Great-grandma

On August 8, 2011, my grandmother passed. She had been declining over the past few years but about three weeks ago she came down with pneumonia and was just too weak to fight it. Thankfully, the week before her passing my father was able to join the rest of the family in Ohio to spend some time with her. It was pretty clear from the beginning of this diagnosis that she would not recover from this illness.

While I'm sad that I did not get to hold her hand or hug her for one last time, I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to say my good-byes and tell her how much I loved her. The week before her passing was honestly more difficult than the day I found out she was gone. I've never lost anyone that close to me before. And at 32 years old I realize how lucky and blessed I've been. In my many conversations with my father that week he said that she loved looking at pictures of the kids so one night I took some pictures and sent them to him to share with her.

This was one of them....



He had it printed for her and it was right by her bedside. For some reason that brought me some comfort.

The days prior to her passing were difficult. She was not herself and very ready to go. So much so that when dad called to tell me of her passing it was almost a relief. She was ready and she passed peacefully. I guess you couldn't ask for anything more than that.

My brother and I drove out to Ohio for the funeral and as awful as the circumstances were it was so nice to see Grandpa and Aunt Sue.



Joel and I were overwhelmed with all the people who attended the funeral from their assisted living complex. I can't tell you how many people came up to us to tell us how special our grandparents were and all they did for everyone. But more importantly, how immensely proud she was of her children, the both of us and her great-grandchildren. Joel and I were honored to be there and were so thankful we were.

Grandpa is doing well and was quick to tell everyone that he is being "treated like a king" at his new apartment. He took care of his wife through thick and thin and it wasn't until the end he finally admitted he couldn't do it anymore. I am so comforted to know that he is being well taken care of and that he has a host of friends watching out for him. He's such a special man and gave us quite a few laughs when we could all use a few. ;-)

All about Josh

Well, I officially have a third grader on my hands. And as much as I'm sad to admit it....I am beginning to see signs of a young man developing. :-( Last Wednesday was his first day of school. He was SUPER excited to start because one of his best friends, Jack, is in his class. Not to mention a friend from the neighborhood is not only in his class but also his locker partner. Yes, this is the first year he got a locker and boy, oh boy, was he excited about that!



Can you believe it? THIRD GRADE!!!

Only two days later he turned eight. Ugh. Eight years ago I couldn' wait to see what kind of person this little baby boy would become and now I just want time to stand still!! I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said he wanted me to make my "special" pancakes. Poor kid doesn't know that a splash of vanilla and a tablespoon of sugar is all I need to make them "special", but nonetheless.

We were planning on having a cake the following day in order for Dustin to partake in the festivities but every kid needs to blow out some candles on their birthday, so.....I improvised.



And the next night he got the real thing!

Hi. My name is Beth. Have we met?

Yes, yes, yes. I know. It's been a loooong time since I've last blogged. This summer has been unreal. And here we are at the end of it and I'm stuck wondering what exactly we did that kept us so very busy.

Most of the photos I take anymore are from my phone so they aren't the best quality but you still get the "picture". :-D

Lauren and I had a special date around her birthday - we got our nails done together. We'd gone once before and she had pretty much been asking to do it again since the drive home! Her and I went and had lunch with a girlfriend and then the three of us all went together. We had a blast and Lauren LOVED being one of the "big" girls!



She doesn't look anything like me, does she? ;-)

We've been doing a ton of home improvement projects around the house this summer. And after this past weekend I can officially say that every room in our house has been touched since we've moved in. One of the smaller projects involved Lauren and I keeping busy at Menard's while they cut down all the new blinds. So her and I went out to the playground area and had the thing to ourselves! There were tons of things to play on and it was all in the shade! We had a blast!



I ran another 5k on the 4th of July. It was a different route than last year and had one huge hill at the end. I was hoping to cut a few more minutes off my time but considering the heat and the intesity of the sun that day....I'm just glad I finished with my normal time! It was CRAZY!



I have three more coming up this fall and am hoping to finish with an 8k in November! Still working on the weight loss and have hit 87 pounds!! Pretty excited to be so close to the 100 pounds mark!

The kids went to VBS at Zion one week and the evenings were just me and Ella. It was pretty weird just having one kid to watch after. And with as little as Ella says....it was pretty quiet. Each night we did something different, whether it be a movie night or a walk. One night we did both.

During the movie:



After the walk:



She was exhausted!! She was laying next to me and I heard a snoring and looked over to find her mouth wide open and her sound asleep. It was too funny!

Lauren also picked up a new trick. It totally creeps Dustin out and Josh can't stand to watch her do it.



Yes, she has figured out how to cross her eyes! We were sitting at the dinner table one night and she said, "I can see two mommies". Confused, I looked over at her and busted out. Seriously...it is one of the funniest things to see. And she always has a big smile on her face when she does it!

We've been going on quite a few bike rides this summer. Lauren is getting really good on hers and Josh is officially off training wheels! It's so nice to be active with the kids and they love it just as much. The girls are still able to both fit in the bike trailer but I think this may be our last summer for that. It's a bit of a tight squeeze.





Ella's hair is still as curly as ever. She has the most adorable ringlets on really humid days. I'm still trying to figure out how to do her hair with all those curls!



I'll post some more tomorrow (I promise) but here's just a few other pics from our Summer of 2011!