Texas Andersons

No, Nathan did not go unappreciated last Sunday.  But he was not celebrated.  Life threw us a curve ball that left us all in different cities on his special day.

But today he got his card, complete with drawings from the boys.  And we spent the afternoon at the lake.  We enjoyed water gun fun and swimming in the cool water during the heat of the day.  And then we took the canoe out for paddling and a picnic dinner.  What a great day!

I hope all you dads also had a great Father’s Day… whether it was on the right day or not. 

Explanation behind the title:
I couldn’t decide between “Goodbye, Dorothy” “World’s Greatest Grandma” “The Best of Times” “My Favorite Lady” etc, etc

Why I was blessed:
I was SO lucky to have her as my grandma.  I was honored to be her granddaughter.
And I was so thankful to be with her all day Monday.  As she went in and out of sleep, she would smile, say our names, and joke with us (her usual self).  That ws one of the greatest gifts God could have given me.

The memories I need to document:
The Green House (just as important to us kids as our nation’s capital); laughter; swimming in the big horse trough; homemade everything; Easter (the coveted Golden Egg hunt), Thanksgiving, and Christmas celebrations; hide-and-seek; my favorite dollhouse; mixing leftovers, sauces, and condiments together in a bowl to see which cousin would eat the concoction; sleepovers; trips to Dairy Queen and Tropical Snow; playing dress-up in Grandma’s wedding dress and jewelry; getting to pick our Christmas gifts from the big Sears catalog; “Ready for seconds? Want thirds? You’re too skinny!”; tejano and oopmah music; trips to the lake to swim and visit Grandma at work; tanned, wrinkled, age-spotted skin; rides on the Trail Wagon; catching lighting bugs in jars; swinging on the front porch; quilts; Big Red (and Big Red moustaches!); lottery tickets (none of us ever seemed to win); tortilla rolls; LOVE.

On the radio during the drive to the hospital:
Thank You by Natalie Merchant
You’ve been so kind and generous.  I don’t know why you keep on giving.  For your kidness, I’m in debt to you.  And I never could have gone this far without you.  For everything you’ve done, you know I’m bound to thank you for it.
I want to thank you for so many gifts- you gave me love and tenderness.  I want to thank you.  I want to thank you for your generosity, the love, and the honesty that you gave to me.  I want to thank you, show my gratitude, my love, and my respect for you.

I love you and thank you were the last things I chose to say to her….

And now I have a beautiful, caring, wonderful, funny, protective guardian angel watching over me.

Ben was climbing out of his crib and needing a “big boy” bed by 16 months.  And it was awful.  He woke up just about every night and came crying to our bedroom door.  And for months, we found him asleep on the couch in the mornings.

We had high hopes for Evan since he still wasn’t climbing out of the crib at 23 months.  But the second birthday rolled around and he was ready!  He got a new bed for his birthday, and I got it put together last week.

Night one- He was up crying for us before 4 am; I was then up with him until 5:00 am trying to keep him in bed and get him to go back to sleep.

Night two, three, and six- perfect!

Night five- I heard him get up and talk some in the middle of the night, but he never bothered us; found him asleep on the couch in the morning.

Night seven: Nathan saw his little feet sticking out of the tent in the living room when he got up this morning. 

So I think the success rate looks promising.  Even on the nights lately when he hasn’t stayed in his bed, he has been able to put himself back to sleep.  Fingers crossed this keeps up!  (Yay for week one!)

We spent Sunday recuperating from the party and tubing trip.  I also visited with friends on facebook about the loss of our camera in the river.  After several people telling me stories of similar happenings with great outcomes, I was encouraged.  After hearing that a fireman may be willing to help me search for the camera, I was intrigued.

Monday I got on the phone and got in touch with all the right people.  I trucked the boys on over to Granmom’s to spend the night.  And Nathan and I set out with a member of our firehouse’s swift water rescue team… and we found the camera!!!  We were surprised that it still worked.  I was thrilled to find out all the images were there.  Yay, Sony!!!

Tuesday, the boys had a great time playing at Granmom’s.  We cleaned house, took apart Evan’s crib, and got the “big boy” bed set up.  He thought it was awesome!  Night one, I was up with him for over an hour around 4am trying to keep him in bed and get him to go back to sleep.

