before heading home. It was a tiring day for everyone, but given the opportunity I think we would do it again. If you were to ask Marie or Joey, they would be sure of it.

Easter 2011

2011-05-16T23:20:00.000-04:00

Since I'm just now getting around to posting about Easter (almost a month later!), I guess we've been busy...though I'm not sure what we've been busy doing. Maybe I'll have it figured out by the time I'm caught up!

So we stayed in Michigan for Easter again this year. We were joined for the weekend by Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart and Uncle Matt. Between the Easter Triduum services and other necessary Easter traditions, we kept ourselves hopping.

Marie and Joey enjoyed painting Easter sugar cookies. (Thankfully, we didn't have to bake them...they had been in the freezer since St. Patrick's Day when we used the extra dough to make eggs, chicks, and bunnies.) Evidently, in addition to aprons, the necessary attire for decorating eggs includes sunglasses atop the head.

On Holy Saturday morning, we went to a nearby parish to participate in their annual Easter egg hunt. It was not like the Easter egg hunts I recall. There where WAY more eggs than kids. I remember being lucky to get 2 or 3 in the mad dash. Had they been so motivated, Marie and Joey probably could've gathered as many eggs as there bags could hold. Thankfully, they were not so motivated since we're still working on finishing Easter candy.

At one point, Joey must have looked lost or something. Another generous little girl "helped" him by putting an egg in his bag. Being the particular one, Joey promptly removed the egg and threw it, breaking it open. It was either this event or being scared of the clown that was his favorite thing to talk about when he asked about the hunt.

Another, perhaps non-traditional, Holy Saturday activity was the planting of asparagus crowns. Grandpa Meinhart had found a great deal and ordered some for us. I figured I should take advantage of Marie's very recent statement that she actually likes asparagus. Grandpa, Jon, Uncle Matt, and the kids set about digging holes, adding just the right amount of compost and water, and carefully positioning the crowns. Since then, Marie and Joey have taken it upon themselves to keep a close eye on the plants and water then whenever possible. If attention has anything to do with asparagus production, we should have bumper crop in a couple years!

This year, Marie again made Resurrection rolls for Easter lunch. It must have sunk in from last year because she put them together almost all by herself and did a great job of describing the symbolism of each ingredient. They must have tasted pretty well also...they didn't last too long!

It would hardly be Easter without dyeing eggs, would it? It was a somewhat messy endeavor with frequent close calls...cups of colored water teetering close to being overturned. But the eggs were successfully colored and Marie and Joey had fun so the goals were accomplished.

Joey getting an, "Are you sure about that?" look from his godfather.

The finale to the weekend was of course Easter Sunday. We donned our best and headed to Mass. We kept the kids all dressed up long enough to snap a couple of pictures. Perhaps brimming Easter baskets were used as a bribe...perhaps. After a yummy lunch, we had our own mini-Easter egg hunt in the yard, attempting to get the most mileage possible out of those dyed eggs. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and allowed us to do all of this fun stuff as a family. It was nice to see the kids enjoying themselves without losing sight of the reason for our celebration...He is Risen INDEED! (We are still in the Alleluia season after all!!)

Baptism and Birthday

2011-04-07T22:23:00.000-04:00

Not long after Stevie's arrival, we started thinking about when we might like to have his baptism. We expected that it might be a little more complicated in the past given the upcoming Easter holiday. We quickly realized that given our parish's schedule and the respective commitments of the godmother and godfather, the baptism would either need to be at the end of March or mid- to late May.

Marie and Joey were both about 6 weeks old when they were baptized thus allowing for some time for recovery, preparations, and also for giving out-of-towners a little time to make their plans. But, rather than wait until Stevie was almost 3 months old, this time we leaned toward having the baptism a week after we confirmed the date. The only real drawback to having it so quickly was the chance that I would be overwhelmed. I knew I would want to get the house in viewing shape at least and have a meal plan for our weekend guests, but I was also still adjusting to having a newborn and really being on my own with the three kids (Jon was back at work and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart were back in Illinois). It may have been risky, but we decided to go for it anyway and I was determined to make every effort to not get stressed out.

Well, it took A LOT of help from Jon and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart coming up a day early, but the baptism and the whole weekend went well I thought. Everyone had a place to sleep (thanks to Mark and Sarah for putting up Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart despite having some of the Smith family in town) and if anyone went away hungry, it wasn't because of a lack of food. Marie and Joey loved having cousins (JJ and Gracie) and aunts and uncle here (Jaclyn, Jess, and James) to visit and play. Aunt Jaclyn brought a fun Easter craft for the kids to do. And, Aunt Jess brought little Easter bags, complete with Veggie Tale watches and candy. For some reason, Joey thought he needed to wear his watch as a belt...not sure why. All the kids got a kick out of their bunny Pez dispensers. It's amazing how fast those little candies can disappear!

As we've done in the past, the baptism ceremony was planned for after the 4:30 service on Saturday. This arrangement just makes it easier for our guests that want to drive on Sunday. We are also starting a tradition of bringing up the gifts whenever we are baptizing one of our kids. We were asked prior to both Joey's and Stevie's baptisms. This time around we were a little uncertain that we would make it up the aisle. Marie was very distraught that she couldn't actually carry anything (there is an age policy that we were unaware of). We thought quickly and asked her to perform the very important job of holding Joey's hand while we walked. Unfortunately, Joey would have nothing to do with this. Instead he decided that he wanted Jon to carry him. So as we are supposed to be starting up the aisle, there we are trying to get everyone situated and relatively happy in front of the congregation. It turned out that Jon and I each carried one of our sons in addition to the gifts while Marie slowly walked behind us, trying to fight back tears (bless her heart). The rest of the Mass wasn't much better from her perspective. It was a good thing that Stevie was happy at that point because I spent a good bit of time trying to console Marie.

But, Marie's night would get better. She was able to be up front and right in the midst of what was going on during the baptism. She walked up with Grandma Shibata and peaked onto the podium while Grandma read from the Old Testament. Deacon Larry also asked her to hold his book for him while he read the baptism prayers. She was thrilled to have been given such a big responsibility!

In his homily, Deacon Larry talked about how baptism is really like a second birth, the official entrance into God's family and His Church. He said that he thought it would be good to celebrate your baptism day like a birthday...after all, he would like getting to have cake and ice cream twice a year. To this, Joey perked up and said, "Me too!"

Stevie was awake for pretty much the whole ceremony. He was also relatively happy through most of it. It wasn't until toward going up to the altar and the final prayers that he was really letting us know that he was unhappy. So unfortunately, we didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the family, godparents, and other attendees.

From our overall standpoint the baptism was wonderful. We did not lose power (as with Marie's) and no one had to drive home in a snow storm (as with Joey's). I guess because we've been through it a couple of times, somehow I'm not expecting it to be as moving and emotional...I'm so wrong. I can't explain what exactly it is, but I'm brought to the verge of tears every time...even while holding a screaming baby.

The Monday after the baptism was Uncle Mark's birthday, so Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart stuck around and we all got to celebrate with him and Aunt Sarah. Somehow I think that the adult birthdays are more fun and memorable when the kids are around. Hopefully Mark enjoyed it as well.

Since the baptism, we've been settling into a little more of a routine...if such a thing exists. Marie has been going to Atrium and has recently been talking about her "new" friends. I think that what has happened is that she has finally been able to remember their names when she talks to me about them. Either way it is cute. We've also been hitting story / craft time at the library once a week, which both Marie and Joey love. Marie has been doing much better lately at working independently on her craft. Joey...well, Joey just likes to cut paper. His craft is usually not in one piece and I end up picking up lots of little scraps before we leave. I'm not really surprised since it is really geared toward 3 year olds and up.

Other than that, the kids have been playing pretty well together lately. Marie can be slightly bossy, but that's what big sisters are for, right? :) Joey has been a bit of a challenge at times, but nothing that I wouldn't expect from a two-year old. We've been doing some Lenten activities such as making whole wheat pretzels and a Lenten cross (similar to a Jesse tree). Marie has also really taken off with her reading. Grandma brought some early reading books that I had when I was Marie's age and Marie is going right through them. She has also started picking up things on signs, labels, etc. when we are out and about. As she will continue to tell us, she is SO ready for school.

Three kids...three weeks

2011-03-25T01:14:00.001-04:00

It's now been three weeks since little Stevie was born. It sort of seems like he's been around longer (and I guess he really has). It does make me wonder, just what have we been up to all that time? Well, let's see...

