My Grandma

I wanted to put up a brief post about what has been happening this week and why I probably won't be posting for awhile. My grandmother passed away yesterday morning. I'm working through many emotions, thoughts, and memories and it's all so jumbled that I can't really put together a coherent thought right now.

Her funeral is on Friday and we will be leaving for Illinois tomorrow. She was a very godly woman and we know that we will see her again someday.

The Haps

We've had a rather eventful week and I thought I'd reflect upon it for a bit in blog form. I had my first of two deep cleaning appointments for my teeth on Wednesday. At my new patient visit, my hygenist discovered that I have peridontal disease. It's probably b/c I haven't seen a dentist for cleanings in ages combined with three rounds of gestational diabetes and pregnancy in general. She cleaned half of my mouth at the last visit and will do the rest on Monday. It's weird looking at my mouth because I can see a real difference between the two sides. I have a tooth-cleaning regimin twice a day: brush with toothpaste, brush with mouthwash, floss, rinse with mouthwash. It takes awhile, but I'm more than happy to do it if I can avoid any more appointments like these! I love my hygenist, but she gives shots very....slowly....and holds the needle....in my mouth....for...ev....er..... She says it maximizes the numbing. I think it just maximizes my prayer life. :)

Anyway, the experience has left me very woozy since. I'm feeling better today, but I still don't trust myself to drive. So, we all had to troop out the door for the weekly massive grocery shopping trip. The boys were not very well-behaved and Anna was fussy. I had Rob drop us off at the last store and take the boys with him to unload groceries. Anna screamed through most of the store, pausing only to say "hi" to people we passed. Faker.

Rob had a 24-hour week this week, so he's been home the past two days. We've gotten quite a bit of the study cleaned up. I'm organizing it for maximum usage for the entire family. I tackle my desk tomorrow. Rob is building yet another shelf for us, this one for the kids' books and art supplies.

Anna has expanded her vocabulary to include essential words: "tookie" "so-da" "canny" "ice ceam" and other goodies. She cracked me up tonight as we came home from grocery shopping. We bought some Diet Coke and she handed me her sippy cup and said, "Soda!" I have Daddy to thank for that one, who ONE TIME put a tad bit of root beer in her sippy....

I just put in my order today for the final books for kindergarten. We're starting on August 31st, the same week Rob starts seminary. We have finished the first half of Sonlight's Core 4/5 and will continue with it until we're done. I'm adding to that Explode the Code books 2 and 3 to continue teaching him phonics and settled on Miquon Math for this year. I had looked at Saxon K at Maranatha's library (Praise the Lord for their good-sized cirriculum section!) and I liked it, but it is a very expensive program. I also wasn't sure if it would be too easy for him. We have read about Miquon in multiple catalogues and numerous sites and it looks to be pretty good....and very inexpensive. We might switch over to Saxon after he finishes the Miquon series in a few years. Rob used to teach out of Saxon and understands it pretty well. We'd just find a different program for upper-level math. I don't think Rob will ever forget being laughed at by fellow AP Calculus teachers at an AP conference for using Saxon Calculus. He ended up teaching his class from three different texts that year and they all passed the AP exam...but I digress.

And someday I will get around to a Matthew update, but for right now, I'm going to go watch my husband try to beat some Mario levels. For those into Mario Galaxy, I have beat the game as Mario and have 75 stars at Luigi. Woot-woot!!!

Ploo All Gone

Anna has kicked her pacifier habit for good! She used it for a bit as an infant and basically gave it up until she started teething. Since then, it has become a constant companion and grown from a sleeptime thing to an "I need this all the time" thing. We're certainly not anti-pacifier around here as they do have some benefit for young infants who need more sucking time, but when you're over one, it's time to shut it down.

Matthew gave up his pacifier around 15 months old after four nights of screaming. However, he only used it at night. Anna's addiction became an around the clock thing so we knew it would be a little harder. We accidentally left hers at church on Sunday night so we knew we'd have to bite the bullet and just go without. She went down with a little fussing, but not much, so I thought we might be in the clear.

Well. On Monday morning, she woke up saying "Ploo! Ploo!" and pointed at her mouth. I told her "No more ploo, it's all gone." She accepted that fact and went about her busy morning. Then came naptime. I put her down and she proceeded to throw a fit for about thirty minutes, changing from temper tantrum into pathetic weeping. I went up to see if I could calm her down. I took her out of the crib and cuddled her, then asked her, "Are you ready for nie-nie now?" She said, in a rather scared and shakey voice, "No nie-nie!" and started crying again. Obviously, the pacifier meant alot. I just kept her up and she didn't nap all day long. I put her to bed a little early, with much the same problem as naptime. She was so tired that she fell asleep upright, still clinging to the bars of the crib. I adjusted her and rubbed her back while she wimpered some more.

