the fabric of our lives: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Broken

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

Ground has been broken for Nathan's new office!

(even if you can't see it here in this picture!)

My parents got in a pretty bad motorcycle accident mid-August... motorcycle vs. bambi. They won, but at a price. Since they were in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone coverage, they ended up riding their bike another 45+ minutes, across a ferry, to the nearest town (and cell coverage) and then waited an hour and a half for my brother and his wife to come get them! My mom ended up with an open fracture of her kneecap which required surgery (imagine putting a gun to your knee and pulling the trigger... it's about what it looked like...) and both of them ended up with a lot of road rash... dad especially. I can not imagine getting getting back on that bike with a broken kneecap after the accident... We are so blessed that that was the extent of their injuries- bambi wasn't so fortunate. As a result, every morning for the last two weeks of August were spent at their house bandaging their wounds- initially, my dad's dressings needed to be changed twice a day... the damage was so extensive, it took upwards of 2 1/2 hours each time to change the bandages. I was pretty amazed at how quickly the wounds healed (despite my dad developing an allergic reaction to neosporin! Just maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were using almost a full tube daily...) and how quickly my mom regained mobility- they're tough for being in their early 60's! All that background to show this one picture...

*note the bandaged hands* He said on the way to Walmart that he was not going to ride one, it just wasn't necessary, but it was so painful for him to walk, that he quickly succumbed... Thank goodness that they were wearing full face helmets! Their helmets were completely scratched all the way around. They did have their armored jackets on, but not their riding pants or gloves... if they had worn those, they'd have walked away untouched.

Bryson being such a good big brother and being imaginative...

This way they can both swing!

Hailee has finally learned to walk at 15 months... and with that, has come a whole new need for exploration...

Even at other peoples houses.

She's discovered our sippy cup drawer, which keeps her quite entertained...

This is not my most favorite phase...

good thing she's so cute!

Eli has started building man caves...

It is his first task in the morning most days, and he is most put out when I am heartless enough to put the pillows back in their proper place.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Lemonade... $.25!

Bryson has been begging me all summer to have a lemonade stand. Last night he made the signs, and was bound and determined that today was THE day! How could I deny? We made some cookies and he hung the signs (with the help of his friends) around the neighborhood...

Little brothers are not so good for business though...

They tend to devour the inventory...

My sweet brother Perry and his whole family came out of their way to patronize his little establishment, as well as my parents, neighborhood kids, and a few random people driving by... he ended up making $8 + change! A rather productive day for him!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Riverfront Park

Yesterday we took the kiddo's to Riverfront Park... They loved it. Eli was sooo excited to be big enough to go on the dragon roller coaster- I video'd it (no still pics)-his reaction was priceless... from genuine excitement to sheer terror in no time flat! He claims he loved it, but the video says otherwise. The paradox of the day was that Eli was big enough for the roller coaster (which was pretty stinking fast), but not big enough for the jump house. Sure.

Nathan volunteered to take the boys on the tilt-a-hurl...

Which meant that I got to take them on the spider...

obviously this was a before picture... after, I was as green as Eli's shirt... and the kid running the ride skipped our turn to get off, so we got a double ride- it was purely awful!

How can kids walk away unscathed?

This pic was taken through the fence because I was laying down, trying to recover from the spider... *blegh*

I'm pretty sure this train (which operated at 0.01 mph) was the highlight of the day for the boys...

Daddy took the mini golf way too seriously...

She was mildly entertained, but happy to be outside. Maybe next year she'll be big enough to ride some rides.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Grandma D

My Grandma passed away June 26th. She was always Grandma D to me- the 'D' was for Dorothy- my mom's mom. She was an amazing woman. Hard working, thoughtful, giving, honest, independent and a fighter. She was never afraid to tell you like it was and was passionate about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in September... being the fighter that she was, and despite her age, she started chemo and radiation. She'd beaten cancer twice before, why not this time too??

It was all going well until she caught pneumonia and ended up in the hospital late in December... from there she went to my moms house 'until she could regain her strength', but she never left. If anyone was going to beat it, Grandma D would have. I'm still amazed at how long she held on for though- When she was discharged from the hospital, I was sure it would just be a few weeks... in fact, before we left for California, we went up to visit Grandma, because I thought it would probably be the last time we'd see her. For months after that, we were constantly thinking it would be 'any day now'. My mom frequently commented that Grandma was going to outlive us all. Really, if she wouldn't have gotten pneumonia, I'm sure she would have beaten the cancer- she was such a fighter.

I think Bryson will keep faint memories of her, but I don't know that any of the others will- which makes me sad because she was such a good woman and I want her to be remembered. Her funeral wasn't until the end of July. She was buried in the Saltese cemetery which is very fitting for her- rustic and country, no frills- very Grandma D...

On her 87th birthday this year:

On her birthday last year:

{very} random memories I have of Grandma D:

I used to suck the 1st finger on my right hand- Grandma told me if I didn't stop, it would grow to be a foot long. She also used to tell me if I ate the watermelon seeds, I'd grow a watermelon in my belly.

She loved baseball, her team was the Mariners.

As a kid, when my parents went out of town and she would come stay at our house I remember making polish sausages from Costco in the microwave.

She used to yodel. She had 8 track cassettes of yodeling and she'd yodel right along- it was impressive!

Grandma used to clean apartments after people moved out at the complex where she lived in Seattle- she'd find all sorts of things, often times under the fridge, and often give them away- hence the saying, "grandma found it under the fridge." I have a food processor that she found "under the fridge."

She would go to thrift stores and get the best butter knives... ones with a broad blade for scooping what you're going to spread. I have 2 she gave me- I cherish them and think of her every time I use them.

When school was getting ready to start, she'd always go shopping and get school supplies for the grand kids/great grand kids- pens, pencils, crayons, notebooks- she loved to give in this way.

She loved horses- she was absolutely fascinated with them and their beauty. When I lived in Kentucky (and even after I moved to Washington,) she used to call me every year during the Kentucky Derby.

She was an amazing gardener- a true green thumb. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit that from her- my thumbs are black- but I'm working on it! The spot of ground in front of her apartment was filled with all sorts of plants, flowers, vegetables, berries... she had a gift for gardening.

Four generations, taken in January (just before we left for California)