Tidbits

I have several random odds & ends I've thought about sharing on the blog lately and just haven't gotten around to doing it. So here are a few tidbits from my life lately, in no particular order:

1) Katie & I had so much fun when she and Piper came to visit for a few days at the beginning of the month. Katie is one of those precious life-long friends who, regardless of time and life that happens between visits, is always comfortable to just pick up wherever we last left off. We grew up across the street from one another and our parents practically raised us and our 2 sisters all together. It is CRAZY that we're now raising our own little girls together, who are just 6 days apart in age. We had such a good time together, spent way too much time shopping with two babies, and both decided that we could never handle twins :-)

Just before we walked out the door to go back to the airport, we realized we didn't have a single picture of the two of us - so here's our one and only attempt. There is just too much else to think about with these two yahoos!

Piper shared one of her bows with Caroline. She just can't quite pull if off like Piper, though!

Thanks for making the trip, ladies! We had so much fun and can't wait for our next visit!

Tidbit #2: Caroline's favorite pastime these days seems to be making big messes! She LOVES to pull things out of containers, so we try to keep things accordingly accessible/inaccessible.

This is what my house ends up looking like most days. This was before 8am!

Another example - emptying Papa's magazines & newspapers on our last trip to Missouri. She doesn't stop until she reaches the bottom!

3) Last week, we trecked over to the largest county fair in Tennessee. Dan has a particular fondness for county fairs, and I have come to enjoy them myself over the years. He was especially excited to bring Caroline to her first ever, so we had the date on the calendar for weeks. We had a great time, Caroline got to see lots of animals up close and personal (which she had very mixed feelings about), and Mommy & Daddy were able to take in enough fried food to sufficiently clog our arteries for quite some time. All were happy and exhausted at the end of the evening!

4) We're working on the transition to table food these days. It's quite exciting for Caroline, and rather stressful for mom. I'm struggling with ideas of what to feed the kid (who is quite finicky, inspite of my greatest efforts to make her eat or at least try a little bit of everything), and the process just seems to take F.O.R.E.V.E.R.. Does it really take 30 minutes to eat one little scrambled egg? But there are good parts, like when I can throw a handful of cheerios on her tray and let her go at them while I make dinner. I do like that.

One thing we are especially working on right now is learning not to throw food on the floor. Why is it that they learn to throw the food so naturally, but learning the opposite...not coming quite so easily. Any tips from you veteran moms out there? I've taught her the sign language for "all done," which seems to be helping, but I'm very open to other ideas :)

Perhaps it would help if she wasn't so darn cute while getting her bald little self into trouble!

Yogurt

I think I've created a monster. I try not to share my food too often so that she doesn't start to "beg" from others, but I might have slipped up a little here. And yogurt is a particular favorite...what was I thinking? Oh well, at least she's cute while begging, right?

Coupon Day

Caroline looooves coupon day around here. And since the mess keeps her thoroughly entertained while I get my couponing done, I'm happy to oblige her.

"Here Mommy....I think this one is expired."

family time...extended....

Sorry to keep you all in suspense like that. I'm sure it was torturous.

My big news? Well, if you didn't happen to know who that was in the picture on the last post, let me fill you in. That was Dan's Dad - AKA Grandpa J. And the big news? Well, he's here in Tennessee! And the even bigger news? He's staying! And even bigger news than that? Grandma (AKA Mom) is moving here, too! MOVING!!!!!! From California to Tennessee!!!!

If you can't tell from all of my exclamation points, we're rather excited :-)

Long story short, Dennis accepted a promotion within the company he's been with for several years now, which landed him a job in a smaller town just outside of Nashville. Can you even BELIEVE it?? So he arrived late last week and began work yesterday. Karee is still at home in Cali, seeing Amanda off to France (crazy kid), and wrapping things up with her job, house, friends, life...before she joins Dennis here in a couple months. If you think of them, would you please pray that God would clearly direct them in this crazy, hectic time apart? They have some big decisions to make, lots to do, and a LOT of miles between them.

So there you have it...for the first time in our married lives, we're going to have family living in the same state! Less than an hour away. CRAZINESS. Really, really great craziness.

Family Time

Inspite of the circumstances, I was blessed with a wonderful time at home and in Iowa these past few days. It was a bit hectic, but we made it work. Monday morning I flew into KC, then drove up to Iowa on Tuesday, drove back Wednesday evening, hung out at home Thursday, and flew back to Nashville on Friday. Shwew! Caroline was a champion traveler, so to whomever was specifically praying that she would do well with that, I say THANK YOU!! You must have a direct line :-)

I was especially blessed to be able to see so much extended family in our short time there. 7 of the 8 of Grandma's children were there (with their spouses), 18 out of the 20 grandchildren were there (many with their spouses), 25 of the 31great-grandchildren were there (including Caroline!), and even the 1 great-great grandson was in attendance. Just that in itself speaks volumes of the legacy my Grandmother leaves behind. We are quite the bunch!


Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I'm so thankful I was able to be there, but I am now very grateful to be back home. Also, we have some very exciting changes that are already in the works here in TN...but I'm going to leave you hanging with that for right now. There is, however, a very big hint in this picture I took this evening...

goodbye

My Grandma Schoon got to go HOME yesterday morning and finally meet her sweet Jesus face to face. Her once blind eyes could see Him, and her previously frail body was able to dance & sing in His presence.

I don't know exactly how it all works, but I like to imagine that Grandpa was there waiting for her with a hug & a smile, welcoming her to the place she has longed for all her earthly life.

It's hard to imagine this world without my Grandma in it. It's hard to watch my mom say goodbye to her own mom. It's hard for me to accept the fact that Caroline will never really know her like I did, or that any other children God chooses to bless us with will never be held in her arms.

It's hard to say goodbye to someone who has loved me all of my life.

But while it's difficult on so many levels, I can truly say that I'm not even a little bit sad for Grandma. She is so incredibly happy now. She's healthy and whole.

And I know I'll see her again someday. Thank you, Jesus, for that amazing promise. It is the only way I can face this life, and death.

Girl Time!

Pardon my lull in blogging this week, but I am quite busy enjoy some girl time with these two ladies and miss Piper's mama. Caroline & Piper were born just 6 days apart, so Katie & I are getting a good feel for what it would be like to have twins. And I think we've both decided it would be a LOT of work!

I'll be back in a few days - with lots more adorable pictures of the girls I'm sure! Does it get any better than TWO bald baby girls?