A bittersweet weekend....
April 2, 1977: My parents were married.
April 2, 2011: My dad is forced to spend his first anniversary without his beautiful bride on this earth.
Despite the heartache and angst our family is faced with, we were blessed beyond words to make the trip back to Iowa to be together. Unfortunately, due to sickness, Steph, Ava, and Grady needed to stay in Green Bay but we look forward to the next time we can ALL be together.
Here are a few pictures of us embracing and taking advantage of every moment that we have together....
Brecken was asleep by the time Emma arrived late Friday night, so you can only imagine his EXCITEMENT upon seeing her when he woke up Saturday morning! One of the first things they did was "make pancakes" on the floor with plant dishes. Oh, the imagination of kiddos :)
Next, the moved down to the basement to play with all of Grandma's toys. They both loved shooting hoops...
.... Hmmm.... I think Emma went in a little TOO far to retrieve her ball :)
We had BEAUTIFUL weather and tried to enjoy it as much as possible. Here is Emma "twisting" in the swing....
Swinging...
Checking out the remodeled tree house that Papa has been working so hard on! Unfortunately, we didn't get any full view pictures to show how AWESOME it is. It is a two-floor play house that will eventually have electricity and beds and LOTS of fun memories. Dad originally built it when us three kids were younger and MANY summer nights and weekends were spent there.... Mom and Dad wanted to recreate the amazing memories we had out there for the grandkids...
HI DADDY!
Looking down....
Running and enjoying the sun...
Swinging
Emma helps Uncle Aaron move a LOT of firewood!
No trip to the farm is complete without a TRACTOR RIDE :)
You will notice that Emma is driving..... She ACTUALLY drove! She did great, despite the jerks. Brecken kept saying "Woaaaaaaah!" and "Oh no!" :)
When we decide to come home to spend the anniversary weekend with Dad, we didn't know that the Pekin Carnival was happening the same weekend. How wonderful was that! Emma and Brecken were VERY excited about it and there were lots of fun things for the kids to do. The highlight was the gigantic slide!
Even Uncle Aaron took a turn :)
Bouncy castle.... Which Emma loved and Brecken tried a few seconds before he left the bouncy castle scared :)
Love this photo!
Emma the Pekin cheerleader
Emma the panther
Brecken the Pekin football player
Oh boy.... The "Book flip" game.... So we're walking through and Brecken sees several books on the ground. He immediately heads in that direction saying "books, books, books." We read the games' directions and you basically get a very large plastic coin to flip on the mound of books and whatever book the coin lands on, you get. Easy enough.... We think he'll get it. We patiently wait in line (and when I say "patiently, I mean Brecken was squirming and jumping out of his skin to get to the front of the line). We let Emma go first thinking she could model for him what to do so he would better understand. BAD IDEA. After watching everyone else pick their books up off the floor, Brecken got to the front of the line and sauntered closer to the books.... He looked them over, found a book with a frog on it, and said "FROG!" while picking up the book. We then tried to reel him back in and explain how the game works.... What we were trying to say was, "Take the coin and put it on the book, and then you get the book back." What he heard was, "Mommy just took my book out of my hand after I thought I got it and now I'm really upset and frustrated and confused." The conclusion involved a complete melt down, followed by a temper tantrum, followed by intense crying.... You get the picture. Grrrrrrrrr. To wrap this story up with a happy ending: Brecken got his frog book.
Playing the duck game. Brecken and Emma both won tickets!
Emma's highlight: Cotton candy
Did Emma share? NO.
Did Emma find cotton candy in her ear hours later? YES.
Brecken loved his root beer float...
Back at Gamma and Papa's house, we ate some Torinos pizza, hung out, and watched basketball....
After an exhausting day, everyone else has been asleep for hours! I'm up, still unable to sleep despite the fact that I feel SO TIRED! I truly do NOT know what to do about my inability to sleep but hope I find a cure soon!