How Did I Miss Omaha?!

As I was just looking over my blog, I realized that I didn't write about our trip to Omaha.  We weren't able to make it to Devon's baby shower, so we went up in mid July.

Kristin, all four kids, and MeMaw squeezed in my mini van (or "swagger wagon" as we call it in our family) and we headed up there for a few nights.  The day we arrived, it was Uncle Mike's birthday.  We went out to dinner to celebrate.  I don't think I got a picture of Uncle Mike when we were in town.  Here he is walking Devon down the aisle last October.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and the kids got to unwind a little after a long day by playing in the pool.

The next day, we went to the Omaha Zoo.  Here's a picture of the girls near the front of the zoo.

The zoo has a really awesome aquarium.  It's probably the coolest one I've ever been to; it was definitely the largest.

 Uncle Mike knows someone who works at the zoo and he called her to say that we'd be visiting.  Here are some pictures of the strings she pulled for us on our "back stage" tour.

We got to visit the giraffes in their shelter.  This one is Sammy.  Notice a mommy and baby in the background.  They were too scared to come over to us, but Sammy was loving all the attention and treats we gave him.

Yes, that's correct....it's MY hand you see feeding Sammy right now.  Ella was too frightened to feed him, but Reagan and Brady got to feed him as well.

It was really neat getting to hand feed the giraffes and see them so up-close.  After that, we went to see African penguins.  The zoo was a really neat experience for all of us.  Here are some pics from the acquarium. 

Later we went out to dinner at Cheddar's, a restaurant I LOVE now, and then took the kids back to the pool to swim.  I was creeped out by a man who came to the pool, so sorry kids, but Mommy/Aunt Carla made you get out after only 15 minutes of fun and bribed you with a "surprise" to go back to the room.  The surprise was a bath, and then we had to figure out a real surprise...wait!  There was a little shop next to the lobby.  How about ICE CREAM JUST BEFORE BEDTIME!!!  It was so special and the kids thought it was a real treat instead of just a bribe away from the pool. 

The next day, we went to visit my Grandma Revenaugh in her nursing home.  This was not a pleasant experience, but it went as I expected it to go mostly.  I knew Grandma wouldn't recognize any of us, especially without Dad.  However, my plan was to try to tell back to her MY favorite stories she told me growing up.  I figured she MIGHT remember something from her childhood, and if not, then it'd be nice just to reminisce about the stories she used to tell us.  I also brought pictures of Eli's birthday party.  Last resort, without fail, was Ella.  She's a talker, so I KNEW I could lean on her to carry the conversation in awkard moments, right?  Well pretty much.  That was the plan...here's how the visit went: we found Grandma's room and asked that someone bring her to meet us in a dining room-ish family area.  Just as she's being wheeled down the hall, both girls decide they MUST use the restroom at once!  I wasn't even going to be there for the hellos.  The bathroom trip lasted about 5 minutes.  When I got back, Kristin had already gone through all the birthday pictures with Grandma.  What? Are you kidding me?  Where was her conversation story? Apparently, conversation was awkward and she was desperate, so she pretty much went through all of her ideas very quickly.  It was as I expected, Grandma didn't recognize us.  That's okay, I can deal with that.  I talked about my memories of Grandma's stories.  She remembered some, or acted like it maybe.  The kids made it hard to carry on conversation though.  But I was right about Ella, she talked and talked and talked.  There wasn't really a moment of silence.  Eventually it was time for ust to leave.  We wheeled Grandma back to her room.  I wanted to help her in, but an orderly said she'd handle it.  She turned Grandma to face us.  We gave her hugs goodbye and told her we loved her.  And then the moment that will never leave me, we walked away.  Kids, I don't know if you'll understand until you have to do this; I'm not sure that I can describe it.  It's just the feeling of leaving, of walking away from someone you love.  The feeling was very similar to leaving both of you as babies for my first day back at work.  Logically, you tell yourself, "I gave hugs and kisses and said, 'I love you.' I am coming back."  But the logical part of my brain is never what wins over the emotional part; it's the fear of walking away and thinking, "But what if something happens before I come back?"  It's a wretched feeling and one that I can never shake.  I walked away, crying, trying to hide it from the kids to avoid the endless questions that would follow.

