Doodlebug - Tally Mark 16

-Says "ha" for hot.
-Knows how to brush himself off when he falls down.
-Loves playing outside in his little car, on his firetruck, and riding the scooter (with my help).
-Still only has 8 teeth.
-Loves brushing his teeth and will take you to the drawer in the bathroom so you can put his toothpaste on the brush.
-Always sits in my lap when I'm putting The Lime's shoes on in the morning.
-Loves, and I mean loves, to help me around the house. He's a pro at putting the laundry from the washer into the dryer and loves to press the button to start the dryer.
-Has had a cold for two weeks. Poor thing can't get rid of this cough.
-Has become more vocal in the last week. For someone who doesn't speak English, we communicate very well.
-Loves to help me water the garden and usually gets soaked in the process.
-Understands so much and is great at following directions.
-90% of the time, he wakes up in the 5 o'clock hour.  Depending on what's going on that day I'll feed him and put him back to bed or let him cry it out.
-Gets kissed and told that we love him hundreds of times a day.

Celebration of Life

What a weekend!  Hard to believe that we did this all exactly six months ago and one month ago.  We're hoping the funeral services are going to be put on hold for a while between our two families.

But what some might expect to have been a somber weekend was quite the opposite.  We celebrated Omi's life with friends, family, food, fun, and laughter.  Any time someone expressed their condolences (which was always appreciated!), I let them know that Omi's lived a long, wonderful life and it was hard to be sad when we all knew she was so happy.  And I think that translated nicely in the weekend we had.

My brothers and their families, as well as my parents, all got into town Thursday night.  All of us traveled to Union City Friday morning to meet my two sisters, a few friends from our home ward, and my aunt and uncle from Washington D.C. for Omi's service.  All of the cousins and siblings gathered in the Primary room (it's not as big as I remember it being 19 years ago!) to practice our musical numbers.

We got to meet our brand new niece (grandbaby #19!) who just joined our family a month ago. The sweet little thing didn't make one peep in the four days they were here. Talk about perfect!

The service was filled with music and memories, lots of tears and laughter. I'm sure it's exactly what Omi would have wanted. She had beautiful purple flowers that rested upon her casket and she was buried with photos of those she loved. She and her husband are now laid to rest together on earth, but are reunited on the other side.

After the casket was lowered, we all threw flowers into the plot as we said our last goodbyes. Surprisingly, there were no tears from anyone (at least that I saw). Seriously, this ended up being such a happy, peaceful day.

My mom and her brother

Hayley and the line of great-grandchildren

Sweet Ethan had to throw his a couple times - it just didn't want to go in

Doodlebug and LaVor

My brother

Last was my dad - Love my mom and Sister Grow hugging in the upper left hand corner

Before everyone left the grave site, we had to take some pictures together. The first one with a dear family friend, Marlis Grow. She has touched so many lives, including every person in my family, and it was extremely special to have her at the church for the service and then the cemetery for the burial.

Our entire family has not been together in seven and a half years. What an amazing legacy Omi helped create!

My parents kindly and generously offered to take everyone out to lunch. It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to visit and enjoy the moment. I only wish I took a picture of all the food they brought out. We had no clue what to order for 30 people so the waitress said, "Don't worry!" We trusted her and ended up with enough food to feed about 100 people. It was nuts.

From there, everyone went their separate ways. We didn't want to sit in Labor Day/Friday night traffic so we spent a few hours at my sister's where The Lime played and played and played with his cousins and the adults talked like old times. We finished the night off with a treat at the Ice Creamery before making it home by 11:00 that night.

Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready to meet my brothers and parents at IHOP for what we were planning to be brunch. We had to wait so long for our food that it ended up being more like lunch. I don't think they were ready for 22 people, 14 of which were children 11 and under.

As if we hadn't eaten enough that weekend, we had everyone over for dinner Saturday night. The kids ran wild with imagination and the adults talked. I loved having everyone here and LaVor did a fantastic job with dinner.

Sunday was our last day together and it just so happened that my cousin's wife was in town from Canada, with their brand new baby, and we were invited to their open house to meet sweet Lucy. I didn't take any pictures there (mainly because I just wanted to visit) but it was a nice ending to an even nicer weekend.

It was a special time to look back and reminisce about our Omi and bask in the delight she brought to our lives. We will miss her but are so happy that she's back home.