And this morning, she woke up saying, "Ploo! Ploo?" I told her again, "Ploo all gone." She nodded and started her day. Later in the morning, she climbed on my lap, pointed at her mouth and said, "Ploo?" I reminded her, "Ploo all gone. Finished." She said, "Ploo all gone?" I said, "Yes." She stopped a moment, looked away, and asked again, "Ploo all gone?" I repeated my answer. She paused again, then said, "Ploo all gone," and climbed back down. She went down for a nap with only a bit of fussing and went to bed just fine. I think she finally understands that the ploo (short for ploop, which is what I called hers for no real reason) is finally out of the picture. She still has her special blankies and her Boo-boo (dolly) so she has no shortage of comfort objects.

Ahh, another chapter closed in the life of Anna.

Say What???

Matthew just asked me if I was born after the Great Flood. I told him I was born just after it :)

We are borrowing a portable air conditioner from some friends and Ben informed me today that we were NOT to touch it because it is VERY expensive. It cost one whole dollar.

Anna didn't say anything funny today, but she did refuse to take a nap. We've pulled the plug, i.e. no more pacifier. She screamed for thirty minutes at naptime. I went upstairs to calm her down and then I asked if she wanted back into the crib for nap. She said in a quakey voice, "No nie-nie! No nie-nie!" I guess it really scared her. I even had both of her favorite blankies and two special toys, but she didn't want them. We'll see how good she sleeps tonight!

Our Tenth Anniversary

For quite some time now, Rob and I have dreamed of getting away for a bit on our tenth anniversary, which we celebrated yesterday. We tossed around a variety of ideas, but all of them hinged on finding someone willing to keep the children for more than one night. We asked a wonderful family at our church and they were more than happy to keep the kids. There were four of them, three of our chillin's, so at least one of them could take a break at all times. :) We dropped off the babies on Thursday afternoon and took off for an early weekend adventure.

Our destination was the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc. We had passed it numerous times on the way to my prenatal appointments at the hospital and it looked pretty good on the website as well. We had a king suite booked about a month ago, and THEN looked at reviews of the place. They ranged from "best place I've stayed" to "wouldn't send my enemy there." Most of the complainers whined about no bell hops and a fly in the pool, so we weren't too worried. We arrived to find that our suite had been double booked, but since they had practically no guests at the time, they just moved us down a floor. We hiked for quite a bit to find our room, but it was well worth the walk. We had a large bedroom with a king-sized bed and a living room/kitchenette in the next room. Two full baths, two mini-fridges, microwave, table, two TV's, two couches (catching the two theme?) and all of it VERY nice.

I had saved back some grocery money so we went to the grocery store to pick up some food for the first three meals and some snacks. It was so nice to eat with just the two of us in a quiet place. And it was extremely quiet! We heard people's voices twice the entire time we were there! A more than welcome change!

We also ate out for two meals. We went to Chili's for supper last night and the hotel's breakfast buffet this morning. Otherwise we just chilled in the room and watched some Food Network, played games, swam in the two hotel pools, and made fun of the people at the Cat Show going on in the conference center. We were kind of curious (heh-heh) about the "No cats beyond this point" signs all over the place until we discovered a cat show was in town. The hotel we stayed at for our first honeymoon had a police convention going on. Can't wait to see what we find at our 20th! Oh, and we got to see them set up for multiple weddings on Friday and Saturday. They had several lovely locations for weddings.

It was a wonderful, relaxing time for both of us. We were very ready to get back to the children, who were pretty well-behaved and had a great time as well. Anna cried when she saw Mommy, then needed some Daddy-love. She had been cranky all morning, probably missing us. Ben cried when he saw Daddy. He tends to bottle up his emotions more so we weren't surprised when he let go upon seeing us. Matthew was fine but said he did miss us a little :)

So, now we enjoy the last bits of summer before Rob starts seminary. *happy sigh*

Anna Update

Oh, wow, so much to update on Miss Anna! She really is the little princess around here. She has her brothers eating out of her hand much of the time and is starting to believe that the whole world revolves around her. Now, don't get me wrong, she's not a brat, just realizing that she has options. She's so cute, though, and so good most of the time that it's hard to discipline her but we are succeeding in that area. All I usually have to do is sign "no" and have her sign it back to get her to obey. When she does exhibit her will I stand a little firmer and she backs down most of the time.