Afterwards, we met up with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike one last time for lunch before heading home.

All-in-all, I think the trip was a major success.  I had a great time visiting everyone.  As always, I just wish we'd had more time to visit with everyone.  <3

New Camper - Woot! Woot!

We spent the long weekend at Mark Twain cleaning out the old camper, preparing it to be sold and cleaning out the new camper for us to move in.  I LOVE it!  It's a 2004 Conquest (I think) by Gulf Stream.

These are pictures of our bedroom.  I love having a bed in a camper that I can actually walk around to make it!  (Ah, the joys of little things in life....)

 Here is a picture of our bathroom.  I'm standing on the other side of it where the toilet is behind another door.  There's also a closet on that side.

 Here's a picture of the kids' bedroom.  At least next season, it'll be for both kids.  For now, Ella is enjoying her "own" room with bunk beds and a separate place for kids to eat!!!  She couldn't be happier with the new place.  When we let her go inside for the first time, she just kept saying, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Bunk beds!" and she loved showing off her room to every single visitor who stopped by.

Currently, I cannot figure out how to rotate this picture of my living room, so here it is...

You'll have to pardon all our junk everywhere.  I'd blame it on moving-in weekend, but let's be real here, that's just sort of our family.

                                      

Here's a pic of the gang (from Left: Lynn Brown, Jimmy Brown, Mama J, Kevin MacAfee, Linda Gilmore, Aunt Jody, Art ?)

I love the new place and can't wait to use it every weekend!!!

 Here are a few other pics from the weekend:

Playing trucks under the table

Eating, Eli's favorite past-time

  

And now a bit about my girl....

Ella, Ella, Ella, my sweet Ella.

Aliases: Pumpkin, Sassafras, Lilley Lou (from Memaw Johnson)

Age: 3 and 3/4 if you ask her

Activities: Ella is in ballet.  She LOVES ballet.  I can say that it's helped her to be a little more graceful and I think her technique is there.  She would like to do gymnastics too, but I told her that has to wait until she's school aged.  The gymnastics is thanks to the Olympics and a Dora special, "Fantastic Gymnastics."

Future profession in my opinion: doctor?  She loves playing "check up" thanks to a Disney show, Doc McStuffins.  Recently in preschool, she answered that she'll be a mermaid someday.  When asked why, she answered, "So my hair will go up and down just like Ariel's." :)

Favorite Pastimes: playing check up, playing Barbies, playing My Little Pony, pretending to be a puppy, pretending to be Mommy.  She is beginning to play more and more with Eli, which makes my heart so happy. <3

Personality:  Ella is so sweet and thoughtful.  She is starting to pick up words in a sassy-way, but has not used them with attitude yet.  Ex: totally  Today I packed my lunch in her lunch box because I'd forgotten mine at work.  When I asked if I could use her Tinkerbell lunch box, she said, "Yes Mom.  You can TOTALLY use my lunchbox today."  It was so cute of her.  I'm glad she said yes though because my lunch was already packed and the other side of her is a fiery temper.

Best facial feature: It's a toss up between her beautiful blue eyes and her magnetic smile. Or her double dimples.  I love those too.  It's so funny because the other day, I realized that Eli makes the exact facial expressions Ella does whenever they're being silly.  I wonder if Nick makes them or if I do.  Huh.


*As I wrote this post, I heard news of a friend and coworker's daughter had a seizure today.  Nick and I are praying for their family and the doctors.  It's hard to even continue this post.  I am SO grateful for each blessing I have.

