slacker, slacker

Okay, for any of you who have prepared to spend more than 10 hours in the car with your kids, you can totally understand why this is a day late. I have been hitting dollar stores and libraries for new and exciting things to see and do. With that said, I apologize for the delay. We are gearing up for a trip to Pennsylvania to visit the "Great Grandparents Grossman." We are almost ready - yeah right!! Anyone who knows me well knows that I perform best under pressure, so, I packed the kids clothes this afternoon and haven't touched a thing of my own yet. As for snacks, they are all bought, and toys, they are divided out in my head, but none of them are packed either. That is for tonight after the kids finally crash (they are taking a bath right now). We will be leaving bright and early (hopefully by 5am) on Monday morning, but tomorrow is full with church, lunch, and then I have new mom's Bible study from 5 to 8pm. Stressed?!? Maybe a little. Excited?!? Very much so.

This week Delaney amazed us with her "growing up" skills. After dinner one night Matt was washing the dishes and I was cleaning off the table. They were both playing in their rooms and it got oddly quiet. I went back to Car's room to check on them and Delaney was "changing" his poopy pants. Only issue was she couldn't reach the wipes or the diapers, so, she had just taken the poopy pants off and then was "talking" him through the process. Cute?!? There wasn't poop all over his room, so it was cute. Had they both been covered, it would have been a different story.

While we were at the store this week getting vacation essentials, Delaney picked out new "big girl" toothpaste for herself. She picked it out by saying "That toothpaste has princesses on it. I am a princess. We should get that for me." Well, okay :-)

Hopefully next week I'll steal some time at the computer and get this out on time - but don't hold your breath.

Gretchen

Matt's Life

Some cool things are happening in my life right now also. As most of my family has been stressing over why I would need my birth certificate, I have just been sitting back basking in knowing something that they didn't. Needless to say nobody actually figured it out and now that I've told Bub in person I feel that I can let everyone else know...

I'm going through the process of what could be a major career change. I'm pretty far into the hiring process of some local fire departments (Wayne & Franklin Townships, and Speedway). Nothing to get excited about yet, but hey maybe more people knowing and pushing for me will be a good thing.

Day Late, Dollar Short

Seems to be the motto of my life this week - always behind!!! This week I was a "working girl" again. Wow, what a different world it is! I substitute taught at the school I left after I had Carson for the K4 class. It was so much fun, but it has put me FAR behind on my weekly "to do" list. The kids got to spend a day with Daddy, a day with Grandpa Bub (Matt's dad) and a day with Grammy (my mom). It was a fun week for them, though a little confusing. I was the recipient of lots of cuddles in the evenings. Then, I babysat a boy from our church on Friday - that resulted in me having to call my mom in for backup because Delaney was none too thrilled that on the day I had finally stayed home with her, I was giving all of my attention to this "other child." Luckily, once mom came, things seemed to calm down a bit and the afternoon returned to normal pace.

I am glad that I didn't force myself to write this update last night, because I have the cutest and funniest story from this morning. We went to the library on Thursday evening and we got a Curious George book about him making pancakes. So, when we read it yesterday I said maybe we could have pancakes for breakfast on Saturday. Delaney woke up a little after 7 o'clock and did her usual screaming for me routine. I went in (in my jammies) and ask her what she needed. She said, "Is it time to get up yet?" So, I told her no (of course I'd love some more sleep!!). She rolled over and said okay. I went back to bed for a few minutes but couldn't go back to sleep so I decided I'd get up and get some things done before the whole house was awake. When I came out of the bathroom she was in bed with Matt. I went in and asked what she was doing in there and she just smiled. So I said, "I was getting up to come get you out of bed and snuggle with you." She sat up and said, "I'll go back in there then." So I laid down in our bed and we snuggled for a while. Then I asked her if she'd like to help me make the pancakes so they'd be ready when Car woke up. So, we went out to the kitchen and she dumped all the ingredients into the bowl and helped me mix up the batter. Then she directed the chocolate chip placement (so we could add smiley faces like they did in the book - of course, in the book they used blueberries - close enough!!). She must have done a good job making them because she ate more for breakfast then I've ever seen her eat before. She had 2 and a half pancakes and almost 2 pieces of sausage - piggy wiggy!!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful waking up and breakfast experience!! Then, the kids were GREAT for us and played in the garage while we did some serious spring cleaning. For those of you who have seen our garage before - it now looks like a one and a half car garage (in Matt's words) because we cleaned out that much junk!!

