Back in Madison

Well, we're back! Did you miss us? Well, most likely if you're reading this you actually saw us in Missouri or Kansas...but, we can act like the postings on here are their own person, so you have missed us in that case...

Anyway, we took a trip out southwest to Missouri and Kansas. We started out after I got off work on the Friday before Christmas. First stop: KC MO. We went to Crown Center on Saturday and stood in line for 2 hours to see Santa. Luckily we were able to trade off who was in line so everyone could go around Crown Center for a list. Then, we went to Mission KS for Faith's baptism--Katie and I were the Godparents! Whoo-hoo!

On Sunday we went to see Katie's grandpa Mac and aunts Vicki (aka Mickey Mouse) and Mary Lou. Then off to Go-Jo's for dinner. Mary Ann says it's "a little scary" when the big flame comes up.

On Monday we drove to Salina KS to spend the night and Christmas morning with my family. We got lots of great presents. Mary Ann did all the right things in acting totally pumped by her presents.

On Tuesday we drove to Lawrence where we pretended to be a day behind, so we celebrated Christmas Eve on Christmas night and then opened presents the next morning. Again, Mary Ann was totally pumped, especially by the big kitchen that Santa gave her!

We drove back on Thursday so I could go to work on Friday. It snowed a bunch on Friday, so we missed the big storm. And, it had snowed a lot on the Saturday we were in KC, so we missed that storm. All in all not bad driving, thank the Lord!

Here's a fun article from a priest in KC talking about how much fun a Wii is!

Lots of new pics in many albums--take a look!

Coming home to snow again

We went to Chicago this past weekend. We went to the Christkindlmarket to see the German stuff. It wasn't that exciting--it was just one small square jam packed with shops and LOTS of people. And food tents that were overpriced. We got a couple of pretzels and 1 glass of glühwein--hot spiced wine. It came in its own porcelin blue boot (small) that we brought home. It was good on a VERY chilly day! Then, we walked down to see the bean, a big shiny reflective thing just south of the main strip on Michigan Ave. Then, we went to lunch and went to Crate and Barrel. Finally went back to Mitzi's and warmed up.

Came back late Sunday. We went to church at the cathedral; the Bishop presided. Then we went to Ikea with Mitzi. It takes forever to drive past O'Hare. We bought some stuff at Ikea. We got home about 9pm. Our house was snowed in. And, snow plowed in. When we went to get out, we found that we weren't just snowed in, we were iced in. The snowfall had been covered by freezing rain, so we could walk on top of the snowfall without falling in. So, we got the girls in and then started working on shoveling out my car so I could get to work. We gave up soon and just decided I would take the van, so we parked that on the street. On Monday we worked on clearing out the car--it took both a real shovel to break up the ice and a snow shovel to haul off the chunks. Our neighbor came over to help clear the driveway off so we could park in the driveway. The ice on the sidewalks/driveway "can" come off in nice discrete chunks if you are lucky. Then, yesterday Katie cleared off most of the sidewalks, with me coming home to finish the job last night. We finally were able to use the snowblower last night to clear off the snow that had fallen on the cleared off parts.

Today I am sick; called in sick. So, Katie snow blowed this morning. She also went to help the neighbor that helped us. I have called work to tell them I'm not coming.

Check out the new pics on the photo page!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Well, it is the week of Thanksgiving. More importantly, Mitzi is here! She has come up for her annual (2nd annual!) week in Madison. We have been enjoying having another adult (Mitzi's an adult?) around to talk to...and play Wii with! Oh...and help with the kids. We bought a new snowblower today--one of our biggest purchases ever, after the house and cars. It's a Madison snowblower--capable (hopefully) of dealing with the big snowstorms. Maybe Mary Ann can even ride on it.

Many people are coming up on Wednesday: the Buschelmans, L'Opa, Nana and Oma. Not Casey, as Mary Ann keeps asking about; the dog will stay in Missouri. Robert's parents are staying in KC to host the Salina family for T-day.

