A goodbye (for now) to Grandma Christensen

I had been working on a post that was fairly whiny and boring the other day about how I am going to quit my job at the hospital and how much of a pain it is to find your own insurance and how much I love my cleaning business and so on and so forth.  I was all set to finish it at work this weekend and then something very sad and very unexpected happened.  Friday evening, my grandmother passed away.  The one that was married to the grandpa that passed away in May.  It was time for them to be together again.  It seemed to happen very quickly, as we had just seen her on the Sunday before and she seemed very happy and able to get around and I wouldn't not have suspected for one second that she wouldn't be around the very next week, which is why I think that truly she is gone because Grandpa just needed her.  She will be missed immensely.  I'm sure most people think their Grandma's are the nicest, sweetest people ever, but mine may really have been.  THE nicest and sweetest.  I wish that Willa had had more time with her Great Grandparents, but I do think that she will have memories of them.  One day, she and I were chatting about ways to keep yourself healthy and strong and I said something about living a long life if you kept yourself healthy.  She pointed out that Great Grandpa lived to be very old and I said yes, that he kept himself very healthy and she said "No, Great Grandma did that for him."  She really summed it up well.  My Grandma was the ultimate caregiver, the epitome of selfless giving.

It has been a tough year for those of us that are left of the Christensen family, and we all miss Uncle Bob, Grandpa and Grandma very much.  I am a person of great faith, but the concept of heaven is very hard for me to grasp.  I think it is just too huge.  Too unknown.  Until now, as I can picture my Grandparents there and I know just what they are doing and how they will welcome me someday.  We will hug and kiss, we will play cards and have freshly squeezed orange juice.  Grandpa will mow his lawn and later we will check out the horse races.  Then, on an especially heavenly evening, there will be a big party with a band and dancing and drinks and love and everything will be right with the world again.  Until then...

It was time.

We finally found the perfect dog.  It was a long time comin.  It is just a few days from the 2 year anniversary of Luther's untimely death and lately we have really been craving a dog.  A big dog.  A good dog for our location and for kids.  We've always kind of wanted a lab, so we've been keeping our eyes open but not finding much.  Mostly I check the Humane Society, and if they have labs at all, they are typically older or have a health condition.  So we had really started branching out and looking at other bigger dog breeds, but I think in our hearts, we knew we wanted a lab.  So, dearest friend Tosha tagged me in a Facebook post on the Lincoln Pet Exchange group and that's how we wound up with Chopper.  It hasn't been 24 hours yet, but it seems that we have made a good choice.  He is so sweet and well mannered and soft and charming and brown and has such big paws....and he already loves Willa.  I think they are going to be bestest friends.  Stickers is mad and jealous and hissy/growly, but he will get over it.  Bailey hasn't really come out of her hiding place to meet Chopper yet, but she will.  I did have to leave last night before bed time, so I'm not sure how he did, but I'm going to pretend that he was a perfect angel, and went willingly into his kennel and slept all night there without whining or peeing.  Yep, I'm sure that's how it went.  And, he is going to want to sleep all morning with me, too:)

See?  Only a best friend would share a space this small with you and still love you.  

Willa is 4. F.O.U.R. Seriously.

I'm not going to lie, I turned into a weepy, blubbering mess at the end of this long birthday weekend.  And all because my little monster is 4 now and is turning into such a pretty, grown-up, monster.  I've said it before, but how on earth is she so pretty?  I ask her that about every other day.  And she just says "Moooo-ooom."  (Imagine that is a voice just like a whiny teenager.  Because that is what she sounds like all the time now.)  One day a few weeks ago, we were sitting on the couch together and she crawled in my lap for a little lovin.  I asked her what I was going to do when she was too big for me to hold her like that anymore and she said, "I will still sit by you and hold your hand."  I fought back tears that day, too.  What a great 4 years it has been, getting to know Willa.  If you are curious, she is really into singing these days, the movie Pitch Perfect is just about her favorite thing, she is awesome at puzzles, she knows her right from her left (thanks to Uncle Chris), she can quote movie lines like nobody's business, she likes hamburgers but not cheeseburgers, and she would love for us to get a big dog.  Oh, and she usually farts first thing when she wakes up in the morning, then giggles and tells me that she is just farting out the rest of her sleep.  Just when I start to wonder whose kid she really might be, she proves that we are, in fact, related.

And now, some pictures from all the fun...

