Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter

I remember every Easter buying each one of you a new Easter outfit. We always went to Sunday school and church and it took forever trying to get you all ready and then myself too. I usually baked cinnamon rolls or something quick. Plus if I had to nurse one of you, get you all dressed, wash you up, change diapers and try and get ready myself, one or two of you (usually the boys) would have gotten dirty again or taken off their shoes and we couldn't find them, or something like that would make us run late. It's a miracle we got there all in one piece. Often times I would help in one of the classes at church. I used to write plays for church, be in plays, teach Sunday school, or help out in some capacity. I even dressed up as a clown and acted goofy in the toddler class once and performed puppet shows. Holly and I sang together at church also. You all looked so cute in your new outfits. Do you remember getting up in front of church and singing songs about Jesus with your Sunday school class?

Later we always had an Easter egg hunt sometimes outside, sometimes inside depending on the weather. Later I would sneak and put your Easter baskets on your bed to find. I would put little toys, fruit, and candy in them. You were all so excited and happy. Sometimes I would tell you that I had seen the Easter bunny sneaking around the house. Grandma Bev would usually come over and I would make a ham dinner. We'd have jello, my famous potatoes, rolls, vegetables, and a dessert. I would sing Easter songs to you like "Here comes Peter Cottontail."

In 1986 Christopher was born and Easter came early that year. Your dad wanted to show him off at church and even though I was really tired, we went straight from the hospital to church with him. He was our new Easter gift from God, representing new life from God. We were all so proud of him. He was a little basket of joy!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Holly Remembers...

bike riding on the trails by the lake. Dad would load all of the bikes up and we would drive to the lake and unload all of the bikes. You would be in the middle/ front of the line and dad would be at the very back of the line. We would fly kites by the lake. We would just go to the park to run and play. Family fun night: go to walgreens and pick out a 50 cent candy bar. Go to blockbuster and agree on one movie. Go home and watch TGIF shows and then our movie and eat our special candy bar. I remember going to the Milwaukee museum one time. I remember at the house on Lincoln. Dancing and singing to the cassette tape Bullfrogs and Butterflies. You telling us stories.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Our kitchen on Lincoln Avenue

Gosh!

I remember we had a nice size kitchen there. Do you remember the geese I stenciled all over the cubboards? Baby blue, white, and red hearts? It took me forever to do that! Our kitchen sink was a stubborn thing! Only a trickle of water came out and instead of your dad calling a plumber to have it fixed, he just figured out a way to use it as is. He would put the dishes in and go to the bathroom, take a nap and mow the lawn, come back and the sink would be filled with water. He would wash the dishes then rinse them with the trickle. I think it stayed like that until we had to fix it when we sold the house. I remember coming home one night from bible study and Marcy and Jenny had been watching you kids. They wanted to be nice and wash the dishes. They didn't have the patience of Job for our sink so they washed them in the bathtub. Ewwe.

I remember many a meals at that old kitchen table. We did everything there from coloring Easter eggs to carving pumpkins and baking pumpkin seeds. You would play with play-dough, silly puddy and make crafts at that table. I remember baking Christmas cookies with all of you kids. I had sprinkles and candies and 5 different colored frostings and I would let you all go to town. I'd let you roll the dough, play with the dough, cut out the shapes, frost them yourselves and eat them. Cassy enjoyed doing that. Well, the girls maybe more than the boys. There wasn't a open space on the counters or table. What a mess! But ah what memories! I still recall the time when I heard Cassy's blood curdling screams when she had fallen into the bushes and cut her chin open. Blood was everywhere and your dad carried her in his arms and pushed everything off the table to lay her down so we could see where the blood was coming from. That was so frightening for me. I hated the thought of her being hurt and in pain. I was terrified. She had to have a specilaist come in order to so up all the layers because it was so deep. He did a great job because you can't even tell now that it ever even happened.

We also had big windows in that kitchen so it would be bright and gay on sunny mornings. I forever had a broom in one hand and a pan in the other! I tried to invent something called the High-chair Benefactor. I was forever cleaning food off the floor and thought I could attach a 1/2 moon plastic tray to the high chair so everything would fall on it and I could just rinse it off, fold it in 1/2 and attach it back to the high chair. I never did though.

A Note from Mom

Hi Kids,

I have started this blog in order to begin reminiscing with you about some of the good/funny/interesting/crazy memories I remember when you were kids. I think it would be good for many reasons, but mostly to serve as a tangible record for those of us whose memories have started to turn gray. Feel free to add things that you remember about growing up on Lincoln Ave. and Conrad court. I love you all and hope God's best for each one of you.

Love,
Mom
xxooxx