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.