She's very, very, very times infinity active. She is just like Matthew was at that age. Her climbing skills are coming along nicely, as proven each time we go to the playground. She thinks she's bigger than she is, no thanks to her big brothers. We took her to the Aquatic Center and after getting her bearings, she repeatedly attempted to get to the small slides. She's too buoyant to stand for long in the water, so she kept falling and getting a snout full of pool water. I don't think I'll take her again until next summer...hopefully she's a little more muscley and less fatty :)

She has surprised me with her fine motor skills and other similar abilities. She'll often pop out her pacifier and slip the hook onto one finger so she can eat or drink something. She stacks up her stacking cups by herself, has figured out how to build with Legos, and is able to do all kinds of things with her chubby fingers that the boys weren't doing until after their second birthdays. I don't know if it's a girl thing or not, but that's what I'm assuming.

Verbally, she's doing well. She tries to say everything we ask her to, but her best words are: "Muk" (milk), "Jew" (juice), "Mommy" "Daddy" "Ma-mew" (Matthew) "Ben" "Na-na" (Anna), "Pa-Pa" (Grandpa), "cracker" "eggie" "chicken" "doggie" "woof-woof" "nie-nie" and I'm probably forgetting a bunch of others. She does say "please" and "thank you" most of the time, some without prompting. Politeness is important to us. I was talking to my brother one day and I said, "My kids might not be the best behaved, but at least they're polite." He mimicked, "May I please break your expensive vase?"

Her eating habits have improved, although the only veggie she'll eat is broccoli and the only fruits are bananas and watermelon. She still loves meat and cheese best, but she's added potatoes and noodles to that favs list. She usually eats two good meals a day and some snacks.

And she's just such a little dolly. I love cuddling her and hearing her try to sing "Jesus Loves Me." Her favorite games are peek-a-boo and patty-cake. She loves running to Daddy when he comes home and is a delightful baby overall.

Ben Update

I thought I might post some updates on the kids since we're nearing the "start" of another school year. I have start in quotes b/c we schooled through the summer. August 31st will be Matthew's first official day of kindergarten and Ben's of preschool. Promotion Sunday in Sunday school is the day before and Rob starts school that week, so it seems like a good date for our change of grade.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be all about Ben. I'm starting with him first because I usually start with one of the other two and Ben's always in the middle. He certainly ACTS like a middle child, exerting his will and trying to make a name for himself in the family. He is a head strong little guy, but we are seeing some improvement with him. We have had to be very consistent in discipline and corrections and, little by little, we're seeing him come around.

Ben can be a very delightful child, especially when he is with his daddy. Rob and I finally figured something out: Ben is most like me and Matthew is most like Rob. It would then make sense that Rob and Ben click more and Matthew and I click more. (Anna currently has her parent-of-the-moment and no particular favorite.) We make sure that we spend ample time alone with the opposite child, but when we have to split up somewhere, that's how the division happens. (Anna is usually with me.) Ben certainly has my temper and frustration level. He also likes to be by himself more than Matthew does. Ben often will grab a toy or manipulative off their game shelf and occupy himself for a long time.

In the past few months, Ben has joined Matthew and I for school time on a more consistent basis. He'll even sit still while Matthew does his workbooks. He loves listening to stories and has his own little pre-school book to work on. I have noticed that his fine motor skills are more developed than Matthew's at this age, but he has no interest in drawing or coloring yet. He still thinks every letter and number is "B" but he can count well. He surprised me the other day in the kitchen when I asked him to get out the forks. He grabbed four and I told him I already had one. I asked him how many he needed then. Without hesitating, he said, "Three." He seems to like numbers and counting more than letters right now.

Ben is my outdoor guy. He'll cry whenever he has to come inside and always has dirt caked on him after playtime. I really think that the dirt finds Ben...kind of like Pigpen from the Peanuts comic strip. I've always thought him to be more of a chicken than Matthew, but he's turning out more fearless. He will walk on his tiptoes as far as he can at the pool until the water is too high for him and loves having me take him in the deeper end. He is not afraid of bugs and even rid Grandpa's deck of Japanese Beetles by throwing them. He's all boy for sure.

Ben is still my cuddle buddy. He's on my lap at least once a day. His laugh is infectious. Rob will often grab him and tickle him just to hear the laugh! I love my little Ben-Ben!

