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

Yellowstone: The Funky Smell

Lack of Posts

Sorry I've been kinda absent on my blog lately.  I've kinda just been tired and grumpy.  Isaac's been doing this whole 'I'm gonna wake up every hour to hour and a half ALL night long, and you're powerless to stop me!  Bwah ha ha ha!" thing.  All week.  We've tried to break him of nursing ALL night, but the times we try and let Greg get him back to sleep, rather than his typical nursing party on Mom's side of the bed, he just screams while Greg holds him.  And screams.  AND SCREAMS.  For as long as we let him, until I finally break down and moan, "Fine! Just hand him to me and I'll nurse him so he'll stop screaming and we might be able to get to sleep again at some point tonight!"  If I just feed him, he's back asleep in less than two minutes, and I'm back asleep in less than five.  If I try and hold my ground and not nurse him hourly throughout the night (and he's a BIG boy, he doesn't NEED to eat all night long) than I'm up and stressed and listening to my baby scream and then when I finally give in and get him back to sleep it takes me way longer to fall asleep myself.

Top off my lack of sleep with the vacation I still haven't cleaned up from and a house that looks like a cyclone tore through it (or two miniature sized cyclones named Annie and Ellie -- and a larger one named Greg - who God bless him, makes amazingly good food, but trashes my entire kitchen (and sometimes dining area) in the process) :-)  Add to that a giant Relief Society activity I was helping with that's been in the works for months (it was last night -- it went really well, it was a huge relief.)  Which makes for a slightly grumpy, mildly stressed, sleep deprived Mom.  Which isn't fun for anyone. 

And, I'm a tad bit emotional 'cause my baby brother (who is my little girls' bestest friend in the whole wide world) is leaving on Wednesday.  For the next two years.  I'm happy for him, he's going to have an amazing experience in Argentina and then Uruguay.  But having him around has been an integral part of raising my kids.  He's there for them, in the his role as an over grown kid who loves nothing more than splashing around in a wet sandbox for four hours on a Friday afternoon.  And he's gonna be gone.  For two years.  I'm still wrapping my head around that one.  It's probably not helping the slightly grumpy/mildly stressed thing I have going on here.

So, I'm grumpy, but trying not to be.  Tired, but there's nothing I can do about that.  And stressed, but my big Church activity for the year is over and done with, and after Cody leaves on Wednesday, we don't have a lot going on for awhile (well, except Halloween, of course).  But, I still have it pretty good.  Isaac's learning to blow raspberries.  And nobody can stay grumpy watching that.

Cute Kid

I've spent the last few days scanning in pictures from a few of Greg's parent's photo albums.  Many of these were pictures I hadn't seen before, which was really exciting for me.  I actually didn't even know about the existence of these photo albums until a few months ago . . . whereas I've been making Greg go through piles of my photo albums since before we were married.  It was fun to turn the tables (kinda) and make Greg go through piles of his own photo albums now.  :-)

This first picture of Greg (in the yellow hard hat), and his older brother James, was a real find because it was the first time I looked at a picture of Greg or I as a child and thought, "Hey!  That's where Ellie comes from!" 

 Greg and James sleeping.  So sweet!

(And this one really shows off where my girls get their hair color from.)

 Greg dyeing Easter eggs

 This kid wore a LOT of overalls (I'd say at least half of the pictures were of him in overalls).  Like even more than my Mom dressed my baby brother Cody in -- and I didn't think that was possible.

 And a few more of Greg and James sleeping -- how cute are they!?