I'll Be Seeing You

When my mom, sisters, and I went to see The Notebook, we decided it would be best to not take my Omi with us.  She had just lost her husband and an emotional love story was probably not the best thing for her to watch at the time.  When we left the theater, my mom mentioned that the one thing Omi would have liked was the song "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday.  I believe it was when Omi was in college, she and some girlfriends went to see the movie I'll Be Seeing You.   When they left the theater, they vowed to always remember each other anytime they heard the song, which was featured throughout the movie.  Now whenever I hear that song, I think of Omi and her friends.

Omi being held by her grandfather

I spoke to my mom on the phone earlier this week and she notified me she was getting ready to head back east.  Omi's health had all of a sudden declined and my uncle wasn't sure how much longer she'd last.  I must be honest in saying, every time my mom called, I expected her to say Omi died.  She's been ready to pass for over 10 years, ever since her husband suddenly passed away.  I've been grateful that she's hung on for so long, to see all of us get married and have kids but now I'm grateful that she's reunited with so many people that she's missed for so long.

One of which was her mother.  Some time after Omi's dad passed away, MooMoo came to live with her.  As long as I could remember, Omi and MooMoo were always together.

Omi and Opa on their wedding day with MooMoo and Daddy MooMoo

They moved from the Bay Area up the coast to Fort Bragg in the late 80s.  There, Omi had a beautiful home built, where MooMoo had her own space downstairs and Omi had her's upstairs.  We took many vacations up there and I have nothing but the fondest memories spent at Omi's.

We would go to the beach, play in the wooded area in her front yard, feed Buttons, the horse, next door, go bowling, rent movies from the movie theater that also doubled as a video store, get chicken tenders and potato wedges from Safeway, go to Mendocino, go to the hobby store on the edge of town, watch slides on Omi's bedroom wall, watch Overboard time and time again, and visit Omi at her various jobs.

Omi had quite the résumé!  While living in Fort Bragg, she worked at the local radio station, a local shell shop called "Just the Shell of It," the yummiest bakery ran by a Dutchman, and I've been told she worked at a hotel (but I don't remember that).  She worked at banks and for a company called Fairchild, which took she and my mom to Germany (which is how my parents met). Omi was very independent but loved taking care of people.

Like the time she watched my four siblings and me while my parents spent their 10 year anniversary in Europe. I'm told she tried giving me cheese but I refused to eat it. She always took great care of MooMoo, preparing her coffee and milk toast every morning. And when she remarried later in life, you could tell she took great pride in serving her husband who had fallen ill from a stroke.

Omi was a huge 49ers fan and was especially fond of Joe Montana. She always wore a ribbon around the neck of her collared dress shirts. Purple was her favorite color, and I can still picture her in her strappy purple dress shoes. She was the queen of SkipBo and Yahtzee. Her Dodge minivan had a very distinct smell, not bad to most but I'm sensitive to scents. She always hung blue candy canes on her Christmas tree. She had a full head of white hair by the time she was 35, and it was always set in curlers. Her short term memory began to dwindle not too long after her husband died but she could tell you anything about her childhood. She was able to travel the world. Her prayers were always the sweetest and most sincere. If I ever had to identify her by her hands, I'd bet money that I could; they were arthritic but her nails were always sculpted. She loved Christmas and I'm so blessed to have many of her decorations, including her Santa collection. She loved cream soda and ham. It was guaranteed that at 7:00, she'd turn on Jeopardy and follow that up with Wheel of Fortune. She had D&C 82:10 posted on her bathroom mirror and I have it memorized because of her.

There are so many things I will miss about her being here on earth but I know she's in a much happier place. So, Omi, to you I say, "I'll be seeing you!"

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 15

-Loves stuffed animals. We went to the Disney store a couple weeks ago and he spotted a Pluto stuffed animal. With open arms, he marched right over to that thing, picked it up, and proceeded to hug it the entire time we were there.
-Says "awwwww" when he sees something he likes.
-Loves pushing the button to cross the street, pressing the button to close the garage door, and pressing the button to turn the A/C on.
-Had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand while we were in Utah. They couldn't believe how well behaved he was. They should have spent the following week at home with us.
-Loves swinging the yellow plastic baseball bat around. He tries to use The Lime's metal bat but we don't want to send anyone to the ER.
-Got his first molar (LR) at the end of July.
-Has been hitting and biting more frequently. Not cool.
-Is so ready to be out of his baby car seat. Soon, Doodlebug, soon!
-Makes Sacrament Meeting (okay fine, church in general) really hard to enjoy. He always wants to move but is also extremely tired. Makes for a lovely combination.
-Loves homemade cookies and knows which corner of the kitchen to go to if he wants one.
-Can still wear 6M shorts and 9-12M onesies/shirts.
-Is up and down with his sleeping.  Sometimes he sleeps all night, sometimes he wakes up 1-2 times.  He usually gets up for the day between 6:30 and 7:00.
-Still nurses at least 4 times a day.
-Must be super in-tune with the Spirit, as he always seems to know when you need a hug or a kiss.

