Letter to Uncle Cody

The girls helped me write an email to my little brother tonight.  Here's what I transcribed:

Ellie, "Adios amigos!  Adios amigos!"  I don't think she knows Spanish well. 

Annie giggles and corrects, "Hola!"  Ellie added, "Hola pato!"  Since we have taken to addressing ducks in Spanish around these parts.  "Hola pato!  Hola pato!  Hola paco!" she says.  Don't know why it suddenly switched to 'paco'.   Annie, "How are you doing?  In Uruguay?"  Now she's jumping up and down and giggling.  Isaac is in bed for the night, and Owen's lying on the bed getting fussy 'cause nobody's holding him.  I'm prodding Annie to talk about Conference.  Annie says, "Hola."  This is working well.  "Hola pato!" hijacks Ellie, "That's like hello or goodbye for ducks."

Annie finally stops giggling long enough to say, "I got Bingo on one of my Conference papers!"  She ROCKED Conference Bingo.  Jelly beans were consumed in mass quantities.  Annie had a friend call to play about an hour into the first session on Saturday, but she could not be torn away from all of her papers and Conference packet stuff for another half hour.  We have pages of decorated ties, tally marks for most popular words, and coloring pages of President Monson. 

Ellie is singing a song to Owen to try to calm him down on the bed.  It went, "You are stinky, stinky, stinky and you cry, cry, cry!"  It did not seem to help.

"He he he.  It did not seem to help," Annie giggles as she reads over my shoulder. She is now dissolved into a pile of giggles on the floor after reading the last sentence about her reading over my shoulder. 
"When is Cody gonna come home?" Ellie whines, "I want to go on a cruise already!"  Yeah Cody, way to hold up the cruise. :-)  Now she's singing you the "Months of the Year" song she learned at Preschool.  Now she's pointing out where she's finding the word 'Ellie' in the email, "Why did you spell Ellie?" she asks, but then is distracted and starts singing the months again.

Annie is still giggling.  "I'm reading along!" she laughs.  [Reads over my shoulder].  More giggling.  More giggling still.  [Reads over my shoulder].  Loud laughter.  But not the kind cautioned against in Conference.  :-)  Both girls are now in a pile on the floor, laughing.  I don't think Ellie knows what Annie's laughing about, but she's joined.  I told them they now have one last chance to say something to Uncle Cody before bedtime, "I love you Cody!" Ellie exclaims.  She's now singing the Months song again.

Annie giggles upon reading that, but had said a few seconds ago, "I watched half of both parts of Conference."  [Reads over my shoulder].  Giggles.  She really did love Conference, and would proudly show you the papers with the words she heard, and a couple notes from talks. ("Helping" was what she got from one talk.  Score . . . Family Home Evening tomorrow is now on Service!)

"Bye Cody!  Bye Cody!" Ellie exclaims while blowing kisses!  Then she looks at the computer screen and says, "Thanks that we can see you!"  Pause.  "Wait?"  Did she just figure out this wasn't Skype like on Christmas?!

"I love you Cody," says Ellie again while Annie's deciding what to say.  "YAY!  ELLIE! E-L-L-I-E!" she exclaims as she sees her name typed.

"Uncle Doh-doh," Annie giggles.

"I Love You, Doh doh!" Ellie loudly laughs.

"And now she's calling you Doh-dy," Annie laughs as Ellie dances around the room singing, "I love Doh-dy, I love Doh-dy." 

"Dad says I used to have imaginary friends called Doh-doo and Iah," Annie says incredulously.  Greg brought them up when they were calling you 'Doh-doh'.  I don't know if she believes him.  Remember Doh-doo?  He drove a car.  And was married to Iah.  I think Annie's my only kid who's had imaginary friends.  Oldest child thing, maybe? 

"Have fun," Annie finally settles on her parting words, "Have a good mission!"  She thinks for a second, "I love you Cody. Bye."

There you have it, a combined family letter. :-)  Enjoy the attached pictures of poor Isaac in his cast, and Owen on his third month birthday.

Annie reads the last sentence, "Does he even know we have an Owen?" Annie asks.  I assure her I've sent you letters and pictures about him, and you're aware of Owen's existence.

Love you Bug!

Random Pictures and Proud Mama Moment

Greg was working late last week, so I threw a towel down on our bed and let the kids have a 'picnic' for dinner while we watched a movie.  Then they got to all take a bath together.  They had so much fun!