From now on (or at least in the foreseeable future) Stevie will be the first of some pretty significant birthdays in March. Within two weeks of Stevie's birthday, both Jon and I celebrate ours and shortly thereafter, Aunt Jaclyn and Uncle Mark also turn one year older. So, in the last few weeks Marie and Joey have been wrapping presents, singing, blowing out candles, unwrapping presents, and enjoying birthday dessert.

Jon was able to stay home from work for one of the three weeks, which sort of spoiled the kids. When he had to go back, Marie was pretty disappointed and still doesn't understand why he has to go to work "almost every day." Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart also stayed for quite a while and were lots of help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and general child supervision. Many, MANY, books were read, St. Patrick's Day cookies were baked and painted, Marie cured all kinds of ills that Grandma came down with, we played outside and rode bikes, Joey got to go to the hardware store with Grandpa TWICE, and we played with trains A LOT.

Marie and Joey are adjusting pretty well to having a new baby brother. They both at times seem to be a little needy and only want Mom to help them, but I think that is to be expected. They are still quite smitten with Stevie and are always interested in helping
. One of Joey's favorite things to say now is "Baby Stevie is crying again." They frequently want to hold him, get things for him, change him, bathe him, etc. It is possible that they are a little TOO helpful. :)

We also enjoyed a quick visit from Uncle Dave. He had been working in Chicago and took a flight to Detroit to stay for a bit more than a day before needing to get back to London for a Monday morning meeting. Marie and Joey both really enjoyed playing with him and especially liked Skyping with Itaxso who wasn't able to make the trip this time.

Stevie is not a great sleeper, but he is after all only three weeks old. He has been pretty vocal about things he doesn't like (diaper changes, changing clothes, baths, etc.) from the very beginning. He sometimes cries so hard during his bath that I just have to hope that he resumes breathing. But, he is just as quick to settle down and be quiet when he finally gets picked up and comforted. We've been back to the doctor a couple of times and he has a clean bill of health. There is no concern with him eating or gaining weight. Even to us, he appears to be growing! During a span of 12 days, he gained almost a pound and a half. He was also measured to be 21 1/4" at the doctor's office...another reason not to believe the length measurement at the hospital!

So, I guess we have been up to some things these last three weeks, but mostly just enjoying our immediate and extended family. I expect that we may (or I may) get a little stir crazy soon, especially with Spring knocking at our door. But in the meantime, I'll just read more books, kiss more boo-boos, and do more cuddling with my three kids.

Stephen Patrick...one day old

2011-03-04T21:02:00.005-05:00

As promised, here are some photos of our new little guy!

Jon and I got to the hospital at 9:00 on Thursday, to start the induction process. By the time we were admitted, prepped, and all the orders placed, it was about 11:00 before anything really got started. Most of the day was spent playing the waiting game...not too much activity or discomfort really. By about 4:45, it was decided that we had progressed enough to break my water. After that, things changed. The good part was, after going through a basically similar process with Marie and Joey, we sort of knew what to expect. We knew that the last hour or a little more would be the exciting, intense part.

The last little over an hour consisted of pretty intense contractions. When the nurse came in to see how we were doing, I "stoically" (as she put it) ask if Dr. F was nearby. She decided to check me, but when she could see Stephen's head, she decided that she would change her plan and call Dr. F. Needless to say, he was barely in the room before it was time to push. A few minutes later, we met Stephen for the first time.

We got settled in our room around 10:00 PM and were able to get a decent amount of sleep. I'm pretty sure we can't count on that going forward...

This morning, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata came and brought Marie and Joey to meet their new little brother. They were both very intrigued and took turns holding him. We were a little surprised that Joey was as interested as he was. But after all, Marie was interested, so why wouldn't he be? We are going to have LOTS of help when we get home!!

Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart also came by for a visit this afternoon. Stephen took all the attention quite well. Now we are settling in for our second night. He still needs to get his newborn screening done so that we can go home in the morning. Hopefully we'll get a little sleep tonight as well. It'll be another big day tomorrow!

New arrival...

2011-03-03T22:54:00.002-05:00

There will be more details / photos forthcoming, but Stephen Patrick Shibata has made his arrival! He was born at 7:30 PM and was 8 lbs 7 oz and 20" long (I think).

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Days at home with my kids...

2011-03-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

To bring everyone up to speed, we have been keeping pretty busy as of late. Jon had a very busy week last week with various projects and a presentation at work and a project and mid-term exam for his class. And those are just the things that I know about. I've also finished tying things up for work...and am more than ready to take a good three months off. We have also been preparing for the arrival of our new little one. The delivery date is set for this Thursday. I'll be just past 39 weeks, so the doctor doesn't want to wait any longer. Some docs wouldn't have let me go this far along. Everything is looking good and the baby seems to be thriving. Hopefully he'll also cooperate and it will be a quick labor as well.

Somewhere in there, we also squeezed in a birthday party for our goddaughter Rosie. Marie had been talking about it all week and then the day finally arrived. We even got to meet Rosie's new little brother, Leo, just two weeks old! It was a great party and by the time we were headed home we were all pretty tired.

Who needs presents when you can play with bubble wrap??

To completely change subjects, as some of you might have gathered, one of the aspects of our bedtime routine is to share things that make us thankful. Joey's response almost inevitably includes sunny days and cars. Marie tends to look around the living room and respond with whatever her eyes happen to land upon...walls, windows, chairs, and of course the many toys that are (not so neatly) put away. One of the things that I occasionally share is that I'm thankful for "days at home with my kids." (Though I have to admit that sometimes after a long or challenging day at home, this is my own reminder that I am and should be truly thankful.)

This past month, we have spent a good amount of time at home. We definitely haven't been traveling and unless there was something that we needed to go out for, I haven't been ultra-excited about bundling the kids up, packing the car, and heading out in the snow while 8 months pregnant. I've reflected on this for the last couple of weeks and even though we've still had our challenging times, I've really enjoyed spending days at home with Marie and Joey. Perhaps a part of it is due to the fact that I know those days are numbered. I know I will be spending quite a few days at home with my kids in the next few weeks, but it won't be with just Marie and Joey.

Perhaps it is just the pregnancy hormones making their presence known, but there is something bittersweet about getting ready for a new baby. We are SO excited to meet the newest member of our family, to see who he looks like, and to welcome him into our home. But, at the same time, I'm saying farewell to the "days at home with my kids" as I know it. Marie and Joey will have to adjust to less attention, an exhausted and likely distracted mom, and altered schedules and routines. I'm sure they will be fine and that in a few weeks we won't even be able to image how our lives were before baby brother. But, appease me for just a while longer while I reflect upon those "days at home with my kids."

Joey: "Dis-ter. Do you love me?"
Marie: "Yeah."
Joey: "Why?"

Joey and I sometimes go to Mass while Marie is at Atrium. Right before communion, while the priest is partaking of the Precious Body and Blood, Joey turns and whispers, "He's hungry!"

While talking about St. Valentine and how while he was in jail...
Marie: "What's jail?"
Peg: "It's a place where sometimes people have to go even if they don't want to and they can't get out."
The story goes on about how children visited St. Valentine and brought him food.
Marie: "How did she get out?"

Peg and Jon are talking.
Joey (interrupting very urgently): "Mom! Mom! Excuse me, Mom!"
Peg: "Yes, Joey."
Joey (pauses): "...I can't remember."

Joey was talking to Grandma Shibata about coming to visit when the baby comes.
Grandma: "What should I bring when I come?"
Joey: "A present for ME!"

Marie: "Mom? Does drinking Crystal Light always make you pregnant?"

Here's to you, Marie and Joey. Thank you for being such great kids, for bringing me such laughter and joy, and for all those "days at home with my kids."

Time is flying...

2011-01-29T23:28:00.000-05:00

Yep, we're all but through all of January already! To be honest, I kind of expected the 8-9 weeks after the new year to go quickly, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

We've gotten back into our "normal" routine. Atrium (Montessori-based preschool at Christ the King) on Wednesday mornings for Marie, story hour and craft time at the Library on Thursday mornings for both the kids, heading into the office a couple days a week for me, hitting a prenatal aquatics class on Thursday nights, and trying to keep up with the rest of the day-to-day.

We've also been getting some things ready for Baby Brother to arrive. First of all, Joey got to move out of the crib into his Big Boy Bed. It was really a pretty smooth transition, pretty similar to Marie. We haven't had any trouble keeping him in bed when he's supposed to be. In fact, he generally waits until we come upstairs in the morning to get him up. It is obvious that he has been awake because as soon as we open his door, he pokes his head up, pops to his feet and starts jumping up and down. Wish I was as chipper as that in the mornings!

