Day 91: Fun with Family & Friends

Andrew was a great sleeper last night and woke up around 9, amazing!  Eric and I snuggled him in bed while he got his breathing treatment and then we were up and running!  Then we used the halogen oven to bake cinnamon rolls, mmmm.  We played with Andrew all morning, he's such a happy guy and he looooves the cats.  Mystic is extremely tolerant of hair pulling, she just meows and doesn't bother standing up.

After Eric went to work, Andrew and I took a nice two hour nap.  We got up, got ready, and went to Olathe to meet Alison and Zach at the pirate ship park.  Andrew really liked the baby swing, and really hated the slide.  He also enjoyed crawling around on the ground playing "let's see how long it takes for Auntie Jess to take away this piece of ____ in my mouth".  We went on a walk down the trail and Zach pushed Andrew in the umbrella stroller most of the way - it was a great time for Ali and I to chat.

It started to look like rain, so Andrew and I left to run some errands and head back to Eudora.  He took a later nap and we packed up for a fun night at Steven and Leslie's house.  They have an Eye Pet game for the PS3 and have a little monkey pet that they can pet and play games with.  Andrew really liked having a new place to explore and slept right through the big storm of the night.  I finally played Castle Crashers with everyone - Eric has been trying to convince me to join for weeks and I wasn't interested.  They're right though, it's button mashing fun!

The halogen oven works great!

 It lights up the whole kitchen, but uses a lot less electricity than ovens or microwaves - and is safer too!

 Andrew adores ceiling fans!

 Andrew and Zach swinging

 Andrew is on top of the world!

 The boys reading the inside of the ship

 Andrew is super excited to be here!  Zach...not so much :p

 Loving the swing!

 Clouds from our storm

 Andrew in his new robot stroller!

 Climbing in the tubes at the playground in Eudora

 Leslie petting their monkey pet!

Steven loooooves babies!

Day 90: Happy Birthday Alan!

Today was a fun work day for me - I spent yesterday and today at MANDT training, which is techniques for prevention, deescalation, and restraint with upset/aggressive students.  We mostly practiced supportive moves, but today we learned the restrain positions.  While practicing, we just used each other through both days.  Today there was one restraint position that is specifically for smaller children, so we practiced using a 3 foot tall Spiderman doll, haha.

After I left the training I went out to Olathe to pick up my nephew for the weekend!  I know that it would probably be better for me to have a chill, relaxing weekend...but I'd rather have some company!  Plus it's getting all of the kids out of the house for Alan's birthday!  Ashley is in Lawrence, Sarah is moving out, and Kris is going to visit some friends.

Andrew and I went shopping for a bath pillow, some squeeze bottles, and cat food before coming back to Eudora.  He took a nap and then got up for a bath and some play time.  When Uncle Eric got home from work, we went on a walk and made breakfast for dinner!

Months ago I was inspired by http://www.jimspancakes.com/, and ever since I have wanted to get some squeeze bottles and food coloring to make fun pancakes.  I thought my first attempt could be some ABC blocks for Andrew!  They turned out really great, except I turned the B too soon and tore it.

This is the proper way to restrain Spidey!

This tool was cruising through rush hour traffic with his hands behind his head.

I love this mirror in my backseat!  That way I can always see what he's up to.

My setup in the bathroom so Andrew could play while I worked on updating the blog.

He REALLY liked the DUPLO blocks.

Silly boy playing in his robe.

Making artsy pancakes with squeeze bottles!

A, B, C blocks!  3-D even!

BAM!  How cool am I?

You can see my messed up B, oops!  Squiggles and dots to use up the pancake batter.

Andrew sitting in his new robot stroller, watching us cook.

Eric was making a Dexter pancake - splatter art!

More leftover batter.

Andrew with his block pancakes!

 A, B, C!

 He already ate dinner, so he just had one of the coin sized pancakes.  Here he is trying it...

Not terribly happy about trying it... 

 Still not enjoying it...

Willing to hold it, but doesn't want to eat it!

 All done!

Addy cuddling with her Mommy while I blog!

Day 89: More catching up!

Eric was off work today and did some chores that have been left undone - dishes, laundry, cat litter.  He went out to Olathe early so he would have time to go for a ride on the motorcycle and ended up being one of the first to see Ashley's new Ford Fiesta and Mom's new Ford Mustang.

While he was at school, I continued catching up on my schoolwork.  Once he got home I conceded and unblocked Family Feud on Facebook.  Now I'm pissed that you can't play more than one game per day!