Kalahari

Last weekend Robert got to go to the annual statewide Neurology Conference, held at the Kalahari Resort. His registration included staying at the hotel and 4 waterpark passes. We got there about 11:00 Saturday morning. Robert went to his conference and I got to figure out how to conquer this waterpark (just so we're all clear here, it is an indoor waterpark) with 2 little ones in tow. Our room wasn't ready yet, so the girls and I went to the nearby outlet mall so I could see how many times I could tell Mary Ann we would just go into the store really quickly. Then we went back to the hotel, the room still wasn't quite ready, so we ate lunch and decided that we could go to waterpark anyways and use the locker room as a home base. (Mary Ann and Rose were both very helpful during this conference). I've never been to a water park myself, so I didn't know what to expect, but all three of us were pretty excited. The park was very child friendly, lots of slides and pools for the girls to enjoy. I discovered that Rose has no qualms about crawling into water, in fact she doesn't stop after the water submerges her face. Mary Ann was a little more cautious, but after seeing all the other kids make it down the slides in one piece, she was good to go. Sunday was especially a lot of fun, since Robert could be with us the whole day and we could trade off who was with the girls while the other one got to do the more "exciting" rides. It was a great weekend and a nice change of pace for us all!

Ella's

We went to a crazy restaurant yesterday for brunch. It's called Ella's Deli and it's very kid friendly! It has tons of flying toys in there, and the tables are all boxes with glass tops with things to look at inside. If you've been to Madison, it's the place on East Wash that has the big carousel out front. Rose was the quietest she's ever been; she just stared at the ceiling the whole time. Unfortunately they don't have the best food and it's just a tad pricey, but maybe worth having 2 quiet kids...

Washington, ABC

The weekend of October 6-7 I got the chance to go to Washington, DC for my friend Sara's wedding. Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law I got to go out a bit early and see some of my friends from high school who have made DC their home as well. It was a fantastic trip to catch up with these people and enjoy a little vacation. I got to visit the International Spy Museum and learn that I may not be spy material, navigate the DC area via the Metro (thank you to Darren for the tutorial), eat Greek and Turkish tapas at Zaytinya, and attend a beautiful wedding and reception (Sara and Frank I'm so happy for you).
It is good now to be back at home and settle back into our routine. The girls had a fabulous time with Grandma, what a blessing family is! This week cooler weather has settled in, at least for now. (In all honesty we're ready for it--please remind me of that when it snows in April next year). Next on our list is the Rose Walk Watch. Happy October everyone!

SWiit Success

Happy 28th Birthday to Robert!! We had the big celebration on Saturday, so Mitzi and Scott, who surprised Robert when he arrived Friday night, could be here for the action. After a breakfast of Bubblebread and bacon (sorry Mitzi) Robert opened the present of his dreams. Then we basically played all day with the new toy. It is pretty cool, especially the boxing game. Mitzi and I woke up actually a bit sore because of the action. Thank you to everyone for helping to make it happen!!

Pulling an Eric

This post has nothing to do with our children, so if that is the only reason you check our blog, stop reading now.

The following is my new favorite dialogue from a movie:

Dr. Jules Hilbert (played by Dustin Hoffman): Aren't you relieved to know you're not a golem?
Harold Crick (played by Will Farrell): Yes. I am relieved to know that I am not a golem.
(http://imdb.com/title/tt0420223/quotes)

The movie is "Stranger Than Fiction" and I give it 2 Thumbs up! (Do golem's have thumbs? Wow, thank goodness I'm not a golem!)

Construction

We burst through today. For those that don't know, we have a plan to turn the unfinished part of our basement into a guest bedroom, and kind of open up the living space in the basement into that bedroom. We don't have the final plans yet, but we've started on deconstruction. I tore down the workbench several weeks ago and reconstructed it in the garage. Then, when my parents were up, we tore down the ceiling and the wood paneling on the wall between the unfinished part and the walk-in closet. For the last week I've been working on tearing down the shelves in that closet. Today, Katie and I broke through the drywall; now we can walk between the closet and the unfinished area. It's pretty rewarding to tear through a wall. Hopefully it all works out the way we want; either way it will be a learning process. Hopefully rewarding both mentally...and financially =)

Rose Updates!