We've also been finding the boxes and tubs with baby items. They are not quite unpacked, washed, and appropriately put away, but Marie is really looking forward to going through everything so I'm sure we'll get to it soon. On the baby front, we've started our weekly OB visits where we monitor the baby's movement and heart rate. So far, there has been nothing to cause any concern whatsoever. He is really active...more so than I remember Marie and Joey being. As long as things continue as such, we'll probably talk about inducing around 39 weeks, just a little over 4 weeks away. Talk about time flying...

Another thing we've done to get ready for the baby was to stock our freezer with lots of yummy, quick meals. For that task, Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart came up for a few days. Grandpa and Jon spent a lot of time occupying the kids while Mom and I spent our time in the kitchen. Overall, I think there are 6 freezer casseroles, a big batch of vegetable soup, cooked chicken, ground beef, turkey, and Chorizo, muffins, and lots of broth for making noodles and the like. I feel like we at least have the eating situation under control. Thanks, Mom!

We also got to celebrate Grandma's birthday during their visit. Again, the kids really got a kick out of getting to celebrate an adult's birthday. Marie made and wrapped Grandma's presents especially for her and they both helped to blow out the candles. Hopefully it was as special for Grandma as it was for them!

Grandpa Meinhart and Uncle Mark were able to head out to the sledding hill with Jon and the kids a couple of times during the visit. Marie and Joey just never tire of it. I'm not complaining whatsoever. I think it is great that they're getting fresh air and exercise. (I've not been as good at getting them outside during the days as I have been in years past.) Grandpa taught Marie how to bail from her sled if she was heading for a tree or straw bale. This was a bigger hit than I would have expected, even to the point where she rolls out of her sled before she gets all the way down the hill, much less close to an obstacle. She always ends up laughing though! Grandpa even went down the hill a couple of times...though I'm not sure he ever bailed. Uncle Mark took quite a few trips down the hill as well. His finishes were also generally spectacular...at least from the kids' perspective.

Marie, having just bailed from her sled...no trees in sight!

Mark, going head first down the hill.

Joey, trying to be just like Uncle Mark with Dad and Grandpa looking on.

Mark, after diving to stop Joey from going (head first) into the brush at the bottom.

A couple of weeks ago, Marie and I headed to the Marquis Theater in Northville to see a show with god-daughters Rosie and Lilly. This time it was a little different though because it was just the four of us. We had decided to take Rosie and Lilly for a little outings so that their parents could have some down time before their baby boy was born (he was just born on Wednesday and everyone is doing great). We saw Little Red Riding Hood and I think it was a success...with two four-year olds and a three-year old, you're bound to have a couple of rough patches (like having to go potty RIGHT before the show starts even though they were asked multiple times before that, like the community box of popcorn being spilled all over the floor, etc.). After the show, we headed to a bookstore / cafe for some juice and a couple of stories. Then we met Jon and Joey for pizza. Needless to say, I think EVERYONE was tired by the end of the day.

That's all the notable news I can think of right now. The kids have really been getting along relatively well lately. They do a good job of playing together for the most part. They only occasionally end up screaming at each other, mostly because one of them is not doing what the other one wants him/her to do. Marie has been a big help around the house recently. She has always tried to be a help, but I'm starting to give her more to do, both in amount and level of difficulty. She is taking it all in stride and loving it!

Joey continues to talk a lot. He tells us stories and jokes, sometimes about things I can't believe he remembers. He has such a personality and definitely has an ornery streak. The other night, when we were praying / reading books, he wanted to sit where Marie was sitting. After asking a couple of times to sit there, he nonchalantly asked her where her bear was...thinking that she would get up to get it and he would have the chance to steal her seat. Sneaky, sneaky...but it didn't work. Marie didn't fall for it.

We're also getting into the potty training routine...or at least trying. Joey definitely doesn't look forward to having to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom. And, he doesn't bring it up unless Marie has to go, it is a terribly inconvenient time, or he's trying to get out of doing something else. But, we have to start somewhere.

Finally, both of the kids are excited about getting to watch one more Steelers football game. You can guess who is being their influence!

(No, those aren't real glasses. They are part of Marie's dress up clothes. Though, I'm sure it is only a matter of time...)

Christmas 2010...Hanging Out

2011-01-09T23:30:00.002-05:00

(Note: If you are a follower of this blog, you may want to go and read the earlier posts for a more chronological telling of our 2010 Christmas break.)

Sandwiched into all the other visits, celebrations, and happenings over the Christmas holiday was just some general hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There were lots of toys to play with and lots of books to be read. We also headed outside quite often to scare up the rabbits that have been eating Grandpa's blackberries and sit in the tractor.

The guys worked on their own project out in the shed whenever they could. Grandpa is building a loft above the portion of his work area that has the concrete floor. The loft is both for storage and also potentially for being able to hang some curtains and heat the area. I think there was a lot of head scratching and calculating going on, but by the time we left, some real progress had been made.

We hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas as much as we did. We are so thankful for all the quality time we were able to spend with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Sarah. Family is such a blessing!

Christmas 2010...Caroling (or "We Should Do This More Often")

2011-01-09T23:25:00.001-05:00

During the Meinhart Christmas celebration, one of our (somewhat) family traditions, Christmas caroling, was organized. A group of whoever is available has done this in years past and it has always been a good time. In fact, that is one of the things that Jon remembers and talks about most from our early days of being married. It was decided that we would meet on Tuesday night and hit a few of the caroling hot spots.

The tradition as also been in the past that Dad was responsible for bringing the mayo jars. These are small jars with convenient screw on lids, so that your refreshment of choice is properly contained even when it is put into your winter coat pocket for safe keeping while you hold and read from the caroling cards. Here you can see said jars being prepared.

We made a few stops, mostly to the homes of Great Aunts and Great Uncles who now live alone. Since the word had gotten out that we would be stopping by, they were all prepared to welcome us with drinks and snacks. (Did you know that designated drivers are required for Christmas Caroling?) Great Uncle Louis even broke out a couple of bottles of his special blackberry wine!

We sang a few songs and spent just as much if not more time visiting. Everyone we saw was very happy to see us and I think that we brought a bit of Christmas Spirit wherever we went. I would have to say it was a success. Marie and Joey even liked it (they both got to partake in some of the snacks AND taste pop for the first time). On the way home, they were both pretty tired, but Marie said it best, "This Christmas caroling is fun! We should do it more often! Can we go caroling for Thanksgiving and Easter??"

Christmas 2010...Great-Grandpa Boeds

2011-01-09T23:22:00.001-05:00

Since the snow had prevented us from going to visit Great-Grandpa on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we decided to drive over to St. Louis on Monday. We made it there by lunch time. Grandpa was feeling relatively well, though a bit discouraged by the weather as it keeps him from getting out and about as he'd like.

We generally visited in the afternoon and were glad that Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jim were also able to stop by for a visit. I think that Great-Grandpa really enjoyed watching the kids run around and play with each other. He also got a kick out of the rolling/laughing monkey that we brought (a Christmas present for the kids from Uncle Dave and Itxaso). It has a sensor on it so that when it "sees" something move, it starts laughing and rolling around. Marie really got into it. Joey also liked it, though only when he was at a safe distance from it. :)

We finished the day by taking Great-Grandpa out for dinner at one of his usual restaurants, Bob Evans. Marie and Joey ordered their respective favorites, spaghetti and french fries. We drove back home afterward. It was another full day, but we were so glad that we were able to see and visit with Great-Grandpa.

Christmas 2010...Meinhart Christmas

2011-01-09T23:20:00.001-05:00

The day after Christmas (Sunday) we all went to church, though we weren't as successful at getting ready and out the door in time to all sit together. :( Nonetheless, Marie really enjoyed getting to sit in front with Grandma and Grandpa and Joey entertained the few pews behind us with his antics (such as covering his ears during the rendition of the Gloria). From church, we headed over to celebrate with the extended Meinhart family. We had soup and sandwiches for lunch and the ever present table loaded with appetizers and desserts. Would it really be a Meinhart gathering without it?

The representatives from our immediate family at the Meinhart celebration.

Of course there was the annual transferal of the Meinhart Mishap Award. The traveling trophy was lovingly handed on from Allison ('09 recipient) to Eric ('10 recipient), who by the way both had wedding (and beverage) related stories to tell.

Another activity included a gingerbread house decorating contest. We split into five "teams" and were given general instructions and guidelines in addition to a time limit. The judges (chosen either because of their knowledge of construction, artistic ability, and creativity or because somehow they wrangled their way out of the competition) then determined via a set of vague categories the "winner". The results were interesting to say the least...here is just one example, though not the chosen winner.