Have a great rest of your weekend!
Gretchen

Friday the 13th

We had a busy, but wonderful Easter weekend!! The kids had an Easter egg hunt at church on Saturday morning and then we hit McDonald's on our way to Seth's first birthday party My children were total party crashers - tried to open up every present he had - luckily he won't remember it - oh yes he will - I took a zillion pictures of it all. Those bratty cousins of his!!!

Sunday, the kids woke up to find Easter baskets full of books, magnetic letters, and yogos (yogurt covered fruit snacks). FUN!! Then, we got them dressed for church and they posed like little models for pictures (see attachment). We had a relaxing lunch and afternoon naps and then went to my parent's house for dinner.

On Monday the kids stayed with Aunt Jess (and Uncle Darrell until our cats ran him out of the house - he's allergic) while we took our mom's through "the house." We spent the rest of the evening getting them back down from a "time with a non-parent high."

Delaney had her modeling debut on Wednesday afternoon. She is going to be modeling hair bows for my friend's company. So, we got to go to her first "photo shoot." She was a star model. I have to brag on her because I thought it was very neat to see her in a different element and to see how she reacted. We arrived at the studio and the three other girls were already there getting into their first outfits. She stood still while I changed her clothes (all 7 times) and then watched the other girls get their pictures taken while she waited patiently for her turn. The other moms were shoving candy at their girls to get them to behave and then wondering why they weren't - hello, sugar high?!? One of the other mom's had brought suckers for all of the girls and as I put Delaney's into her bag, explaining that she could have it after dinner, she didn't utter a whine (very unlike her recently, and no, she isn't sick!). When we were finished, we needed to stop at Walmart to get milk for Carson, so I told her we could walk through the toy section for a reward (not a bribe) because she behaved because she was told to and I was so proud. She picked out an 88 cent ball - how cute is that!! She also wound up with plastic lunch trays - two, of course, because that wouldn't have been fair to Carson. And, to top it all off, a tshirt that says "Daddy's Little Sweetie" with a picture of a cupcake. I had held up the one that said "Little Hollywood" in glitter - appropriate for the reason why she was getting it, but she opted for the cupcake one instead.

All in all, we had a great week - until tonight (fitting that it is Friday the 13th). Carson is sick, he has a fever of 103.7 under his arm. However, right now he is sleeping tight in his bed - we'll see how long that lasts :-(

Until next week,
Gretchen

Mid-week Update

I feel bad keeping you all in suspense, so I thought I'd send out a midweek update. We are no longer "house hunting." We took some contractors and our mothers through it on Monday and it appears to be in much worse shape than we originally thought. I guess as we went into it the first time, we had no idea what we were getting into, so we didn't see all the little things, we just saw the major problems. After walking through it on Monday and seeing the dollar signs attached to each room, we rethought the idea. The bathrooms (remember, there were 3 and 1/2 of them) would be about $7000 each. The kitchen - $15000. It also needs heating and air conditioning, new windows, carpet, fresh paint - with some drywall repair in 4 rooms, a new front door and trim, new lighting fixtures in most rooms, major landscaping help, a fence, and the list goes on. I am sure our mothers could list even more than we could :-) So, we have decided to be happy in the close quarters we've been blessed with and to make some improvements here. Thanks to you all for your emails of encouragement. I am glad that the decision became very obvious (at least to me) after going through it again - I am sure that was a product of prayer!

Love to you all,
Gretchen

Happy Easter

On Sunday evening I kicked my family out, again. This time they packed up and went to Aunt Shannon and Uncle Aaron's house for the evening. I have heard all about it, from the kid friendly menu of chicken nuggets and fruit cocktail to the movie - The Lion King. There were no scary dreams about this movie (although I think it is much more frightening than Lady and the Tramp). Carson is very excited because his nighttime diapers have characters from The Lion King on them and he never really knew who they were, just a lion, etc... So, now he gets all excited because he can name them.

The rest of our week has been fairly uneventful due to the drastic change in weather. We spent Monday outside enjoying the warmth as we were sure it would change fast. Tuesday we ran errands all morning and then had a picnic in the backyard. However, by Tuesday afternoon, the rain and cold weather had moved in. The rain has ceased, but the air is still brisk. We had to break out the winter coats again yesterday - brrrrr!!!!

We had the opportunity to spend some time with my friend, Jennifer, Thursday morning before her and her husband leave for Kyiv (he is in the Foreign Service). They don't have children and I think she was in awe of what my life is like on a daily basis. It is simply routine to me, but I imagine being thrown into a room with an almost 2 and almost 3 year old is a slight bit frightening.