Link to Linzamos

http://ybstl.blogspot.com/2012/08/carla-sue.html

Lindsay blogged about each one of her friends.  Here's the link to the one about me.  I felt like it merited a spot of its own today.  :)

A Little Bit About My Boy

Most times when I think of my kids, I just think about how I'd love to hit a pause button on our lives.  I wish I could just keep them frozen at these ages.  They are such wonderful kids and my heart bursts with love for them.  Since the real-life pause button has yet to be created, I will try my best to capture their little personalities in this blog.  Here's a bit about my little Eli right now:

Age: about 15 months

Nickname: my baby bird (based on his small, little cries at birth and currently the way he eats),  chunky monkey 

Method of Movement: Crawling at lightning speeds and refusing to walk.  Eli enjoys walking with a lawn mower-type toy.  He enjoys walking and holding hands.  He refuses to walk independently.  He just laughs at us and sits down.

Favorite past-times: Throwing everything he can get his quick little hands on.  He throws things hard and far.  You can see he's giving it all he's got as he nearly folds himself in half and lets out a loud grunt as soon as the object has left his hands.  He also loves playing in water, specifically the bath, but honestly, the dog bowl is right up there with it.  He just wants to splash all the water out of everything!  And he crawls his fastest when he hears bath water going or sees the dog bowl on the floor.  

Future profession in my opinion: Maybe a pitcher?

Personality: I LOVE his eyebrows.  They indicate whether he is happy or sad or feeling mischievous.  He is very animated with them and uses them frequently in his facial expressions and "conversations" with us.

Words he knows: Uh oh (when he throws something), MaMa, DaDa, Ella, Good Girl (for Scout, dogs, and other 4-legged creatures), PaPa, ball, boat, no no no no no no (he says this to me if I try to slap his hands and to Scout whenever she barks), hi, bye bye.  I've also heard him say "Thank you" before if I've given him something.  He's said it several times, but most of the time just looks at me like I'm crazy.

Hobbies: Getting past the child locks on the fireplace and kitchen sink.  Luckily thanks to a call I placed to poison control, I know now that all the rocks/materials in the fire place are non-toxic.  When he is scolded for these things, he laughs or mocks me saying, "No no no!"  Pulling girls' hair is another favorite of his.    He will look me in the eye and grab my hair and give it a good yank.  When I say/yell, "Ouch! No, we don't do that!"  He cries as if I've pinched him.  He makes everyone in the room feel bad for him! 

Best facial feature: Eyes, definitely the eyes.  They're the color of denim and beautiful.  Yes, I said it, my son has beautiful eyes.  I'm not the only one to recognize it either.  Others tell me all the time what a beauty he is. (I know, I know, boys are handsome....but I'm his mother, and I feel like he's beyond that....beautiful.)

The Story of Us--How I Met Your Father

A few weeks ago, Nick and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary (of course we were together LONG before that).  Looking back on our relationship, I realized that one day, I want the kids to know about the story of us.  So Ella, Eli, here it is.  (Buckle up, it's a long one!)

The year was 1998 and I was a sophomore in high school.  I sat at lunch with a few of my close friends (Jennifer Everett, Lindsay Oldham, DeAnne Regensbuger) and maybe a few others.  At the beginning of school, we noticed two people (Megan O'Neal and Mike Hampshire--who is your dad's cousin, but I had no idea then) sitting by themselves at lunch.  We didn't know them much except having a few classes together, but we felt bad that they were sitting alone and invited them to our lunch table.  After I turned 16, I knew it was time to get a job so I could afford car insurance and gas. (I mean at $0.88/gallon, it was SO EXPENSIVE, right?!)  For some reason, I threw the idea out at lunch.  "Where should I get a job?"  Megan said, "Come work with me at Texas Willie's. I like my job.  We have $200 weekends serving."

Children, let's learn a few lessons here:
1.  When someone tells you how much they make that easily in conversation, they are usually lying or at least embellishing. (And she was, I NEVER made that kind of money there!)
2.  Never work at a place called Texas Willie's.  It's humiliating to tell people where you work, and you never know, you may be repeating the name of it decades after it's gone out of business to tell your children "The Story of Us."
But I digress....