Other than general visiting with family, we also sang Christmas carols and gave the kids a chance to play with their extended cousins. We had a great time catching up and the time flew by as usual. It seems our gatherings are always that way. Can't wait until next time!

Christmas 2010...Snow Fun

2011-01-09T23:17:00.001-05:00

If the snow is going to keep us home on Christmas Day, we might as well enjoy it, right!?! It was a bit cold and windy outside, but we ventured out to try out one of the kids' Christmas presents. Uncle Matt had gotten them snow/sand molds. Joey couldn't quite handle them by himself, but Marie could use the smaller molds. Marie had just as much fun using the shovel and helping to fill the trash can which was brought in as an impromptu mold to aid in the building process.

Here Joey is "hiding" behind one of the walls in its initial phase as Jon "threw" snowballs at him.

Uncle Matt, Jon, and Grandpa did most of the actual building. I think they enjoyed it as much as the kids! When they were done with the fort, it had three walls, towers, and a door, just the right size for Joey and Marie. It must have reminded Marie of grocery shopping though, because she started calling it a deli. As the construction neared completion, Joey and Marie were taking care of any of our food and beverage needs, ranging from snow cones, to chicken soup, to pastrami sandwiches.

In the days to come, we would have to check on the fort (deli) whenever we went outside. It held up pretty well. Here you can see that after four days a lot of the other snow and melted and yet it was still standing!

Christmas 2010...It's Here!

2011-01-09T23:14:00.001-05:00

Getting the kids down for naps on Christmas Eve was (understandably) a bit challenging. Not only was it Christmas Eve, they were at Grandma's house, they were in the same room, and Joey was in a bed that he could easily get in and out of. But, naps did prevail and they went to sleep. However, due to it taking longer than expected to settle down, it wasn't too long before we needed to wake them up to get ready. Ah well...better than nothing, right?

We had a yummy chicken dinner with the family and then got all dressed up in our Christmas best. We made it out the door in time to get to church for the pre-Mass Christmas music AND to get enough seating for the whole gang! To add to the wonder of the night, by the time we were on our way, it had started snowing. There was enough music and kid-involvement during Mass to keep Marie pretty occupied during the longer-than-usual service. But, by about halfway through, Joey got pretty restless and we had to start encouraging him to sit still and be quite because there were going to be presents at Grandma's house when we got there. It worked, but he did associate opening presents with Grandma's house for the next 4-5 days.

By the time we were on our way home, there was a significant covering of snow on the ground and roads. We slowly but surely made it home. The kids were very excited to get to open their presents. They got to play a little bit, just enough to wet their appetite. We decided in the interest of time, they would be the only ones to open and the adults would have our exchange after Marie and Joey were settled into bed.

The next morning, Marie went straight for her stocking to see what St. Nick had left. She dug right in and was more than willing to check everyone else's stocking as they emerged from their warm beds.

We settled in for a day at home with the immediate family since the Meinhart gathering wasn't until Sunday and since the snow and weather caused us to postpone our drive to St. Louis to see Great-Grandpa Boedeker.

Christmas 2010...Getting Ready

2011-01-09T23:11:00.001-05:00

Officially the Christmas season is now over and I think we are close to getting back into our normal routine after our Christmas travels and celebrations. Given that there is SO much to tell about our Christmas break, I'm going to try to break things into smaller (hopefully logical) increments. To start...let's get ready!

After a couple of late nights preparing for our trip (packing, finishing up Christmas cards and things for work, wrapping presents, etc.), the family set out on our drive to Illinois on Wednesday, Dec 22. Thankfully, the kids again did pretty well. We stopped for a late lunch and then once more between Indy and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Just ~7 1/2 hours later, we were there! Uncle Matt had already arrived and Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah weren't too far behind us. We had a yummy supper and settled in for the night.

The next couple of days, we did some more to get ready for Christmas. Most of the presents had been wrapped, expect for the ones that Marie had picked out for the family. She stuck with it pretty well...I thought she might get bored, but she did all of the cutting, taping, and writing of the "To's" and "From's" with only a little help from me. Marie also helped Grandma to roll out and bake Christmas cookies, which were then beautifully painted by both Marie and by Joey.

On Christmas Eve, Marie and Joey got to help Grandma set up the Nativity scene, one of the things that I always loved doing as a child. By the time they were finished, the stable was pretty crowded. Understandably, everyone wanted to be as close to Baby Jesus as possible. We didn't even worry about rearranging. :)

After that it was off for a quick nap so that we could get ready for Christmas Eve dinner and Mass...

Joey is Two and Winter is Here

2010-12-23T14:52:00.005-05:00

Despite all the fun things that have been going on (or perhaps because of them!), I've been extremely delinquent at posting updates of the recent 'happenings.' I'll try to bring you up to speed before Christmas and before things really get out of hand!

To begin, Joey turned two on Dec 3rd...just in time for him to stop asking about opening more presents. Grandpa and Grandma Meinhart and Uncle Matt came into town to help celebrate. Grandma and Grandpa arrived the day before, early enough to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. The kids got a kick out of having a "birthday party" for a grown-up and enjoyed helping Grandpa open his presents.

For Joey's birthday, the Thomas the Train theme was continued, much to Joey's excitement. He had a Thomas cake and got a table on which he can play with his trains and tracks with less assistance (much to my excitement). It takes up a good bit of space in our living room, but it has become the focal point for the kids as they use it quite often.

The other activity that was undertaken during our visitors' stay was to get our Christmas tree. It was a bit cold, but we successfully got to the tree farm, rode the wagon out to the pines, picked one out, cut it down, got to ride the wagon again, secured it to the car, and made it home in one piece. A little hot chocolate when we arrived home helped to warm everyone up. Marie and Joey enjoyed decorating the tree as well and apart from needing to redistribute the ornaments to higher elevations, we thought it turned out well.

Joey also had his two-year check-up. He is definitely not usually a fan of visiting the doctor, even though our pediatrician is absolutely great. This time though, I think he was under the impression that it was Marie that needed to see the doctor. Plus, he didn't have to get any shots, so it was a much more manageable visit. The doctor affectionately calls him "Big Joe" since he always measures on the bigger side. He was 30.5 lbs and 37 1/2 inches which is roughly 98-99th percentile and 2-3 lbs and 1 1/2" bigger than Marie was at his age.

Marie has definitely been enjoying this season more this time around. All kids look forward to Christmas, but she has been really been getting into the Christmas spirit working on her Jesse tree, helping to decorate the house, making presents for friends and family, and lighting the advent candles. Joey enjoys it too, but more often asks his usual question, "Can we open presents?" Somewhere in there, I got to have a wonderful outing to do some outlet shopping (without kids!) with a good friend, Jon and I attended an adults only Christmas party where we always have too much fun and stay way too late, and we had a kid-friendly Christmas party hosted by my boss at a bowling alley. Marie and Joey had never been bowling, but we could hardly tear them away from the lanes. They basically bowled the entire time, only stopping long enough to gulp down a piece of pizza.

In weather-related news, we got our first real snow of the winter on Dec 12. You know what that means…sledding! We went out the same day and the conditions weren't great. It was windy, cold, and the snow was powdery which meant a lot of snow in the face during the descent down the hill. Plus, it was pretty hard for Marie to get all the way up the hill on her own. Since my self-imposed limit is to pull only my pregnant self up the hill, that meant that Jon got quite the workout pulling both Marie and Joey up. Thankfully, we've been out multiple other times and things have been much smoother. The kids could actually go down in their own sleds and Marie has gotten fantastic (to use her own words) at getting up the hill on her own. They have had a total blast. One of their favorite things to do is sled down and run right into the strategically placed straw bales at the bottom. As Joey would say, they go "Bonk!"

Things with baby #3 are going well. He is growing at the appropriate rate and I'm starting to receive quite a few substantial kicks. We are just shy of 30 weeks, so it's hard to believe that we'll have a precious newborn in just 8-9 weeks (based on my history of being induced a bit early). Marie and Joey are anxiously awaiting the baby's arrival. Marie has loved getting to feel the baby move and before bedtime while we are saying what makes us thankful, Joey has been known to say "Baby brother" while giving me a pat on the belly. Not sure Joey really knows what's coming. :)

So that basically bring us up to speed on what's been going on. I know that there are some funny stories that I'm missing about things the kids have done or said. I hope to do a better job at memorializing those things…I can always hope. I did just have to share one more picture that was taken over Thanksgiving and sent to us by Aunt Jess. We hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas!

Joey's (Early) Birthday + Early Christmas = Lots of Presents!