Fortunes, Forcasts, Lucky Charms....

We ate at the China Buffet again today (at the boys' request...love my kids!) and I had to post our rather fun fortunes from the cookies.

Anna: You are often unaware of the effect you have on others. (I would say she has next to no idea how she effects others!)

Ben: Do something unusual tomorrow. (I told him to behave all day.)

Matthew: Don't worry about the stock market. Invest in family. (Hmmm...don't think that's an issue when you're 5.)

Mommy: This coming Friday will be an exciting time for you. (Well, Friday is my 10th anniversary....)

Before you read Rob's, make sure you are not sipping any liquids or eating anything b/c you may spew it on the screen in laughter.

You all clear??

Rob: You will be unusually successful in an entertainment career.

At last! Direction for Rob's future ministry!!!

Riverfest '09

Yesterday we took the kids over to the annual Riverfest festivities at Riverside park. The kids have been looking forward to this event for ages (you know, like three days at least!). They were really jazzed about it after seeing the rides being assembled on Tuesday. We had saved some money from their birthday presents so they could each get the unlimited rides stamp. Thursday's special ran from 4pm-8pm, so we decided to have dinner there as well.

We got to the park shortly before it opened and found a great parking space across the street from the entrance. In previous years we parked in a neighborhood that required a trip up and down a very steep hill, so we tried a new area this year. Good choice, because the walk was much shorter and easier. We arrived and scoped out the rides first to determine if it was worth it to get Ben the unlimited rides or just a few tickets for the rides he was willing to go on. We wavered, but opted for the unlimited option and I'm so glad we did. Each ride cost $3 and the stamp was $18, so after just six rides, it was all "free." Ben and Matthew rode everything they could as many times as they could in a four-hour time span! Ben is usually my chicken so it was surprising that he was so willing to keep up with Matthew. I guess it helped to have Big Brother with him :) He would not go on the Ferris Wheel, however, so Mommy went on it with Matthew. I knew I couldn't handle anything else with my back pain (which actually felt alot better after the carnival!)

The boys went on the following rides: tea cups, bumpy cars, bumblebees, a Fun house, big slide, roller coaster, and a big playset thing with bridges and slides. Matthew only: the carousel and a boat ride. Ben was too short for both w/o a parent and I only agreed to take them on the Ferris Wheel. They rode all of these things more times than we could count. The lines were non-existant until after six, then there was a little wait time.

We paused for supper and managed to feed the whole family for only $15. The kids all had a slice of pizza and Rob and I had some super-yummy gyros (pronounced yee-ro). The different restaurants in town have booths so its a good way to sample foods from places you may not have been to (or heard of.)

Anna got a little restless after awhile and wanted down. We weren't going to put her on rides b/c each one would cost $6 ($3 for her and $3 for us) so we decided to pay $2 so she could pick up a duck at the game booths. The duck booth had three little duck ponds in baby pools. We let Anna out of the stroller and told her to pick up a duck. She decided to try to join the ducks, which would have been more fun of course, but a little too wet. We finally talked her into grabbing one and she won....a duck! It's a pretty toy duck with a pink lei. She was happy until we put her BACK into the stroller. Rob decided to take her to the park's playground and let her run around while I continued to let the boys ride.

At that point, I thought we should go look at the big rides and see if Matthew was tall enough for any of them. He rode the Scrambler and had a blast, then we saw Zero Gravity. That is one of those rides that is in a big circle where each rider stands in their own cage. The ride spins around fast, then lifts up. It's perfectly safe and the laws of physics keep the riders from falling out. (As Rob explained to me.) Matthew was tall enough, but not brave enough. Yet.

Rob and Anna returned and we let the boys ride some more, then decided to call it quits. We let them each pick one more ride and Matthew chose Zero Gravity. He went on after a quick height check and I stood there paralyzed with fear. There went my baby, my five-year-old, onto an adult ride that even I had never been on before! He had a ball! He came off the ride and while Rob and I were debating what ride should be Ben's last, Matthew got back into line and onto the ride again. Ben wanted to ride the roller coaster, so Rob took him there while Anna and I waited for the Brave One. Who, after riding Zero Gravity a second time, was not so brave. He came off that ride and the only color on his face were his freckles. He and I headed for a bench, where he melted onto the thing. Poor kid was so sick, but he manged to keep his dinner down. Rob and Ben joined us shortly and we made our way to the car. I gave Matthew a plastic bag for the ride home, just in case. He made it and went upstairs for a bath and bed. He kept saying, "I still feel like I'm on that ride! I should have only gone once!" Oh, the lessons we teach ourselves!