Yesterday we drove up to the firehouse to take *my hero* a gift.  The boys had a wonderful time getting to see and sit in all the fire trucks!  Then we took Sophie to the vet for shots (which was quite an adventure!).  Night two of “big boy” bed was a success!

Yesterday (his actual b-day), we spent a few hours at Fiesta Texas.  Evan is now big enough to ride all the kids’ rides, so we… flew in the airplanes, screamed in the roller coaster, drove the cars, rode the train, and even got wet on the log ride!!!  I was so surprised by how brave he was to try everything, and was so proud of how both boys behaved.  It was a blast!!!  And then we headed out for dinner and playground fun. 

Today we spent the day with some of our dearest friends.  Morgan, Landon, and Madison met us for lunch and play time at Burger King.  Then we got to go over to Madison’s house for a playdate.  And the boys just finished up playing with the new water sprinkler and swimming in the pool.  Oh, what fun!

Oh boy!  What a ride!

Friday we ran errands to get ready for the party… Wackadoo’s for haircuts, Costco for lunch and groceries, and Nadler’s for the cake.  This day would have been bearable if it hadn’t been for the whining, disobeying, and brotherly-fighting.

Preparation for the party yesterday morning would have gone well.  But cleaning time was cut short due to us being confused about what time the party started.  We lost a whole half-hour!  (and I think we’ve done this before, so you’d think we’d learn)

The party was small, just the grandparents, Aunt Angie, and a couple of friends Evan’s age.  The kids played with toys and snacked, we had cake, and Evan opened gifts.  And this would have been fun and had gone flawlessly if Evan hadn’t had a meltdown while we were singing “Happy birthday” to him.  (he either hated the attention or our singing)

Then we headed out to RMR for tubing.  And yet again, this should have been uneventful.  But the tubes came loose and started to fly off the truck, causing us to stop and do another tie-down on the way out.

The river conditions were perfect.  The weather was great.  We had a blast on the water, got lots of great pictures.  But another snag- the camera is now at the bottom of the great Guadalupe.  (By this point I am heart-broken by the loss of the photos and ready to turn in the towel)

So… lessons learned? moral to the story?  I guess that remains to be seen.  I’m just happy that Evan seemed to have a wonderful time at the party, eating cake, and tubing the river.  And I’m praying that someone will find our camera in the next few days, recognize us in the photos, and return it to us…

Jun 7 Update- Thanks to the kind hearts of one of our local firemen and the property owners along the river, prayers from friends and family, and pure determination… we found the camera!!!

It’s done!  It’s over!  Good-bye 1st grade!

Ben’s quite a bit taller, much wiser, is a math whiz and an awesome reader.  He made his first diarama, planted wildflowers, participated in a Dr. Seuss parade, toured the Witte Museum, raised the most money in his class for Walk-a-Thon.  He even won 2nd place in the bike rodeo for his grade and was the star in a talent show.

And now he’s a 2nd grader!  (and *oh my gosh!* Evan will be a preschooler!!!)

(Attached are pics from the field day today)

BY BEN:  I LOVE OUR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!  MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT 1ST GRADE WAS PE!  IT WAS FUN!  I PLAYED LOTS OF GAMES.

We have hit the terrible two’s.  Evan can be just awful these days!  Every hour has its challenging moments.  Whining, kicking, screaming fits… what happened to my sweet little boy?  And Ben is testing our limits.  He seems to be trying his best to see just how much he can get away with.  (Calgon, take me away!)

But there has been some fun mixed in.  We hosted a scouts meeting and took the boys for a tour of the Boerne Community Theatre.  We’ve met with four more builders.  Ben performed air guitar with his friend Reagan at the first grade talent show (and they rocked!).  MOV00271  We took friends Mark, Erica, and Madison out to River Mountain Ranch for swimming in the river.  We spent the night on our lot (perfect weather for camping!).  Nathan and Ben tubed the Guadalupe for the first time.  The scouts got to enjoy a den meeting at Bass Pro Shops.  We attended the latest Movie in the Plaza Friday night- snowcones, popcorn, and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”  And yesterday we went tubing with my parents before they took the boys for a night, giving us a break and a quiet house.  (wheeeee!)