2010-11-27T23:53:00.000-05:00

Since Joey's birthday was just a week away, we had decided that we should take advantage of the fact that all the Shibata's were together and have an early birthday party for him the day after Thanksgiving. He didn't seem to mind too much and I'm sure he won't mind having another celebration next week. I'm guessing that the whole birthday concept will be confusing to him, since he was continually asked on Friday, "Whose birthday is it?" and the answer considered to be correct was "Joey's!" even though his actual birthday is still a week away. He is catching on to the fact that he is supposed to say, "Two" when asked how old he will be, even though he routinely says "Three" or "Five".

All of the kids (and some parents) patiently waited until after lunch to enjoy Joey's birthday cake, an M&M Dairy Queen cake with a toy Lightning McQueen on it. What could be better?!? It took a few tries, but Joey did successfully blow out his own candles.

Then it was on to the presents, which he had been talking about since arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's two days earlier. He had lots of help and he was definitely not the only one very excited about what was being unwrapped. Needless to say, there was plenty to entertain the kids later that afternoon.

Since most of the Shibata's will not be together on Christmas this year, it had also been decided that Thanksgiving would be a good weekend to bring and exchange Christmas presents for the kids. Since we were on a present roll (and quite frankly the presents pack and travel better unwrapped), it was determined that we should go ahead and let the kids unwrap their Christmas presents as well. So, after naps and supper, it was on to more destruction of festive paper and bows. It was a flurry, as I'm sure you can imagine, of kids opening, seeing what they and their cousins got, and parents trying to keep track of what was received and from whom while wondering "How in the world are we going to get all this stuff home?"

And so, there was even more to entertain the kids for the rest of the weekend. And, I think I only heard once or twice a question about there being more presents. [Sigh]

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T23:40:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderfully enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration this year, as we hope you all did as well. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Shibata's house on Wednesday night just in time to go out to dinner with them, Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn, and TJ and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Speckhard. The kids must have been hungry. Marie ate her entire meal and Joey…well, he ate all his french fries at least.

On Thursday morning, Uncle James, Aunt Jacyln, JJ, and Gracie along with Aunt Jess drove from Pittsburgh over to Aurora. They arrived mid-morning, so we had a yummy Thanksgiving brunch. The rest of the day was spent visiting, playing hide-and-seek among other things, heading outside for some fresh (though slightly damp) air, and enjoying the company. We even got a semi-decent shot of Great-Grandma and Grandpa with all the great-grandkids. Well, except for the one I've been carrying around. :)

JJ, Joey, and Marie all hiding from Aunt Jess while playing hide-and-seek.

Left to Right: TJ, Great-Grandpa, Joey, Great-Grandma, JJ, Marie, and Gracie

Marie faithfully helped Grandma Shibata in any way she could, "painting" the turkey, stuffing the turkey (or at least getting it close to where it was supposed to go), and making the rolls. She loves to help in the kitchen and is really getting to the point where she can be a big help! After mentioning things that particularly make us thankful this year and saying grace, we feasted on the traditional Thanksgiving fare, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, green beans, cranberries, and pie. We of course ate too much and all went to bed with full tummies.

We are so incredibly thankful for all of our family and friends, near and far, for our health and provision, for our country and our homes. It is humbling to think of how undeserving we are of all the many blessings that have been bestowed on us. God is truly great!

Kids' First Visit to Happy Valley

2010-11-24T21:56:00.006-05:00

I've been meaning to write about our most recent weekend trip for some time now, and am, well…finally getting to it! Two weekends ago, we made a quick trip to Joe-Pa land. We had been talking about doing it for quite a while and even a few days beforehand, we weren't sure if we would make it, but it ended up working out beautifully.

As many of you know, since Jon purchased his (used) Camaro, he has been working on fixing up his old Chevy Blazer and making it drivable. His goal as always been to get it running so that we could give it to Uncle Joel. Originally we thought this might happen this summer, perfect timing for going to see our newest nephew and checking out Uncle Joel and Aunt Jenn's new house. But, as perhaps we should have expected, many unforeseen necessary repairs, trips to the auto parts store, and late nights along with our busy schedules significantly delayed our plans.

As Jon neared completion of the Blazer, he had his eye on the weekend of Nov 13th as a good weekend to head to State College. It was preferable not only because there was NOT a home football game (and the accompanying 100,000 fans filling up the campus) but also because the observation of Veteran's Day (a.k.a. the first day of hunting season in MI) allowed him to have a day off of work on the following Monday. We set some tentative plans and low and behold by Wednesday night, we were pretty sure the Blazer would be done and would actually make it to PA. We allowed the kids to start getting excited for their first trip to Penn State!

We drove after work on Friday as far as Grandma and Grandpa Shibata's house and spent the night. We went the rest of the 7+ hour drive on Saturday. Since we were driving two cars, we got to use the Walkie-Talkie's, which Marie particularly enjoyed. We arrived in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day hanging out with Uncle Joel, Aunt Jenn, and TJ. The weather was beautiful so the kids enjoyed heading to a nearby park to run off some energy.

On Sunday, we went to church and then went back to the house for some lunch. After the kids took naps, we headed to campus. It was a little rainy and true to the season, it got dark earlier than we would have liked. But, that didn't slow us down too much. We drove through campus and then parked so that we could take kids to the Lion Shrine for pictures before it got too dark. We then walked to the famous Berkey Creamery for some yummy ice cream, another must-do if you're on campus. We walked though campus more, checking out Old Main and a bit more of Jon's old stomping grounds. We then headed to the Corner Room for supper. (I know…ice cream before supper. What kind of parent am I anyway?) The kids enjoyed playing with the Etch-A-Sketches while waiting for their food. After dinner, we headed back to the house with some very tired kids.

Monday Jon and Joel had a couple of errands to run to officially transfer the title and get the Blazer registered in PA. Then it was another full day of driving. We ended up stopping at Grandma and Grandpa's house again for a short spell to let the kids stretch their legs. Overall, the trip was quick and enjoyable. We're not sure when we'll be back in the Happy Valley neck of the woods again, but Marie and Joey's first visit was quite memorable.

Then this past weekend we began the "holiday" celebrations by attending our first Thanksgiving dinner. Our good friends, the Mitzels, annually host a pre-Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before. All in all, there was something like 46-ish in attendance, over half of which were 8 years old or younger. Lots of good food, football (not sure if it was good), and good company. 'Tis the season!

Now we are set to enjoy Thanksgiving in Ohio with the whole Shibata clan along with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Speckhard. It is sure to be another wonderful time. We hope that you and all of yours have a great holiday and are able to enjoy giving "Thanks"!

Halloween Fun

2010-11-02T22:56:00.005-04:00

The kids were really looking forward to Halloween this year. Last year, Marie started talking about going trick-or-treating with Rosie and Lilly again within a couple of months. Well, the time finally came!

The first activity was to carve their jack-o-lantern out of one of the pumpkins they had chosen during our previous outing with Rosie and Lilly. (Note: The other pumpkin met its demise while being rolled and thrown down the hill behind our house, an activity that was neither dreamed up nor accomplished by the kids alone. I'll refrain from naming the instigators/accomplices.)

Marie and Joey thoroughly enjoyed scooping out the seeds, drawing Jack's face(s), posing with the finished product, and ultimately lighting it (sorry, no pictures of that). The whole family was there for the lighting and Joey was very excited about showing Jon their work. He used one of his more recent favorite phrases, "Look! Look!"

Since visiting Pittsburgh for JJ's birthday, the kids have been interested in Thomas the Train and Lightning McQueen even more than usual. I must have been feeling overwhelmed with my list of things to do when I saw these costumes because I quickly banished any thought of finding creative (i.e. less expensive) options and just got them. I have to admit, the kids loved them.

Our first stop on Halloween night was to Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's house. Joey was quite impressed with the whole concept of getting candy and then spent the rest of the time kicking around a stuffed (Illini) basketball. After our short visit, we were off to do more trick-or-treating with our goddaughters Rosie and Lilly.

We went trick-or-treating in Northville, and area very close to where Rosie and Lilly live. It was the same area were we went last year. The streets were crawling with people. Marie was definitely shy at first, but then warmed up to the whole process. She and Rosie (both 4 years old) definitely have different personalities; Marie is more hesitant and cautious while Rosie is a real go-getter. Lilly just turned three and also got into the fun. Joey on the other hand was completely happy being carried around by Jon as he watched everything around him. He especially liked seeing all the people out with their dogs. Another highlight was the girls happening upon a large pile of leaves in front of one house. Before we could even say a word, they had jumped right in. We barely had enough time to snap a picture!