Anyway, we had a great time and the boys are already planning for next year. I'm so glad we went last night b/c it has been raining cats and dogs all day and I'd imagine they had to keep the carnival part closed. Might be rather soggy tomorrow for the craft fair as well.

Litwiller Family Fun

In spite of my back injury (of which I am not truly complaining b/c I beat that wretched purple coin Toy Time level in Super Mario Galaxy) we have managed to have quite a bit of fun around here recently. Last Friday we took off for another trip to Illinois, this time for a family get-together. It is rare that my entire family (meaning parents, sibs, and nieces/nephews) are all together so I knew I wanted to be there in spite of the back pain. And it was a painful road trip, both there and back, but well worth it.

We ate supper on Friday at GG's and then visited Rob's other grandparents. We had a great time over there, managing to keep the kid mayhem to a minimum. The next day was our big family get-together. Rob and I ran out to re-purchase ground beef for hamburgers (see two posts ago for the ground beef story) and then he and his dad grilled all of the meat. It ended up raining for most of the picnic, but the kids had a ball anyway. I enjoyed sitting and watching various members of the family interact. Matthew and Ben played some ball with my dad and my brother, Adam, and showed off their appalling lack of sports skills (Note to self: work more on real baseball and less on Wii...). Anna had fun toddling everywhere, leading her daddy or aunts and uncles on a merry chase. We all decided to pack up the picnic early (oh, we were under a nice, big pavilion reserved by my wonderful sister) and we headed to my sister's house. The kids watching a movie and played with toys while the adults chatted. At four o'clock my parents and one sibling's family headed home while the rest of us went to play at State Farm Park. My brother-in-law works for State Farm and they have this awesome park for employees and guests. We couldn't get in until 4 o'clock, hence the later start. Rob and I took our kids to the pool while my sister, her twin brother, and their families ate supper and went mini-golfing. It was a little too cold for swimming, but we had promised the boys. Turned out to be a good thing for my back. The lazy river felt great! Anna had fun, in spite of a near drowning incident (and life guards really shouldn't be texting while on duty!) We then went back to Rob's parents' for supper and bedtime.

On Sunday night, after the drive and church, I took the boys to the Aquatic Center for the library pool party. Again, the idea was that I would get more "pool therapy" for my back. A friend of mine said all the pool did was numb the pain, and she might have been right b/c it was awfully cold! But it did help my back out. The boys had a great time and they won a puzzle for doing some extra reading. Rob and Anna went grocery shopping then watched us from outside the fence.

On Monday, Rob took the kids through the car wash and Ben is still talking about it :)

Tuesday we went back to the Aquatic Center with two free passes for the boys. This time Rob and Anna joined us. Anna had fun swimming with me and then she found the slide. She's too light to really walk much in the water, but she was determined to get to the slide! We did let her go down some, but there were so many kids on it that it wasn't safe to let her go alone. Rob finally took her out for a snack. Matthew did go into the deep end with me and enjoyed himself. He's a big chicken around water so it was MAJOR that he allowed me to take him over. Ben was doing great going as far as he could on his tip toes, then he and I went into the deeper water together. He even went under with me a few times. Brave boy!

And today we will go to Riverfest and ride some carnival rides (them, not me b/c of the back) and eat some deep-fried foods. We had the boys save back some of their birthday money so they could go on as many rides as they like. We'll see how many that ends up being :)

Ben funnies

We took a trip this past weekend, but I'm not up to loads of typing yet, so I'll blog about that later. I just wanted to post a couple of funny things Ben has said:

Rob took the kids through the car wash yesterday after shopping at Wal-Mart (that was their treat for being good, lol!) and Ben came home chattering about the purple and green stuff on the car. In Ben's words: It was all OVER the car but it washed off and we couldn't reach out and touch it because it would get us all messy but it washed off the car and it was green and purple goo and it was yucky, yeah. (No commas b/c there were no pauses.)

I was letting Ben into the car after playing at the rest stop and he was complaining about something. I said, "Get over it, Ben. You'll survive!" Ben said, "I don't want to survive, Mommy! I want to live!" He was quoting a line from Wall-E and I just love the application.

Ben's had a rough month behavior-wise but seems to finally be understanding that if he behaves, he doesn't get punished. He says several times a day, "Let's have a good day, Mommy!" Finally, it's soaking in!

And he's still my cute little sleepy head. He crawls in bed with me each morning to snuggle and say hello. So cute!