Funny stories on them both:
Delaney cracked us up this evening as we were getting ready to go out to dinner with my parents. I had told her she needed to hurry or we weren't going to be able to go and she said, "I'm just going to be moody when we get there." She is a woman already!!

Carson has had a silly phrase all week (that I don't even think my sister and brother-in-law have had a chance to hear) - he keeps saying, "Baby Seth, don't tell him." Because I told them they couldn't tell Seth (our nephew) what we bought him for his birthday. However, we watched Seth on Thursday evening and as soon as he walked in the door, what do you think Carson said - "Elmo on it." Sure enough, the present does have Elmo on it!! He doesn't quite get the secret concept yet - so you should all learn an important lesson here - don't tell him what you are getting me for my birthday :-)

Matt and I are no longer boring:
This might classify as the longest update I've sent, but I want you all to be thinking about us and praying for us during the next few weeks. There are a lot of decisions to be made, doors to be open and closed, patience to be tested, and faith to be put into practice - We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. I've painted a very bleak picture, but I think that is just Matt coming out in me as I am definitely the optimistic one of the family. We, very unexpectantly, found the house of our dreams. It is gorgeous (although my description is certainly not going to sound like it). It sits on 1.5 acres (so far, so good) and it was built in 1900. The following link will show you the outside of it (http://www.talktotucker.com/2718204). We decided that we just couldn't let this one pass us by, so we set up an appointment to see the inside. Wow, were we amazed, both good and bad. The house is in "short sale" state, meaning that the people are about to be foreclosed on, so the bank gets to decide if we've offered enough to cover all that is owed. It looked as if the people had not cared about the house in a while and had decided to take anything that really mattered to them and leave the rest behind. There are rooms with bags, boxes, and piles of their belongings (books, magazines, craft supplies, cat food, toys, etc....). But, the house (with a lot of TLC) is perfect for us. It has 3 bedrooms upstairs and one on the main level (we'd have a guest bedroom!!!). It has a living room, family room, dining room, office, and sunroom. We are in love with it and are trying very hard to figure out how we can make this all work. We are going to walk through it again on Monday with the contractor who added the room to our house so he can give us prices on redoing all three of the full baths, one half bath, and the kitchen. Then we will be putting our house up for sale on Monday evening (provided that all of the numbers check out okay during the day). Then, we begin the waiting game. We are trying to remain very level headed and realize that if this is truly the house for us, then it will still be sitting there when our house sells, but it is hard to wait!! We don't think we could afford both of them, so we are hesitant to make an offer on the dream house until this one sells - okay, I've never been this long winded about anything before in an update. I will let that speak for itself.

You've seen pictures of them "playing winter" - here they are "playing summer."


Have a wonderful week and, hopefully, we'll have more news next week!
Gretchen

What A Week!

Someone very wise once told me that "Behind each cloud is a silver lining." We found our silver lining this week!! Delaney was her true self again by Tuesday and Carson learned a very important lesson last week - how to stand up for himself. I think he was frustrated with the constant whining and the lack of attention he was getting because of her demanding so much of us. So, he learned to be more assertive (good and bad altogether). With his new found attitude has come some new found discipline that he, like all of us, is not too fond of. He looks at you with this horrible "I can't believe you just said that to me, and in that tone" look and then says "Tuddle" while throwing himself into your lap. I think that is his way of apologizing. There is no way to capture his adorable way of speaking, email doesn't do it justice.

Wednesday morning at breakfast there was the most beautiful cardinal on our deck and Carson looked out the door and said "wooster." I told him it was a red bird, but now, if we talk about it, he still calls it a "wooster" and Delaney corrects him and says, "It was a red bird." We wish you could hear her saying it in her "correcting him" tone.

Thursday evening was the highlight of the whole week. We surprised the kids when they woke up from their nap by changing their clothes into their Elmo shirts and loading them into the van. We took them to Steak N Shake - a big treat. Then, we drove downtown to the Murat to see Sesame Street Live!!! It was so much fun to see the excitement in their eyes as the characters came onto the stage and began singing. It was better than watching them open presents!!! I will attach pictures of our evening so you can get a glimpse of the joy - we have about 30 pictures, but I thought you all would be angry if I attached that many - some of you would never be able to open another email.

Today they talked about Big Bird and Grover a lot. Carson also talked about going to Pampy's house and watching "Baby Eintein" - that happened over a month ago!!! We can't figure out what has made him obsess about this, but it is adorable. He tells strangers about it :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Love,
Gretchen, etc....