After about 40 minutes, we had our fill of trick-or-treating. True to tradition, we all headed to Aubrey's for some dinner. The kids did very well even though they were pretty tired. Between the cool air and the surrounding commotion, they were beat. By the time we were leaving, Rosie had even fallen asleep.

Needless to say, we parents had our hands full keeping track of the kids in the crowd and we wondered how in the world we would do this next year when we would be outnumbered by two (their family is also expecting a son just a few weeks before us). I guess we'll worry about that when the time comes. :)

The Wonderful-ness of Fall

2010-10-25T23:21:00.004-04:00

We have been keeping busy during this most-enjoyable season of fall. The kids enjoyed another trip to the apple orchard with just Mom this time. They did quite well...but there were two challenges. The first was was maneuvering both Marie and Joey plus a bushel of apples and a small pumpkin up and down the wagon that took to and from the trees. The second was comforting Joey when we had to head back to the car...away from the tractor when we were finished. The boy loves his motorized vehicles.

We have been enjoying the weather as much as we can...visits to the park to play and practice on our roller skates, walks and bike rides along our path, exploring the various shapes and colors of the leaves on the trees surrounding our house, and trips up and down (walking, running, or rolling and mostly with Dad) the hill behind our house. The kids have also been enjoying watching football with Dad. Joey actually goes through something like withdrawal symptoms on Tuesdays and has been known to turn on the TV in the morning in the hopes of finding a football game to watch.

The 2nd week of October we also squeezed in a trip to Ohio/Pittsburgh to visit the Shibata's and celebrate JJ's 3rd birthday. The kids had a GREAT time and still talk about JJ's car party and how they got to play with all the cars and trains. Joey was also pretty impressed with getting to see a fire engine on it's way to "help" during the drive over.

Somewhere in there, we have also squeezed in a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart, who helped with applesauce and watching the kids while I made a trip to the Chicago area for work, celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary, and life in general. Marie has really been enjoying her weekly organized school-ish activities, which include trips to the library, Atrium, and Liturgy of the Word for children on Sundays. She is definitely going to be ready for "real" school next fall.

It seems that time is flying by and it's hard to believe that November is almost upon us. We continue to be tremendously thankful for all of our many blessings. I'll leave you with one quick quote from Marie at dinner time as we were discussing a recent "baby doctor" appointment.

Marie: "Well, I'll still be happy, even though I was hoping for a baby sister."

Oh...by the way. It's a boy!! :)

Look who turned 4!!

2010-10-03T16:19:00.011-04:00

It has been a couple of weeks, but on Sept 19, Marie turned four! As she will tell you, there are lots of things that she can do now that she is four. Even her stomach grew overnight and now she can eat "lots"!

We had lots of visitors come to Michigan for Marie's birthday weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart came a couple days early and helped with preparations. Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, Gracie, and Aunt Jess arrived late Friday night. Grandma and Grandpa Shibata drove up for the afternoon on Saturday. Of course, Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah were over as well. Even Colleen (the kids' sitter) stopped by, since Marie had been inviting her to her "party" a few times each day she saw her.

All of the kids' enjoyed helping to decorate for the celebration. There was generally a lot of running around and playing and the kids all got along very well. This is more of an accomplishment that it might seem given that Marie and Joey's sleep schedules are significantly different than their cousins'. Marie and Joey go to bed late and get up late, while JJ and Gracie are just the opposite. Everyone (including the parents) probably got much less rest than usual.

By the time we were really up and going Saturday morning, it was just about time for lunch. We had some sandwiches, cleaned up, and then at Marie's request, proceeded to open presents. This was followed by cake and ice cream. Marie had asked for a cookie monster cake and I was glad when the cake was successfully recognized as such!

All too soon, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata left for home and all the kids went down for a nap. After naptime, the weather was still somewhat nice, so the kids went outside to swing and run up and down the hill. It was good to get some fresh air and exercise after all that cake!

Sunday morning, Marie's actual birthday, we all went to church and then headed back to the house for a quick lunch. Then it was time for the Pittsburgh-ers to start heading for home. Marie still talks about what fun her birthday was and how we had such a full house of visitors that all wanted to come and celebrate her birthday. Everyone made her feel so special!

We put Marie and Joey down for a nap, thinking that they might wake up early enough to take a quick trip to the apple orchard that we've visited the last two years on Marie's birthday. However, the kids must have been exhausted because they took really long naps. That was still okay though because we still had enough time and the weather was nice enough to head to a park to play and try out Marie's brand-spanking-new roller skates. She really got a kick out of them and kind of, sort of started getting the hang of it. Though, she did have a lot more fun hanging on as Jon pulled her along the path.

Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart stuck around for most of the next week. Mark and Sarah closed on their new house the day after Marie's birthday. They all went to a lot of work getting the house in order, addressing issues (resulting from the house being vacant for over a year) and moving things. They are now the proud owners of a very nice place. Joey often comments about the "new house" and talks about how "Mark went home." Joey has also dubbed one of the more spacious rooms the "football room." Marie on the other hand keeps asking if they've gotten their goats yet.

Before Grandma and Grandpa had to leave for home, we did eventually get to the apple orchard. This is a favorite fall activity of Marie's and she continues to do better at actually picking apples. She and Joey both had fun especially considering that we met their friends Megan and Jacob there, that they got to eat a fresh apple doughnut, and that we got to go to a park for a picnic and some playtime afterward. We said our sad goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa, but the kids still talk about their visit. In fact, Joey now has specific names for two of our dining room chairs, "Grandma's chair" and "Grandpa's chair."

In the meantime, Marie has had her 4 year doctor checkup. She did extremely well. She is growing as we would expect. She's at about 95% for height and 85% for weight. She got lots of praise from the nurse because she opted to sit by herself (instead of on my lap) while she got her four shots. She didn't even cry...just a couple of little whimpers. We got to go out to a special lunch at Applebee's afterward because she was so brave.

Marie has also started Atrium again. She had been talking about it a good deal this summer and it has FINALLY started! She has quite a few friends in her class this year. We are both excited about this because that means that I will also get to catch up with a lot of her friends' moms on a more regular basis. :)

Last Sunday, we took Marie to a children's theater to watch a production of Little Red Riding Hood. She absolutely loved it...so much so that she forgot to eat any of the popcorn that she had asked for on our way in. Afterward, we stopped at a cider mill for some cider and doughnuts. We then proceeded to let the kids pick out their own pumpkins. By the time we were all done, they were pooped and both fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Joey has been doing very well. He is lately getting a kick out of being able to walk and jump both forward and backward. He is also known to unexpectedly tackle Marie or Jon, or anyone else that might be sitting or laying on the floor. He is talking more and more and is starting to put words together into more sentences and thoughts. He is particularly good at saying, "Thank you" and "Sorry." Even when he sneaks up behind us and we inadvertently bump into him, knocking him on his bum, he promptly gives his apologies. And, last night Jon was trying to get him to finish the last few bites of his supper. Jon was "helping" him with his spoon while Joey was complaining and whining about it. Nevertheless, as soon as the food was in his mouth, Joey said "Thank you, Daddy." Now we just need to work on not talking when his mouth is full.

It has been a busy last couple of weeks. In the meantime, I've submitted my resignation, wrapped up things at my old job, and have completed my first week at a new job. The technical work is for all practical purposes the same and I'm working with people that I have worked with professionally in the past. We are starting a new office for a company that has locations around the country (Engineering Systems, Inc.). It is exciting, chaotic, and a little annoying all at the same time. Chaotic because we are starting the location from scratch and and very much learning as we go. Annoying because there are all these little headaches, like setting up our network at the office, not getting our phone system to work, and having to get used to using a Mac. But, so far it has been a good thing. Thankfully, I seem to be beyond the nauseous state of our pregnancy and have regained some of my old energy. Still get tired at the end of the day for sure, but overall I seem to be much for functional than I was a month ago! Thank God!

Labor Day Weekend...Up North

2010-09-08T23:11:00.000-04:00

We thought we should give a run-down of the wonderful Labor Day weekend we spent on Long Lake. For those unfamiliar, Long Lake is in northern, eastern Michigan, very near to Alpena. We, along with a couple of other families, had been invited to stay in a house on the lake by our good friends and we jumped at the opportunity to head north.

We started the trip on Thursday after work. We were in the car and driving in good time, by about 5:00 PM. According to the directions, it was 4 hours of driving time. Add in a stop for dinner (remembering that Joey and Marie are notorious for being slow eaters) and some heavy rain, and we ended up pulling in shortly after 10:00. We got the kids in their PJs, showed them where they'd be sleeping for the next few days, and put them down. The awake adults then proceeded to watch the disappointing end of the Pitt football game. Well...at least I was disappointed.

