Definitely NOT the Weekend We Had Planned!

This past weekend was the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering, our all-time favorite festival. Our plan (as is our plan every year) was to buy the weekend passes in advance, and spend pretty much the entire weekend out at Battle Ground. But thennnnnn.....

In the middle of last week my mother-in-law had a minor surgery that turned into a major surgery when they jabbed her with their camera scope thingy and perforated her esophagus! So on Saturday we decided we'd try to just go to the evening Fiddlers show and go see her down in Indy during the day. But then we thought (at the last minute) if we went down in the morning (which when we were thinking it was "right now") we could get back in time for the afternoon show. So we left home, which always takes three hours longer than it should, now that we have two children, and went down to see her. Except I never got to because since we timed it about twenty minutes wrong, Anja was SO tired and in SUCH a bad mood. Martin and I tried going up together while the girls were with my sister-in-law, but we could hear Anja screaming all the way through the hospital. We were then going to take turns going up, but it just wasn't going to happen. But Martin got to visit, and that is obviously the important part. So then we started home but we kind of took a wrong turn that didn't make us LOST, but put us on a longer (but better) route. And while we were on a longer route anyway, we thought we might as well stop for lunch since we were so hungry. So we didn't end up getting home until after 3:00, so we decided to skip the afternoon show but still try for the evening show. Of course, with the evening show starting at 8:00 and the girls' bedtime being between 8:00 and 9:00, that was probably an unrealistic thing to think....

Now you might feel sorry for us for missing out on all that good music, but don't worry! We had no shortage of entertainment here on Alabama Street. Our friendly church neighbors down the street at the Greater Church of Macedonia (or something like that) were having a full-blown revival that started on Thursday night and went all the way to Sunday afternoon! Let me tell you, this place was on fire with love for the Lord. Most of the lyrics to their songs were "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Glory! Jesus!" It was completely awesome. Lots of preaching about the goodness of the Lord, about keeping out the Devil, and about how the Good Lord will always forgive you. You might think, "wow, Martin and Annie skipped the Fiddlers Gathering for a prodestant revival?" Well, not exactly... we heard it all from the comfort of our front porch swing!

On Sunday morning we made it to the 7:30 mass and were able to visit with all sorts of good friends afterward! I loved the visiting missionary priest who gave a very Jesus homily and terrified me into not going to Communion, which I always view as a good thing. And since we evidently hadn't had enough old-fashioned religion yet that weekend, we headed out to Battle Ground for the 10:00 Gospel Sing!! Martin warned me that it was a little bit cheesy, and it wasn't quite what I'd expected, but I was still happy to be there. And it was free! We ate biscuits and gravy with Uncle Kim, saw good musical friends, then headed home for naptime with the intent to return later in the day.

Martin and I fell asleep while the girls slept and we all woke up a little after 2:00. We packed up some lunch for Anja and headed out there... we didn't get there TOO late, but late enough to get in for free! So that was good and it was a gorgeous day. Anja had SUCH a good time running around and she looked so adorable in her very Fiddlers-ish dress! Unfortunately, I'm a dummy and didn't take any pictures.

So it wasn't the All-Fiddlers-All-Weekend time we'd planned on, but all in all, it wasn't a bad weekend either!

Today Laura and I are going to visit our friend Mary who just had a baby boy yesterday! She came to visit us when we had our baby girls, so we've been looking forward to repaying the visit to her. But my mom is coming to watch my girlies and I HAVE to get the dishes done before she gets here or she'll try to do them for me!!!

By the way, my mother-in-law is doing very well!

Schwimmen

Do you ever feel like the thought of all the work needing to be done is almost as exhausting as the work itself? Ugh. That's how I feel right now. I am feeling completely unmotivated. We're going to the pool later with my sister and her kids and I'm just kind of sitting here waiting for that, singing songs to myself like "Winter Wonderland" and "Baby It's Cold Outside" in an effort to keep cool. I figure the heaps and heaps of laundry and dishes can wait until tomorrow when it's forecast to be 85 degrees instead of 100. Actually, I should really just do the dishes... they tend to start stinking if I leave them for more than three weeks. KIDDING!!! KIDDING!!! They are just from breakfast!!