My little helper!  He's LOVING to wash walls and vacuum anything!

Mmmmm, cupcakes!  The kids were pretty psyched about the brownies and cupcakes at our Labor Day celebration at Grandma's house!

Isaac's becoming more of a bookworm by the day -- here he is reading on Labor Day with Aunt Talina and Uncle David.

Isaac and Ellie got a hold of one of Uncle Cody's old helmets.  Ellie is a tiny bit crazy.  :-)

Do NOT get between Ellie and her basketball -- she will take you DOWN!

The girls LOVE going out in the garden with Grandma!

Unrelated to our Labor Day festivities, this weekend has given me one of my great 'beaming with pride' motherhood moments.  Annie gave a talk in Primary this last Sunday.  We'd read through it a few times, she read it on her own, and we practiced it aloud.  I was a bit nervous though about it taking too long, since she was reading it a bit slow and about the kids not being able to hear her 'cause she was speaking so softly.  Primary came though, and with only one small stumble, my little girl read her talk from start to finish perfectly.  She spoke right into the microphone, at a perfect tempo and volume.  She's a born public speaker!  She'll also be singing a small solo in Sacrament Meeting in a couple weeks.  The confidence I saw in her as she got up and gave her talk was one of those things that made this Mom so happy I felt like I was gonna burst.  :-)

And if you want to check out Annie reading the talk she gave in Primary last week, it's posted on youtube now . . . at over 3 1/2 minutes long though, I'm guessing Aunts and Grandmas are the only ones who'll make it through . . . :-)  (While making the video she tried to do more from memory, which made her stumble a bit more, but it was so cute!)

Happy Birthday Bug!

I call Isaac 'Bug' all the time -- but before my son, there was the first Bug in my life.  My baby brother Cody.  Or Cody-bug as we liked to call him.  Which annoyed my Dad.  Who prefer we try and think up a more masculine nickname.  Like Snake.

Today is Cody's birthday.  I won't see him today (or anytime soon), since he's off gallivanting through Uruguay.  He's on an LDS mission, with a bit more than a year left.  He's having an amazing time, we get to email with him every week, and I send him more pictures that he knows what to do with. 

I've been thinking about him today.  I miss him.  Mainly, I miss my girls' "Uncle Cody", who is one of their best friends and favorite people in the whole wide world.  He's been gone nearly a year, and they still talk about him all the time.  Anyone who dares try to play with them in the sandbox, be prepared to be told all the dozens of ways you're not as good at it as Uncle Cody.  Every single time Ellie says it prayer, it goes like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the food.  Please bless Cody on a mission."  Every time.  (Even if it's not meal time).  

I'm a little sad he's not here with us on his birthday -- but at the same time, I'm thrilled that he's having the time of his life celebrating in an entirely different hemisphere, surrounded by new friends and a lot of fun people.  People kind enough to invite him over to help kill and roast a pig.  And a companion who bought a chocolate cheesecake.  It makes me happy that other people are looking out for him when I can't be :-)  (And frankly, if he'd been home with me, I would've NEVER let him kill and roast a pig -- so he's probably better off where he is.  I may have given him cheesecake though.)

Happy Birthday Bug!

My Baby Brother and My Poor Sick Babies

First, something that made me smile:

This was a story my little brother sent from his mission today.  His Spanish is coming along incredibly, but he's still learning to pick up all the words he hears . . .
"We were doing contacts and we arrived to this door with a lot of barking dogs. A lady came to the door, we introduced ourselves, but she said she was busy. She than said something very quickly in Spanish, something about bathing her dogs . . . or so i thought. I quickly piped in 'Can we help you?'  To which my comp turns to me and says, 'She is about to take a bath!' I quickly added, 'Can we help with your dogs?' :-). Turns out she had actually said that she was about to take a bath and she has crazy dogs."
Oops! :-)  He he he.

Less smiling:

Greg took Ellie to Instacare yesterday, after a day of nonstop crying, screaming and whining.  She has a raging ear infection.  Of course.  When he first got there and was waiting for their turn to be seen, he called to say, "Ellie seems fine now!  She's bouncing off the walls!"  I explained, with the wisdom of a mother who has seen her kids miraculously healed many a times in the waiting room at the doctor's office, after you've paid the co-pay but are still waiting your turn, that this is quite common.  I don't know the why or how they do it, but they always seem better when they get in front of the doctor, and you're sitting there, haggard, trying to explain why your toddler is swinging from the chandelier (if, you know, they had one in the exam room) and you've brought them in to see a doctor for some imaginary illness.  You explain, almost pleadingly, "You have to understand, she cried ALL day, and she didn't sleep last night . . . " as the doctor stares at your cartwheeling child.  It's just a thing kids do.  I can't explain it, but I can attest to the phenomena.  Ellie did have something diagnosable though, so at least Greg didn't look crazy for bringing her in for an appointment.