Prepping for the outdoor movie

Brad figured out a fancy-schmancy way to play a movie outside on a screen that he constructed.  So, we had a gaggle of Willa's friends over...late...and fed them a bunch of candy and pop and gave them face paint and silly string and glow sticks and then had them watch Wreck-It-Ralph and then sent them home...late...with their parents.  Your welcome, parents.  It was fun.

On Sunday, the day of the actual birthday, we gave Willa a trampoline and some tiny cupcakes.  I consider buying a giant trampoline a mark of my adulthood.  I wanted one for our yard SO BAD so I made the executive decision that Willa would get one for her birthday.  It was either that, or a big dog, and I'm not quite ready for another pet.  I...I mean, WE, are in love with the trampoline.  And don't worry, we put the safety netting up after these pictures were taken.  Willa just kept telling us "safety first, guys."  She is a much more confident bouncer with the net up.

The Monday following the birthday, we slept in, and then took a trip to Grand Island to visit Grandma Van Boening, Great Grandma Christensen, and Island Oasis Waterpark.  I figured it was about time to introduce Willa to the place that shaped her mother's young adult years.  We had a great time at the water park.  And I am proud to say that in the absence of the '95-'02 crew, the I.O. still seemed to be running smoothly and very well maintained.  And, all the lifeguards appeared to be no older than 13.  

That was Willa's 4th birthday, in a nutshell.  She has yet to receive a pet snake.  She is ok with that.  Her Uncle Chris promised to buy her a snake for her birthday.  It drove her nuts when he would talk about it.  One day, he asked her what she was going to name her pet snake and her response was, "Knife.  Because that is what I'm going to kill it with."  Hmmmmmm.   

Fourth Favorites

We hope that everyone enjoyed the fantastic 4th of July holiday!  We did!

Because, wine.

I'm not exactly sure what the theme was for Summer, 2012 but I have decided that 2013 is all about the vineyards.  Wine is gluten free.  Vineyards are beautiful.  Yes, I realize we live in Nebraska but I'll take what I can get.  And the place we visited on Friday evening was the bee's knees.  Glacial Till is near Bennett, Ne which is a decent drive from our house, but totally worth it.  The Chambourcin was red and dry and I had the whole bottle to myself.  The music was fun.  I danced with Willa.  They had a visiting brewery, which made the gentleman happy.  You know where to find me every other Friday night from now until the end of summer.

And...if you don't get the title of this post then you have not been following my directions all along.  Shame on you.

Day 'O Dads

What a great Father's Day we had this year!  Aside from the new tv, that was sort of Brad's gift (that he mostly gave to himself:), we also had lots of time to do some fun family stuff.  Like, the first swimming session of the summer!  I can't believe we didn't go swimming until nearly the end of June!  We are all such fans of the water.  We stinkin' love the Highlands pool, as they have the zero depth entry, so Willa can just run on in and play and we don't have to always be holding her or helping her.  We really need to get that kid some swimming lessons.  Then, we had Chinese food and ice cream cake and watched basketball at my parent's house. 

The day after Father's Day, we went to Omaha to the zoo.  I just love the Omaha Zoo.  I think our favorites this time were the hippos and the monkeys.  But that is only because I didn't find the armadillo.  He will forever be my favorite zoo animal.  We also rode the Skyfari thing for the first time and that was pretty fun.  

This peacock really liked our blueberries.  I am sure there is a rule about  not feeding the animals, and I'm not sure what blueberries do to the digestive system of a peacock, but he seemed very fond of them.  And us.

After the zoo, we made a quick stop at Whole Foods for a few things.  (I could make a whole day out of Whole Foods, but we only had a few minutes.)  Then we had dinner at a new seafood restaurant in the Old Market called Plank.  We were pretty sure we would love it, as we love Blue, seafood, Bloody Mary's, nautical tattoos, and Dave's design work.  We were right!

I love this picture of Willa, but has anyone else seen that episode of King of Queens where someone gives them a painting of themselves and Carrie's arm looks super huge?  That's what Willa's arm reminds me of.

What a nice weekend.  I love to watch Brad and Willa interact and have fun with each other.  They are such buddies.  He's a pretty good buddy to me, too.  And a million thanks to my own dad, for everything that he does for our family.  Not a lot of grandpa's are able to, or even maybe want to, spend as much time with their grandkids as my dad does with Willa.  He also has a friend for life:)