The month of September has been a big one already for Baby Rose! First, the most impressive news, she gained a whopping 2 and 1/2 pounds during August, boosting her weight to 16 pounds, 15 ounces. She's now in the 7th percentile for weight and the pediatrician was pleased too. Thank you to YoBaby Organic yogurt!

Also in the last couple of days she has figure out how to go up all of the stairs from our basement, going down is still a big dilemma, but I'm sure she'll figure it out in no time at all. (Mary Ann would like to say as well that she too can go up all of the basement stairs.)

And yesterday Rose figured out how to clap her hands. She did it for the first time on accident a couple of days ago and looked at her hands in bewilderment. Then Friday she really figured it out. Now she'll clap her hands no matter what her mood. (Mary Ann would again like to say that she can clap her hands too).

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid!

In all honesty, we don't have a very active social life in Madison. This is probably self-evident since we have videos of things like a Robin dive-bombing our back door and for excitement we talk about the time the Robin flew into the porch...Well at least one of us talks about that for excitement, she also breaks into her own rendition of "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the grocery store too, but that's a different story.
Back to our social life, or lack there of. As with our weather this past week, when it rains, it certainly pours (occasionally into our basement). We had a children's fashion show last night, where Rose made her modeling debut. Pics will come. It was part of the grand opening events for a kid-friendly cafe that has opened in Madison called Bean Sprouts. It was fun, but 2 1/2 half years of parenting has not taught me to expect the organized chaos children's activities always entail. Kids running everywhere, kids dancing, kids walking around with the "runway" decorations, kids not getting the point of "Hot Potato" or in this case: "Hot Bean". Rose was adorable (she wore an organic cotton onesie and pants set and it was so soft I would almost pay for it), Mary Ann had fun and I felt a bit bewildered and was thankful to get the girls home, in bed so I could get our house back in order, since somehow getting Rose ready for the event also included the house becoming very messy.
Today we had plans to go to a friend's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Mary Ann, Rose and I were all Chuck E. Cheese novices and I envisioned a fairly quiet meal around a couple of pans of pizza, then taking Mary Ann around, tokens in hand, having a blast with the games and rides. Of course eventually we ran out of tokens and I had to inform Mary Ann we were out of the "special money", which wasn't happily accepted, but luckily she had enough tickets to "buy" a little (can we say super-little) dinosaur figure.

More Rose action

Now Rose is going up steps. Well, step. Yep, she is going up the step from the back porch (aka sunroom aka 3-season porch aka airplane aka....) to the house. She started doing it 2 days ago, on 8/20/07. She can't quite yet go down, though she is thinking about it. By thinking I mean she crawls to the step, puts her head down on the step, and pushes her butt in the air. It looks like she is going to summersault down the stair. Which might not be too bad for 1 step, but not something we want to see for the basement steps.

Also, Mary Ann is doing much better using the potty. She is dry the majority of days of the week. If she has looser pants on, she is even going into the bathroom by herself and doing it all herself. We just hope she doesn't flush the entire roll of TP again...

And, more bad news. Water came in our basement again. We got home from church Sunday and started making breakfast. I (Robert) went downstairs to check something on the computer. When I walked through the carpet...squelch. Soggy carpet. We think the downspout near the stove-pipe came off slightly (a different downspout this time...) and water came in through the old hole in the wall. It must not have been too much, because it doesn't look like the top of the entertainment center was wet, so it must have just dripped in. But, the majority of the carpet in the big room was wet, extending to the stairs. So, off to the hardware store again to get a carpet cleaner to suck up the water. We were able to empty more than 13 gallons of water, plus several more from the dehumidifier. We made many many sweeps of the cleaner, going non-stop (pretty much) from noon to 5. We finally got most of the water up and actually cleaned the carpet. We still have fans going downstairs and have kept the AC on since then to help dehumidify. So, the whole house smells. Bad. Can't wait for my parents to come this weekend and sleep downstairs!! =)