Friday proved to be a little on the chilly side and pretty windy. At this point, three of the four families had arrived...a total of six adults and 8 kids age ~7 and younger. There were a couple of trips to the playground, lots of playing outside, and generally learning the ropes of being on the lake. There were also a couple of pontoon rides that the kids really enjoyed, one of which was to follow those daring enough to swim all the way across. From what I gathered, the distance was a little under a mile. Needless to say, I was not crazy, I mean daring, enough to try this. The water was a bit choppy and proved to be a little too rough for the sailboat...more on that later. I made a run to the store in the afternoon to get ingredients for that evening's supper and of course, beer. We grilled some chicken, had green beans, tomato basil salad, and lettuce salad. By the time clean-up was done, we put the kids to bed and enjoyed some down time, which consisted of brownies and Dominoes and of course, beer.

Saturday was even cooler than Friday and probably just as windy. By this time, the last of the families had arrived. Add two more adults and two more kids...you can do the math. The kids were still up for playing outside and at the playground, so we just had to dress them a bit more warmly. After lunch, a few of us again set out on the pontoon boat to rescue the sailboat that was stranded on the other side of the lake. (Due to the rough conditions on Friday, the captain had not been able to return to the dock and humbly accepted a car ride from a stranger to get back home. The sailboat then lived at the stranger's dock overnight.)

The water was again very rough and the wind definitely cold. And that was just for those of us in the boat wearing long sleeves and pants and with a blanket thrown over us. Once we got to the sailboat, we stayed close by while aforementioned captain prepped the sailboat and got it ready to tie to the back of the pontoon. This was successful enough and we took off for our side of the lake with the boat and captain in tow while we waved to the not-so-much-a-stranger anymore. It was about this time that it started to rain. The kids huddled under blankets trying to stay warm and dry, but Marie frequently peeked out to make sure that sailboat and captain were still okay. We finally made it back to our dock and by this time it had stopped raining. All in all, the endeavor was a success.

After quick naps, we woke up the kids to head to afternoon Mass. That was followed by catching up on all the college football scores, a yummy mexican dinner, and birthday cake! Jane, one of the other kids up for the weekend, turned 3 on Saturday and so we were able to share in her birthday celebration. The kids enjoyed decorating cards and signs for her and definitely didn't complain about getting to have cake and ice cream. Despite their sugar intake, the kids went to bed early and then there was more football to watch, beer to drink (for some), and Dominoes to play.

Sunday might have been the best weather day of the weekend. It was a bit warmer and definitely less windy. We could even wear short sleeves when in the sun! Our hosts made a super yummy breakfast and there was lots more playing outside. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys (kids and dads) play baseball while the girls busied themselves with other things. While the kids napped, we were able to play some volleyball, which was lots of fun. No pictures though...I haven't mastered that yet.

Sunday night, we filled our tummies with salad, garlic toast, and spaghetti. Since the temperatures were nicer, we were all able to sit in the enclosed porch together. This meant better conversation, easier clean-up, and that the kids could head outside to play and we could still keep an eye on them while we finished eating. It was then decided that a fire and s'mores were in order. These were also a big hit with the kids...though Joey was fine with just a graham cracker.

After dessert, we took one last cruise on the pontoon to watch the sunset from the middle of the lake. Marie was VERY excited about getting to drive the boat. (Note: The beer is not hers.) We were told that the sunset wasn't as spectacular as others, but it was pretty nice if you ask me. A perfect way to wrap up our stay.

On Monday morning, we woke up to pack, clean-up, do laundry (sheets and towels) and get the house in order before hitting the road. I think everything went pretty smoothly as everyone was able to leave by a little after 11:00. The drive home took a bit longer. It seems that the mass exodus northward and the southward return of lower, lower Michiganders really does plug up the freeways. Between traffic, a stop for lunch and another bathroom break, it took six hours to get home. Overall, it was a busy but relaxing, active but non-injurious, and tiring but SO worth it weekend. We are extremely grateful for the time we got to spend with our generous hosts and the wonderful company. All told, we'd definitely do it again sometime.

August Recap...

2010-09-06T22:22:00.007-04:00

It's hard to believe, but we're now beyond Labor Day, the official end of the summer. I thought it might be a good time to fill you in on what we were up to during August.

Marie had frequently asked this summer when we were going to the beach. So, in early August, I decided on one not-so-hot Friday to take the kids. We packed up the car and drove to the beach, a whole 10 minutes away from our house. This particular beach is on a large lake and Marie took to the water right away...Joey, not so much. After a picnic lunch, we took a walk over to the "Splash Zone." Marie was kind of tentative at first, though I finally convinced her to go through the spraying water by going with her myself. I hadn't worn my suit and got a little more wet than I anticipated, but thankfully dried off quickly. We headed back to the beach again and finally convinced Joey to get into the water a little bit. Overall, I think the kids had a good time and it satisfied Marie's requirement of "going to the beach."

We also spent a lot of time in the garden during August. Marie's sunflowers REALLY took off. They ended up being a couple of feet taller than me and she got a kick out of watching every day to see if they had bloomed yet. We picked plenty of cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, and LOTS of green beans. All told, we canned just shy of 50 quarts. I think we should be set for the winter.

We also took a couple of trips to the blueberry patch. Marie did fairly well picking herself. Joey, on the other hand, wasn't a huge fan, which just meant that we needed to make more than one trip. The weather has been nice. We did have a few pretty hot days, which was perfect for getting in the pool a few last times. But it also cooled off a bit, which made hanging out in the yard very fun. Jon and the kids have played a lot of ball and even got out the kite one evening.

We took a weekend trip to Ohio to meet up with the rest of the Shibata clan. Joel, Jenn, and little TJ were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Shibata and this was our first opportunity to meet him. What a cutie! Everyone was able to make it over for the weekend as well, so we had lots of fun going to the pool, riding on the golf cart, and generally running around and playing. We anticipate the cousins will have lots of fun together in the years to come...

JJ, Marie, and Joey had a great time jumping down from the step into the (carpeted) living room...

The whole family....just keeps growing!

Overall, it has been a wonderful summer. The kids have been getting along great. Of course, there is the occasional disagreement; they both at times think they need to have or do whatever the other one has or is doing. But, the times when they play together and get along are getting to be more and more frequent.

We are looking forward to the fall and to birthdays, Atrium, football, and apple picking. Jon has started his online class. I think he is excited about it in some ways, but it will obviously require some investment of his time which may keep him from working in the garage as much as he'd like. His job at GM is going well; he still loves it and he is keeping pretty busy there as well.

The winds of change have been blowing at my job. There has been some upheaval in the corporate office and the management structure and as a result, some key players have left the company for other opportunities. It is a very real possibility that things will be changing on our front as well, but time will tell and we'll keep everyone up to date.

The biggest news we have to share is that we are looking forward to adding another little one to the Shibata household. We have a due date of March 9. Marie is EXTREMELY excited and has been making plans about what will happen and things we'll do when the baby comes. She is going to be a BIG help, we just know it. When asked if he is ready to be a big brother, Joey promptly tells us "No." He still has a few months to get used to it. :)

Fun in Illinois

2010-08-03T23:18:00.009-04:00

Sandwiched between the family weddings were a few fun days spent at Grandpa and Grandma Meinhart's house. There are always lots of fun and interesting things to do there and this trip was no exception.

We had driven from Dubuque on Sunday and so spent the first part of Monday exploring outside. Grandpa's blackberries were ripe, so Marie (and the rest of us) got to help pick them. Marie didn't eat too many, but Joey evidently really liked them. That would only be the first time he would surprise us this week. Joey was also able to find and pick a pretty good sized cucumber from the garden.

We had also hoped to make a visit to the farm while we were there and it turned out that Monday was the best day to do that. At around the end of milking time, we headed over there. We had also gone last year with Marie, but Joey wasn't old enough to know what was going on at that time and quite frankly Marie wasn't too sure of things either.

Cousin Ryan was again a great tour guide. Marie, Joey, and Jon got to watch as Ryan and Uncle Rick finished up the milking. After that, Marie was quite content to head in the house and talk with the ladies. Joey on the other hand was quite enthralled with cows. He walked right up to the fence with Ryan to check out the steers. He even put one foot up on a low rung like a true farmer. He didn't have to be coaxed to pet the calf or even the bigger cows and didn't even mind too much when he got licked. He especially liked feeding the steers hay. He would hold out a piece to them, but would often need someone with longer arms to help him because the steers were more afraid of him than he was of the steers. Once they finally took the hay, he would march right back over to the manger to get another piece. A farmer's work is never done!

