A good man

My sweet grandfather, Edward Suhling (known by most as Pop or Zu--short for Suhling), passed away on Sunday, November 28. Because of my wonderful husband and friends, I was able to fly to Virginia on Monday, attend the services on Tuesday, and fly home on Wednesday. All 12 of Pop's grandchildren were there--from New York, Texas, Australia, California, and Virginia. I missed some of the time when the whole family was together sharing memories about Pop, but I know there are many, many fond memories of him. Here are some of mine.

- He called me Katiebird. I didn't like it, but looking back now, I love it.
- The entire family (Nannie, Pop, Mama's siblings and their children, and us) vacationed at a house in Virginia Beach several different summers in the 80s. Someone might remember this particular story better than I do, but I know there was talk about someone being able to do a somersault, and Pop claimed he could do one. He did, and he promptly injured his neck.
- One of my most vivid childhood images of Pop is him grinning at me from a chair, next to a door, hooked up to a contraption that wrapped a piece of cloth/fabric under his chin and pulled his head up. I think it was to stretch his neck--perhaps because of the injury from the somersault!
- His songs
- His unforgettable and unmistakable laugh
- His piano playing, by memory, hitting those keys with force
- His way with dogs







I'll miss you, Pop!

Over and done

I was cleaning out a portion of our computer desk over the weekend and came upon the large binder full of Nate's "information"--therapy notes, regional center evaluations, school IEPs, neurologist records, training notes I had taken on special ed law, etc.

I threw it away.

Why do I need it now? It's very freeing to realize I no longer need documentation for meetings where I'll have to fight for certain services. I also don't need this physical reminder of that season in our lives. I already have the best physical reminder of the success of that season: Nate himself!

Levi is 2

Our cute little boy is 2 years old! How do I describe Levi at 2? He is affectionate, smart, and very spunky. He usually wants to be doing whatever Nate and Lucy are doing. He gets in contrary moods ("Levi, you're so cute." "No, not!"). He sleeps well (hallelujah--especially because he didn't sleep well as a baby 'til 10 months), taking one nap in the afternoons (2-3 hours), going to bed at 8:00 p.m., and waking usually by 7:00. He looooves his Hot Wheels cars and can play with them by himself for an hour some days. He eats very well, though vegetables aren't a favorite. He's still on the GFCFSF diet, and I don't have any plans of taking him off it any time soon. We love our Levi Paul!

We had family over for In-n-Out and brownies and ice cream on Saturday. When opening his presents, Levi was more interested in the paper than anything else:





Here he is ready for his "rice-eem" (ice cream):

Sad that Nate is sick

I still have to post about Levi's birthday, but in the meantime here he is saying the reason I haven't posted today:

Star Wars

We are watching Star Wars (episode IV--the first one made) with Nate and Lucy tonight for the first time. Nate is excitedly watching each scene; Lucy is asking, "What is that?" or "Why are they doing that?" at least once every 10 seconds. Their observations are so cute.

Lucy, asking about R2D2: "Does ATM talk?"
Lucy, about Princess Leia: "Is that a mama?"
Lucy, about R2D2 again: "Where is ATR going?"

Nate, when Darth Vader is about to try to get Leia to talk using the syringe: "Is that a bad medicine poke?"
Nate, when Luke first gets the lightsaber: "That's a light saver!"

Edit: I should add that Levi watched the first few minutes with us. He repeated all the oohs and ahhs of his siblings:
"Oh my!"
"Bad guy?"
"Robot!"

Sweet husband

Look what my sweet husband got me for my birthday (as if the party and my family visiting weren't enough!):





It's a Kindle, and I love it. He got me the blue cover too, and today I made that little ruffly thing to go on it for some added pizazz. I've already started re-reading Pride and Prejudice (one of the free books).

Thank you, Jon!

P.S. I added more pictures to the "Surprise" post below.

Surprise!

Most of you know this already, but Jon surprised me on Friday with a 30th birthday party, made a million times more special because Mama, Daddy, Greg, and Lucy were there! M, D, & G flew out from Virgina; L came from New York. It was great. I don't have any pictures on our camera from the party (the camera was in my purse, which was with me when Casey took me out to a movie and coffee as a surprise diversion to get me out of the house), so I'll have to post those later. I loved the party, loved the sweet planning done by my husband, and loved having the family here.

Edit: Here are some pictures from Suzanne. My absolute favorite is the second one of me pulling the curtain back, as Daddy is yelling "surprise":












Here are pictures from a little bit of our fun weekend. Oh, and I got my hair cut!

Our go-to family outing: the Spectrum

When the weather is nice, we like to pile in the car and go to the Irvine Spectrum to walk around.

Parking garage elevators provide the opening entertainment




Run or skip to Jamba Juice for smoothies




Lucy and Levi waiting outside






Enjoy smoothies and stroll past the stores and fountains



Some days, we go on the carousel for a special treat






Head back to the car using Daddy as mode of transportation (or, if you're Levi, just dilly dally)

Costumes

This year, Nate was a knight. He bought the costume with his own money (which he earned "working" at my parents' store in Lynchburg). He kept telling everyone he was "a gallant knight," since that's what the package said.

Lucy was a 50's girl complete with spinny skirt (handed down from Cami).

The good and the not-so-good

In thinking about the purposes of my blog (keeping family in the know, recording our family events in lieu of scrapbooking, journaling my thoughts), I decided I'd like to do a "life snapshot" post every once in a while, describing the great things and the difficult things I'm dealing with. That way, I can look back months or years from now and see how God has worked in our family.

The good

• Jon and I are consistently on the same wavelength, communicate well, and enjoy being around each other. I love my husband.
• Sleep. Our kids go to bed easily/on time and sleep well, with night wakings rare. Nate and Lucy are quiet in the mornings, and generally, I am woken up by my alarm clock, not them.
• I actually love not having TV. (Jon might disagree.) I like that we mostly watch pre-approved movies (Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson, and Pete's Dragon are in the current rotation).
• Nate is behaving well at and liking school, and I really like his teacher. This might seem trivial, but when there have been some behavior issues in the past, good behavior is big.
• Our church. We love it and we love our friends there.
• AWANA, a kids ministry I help with, is so much easier for me personally this year. Nate loves Sparks, Lucy loves Cubbies, and Levi does well in the nursery, so I don't spend the whole evening worrying about the children.
• My one-day-per-week job. I enjoy it, and it brings in a little extra money.
  

The difficult

• Consistently, the most difficult times in our day are 7:30-8:00 a.m. (trying to get out of the house in time to get Nate to school), 12:00-1:00 p.m. (getting home from school when tired/hungry), and 5:30-6:30 p.m. (trying to cook dinner and keep hungry kids from fighting). Looking at this list, I know that I can eliminate almost all of the stress of these times if I would prepare better. Get up a bit earlier in the morning and/or prepare the children's clothes the night before. Prepare fun/interesting games for the post-school car ride (I already bring snacks, so the hunger really shouldn't have such an impact). Do dinner prep during nap/rest time in the afternoon.
• Nate and Lucy bicker a lot, and Levi is now putting himself into the mix. I feel like I am constantly instructing, constantly redirecting, constantly saying, "That was not a kind way to speak; try saying it this way instead." I suspect this is one of those seasons where I won't see the fruit from this particular training for a long time.
• I worry about our finances with property taxes due and Christmas coming.
• With busy schedules, I feel I rarely get to see my good friends outside of shared ministries. Again, I know this is probably just a season.

Maybe I should start with the difficult and end with the good; that way the post won't end on a depressing note!