This is how I know looking back, that it was a God-thing for me to work there.  I didn't even know Megan; we never really talked, just sat at opposite sides of a lunch table.  No one else had an idea where I should find a job, so I went there, even though it was a 20 minute drive from my house.  I had to get directions for Heaven's sake!

So I got a job there as a seater/greeter, then a hostess, then eventually a waitress, and made $5.25/hour.  I was the new girl, the fresh meat.  Most of the guys who worked there were....different.  More lessons to be learned....pause the story!

3.  I will do everything in my power to not have you work in restaurant in high school and even college.  It is a big drug scene.  Honestly, I had a crazy amount of access to underage drinking and drugs if I'd had wanted it.  Seriously, I will try to shield you from this environment as much as I can.
4.  The people who work in restaurants (and believe me, I've worked in a few, for more than 6 years) are a little off.  Not so much the servers or front stage people, but the behind-the-scenes people, are just odd.  The cooks especially are a little crazy.  It takes a special kind of person to put up with the stress of a busy restaurant WHILE being over a hot grill.  That "special" kind of person is freaking weird (usually, anyway).

Okay, back to the story.  As I was saying, most of the guys I worked with were a little "different."  I was the fresh meat.....People started asking me on dates.  I felt horrible telling these new people I just met no, I mean, I did want to make some friends.  So I said I had a boyfriend....good excuse, right?

It all worked out until one day, I saw a cute guy at work, and what was that?  Was he wearing a kelly green Texas Willie's polo shirt, just like I was?  YEAH!  He had dark hair that was frosted with blonde tips.  I later found out that he was a busser.  He had just finished cleaning off a table, and was carrying a heavy bus tub.  (READ: Since Nick was carrying something heavy, his biceps were flexed and 16-year-old Carla could barely resist.)  "Who's that guy?" I asked Megan.

"Who? Nick?  Why?"
"Uh....do you see him?!  Look at his muscles!"  <Insert girl giggles here.>
"Why don't you go back and talk to him?"

And so I did...and he ignored me.  (I later found out that your dad was ignoring me, not to be mean or because he didn't like me, but because he thought I had a boyfriend. DANG! The plan backfired!)  In any case, I didn't like being ignored.  I'm not trying to say that I was a big deal in high school by ANY stretch of the imagination, so please don't misread this here.  But I was certainly not used to this type of treatment!  And so like most naive 16 year old girls, for some reason, I pursued him, this guy who was "clearly not interested" in me.  (It must've been a God-thing because otherwise, seriously, if I had more intelligence than hormones, I'd have thought, "Maybe he's just not that into you" and moved on, but instead I worked harder at grabbing his attention.)  After a few months of trying unsuccessfully, I realized maybe it was time to give up.  And then was Valentine's Day, a busy holiday in the restaurant business, even at Texas Willie's.

I was hostessing and my seater was a no-show...something about her having better things to do on Feb. 14.  Well I couldn't NOT have someone to seat the guests on a day that we'd certainly have a wait!  The manager pulled the busser and had someone fill in for him.  Who got to be my seater and greeter?  Your dad!  We got to know each other through actual conversation instead of the "Look-at-me!" "No." types of interactions that we'd been having.  I signed my name, "Carla R. Revenaugh."  Nick said, "What's your middle name? Rae?"  Say WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA????  "No!" I quickly replied, embarrassed 1.) of my middle name and 2.) that he could guess it on the first try.  I mean, it's practically a name like Rumplestilskin.  Never in my whole life had anyone guessed it at all, how could he have gotten it on the first guess?!  (Sorry Ella, but up to this point, I'd usually lied when people asked me my middle name and said that it was Renee....I love it now as an adult though.....)