Anyway, my garden is dead. I don't know what happened, but it's all wilty and turning bad shades of brown and yellow. I'm tremendously depressed by this. And if it weren't bad enough that my own garden is dying, I NEVER remember to go to the Farmers Market during the week so I end up buying fruits and veggies at the grocery store, and I always come home with fruitflies and it's gross. You should have seen the fruit flies at the store today swarming around the peaches area. And there weren't even any peaches there because they were moving them to a different spot! They stupid buggers were just warming around empty crates! Blech.

Yesterday we went swimming with my sister and her kidders and it was pretty fun. Anja was okay with it by the time it was time to leave, though she was a little reluctant at the beginning. I think her favorite part was sitting on the towel in the shade passing out cheerios to all her cousins. Today I will be leaving Greta at my mom's house. We've got a heat advisory out on us and I think it's smarter to just leave her to play with her Ooma in the air conditioning.

And speaking of air conditioning, we WERE going to tough out the whole summer, but we've already broken and turned on the A/C. Oh well, with a tiny baby, I say "better safe than frugal!"
I HATE FRUIT FLIES.

Both girls were asleep a little bit ago but I am hearing some suspicious noises through the monitor now, so I think I'll go take a peek through the door. I'm really glad that Greta is sleeping in her crib now because it makes me much less nervous knowing that Anja can't crawl into her bed and sit on her. Anja just likes to sit on laps... she doesn't realize that Greta doesn't have much of a lap yet, so she just tries to sit on her head instead.

Martin has a vacation day on Friday, which is something to look forward to! Maybe we will do some more of this: The last few times we've gone up to the river we've taken Martin's air rifle with us. I hit the bullseye consistently, and shot the coke can off the top of the stake.

Greta is most definitely awake.

Holy Moly! Time Flies!

Our little bird is three months old today! THREE MONTHS!! I can hardly believe it. I did this funny, yet really not funny thing this past weekend where Martin was making me glass after glass of iced coffee as a nice cool treat. It was AWESOME... until we wondered why Greta wasn't sleeping. HAHA!! I felt really bad after I figured it out, and quickly cut out that nice little summer treat. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Today Martin and I were reminiscing about our summer of engagement. We were so active that summer, it's no wonder I was so skinny! He reminded me that we used to swim up to the dam at the river a lot. I hadn't thought of that for ages, but we did! We would swim (it wasn't so much swimming as walking upstream through water, since our side of the river gets pretty low in the summertime) up to the dam and then float back down on our backs. It was so much fun. We also rode bikes that summer and would take AT LEAST daily walks over to and all around campus. We would walk up to Slayter Hill from my apartment all the time. That was such a fun summer. And Martin didn't have a job (which wasn't really so wonderful at the time, since we were getting married and he didn't have an income, but looking back it sounds pretty great) so we had all this time on our hands. What a great summer. And the summer before was just as great, because we weren't yet dating but we were becoming best friends and we had SO MUCH FUN together. It was awesome.

And now we sit around and laugh at how cute Anja is and wonder if maybe we should get some hobbies that aren't Anja. You know, just so we'll have something else to talk about in conversation with others.

The Fiddlers Gathering is this weekend. I am SUPER excited and only slightly nervous about taking both girls. I'm actually more nervous about taking Greta out in the heat than I am about anything else. Maybe this weekend will cool down some and it won't be such an issue.

Mrs. Watson came to my house this morning!! She brought me a very adorable box of tea! How sweet. I love the Watsons. For more reasons than bringing over friendship bread and tea, they are the best.

Oh gosh! It's 10:30! It's time to eat Cowboy Beans and watch THE UNIT!! Who says I don't have a good life? I have an excellent life.

Crazy People

Whoever came up with the idea that all holidays should be spent with all extended family CLEARLY didn't have a 3-month-old and an 19-month-old. Or if they did, they must not have been in the car with them when the idea was hatched. In any case, it was a crazy morning and both girls cried almost the entire way to the cottage. When we got to the road that leads to our cottage, Anja had JUST fallen asleep (Greta had fallen asleep a few minutes before) so Martin sat in the car for an hour or so with her while I hung out with my family. Luckily, the short nap didn't matter and Anja was in a great mood and happy to see her cousins. She and PeterXavier seem to be becoming good pals, which is funny, since I think she used to find PX a little intimidating. I mean, he IS a walking firecracker, so I can understand her reluctance toward him, but she seems to have completely gotten over it. Maybe it's because she's bigger now and able to rough-house with him. In any case, they had a good time together today. And we did too. Amazingly, I didn't eat myself to death! Anja also had a great time throwing rocks into the river with her cousin Aurelio, as well as walking down to visit the horses down the road. Such fun!