Opa

On Friday, July 27th, Mitzi, the girls, and I drove down to Jefferson City and up the hill to the Hickory Grove to say good-bye to Opa. It was a last minute decision kind of a trip, I had already decided a few weeks earlier, when it became clear that Opa's health was declining more rapidly, that I had said my good-byes already and a visit now wouldn't change that. But after learning how much it cheered both Opa and Oma to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I realized that a trip was much more important than any prior good-byes.
When we arrived, it was great to see Oma, Jane, and Mom sitting around the table drinking a glass of wine. Opa was sleeping in his room, and while it became clear that he would not be waking to actually see us, simply being there at the time was more fulfilling (and that's not quite the word I mean) than I could have possible imagined.

The next morning at the hotel Mom called to say that it looked like Opa had passed a hurdle and that his breathing and demeanor as he slept was one of peace. His final hours were approaching. We arrived at the Hickory Grove, Oma was sitting at Opa's side, we gave her a hug and kiss. Then someone mentioned the word "walk" and both Mary Ann and Casey became very excited. I took them out, down the drive way and up Zion Road, trying to convince (rather unsuccessfully) Mary Ann that she either needed to hold my hand or walk on the grass. We looked at wildflowers and butterflies and I showed her the little creek that was always the highpoint of walks with Oma, to stand at the edge and throw rocks in, hearing the splash if the season had been wet enough to keep water in it.

It wasn't a long walk at all and we made our way back up the driveway. I looked at the row of evergreen trees Opa had planted and marveled at how tall they had grown, as I could still remember being pulled around them in the trailer of Opa's tractor. By the time we reached the house, and I saw everyone gathered in the sunporch, I realized that Opa had gone.

What followed was a peaceful family time. Tears and laughter (mainly at Mary Ann), hugs and wrestling (mainly with Mary Ann). Opa dying at home, allowed, for him (I hope) and his family (at least for me) his death to truly be the next natural step in his life. He was cared for and surrounded by people he loved and people who loved him. Thank you to Oma, Rocky, Jane, Mom and Dad for allowing this to be the case.

Rose Crawls!

She also got her first tooth today: right on the bottom in front! Go Rose!

"Spones" and the Spirit of Detachment

Many of you may be trying to guess what this image may be. I'll let you guess for a while...
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Some of you may have accurately guessed that it is a picture of today's lesson in humility. As many of you know, I take a certain amount of pride in putting my former lesson planning skills into use by making weekly menus. Some may think I'm a bit too much of a control freak about this (and yes, I am still aware of who fell behind on their shift on the Thanksgiving cooking schedule last year), but I do enjoy making my menus. I've really been on a roll the last few weeks too, organization and preparation have really worked out. And this morning the plan was to make blueberry scones before church so there would be less wait post-mass for our brunch. It all worked out beautifully, Mary Ann slept until nearly eight (I do love her help in the kitchen, but I have found that you can't rush Mary Ann through her cooking and she likes to make sure whatever it is passes a taste test as each stage of the preparation), Rose was in a good mood, Robert did dishes as I finished them. We could have been on Food Network...it was that good.
Mass was very nice, the girls were great, and I even got to pay attention to the readings. Perhaps I should have seen that Martha/Mary Gospel as a foreshadowing of things to come. (I know, Nana, I know!)
We get home, Robert starts breakfast, scones are in the oven, Rose goes down for a nap, Mary Ann's setting the table--eat your heart out June Cleaver.
The scones take a bit longer to bake than expected--no problem we have smoothies, eggs, little smokies and coffee to tied us over. After a third or fourth oven check, I decide that I've put them in the wrong pan and need to transfer them to a cookie sheet. (By the way, I absolutely do not recommend the silicon bakeware). In the process, these beautiful scones totally fall apart into the mess you see above. Insert here a few very choice words. After being pretty upset and disappointed for a bit, I discover that they still taste okay, life is still good, and maybe I can market them in some future life as "Spones" (spoon + scone)

The moral of the story is: Food doesn't have to look good to taste good, crumbled scones are definitely not worth getting upset about and don't trust pretty red baking pans.