Then last night, in the middle of the night, Annie wakes up in sheer terror.  I would've assumed she'd had a nightmare by the sound of her frantic cries.  Instead I found out she was running a very high fever, soaking through her pajamas with sweat.  She was having a hard time breathing, really struggling to move air in and out . . . we got out the nebulizer and gave her a treatment and she seemed to be doing much better.  Although the coughing was still there.  She fell asleep in my arms, where I held her for the rest of the night (so I could listen to her breathing, which had vastly improved with the treatments).  We're heading into the doctors again today.  She missed her preschool Valentine's party this morning, that she's been looking forward to and spent hours making Valentine's for all week . . . poor kid.

And now Isaac just woke up from his morning nap.  After only 30 minutes.  That is just so not okay . . . I'm refusing to acknowledge his 'end of nap talking', and will insist he remain in there until he falls asleep again . . . or until he starts to freak out . . . 

Letter to His Niece

There's pretty much no doubt that Elder Cody is the cutest Uncle/Missionary in pretty much the entire world . . .

(The pictures of Cody and Annie are 1.) them in the sandbox, 2.) Annie hiding behind the table and Cody finding her, 3.) Cody 'riding' on Annie's bike and Annie freaking out that he's 'too big!' and 4.) Annie on Cody's shoulders.)

Listed In Order . . .

This morning, after breakfast, I pulled out some cookie dough from the refrigerator that we'd made earlier this week.  I was going to let it sit out and soften up a bit, then have the girls help me make cookies for Sunday dinner at my parent's house tonight. 
Annie came in, saw the cookie dough and squealed, "Yay!  Cookies!  My favorite!"  I explained we'd be making them for later, and she was begrudgingly okay with that.  "You know Mom," she said, "Cookie are my very favorites.  Out of desserts we eat, I mean."
She started to walk out of the kitchen, the suddenly turned and exclaimed, "Wait! Cupcakes!"  She took a breath, seemed to settle on that and then clarified calmly, "Okay, cupcakes, then cookies."  Then turned to walk out again.  Suddenly stopping in her tracks, she spun around again and exclaimed, "Wait! Ice cream!  Then cake!  Then cupcakes.  Then cookies," then after a pause, "then muffins."  She stood there for a second and seemed satisfied with the current rankings, then turned to leave the kitchen again.  Right as she passed the table though, I suddenly called out, "What about brownies?"
She sighed, then said, "Then brownies."  Then left, back into the front room to watch "Dinosaur Train" while I did breakfast dishes.
About ten seconds later though, a streak of blonde came charging back into the kitchen, stopped right by me at the dishwasher and exclaimed, "Brownies, before muffins!  Brownies, and then muffins.  Okay?"  Then without another word she went back to the couch and watched the rest of her show.

Glad we got that all sorted out though!  :-)

Cody's Last Week

I know the blog is awfully picture-y as of late -- blame it on that whole 'worth a thousand words' thing.  Actually, it's more like I can't come up with the words to adequately describe this last week, but these pictures make me smile.  Which is better than crying.  OK, actually, some of them make me cry too.  But not horribly sad tears, not exactly happy, joyful tears either though.  But 'life is how it's supposed to be, my heart is full, if not a bit sensitive and raw, but filled with pride and love.'  My baby brother is now in Argentina.  It's just sinking in that I really won't see him for two whole years.  I'll miss him, but if it was just me, I'd be OK with that.  But the thought of my girls not seeing him for two years is a lot for me to take.  They love Cody.  Adore him.  He's their best friend, and I know they don't even really get that he's gone yet.  Although, last night during family prayer, Greg said, "Please bless Cody in the mission field . . ."  Ellie jumped up and shouted, "No mission field!  Cody missionary!"  Two years will go by fast though, and it will be good.  He won't really be that far away for the kids -- we'll talk about him all the time, write letters, read letters and we took lots of pictures and videos.  Including one five minute long video of him reading the girls their bedtime stories, so they can curl up in their pajamas some nights and watch Cody read them nursery rhymes for awhile.  We made Build-a-Bears that have his voice recorded in them, so the girls can here his voice as they cuddle up with their prized teddy bears.  (Isaac's says, "Hey Isaac!  This is Cody!  You don't know this yet, but I'm your favorite Uncle!"  It makes me smile every time I hear it.  Add to that his little bear is in a missionary suit and tag, and my Mom can't stop crying every time she looks at it.)