So happy fathers day to all the daddies out there. I hung out with all the best today!

Thanks to Facebook, I stumbled upon this. NPR had an article posted about their list of the "100 most essential folk songs." Not only was it a list, but it's a list you can listen to on a live stream. Needless to say, I'm in heaven. I think I have had 90% of that list on my own repertoire at one time or another in my life. It could basically be the soundtrack of my life. In other words, I LOVE IT. We've had it playing nonstop back here since we discovered it. How often do you just happen to find nonstop audio of your favorite songs??? The list includes such amazingness as "Love is Our Cross to Bear"; "Caledonia"; "Our Town"; "Tecumseh Valley"; "Deportees"; "Streets of London"; "Circle Game"; "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"..... GEEZ!! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE WHAT GREAT SONGS ARE ON THIS LIST!!!!!!

Okay, but I just counted and I only play 68% of it. Still. That's a pretty good percentage of one list.

Now that I'm thinking of that, there's nothing else to say. Oh well, we're off to bed anyway. It's been quite a weekend!

And It Was SO Worth It!

My favorite kind of bad weather is the kind that pushes you into a REALLY fun situation. I'm sure I've mentioned here about the "Tomato Party" when I lived at my sister's house and we all ended up in her basement (her family--Christopher and Grace were babies--and a few friends of mine and myself) eating pizza and hiding from tornadoes. Christopher got the words "tornado" and "tomato" mixed up, so our Tornado Party went down in history as the Tomato Party. Good times!!!

Well, tonight we had another good time, except I guess the sirens didn't ever go off. I was SURE they would... and then Anja unexpectedly woke up only about 45 minutes after she went to bed, just as the storms were coming in. We couldn't get her to go back to sleep, so I took it as a sign that a tornado was coming and that we needed to get to the Cooks storm shelter. So even though there was no real tornado, we called them and invited ourselves over. Martin even went out and got us ice cream! Tara asked Doug to get out the ice cream, but Doug reported that it was freezer burned. A few minutes later Martin said he was going to check on the dog. As soon as he left I said, "yeah right! He's going to the Village Pantry to get ice cream!" Do I know my hubby, or do I know my hubby!? And the cooks had strawberries, so we had quite the tasty treat. The only unfortunate part about it is that we stayed there until 10:00 so now Anja is just going to sleep and Greta stayed up pretty late too. But it was worth it. It was a good time with our good friends who soon will be moving away... to Manhattan!

So Greta is a completely awesome baby. She is so happy. ALWAYS. She talks so much more than Anja did, and she smiles so much too! I'm always kind of glad when she stays up late with Martin and me because it's a nice little time for the three of us, drinking coffee and watching "The Unit."

Okay, so I had written a long article about what a great sleeper Greta is, but since I had to go up to nurse her back to sleep about five times just in the time it took to write the paragraph, I decided to just erase the whole thing. Ha! And she's STILL a better sleeper than her sister!

I guess we'll have a busy weekend... we'll cram all of our obligations into Saturday so we can spend Sunday up at the river with our families. That'll be fun, and less hectic than usual since we'll all be in the same place and won't have to go place-hopping.

Our one episode of "The Unit" is over, so off to bed we go!

Mobile Command Center

Last night Martin and I ate dinner up at my parents house, unexpectedly. When we came home later in the evening, we noticed a giant silver truck parked outside the Cooks' house, with decals all over it saying "Mobile Command Center" and other dangerous sort of things. Doug wanted to peek in the windows but Tara wouldn't let him, so we just speculated for awhile, then we all went into our own houses. Awhile later TusaRebecca came by to pick up a couple of things and she and I stood in the doorway coming up with all sorts of theories. We were sure there was going to be some kind of MAJOR drug bust, but we couldn't tell where. We were getting very excited, promising to call each other if one of us saw the action, when the headlights started flashing!! Oh boy!! So we went out on the porch, but nothing more happened. Then this white-haired, slightly stooped old man in a suit comes hobbling over and opens the back door. We are very curiously watching. Maybe he was just a really old terrorist. Then he opened a cage and this tiny, ancient dog appeared! This dog might have been older than the man himself. He set the dog on the ground wearing its leash. TusaRebecca couldn't contain herself; she went over to tell him what we thought he was. I think he was pretty pleased with himself for fooling us! He said that's his camper and that he "boondocks," which I guess means he parks in parking lots of places like WalMart and helps keep the riffraff away. He said he's in town for a funeral. When he saw Greta, he said, "You have a baby?! That's wonderful! Thank you for having a baby! The world needs more of them." I always think it's very funny when people thank us for our children. It's not the first time it's happened, and I know what they mean, but it still makes me laugh.