The next day was Monday.  My 4th hour teacher said, "Did you all have a good holiday with your sweethearts?" I said, "Actually, yeah, I didn't go out on a date, but I had a really nice day with a guy I like."  That night, I worked again.  Nick was for whatever reason hanging around, but not working.  A manager caught me staring dreamily at him.  She said, "Why don't you just go over and talk to him?  You look ridiculous staring." Uh, what? Staring? Who's staring? Not me....why? Did he say he likes me?  Kylie (my manager) and I sat across from each other in a 2-seater booth and rolled silverware as the night went on.  Nick was still hanging around and Kylie called him over and asked him to sit down by me.  Honestly, I thought she was going to tell him to go home and leave working people alone, but instead, she looked at us and said, "Okay, now ask each other out."
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Blood rushing to my face.  Am I going to pass out?  I put my head down.  Seriously.  How embarrassing.  I have no idea how that moment ended, but Nick awkwardly got up and left.  I felt like crying.  For sure this was it, right?  I mean, he had a chance to ask me out and didn't.  So, for sure, he does NOT like me, right?  Well, heck I might as well give it one last try!

I walked out the door that night, hoping Nick would follow and ask me out.....  But he didn't...(later I was informed that he'd been waiting for me all night, and why did I think he was hanging out so long, and that I just walked out to fast.....)

And so I went back in.  I didn't ask for his number (because then I'd have to call and HOW EMBARRASSING!).  I mumbled that I'd forgotten something and walked right past him.  On my way out the door for the 2nd time, I said, "Hey, do you want to hang out sometime?"  Nick looked up at said, "What? Yes!"  So I gave him my number.  By the 17th, we went on our first date.  (Maybe I'll save that for my sequel novel, because it's a hysterically funny story by itself!)

Somehow 13 years seems to have flown by and I couldn't be happier to be spending my life with your dad by my side and holding your hands.  I love you guys!

Confidence and Germs

I joined a gym this week in an attempt to get back in shape.  My weight is the same as it was before Ella, but having a baby or two takes its toll on a body.  Some of the most important things that I want to pass onto Ella are a good self-esteem and self-confidence in her body.  I spent my childhood in what can I suppose only be described as a mousy attitude towards life.  I was too afraid to ever stop anyone from doing things that I knew were wrong or to speak up for myself.  I so badly want to build Ella up so that she does speak up for herself and she does step in and stand up for what is right.  So what does all of this have to do with me joining a gym?  After I had Eli, despite what the number on the scale or even what my husband said, my body didn't look the same and I didn't like it.  Frequently I would have thoughts like, "Ugh, look at that" when I looked in the mirror, but I made sure to censor them in front of Ella.  If I ever heard her say the same thing when she looked in the mirror, it would break my heart.  And then it occurred to me....I shouldn't have to censor my thoughts like that because I shouldn't be having them.  It's not healthy and I needed a change.  Getting out of the house for a few hours a week is hard.  Every time, Ella tells me how much she's going to miss me, and the whole thing has to be scheduled around Nick's work.  These are not the easiest of obstacles to overcome.  But somehow, I've managed, 5 times now (there was a 3 day trial....I haven't gone 5 times this week...that'd be just CRAZY!).  In any case, I feel like this is something that's worth it.  And I'm going to do my best to keep it up, because if that's what I have to do to get the body I want so I can be confident in it, and impart that on to my daughter, then it's what I have to do.

And on a lighter note....I think I'm going to take up sewing.  I'm super excited to start this new hobby.  I'm hoping to make gifts for Baby Austin (this is Craig & Amanda's baby's name for now in case they for some reason drastically change their minds later and in the future no one knows who I'm referencing).

And a funny story from a few weeks ago (6/23).  I didn't have time to blog it, but I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget.......I needed to shower and shave, so I thought I'd put Eli in the bathroom with me to keep him "safe."  What could happen with glass doors and Ella's help, right?  EPIC FAILURE.  Even after removing germy hazards, my son still found all of the grossest places in the bathroom, including: running his bink along the bottom and corner of the shower, then after getting a new one, throwing it in the trash (how did I not pick that up?!) and before I could get it away, getting it out of the trash and putting it on top of the toilet, then putting his MOUTH on the TOILET!  Ugh....I was half tempted to give him some alcohol to sanitize his mouth!  So grossed out.....