A rare shot of Eric in his natural environment, and wearing a shirt!

Day 88: Catching Up

Between being lazy and the amount of time I spent with my family over the past week - I fell way behind on my grad classes.  I spent tonight organizing myself and getting back on track.  I laid in bed and watched an online class, read an article and wrote a response, and made a list of the rest of the things that I'll need to do. 

Around 8pm I starting making homemade chicken pot pie - 2 refrigerated pie crusts, 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of celery, one bag of frozen veggies, and some cooked and shredded chicken breast.

When Eric got home from work, we started watching Family Guy on Netflix instant play - we're starting with Season 1 and going straight through all of them!

Open face pot pie

Uncooked pot pie

Special Ingredient: LOVE!

P.S. We got the camera back on Saturday!  Huzzah!

Day 87: Back to Life "As Usual"

Today Eric was back to classes and I was back to work.  I took Monday off to recoup and it really didn't help all that much.  The day went by in a fog - people kept telling me that they were sorry for my loss, and it just still isn't real yet.  The fact that Grammy is gone hits me hardest when I'm driving, alone in my car.  It just sucks to think about all of the things that I should have asked her about her life, our family, traditions, me, etc.  So weird to think that when a person dies, any memories that they hadn't shared are really gone forever.


Eric and I spent a few hours together before he had to go to class.  He took me to a doctors appointment I had scheduled - I've had a few odd problems, but the doctor gave me some meds and I should be back on track now.

It's been awhile, so I guess I'll post some pictures of the cats!

Me and my babies in bed

Addy nomming on the red dog - I'll post a video of it soon!

Addy was leaning over the side of the bed before I took the picture.

One of Eric and I - no shirt naturally!

Papa gave us this cool little electric mini vacuum.  So far it's been great for daily cat hair removal!

Addy loves to melt into the back of the couch, zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Day 86: Updating the Blog

Holy Cow!  We haven't updated the blog in 2 weeks!  It can be blamed on a variety of "too busy" activities with family, friends, work and school.

Luckily, I write a tagline in my planner each day so it was easy to recall what to write about.  Also, I've added Eric as an author to the blog - so you'll be able to see at the bottom of the post which of us wrote it!

 Here I am blogging and eating leftovers from GoJo's

Day 85: Grammy's Memorial

Today our family said goodbye to Grammy (Mom, Pam, Maggie).

We had a really nice memorial at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Overland Park.  Grammy's husband (Papa), 4 children (Becky, Sean, Matt, Molly), their spouses (Alan, Deb, Molly, Nate), 1 near daughter (Helen), her 4 best friends (Phil, Gayle, Helen, Pete), 10 grandchildren (Me, Kris, Ashley, Emma, Zayne, Connor, Chase, Cade, Cash, Declan), 1 grandchild-in-law (Eric), and 3 members of Eric's family (Paul, Deb, Shannon) gathered behind the church to celebrate her life.

Papa recounted some loving memories before Fr. Gar Demo lead us in prayer.  The family shared their own memories of Grammy being an extremely caring, giving, and unique person.  We planted a Wisconsin Willow tree, where the family will be able to visit it often.  We hope for it to grow to provide shade and a place to play for children and families.

If you'd like to do something in her memory, you can donate for scholarships to Camp Wood.  This camp hosts a week long Episcopal camp for elementary, middle school, and high school students.  Her children, grandchildren, and friends have visited, been campers, and counselors over the past 20+ years.  I actually attended 11 years in a row and was a counselor once.  Checks can be made out to "The Diocese of Kansas" with "Camp Scholarship" in the memo line.  The address for the diocese is 835 SW Polk, Topeka, KS 66612-1688.  You may also include a note that it is in memory of Pam Nicholson.  The money will go to send the youth of Kansas to Camp Wood, which was a dear part of her heart.

We'll be having a memorial service for all of her friends around Easter time of 2011.

Later that evening Mom and Alan went to dinner with Helen; while Molly, Nate, Sean, Deb, Ashley, Eric and I went to dinner at GoJo's in Kansas City.

Matt and all of the boys at IHOP

 Kris and Andrew at IHOP

A picture of the family (missing Cade, Cash, Andrew, and Declan - they're in the daycare room)

This is the memorial plaque that Ashley and I made for Grammy.

This is Grammy's tree.

Grammy bought this hairpiece at the KC Ren Fest on Monday.  We found it in her apartment yesterday and I wanted it because that's the last day we spent together.

Everyone enjoying dinner at GoJo's