So much for a drug bust! That was the hilarious event of my day yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon after Anja woke up from her nap and ate her lunch we met up with my sister and her kids on Main Street and the whole lot of us walked down to the Plaza fountain. The first best part was PeterXavier sitting in the middle of the crosswalk on his BigWheel picking his nose. The second best part was Anja's exitement over the whole outing. She had a very good time. And enjoyed riding PX's Big Wheel...

...And Greta just chilled in the grass.

It's a little late for naps today, but at least both girls are sleeping and went down easily. Greta is such a good and predictable baby, I just have to make sure I pay attention. When I keep an eye on the time and think, "oh, Greta is probably getting tired" before she gets fussy, then all I have to do is pick her up in her snuggly pink blanket, smile at her a little bit, and watch her smile back at me until she falls asleep. This method takes about five minutes. The harder method involves me waiting until she is actively acting tired, in which case I have to pick her up in her snuggly blanket and carry her around screaming for awhile... often half an hour or so... until she wears herself out and falls asleep. I much prefer method #1.

Here is our family bed. Notice the tiny sliver of space over on the right where there's no pillow... that's my spot.

And finally, I've finished Anja's little apron that matches mine! I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, and less pleased with the fact that it's been impossible to get a good picture of Anja wearing it. Whenever I get a decent one, I'll post it. Until then, here is a picture of Anja from yesterday. It kind of makes me worry about Anja's future social status... I have a slight fear that her flashy sense of style is going to be a self-nomition into the role of "that kid."

Maybe it's not so bad when she's with her cousin......or maybe it's worse.

Anja Moved Out.... Houdini Moved In!

Today's "Best Thing About Toddlers" is: HOLDING HANDS!!!!!!!! I about melted when I was following behind Anja and her Figgy as we were all walking down the road at the cottage and she was holding his pinky finger!!!

Anja is so active. She can get ANYWHERE. Today I came into the living room (after being out of her sight for about three seconds) and there she was, sitting in her big stroller, absolutely beaming at me and asking for Cheerios. She sat in there for a long time, SO HAPPILY, eating her cheerios. She was so incredibly proud of herself. Then later we were driving home from the store and she kept getting out of her carseat. WHAT?!? I don't know how she does it. She didn't ever make it all the way out (I had to pull over twice to strap her back in properly) but she almost did. She's nuts! I don't even know how she gets the straps off, but she's quickly figuring out how to undo the buckle as well, and when she gets that, we'll really be in trouble.

She's been practicing her fine motor skills by playing with keys. I had no problem with this until today when I found her sticking keys in hole she found throughout the house, and I suddenly realized I don't have enough outlet covers to cover the entire house. I've hidden the keys for now.

Martin's friend Patrick has lent us season 3 of THE UNIT!!!!! Why else would I be up at 12:41?! Because Martin and I couldn't help ourselves. We had to start it, and then we just had to keep watching!!! Well, then we went to bed at midnight, but I was so hungry I couldn't sleep so I came down for cereal and then started blogging. Ooops.

Anja was such a good girl today. We walked over to my sister's house and on the way I said to her, "would you like to go see your cousins?" and a minute later, she started saying "Rah Rah? Rah Rah?" which is how she says "Bella." As I told my sister, I don't think Anja is a genius or mentally advanced or anything... I just never realized how smart kids are at this age. She amazes me with the things she knows! And she follows directions beautifully. If she would use the normal english language we could have some great conversations, but as it is, we communicate almost flawlessly in AnjaSpeak.

Tonight I took both girls to the store by myself again and it was really fun. Greta rode in the wrap and was awake and happy right up to the checkout line, and Anja was wearing some new pajamas I got from Once Upon a Child for only $2.50 (plus 15% off!) and was super happy. We went down the dog and cat aisles a few different times. And we got a huge bag of seed for her bird feeder, which is broken (again. I fixed it with glue, but it must've melted in the rain) So maybe we'll just sprinkle some out in the jungle to try to lure the birds back.

WHAT AM I DOING STILL UP!?!