Anyway, on to the pictures (and a few videos).  Monday night Cody came over to read the girls a bedtime story.  It was very sweet and a special time for him and his nieces.  But Tuesday night was by far the most memorable of the week for me.  Cody was set apart as a missionary -- the immediate family and my grandparents met at the Church, where our Stake President conducted a beautiful meeting where each of us had a few minutes to tell Cody how we were feeling, any advice we might have, or any memories of him we wanted to share.  There were a lot of tears.  Like, we emptied a kleenex box kinda sob fest.  And we laughed a lot.  'Cause that's how my family handles intense situations.  You should see us at the hospital or in an emergency -- we're hilarious.  At one point Cody choked up on the words, "It's so hard to leave -- I mean, we're all so close!"  My Mom turned to us girls and moaned, "Why couldn't you have been meaner to him!?"  It was deeply emotional, spiritual and amazing.  I think it'll be one of my most treasured memories of my family, us all so open and raw about how we were feeling.  And laughing and crying together.  The Stake President complimented Cody on the farewell talk he'd given in Church the Sunday before -- commenting that they hope that when young men come back from their mission that they're able to give the caliber of talk that Cody gave before even leaving.  He was proud of who Cody was and who he was going to become.  A special blessing was given to Cody, and he left that room a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We met up afterwards at my house (since I had kids at home who were with a babysitter -- the first Greg and I've ever hired!  And then she refused to take our money and insisted on doing it for free -- meaning Greg and I have still never spent money on babysitting.  The girls had an amazing time with her though, and we'll definitely have her over again to watch the kids -- and hopefully one of these days she'll even take our money!)   Anyway, we let the girls stay up to play and eat dessert with the adults.  So, by 10ish or so, Ellie was extremely slap happy and funny.  And moody, but in an amusing way.  Cody crashed on the floor sleeping, while the girls used him as a stage, a surf board, a trampoline, a table and a diving board to jump off of.  Uncle David commented with a smile, "Even comatose, he's their favorite person in the room."  Ellie stood on him for several minutes being 'a ballerina' -- when Annie tried to climb up too, Ellie defended her territory pretty fiercely . . .

This video was taken when Ellie was especially tired . . . Great Grandpa was growling like a bear, which would initially thrill her and she'd happily shriek and run to Dad to 'be protected'.  Then she'd get upset with him.  Then laugh again and shriek happily.  Then get mad at Grandpa again . . .

These first two pictures were from Monday of Cody reading to the girls.

 Then just a random one from that night of Isaac -- who was supposed to be asleep, but was refusing to sleep and instead would just smile at me sweetly anytime I'd look into his bassinet.

 This is from Tuesday night -- this is the first picture of Cody in his name tag.

This is Ellie being 'a ballerina' on her Uncle's back . . .

And Annie . . .

Ellie using Cody's head as a pumpkin display table -- we all worried she was going to drop it on his head and he'd end up in the hospital his first night as a missionary :-)

Ellie using his head to balance on . . .

Ellie shrieking under Dad's protection when Great Grandpa was scaring her . . .

Very tired Elder . . .

Grandma and Cody trying to mimic Annie's famous funny face (but not the one she's making here)

Great Grandpa trying to say goodbye to Ellie, but by 10:30, she was just done.

Wednesday morning we all woke up bright and early to go to breakfast with Cody before dropping him off at the airport.  We'd all expected the airport to be the most emotional part of seeing Cody off on his mission, but it really turned out that with Tuesday night being the real high point of our goodbyes, we all pretty much made it through Wednesday morning activities without any more than a few random tears . . . 

 Ellie got a pretty tasty looking belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast . . .

 Elder Cody -- how cute is he?!  :-)

Cody with his beloved nieces . . .

Star, Annie & Cody

Cody with his proud Dad and Mom.