A Peaceful Moment

I have just left the girls' room and both are asleep. 30 minutes ago that was not the case. Both went down without too much fussing, but occasional cries from Rose would elicit Mary Ann pounding on the door and the yell that Rose was "getting louder". This wouldn't really help Rose settle down, but eventually all was quiet. After about 10 minutes of this quiet, I again heard Mary Ann at the door informing me that Rose again was getting louder. She must have psychic abilities, because no sooner had she predicted this with her thumps at the door, but Rose indeed did get louder. Amazing! So after some snuggling and shushing and magic "bugga-boo" star light (Thank you again, Nana!) both girls fell asleep. The contrast between the two of them crying and they two of them sleeping is amazing. I'm sure the neighbors have noticed this as well. But it's a lovely time to spend with them and to thank God for His blessings.

On an entirely different note, my surfing of the web tonight led me to this website. Fun gift ideas for kids: http://store.padilly.com

And if anyone is curious about what a typical day in our life is like, check out this website: http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/index.php and look at today's strip

Blog Addiction

So I should be in bed now. Addiction is too strong of a word, but having a blog is as bad as surfing the Net. I just want this one to look as good as my siblings'! (punctuation on ending a sentence with a plural possessive?) I'm tired, have a summer cold, and am pretty sure at least there will be at least one major interruption in the night, make that one more, as we've already had a major wake-up call around 9:15. That was at least tempered by the fact that Rose had pulled herself up in her crib and, though she was screaming her head off, it was pretty cute. I'm not sure if she didn't know how to sit back down and that was what the big fuss was about or she liked adding a bit more drama to the whole "wake-up" the whole house act, but after 20 minutes both girls were back to sleep and it wound up being just enough time for the banana bread in the oven to finish baking. So all's well that ends well. And I should also go to bed so tomorrow can begin well. Gute Nacht, meine Damen und Herren.

Divebombing Robin

Since early May a husband and wife team of Robins have been nesting on the downspout just north of our back door. They are currently tag-team feeding their second brood of baby Robins. They are pretty adorable. However, not so adorable is the protective behavior at least one of these Robins, in my opinion, the Papa Robin, have adopted. Papa Robin likes to stalk you and then dive bomb you as you try participate in any activity that involves lingering around said backdoor, "lingering" here means more than 5 seconds. Today, while trying to water plants using the water from our wading pool, Papa mounted an attack. I swiftly ran into the porch through back door and Papa followed. What followed was a tense 3-5 minute period of waiting to see what would happen. M.A. was fingerpainting at the time, and watching a live Robin fly around her porch was probably one of the most exciting experiences of her life, right up there with Mitzi's yellow plane and Nathan slipping in the pool. During this time we could hear Mama Robin giving Papa Robin h--- for being so idiotic about his behavior and after he finally made it out, you could still hear her giving him a piece of her mind. I have to respect Papa for caring so much for his family, but I also feel some empathy with the Mama, don't ask me why, but I do.

Morning Came, Coffee followed: The First Post

A first post by K. Reddig! So far much better than doing HTML code. No promises will be made about the frequency of postings, however. Nap times and the nebulous concept of "Quiet Time" (i.e. M.A. spends time on our bed for the 50 minutes of the "Quiet Time CD". Quiet may actually be a stretch to actually describe those 50 minutes, as I hear her clomping around the room in my shoes and catch her making prank calls on the phone, but I will optimistically always consider it Quiet Time.

Hmmmm...so why do people blog exactly?? To stay in touch? Post random thoughts for all the world to see? Feel like they are doing something productive when they should be a) dusting b) getting supper ready c) organizing storage areas d) watering the garden e) finding flowers for the table f) cleaning the bathroom g) writing postcards h ) creating a to-do list ? Oh wait, I just did that! So that's what blogging's all about! Cool!

All right, so as I get used to this, maybe posts will be less goofy and more thought-provoking. But at least I know what I need to do now!