New Chapter

To my sweet Lime,

You have now been at school for over an hour and the house is too quiet! Doodlebug is napping and will soon wake up, and probably wonder where his Big Bro is.

You're off on a new adventure; kindergarten!

You had a hard time going to bed last night, as I'm sure you were feeling lots of emotions. You've been nervous that you wouldn't have any friends but thankfully, you have three friends from church in your class and we met another classmate on Sunday night when we were scoping out your classroom. Not to mention, you're a pretty cool dude and lots of kids are going to want to be your friend.

You were also nervous last night that you would do something naughty and the school would kick you out. But you know what? You're a good kid and as long as you follow the rules and are nice to everyone, you'll be fine.

I haven't told you this because I didn't want to make you worry, but Mommy has been REALLY sad thinking about you starting kindergarten. I'm so excited for all of the fun, new things you'll learn, and the confidence you'll gain, and the friendships you'll make. But I'm also going to miss all of the time we were able to spend together. From here on out, you'll be at school and we'll never get that time together again.

But I'm so so so happy I got to have you all to myself for those 5.5 years (as you're quick to point out). We had so much fun together and I will treasure those moments forever.

Now you're starting a new chapter in your little life. One that will lead to so many great things. I am anxious to see where it takes you!

Love,

Mommy

P.S. I promise we'll ride your bike tomorrow! You did NOT like walking today.

Nut Tree

As one last hoorah before school starts, my sister and I met up today at the Nut Tree for the kiddos to visit and play.

Growing up, when we'd drive up to Sacramento to visit my grandma, we'd always stop at the Nut Tree for our bathroom break. Downstairs, you can do some light shopping (we always bought a loaf of the most delicious bread) and then upstairs was everything airplanes. I remember the models hanging from the ceiling, attached by clear fishing line. My dad would spend f.o.r.e.v.e.r. up there and one of us usually had to physically pull his arm to get him to leave. So many fun memories at that place.

But it's been YEARS since I've visited, and they've changed it drastically. Now it's filled with various shops but still has the carousel and train, which is what we wanted to see.

While we waited for the train, the kids played on one of those manual/small/you-push-yourself merry go rounds. I hate them because I hate things that spin, but they couldn't get enough of it.

The carousel was completely empty so we hopped on. I bought three tickets, thinking each of us would need one but they only collected one for The Lime. Doodlebug was free and I was free since I "technically" wasn't riding. The safest way for Doodlebug to ride, in my mind, was for me to sit on the horse and have him sit in front of me, then wrap the seat belt around the both of us. The old man manning the carousel objected and had me place Doodlebug on the horse by himself and I stood next to him. Agh! Sometimes I hate all the rules we have to follow, especially when I feel like my way is better. Nevertheless, Doodlebug had fun as did The Lime and my niece.

After a quick potty break for my other niece, we heard the train whistle and it was time to board! The Lime was especially sweaty from all the running around so it was a nice break to sit and let the breeze hit us as we chugged along.

While we were on the train, The Lime yelled, "Daddy's machine!" We always get really excited when we see a piece of LaVor's equipment. When it's being used, it breaks, then he has to fix it, which means he's working and getting a paycheck.

By this time, everyone was starving so we headed across the street to Fenton's, where we were told for such a "big party" (6 of us!), the wait would be about 10-15 minutes. It was right after 12:00, so that was understandable and not a problem at all. It ended up being 45 minutes, which was a problem. The service (or lack thereof) from the front of the house was reason enough for me to never return to that location. Not to mention, the price you pay for the quality of the food is a bit much. Thankfully, the mirror in the room we were in provided enough entertainment that all wasn't lost.

We took our time eating and after almost two hours, everyone was a little worn out and ready to hit the road to head home.

We had so much fun with my sister and nieces, and The Lime is begging to go back on Saturday. We'll see!