Through the night on Tuesday, more than 3" of rain fell. This made things rather wet outside. Since we hadn't brought the kids boots, we had to make a run to the store just so that they wouldn't be cooped up inside all day long. Marie and Joey both thought they were pretty special to get new boots!

With the new boots, it was time to go fishing! This time they had poles just their size and they had a great time just practicing casting in the yard. Once we moved to the pond, it didn't take long before they started catching fish. I think Marie caught three fish in all, though she didn't really want anything to do with them. Joey on the other hand wanted to scoop them up in the net and pet them. Again...no fear. "Joey" also caught a fish. Grandpa was "helping" him and it turned out that Jon had to help Grandpa finally bring it in since the fish was almost as big as the pole!

On Wednesday afternoon, we loaded the kids in the car again and drove to St. Louis to see my grandpa. He has been a bit under the weather this year, but I really believe he perked up and was glad to see us and the kids. He got a kick out of just watching them run around his house. We took him out to eat for supper and made it back in time to watch the Cardinals on TV...a favorite pastime of his.

The following day, we donned our Cardinals gear and planned to meet Grandpa Meinhart, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Matt at the ballpark for an afternoon game. The kids were very excited about the prospect of seeing Albert and just as much looking forward to riding the train to get there. The view from our seats was pretty good, though I could've asked for a little more cloud cover. It got up to 95 degrees...I don't even want to know what the heat index was. But, the kids did really well...I was probably more cranky than they were. Too bad we couldn't have cheered the Cards on to a win!

We drove back to Grandpa and Grandma's house that night to get some rest and wait for Uncle Dave and Itaxso to drive down from Chicago. It had been some time (almost a year?) since we were all in the same place. We all went to the wedding and otherwise spent the weekend just hanging out and visiting. Sunday came around all too quickly and we made the trek back to Michigan. Overall the kids did very well in the car. It is so nice to have good travelers. It was a tiring, but fun-filled trip...and we'd do it all over again if we had the chance!

Recent family weddings...

2010-08-03T23:14:00.007-04:00

It's August already and it's been some time since we've updated the blog...we'll have to bring you up to speed on our recent vacation!

True to our usual form, our vacation consisted of driving around the Midwest visiting family and relatives. This summer our trip was sandwiched between two family weddings, the first on the Shibata side and the second on the Meinhart side.

We began our journey on Friday the 16th. We departed from home, set on making good time to our destination, Dubuque, IA. We had no hang-ups or delays on the first leg of the trip when we met Grandma and Grandpa Shibata and Aunt Jess in Chesterton, IN for lunch. It was then decided that Marie would get to ride in Grandpa's new car, so we quickly swapped her car seat. The rest of the ride also went pretty smoothly considering the close proximity to Chicago as we drove around the need to stop a couple of times for potty breaks. The last part of the drive through northern IL was extremely scenic and hilly (causing minor car sickness), but about 10 hours after our time of departure, we arrived safe and sound.

We were just in time to partake in the authentic Brazilian BBQ hosted by Uncle David and Aunt Sharon. The kids were definitely not the shy type and made friends quickly. They played lawn games and Marie looked for tadpoles in the small pond with the bride and groom. Needless to say, everyone was beat by the time we got back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

The following morning, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jess, the kids and I explored a little bit by heading to a walk along the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, there were LOTS of bugs and we didn't stick around too long. We drove around for awhile until we found a park where the kids could play and Jess and I could get in a quick jog.

The wedding was in the afternoon. Marie thought she was pretty big stuff sitting in the pew with the older cousins. The bride beautiful and the groom handsome as could be. It was definitely the first time I'd heard wedding vows in Portuguese! After a lunch reception, the kids took naps back and the hotel and everyone gathered back at Uncle David's for another BBQ and this time a bonfire with s'mores for everyone. It was a quick trip, but so great to see most of the Speckhard clan...we just don't have the chance to see them enough!

The following weekend, my cousin Eric got married down in good ole' Effingham. We figured the best way to get to both weddings would be to take the whole week as vacation. (I'll fill you in on what we did in the meantime in another post.)

Eric and Jenna's wedding was on Friday afternoon and evening. The weather was typical for July...hot. But, that didn't seem to phase the bride and groom in the least...they were all smiles. The reception was beautiful! It was obvious that both families had spent a lot of time preparing and decorating.

Marie and Joey didn't make it too long into the evening. By this point in the week, they were pretty pooped. Jon graciously offered to take them home and put them to bed while I stayed and caught up with family. Highlights included watching the groom and his 3 brothers race while doing the worm and hitting the photo booth with Twinkle Toes, Blondie, Giggle Butt, and Pee-Wee (you know who you are!). Extra points to anyone not previously mentioned that can remember my nickname. Ahhhh...the memories!

Summer Sun...Summer Storms

2010-07-11T23:15:00.000-04:00

As usual, we have really been enjoying the garden this summer. Marie has especially been keeping an eye on her sunflowers. She had started them in yogurt containers in our basement and then transplanted them into the garden. For awhile, one of her favorite things to do was to see if they had grown taller than her. As you can see, they have definitely passed her up! Now she is just waiting until they start to bloom!

It seems we have also had quite a few storms lately. The kids actually do pretty well and are not too scared of lightning and thunder. We had one of these storms last Thursday. The rain came down pretty hard, which prompted Joey to walk around the house saying, "Loud." Then, Marie kept saying that she wanted to show us something. She walked us over to a window and there was a pretty substantial branch that had fallen a little to close for comfort to our house. Needless to say, we were pretty happy that it didn't actually fall on our house.

.

Don't worry...Joey is not actually scared, worried, or concerned here. We're sure he'll bounce back. In fact, we have no idea what prompted this shot. We can only imagine...especially since Marie was the one with the camera.

Independence Weekend Parties...

2010-07-11T23:05:00.001-04:00

I'd have to stop and think a while if I were to say the last time we were actually in Michigan over the 4th of of July. Between annual out-of-state family reunions and the fact that Jon usually has a week of vacation during that week, it is usually the case that we are long gone. For a variety of reasons, this year was a bit different.

On Friday evening we were expecting the arrival of our friends from Wisconsin, the Conraths. Carl is a good friend of Jon's from his first job at GE and also stood up in his wedding...wearing a kilt...just had to throw that in :)

Aneliese, Carl's daughter, is Jon's 4-year old god-daughter. They have family in Erie, PA and so decided that they would take a brief detour on their way and stop for a visit. Unfortunately, we got a call on Friday afternoon saying that their 2-year-old son had been up the night before with a fever and ear infection. Their plans had changed and they were still in Wisconsin. So, instead of hanging out with the Conrath's, we had a fun family outing to Home Depot and Lowe's to get some shelving for the garage, which was in dire need of some organization. A quick stop at Dairy Queen made a nice end to the evening.

On Saturday morning, we cleaned and organized the garage. It is so nice for the kids to be able to access (and put away!) their toys by themselves! Plus, we now have a method to the madness of sorting all the various recyclable items....ahhh.

Saturday afternoon we were hosting a 3rd birthday party for our (local) god-daughter Lilly. She, her older sister Rosie (age 4), and Marie have so much fun playing with each other. They played hopscotch, threw water balloons, ran around in the sprinkler, went swimming in the pool, read books and generally packed a lot into an afternoon. And of course, there was cake, ice cream, and presents.

On Sunday, we headed to Mass and stayed afterward to celebrate the baptism of our friends' dear son. That was followed by a BBQ during which we got to catch up with even more friends and Marie and Joey got to play on a really cool play structure, in the sand and on a trampoline. Somehow, I forgot the camera though and didn't get any pictures. :(

We opted not to go to any big fireworks displays...our kids do go to bed late, but since they wouldn't have started until 10:00 and we were really not looking forward to battling lots of mosquitoes, we just stayed home. Marie thought she was pretty big stuff though when she got to play with a few "sprinklers" (sparklers).

Monday was another beautiful day, though rather hot. A perfect day for the pool. Our friends the Clausers came over in the afternoon to take a dip. Megan is the same age as Marie within days and Jacob is within a few months of Joey's age and they all get along pretty well. The water was great, all the kids (and dads) enjoyed it I think. We grilled again and had some yummy veggies from the Clausers' garden. Afterward, the kids all played in the sandbox. They must have had fun because it was straight to the bathtub for the kids and I have never seen so much sand in the bottom of our tub. It took a few iterations, but we are happy to report that Marie no longer has sand in her hair!

That's about all from our busy weekend. We hope yours was just as fun and that you were able to celebrate the blessings of our freedom as well!