 Ellie getting kisses from Great Grandpa Pennell

Ellie with Great Grandma Betty

I just liked this pictures of Cody

Star and Annie showing off their lip gloss

Grandma & Cody

Another Grandma with Cody :-)

After breakfast, the immediate family headed to the airport to drop Cody off.  Unfortunately Lacy couldn't be there, since she was back at school, and David had to be at work -- but everyone else was able to make it (Annie missed her preschool Halloween party, but it was worth it . . . )

Here's Grandma & Isaac in the airport

Cody with his proud Dad

Ellie was marching around the big open space in a circle -- she insisted that Cody join her in the marching.  When he stopped for a second, she marched up behind him, kicked the back of his foot and ordered, "March!"

Here's Cody with my little family.  Ellie was mad she wasn't taking the picture, and we tried to placate her by letting her take pictures with a camera phone, but she wasn't happy about it . . .

So sweet -- Cody and Dad hugging one last time (or close to a last time -- turned out there was lots of hugging).

The family walking Cody to the security line . . .

Star, Cody, Talina and me posing for one last sibling picture (minus Lacy)

 Last family picture for two years -- Star, Mom, Cody, Lacy, Dad, Isaac, me, Greg, Talina and Ellie.

Cody with Ellie and Annie.

From here, Cody went through security while we watched on -- I'm sure he felt a little awkward :-)  Then we watched him and the other Elder he met up with, go up the escalator past security until we couldn't see him anymore.  My Mom got a bit teary eyed here, but it was in a sweet "There he goes -- with his new friend" kinda way, and not a sobbing, "My baby is gone!" kinda way.  We were all very proud of her :-) 
This morning we got his first email . . . if you're interested you can check it out on the mission blog we're keeping for him: codyinuruguay.blogspot.com/  Upon reading the email for the first time, my Mom said, "He sounds really grown up, doesn't he?" I guess that's at least part of the point of the next two years . . .

Week in Pictures

We've been busy lately.  It's been good -- even if at times, in my sleep-deprived state, it's been a bit overwhelming.  I can usually tell how eventful it's been by how many pictures I download off my camera -- and with over 500 pictures in less than a week, you can imagine it's been a bit crazy.  (And yes, written out, acknowledging that I took over 500 pictures in 5 days, does make me feel a tiny bit nuts.)  :-)
We had a town Halloween Carnival, my baby brother's Mission Farewell, a fun trip to see and ride giant horses with Greg's family, plus a final trip to the zoo with Uncle Cody before he leaves for Uruguay for two years.

This is Isaac and I with 'Grandma' Edna -- the woman I grew up next door to my entire childhood.  She was the ideal surrogate Grandma -- we made cookies and worked in the yard and she had pictures of my sisters and I up right alongside her 'actual' grandchildren in her home.  She's proud to be Great Grandma Edna to my three kids.

I love the look Isaac's giving his Great Grandpa  :-)

Chillin' with Uncle Cody

The closest we got to a posed picture of Uncle Cody with all three kids before he left -- Ellie was less than cooperative.

But she was happy to dance while making ridiculous faces for the camera.

Isaac and Mommy -- my cold sore-ridden lips are improving rapidly, but MAN, they still hurt!

Two peas in a pod . . .

Cody looking like a used car salesman, with Star, who just looks cute.

Great Grandma Betty and Isaac

Sibling picture -- me, Star, Cody, Lacy and Talina

Several pictures of my (apparently far too affectionate) family trying to either kiss, or avoid being kissed by, other members of the family.

The girls dressed up for the town Halloween Carnival.

Isaac and Aunt Andrea petting the single LARGEST horse I'd ever seen in my life.

Here's Greg, Annie and Ellie riding on the 2100 lb. Belgian draft horse (bigger than your average Clydesdale, to put it in perspective).

The girls climbed in with Isaac into his crib.  Is it just me, or does Isaac look GINORMOUS!?

Annie and Isaac -- she now finds any excuse to go and pick him up onto her lap like this.  She hasn't tried carrying him anywhere yet.

My girls dolled up in their Halloween finery.

Cody's last Hogle Zoo trip for the next two years -- here's the requisite 'Do You Measure Up?' gorilla shot.

Isaac apparently measures up quite well with an infant gorilla.

My favorite picture from the zoo -- Ellie (making a crazy face), Cody, Annie and Talina (who took a 'long lunch' from her nearby work) on the bronze tigers.

Uncle Cody and Annie on the carousel