Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The blessings of 6 weeks...


Tiny twister is the name of this blog and tiny twister is the perfect analogy for the last 6 weeks at the Hepler house. We have been lucky enough to have a special visitor this year. My mom has been with us for about 6 weeks. I think there are times when she wishes she could escape, but times that she wishes she could stay forever. We have had some hilarious moments and some frustrating moments. Luckily, I think we have had more funny moments. She plans on leaving next Saturday. I think we have agreed that she will have to leave in stealth mode in the middle of the night and leave the reckage for me to address in the morning. Joshua is not going to take her leaving lightly. The mere mention of the thought threw him into tears last week. He has come to depend on his Grandma Mac being there in the morning, allowing him to manipulate "1 more episode of Diego" out of her before he gets dressed, laughing at his funny bodily movements (I'm not kidding, that boy can shake his booty), and making her smile just before he drifts off to sleep in her arms. Megan will miss her grandma too, but realizes it is only temporary and she will be back soon. She considers grandma her friend and only a few times got scoulded by yours truly for talking to grandma too much like a buddy.... with the tone, eyes and all. "grandma is your grandmother and deserves your respect...." Dutch will miss my mom for his own selfish reasons....his laundry lady is leaving, his backup day care transporter is heading out, and his home cooked meal maker is gone after Saturday. It will be back to smelly clothes, taxi driving the kids, and bad dinners.
I will miss my mom for completely different reasons. This 6 weeks has been special because she did not just see a snap shot of my life, she saw my life. The good, the bad and the ugly. We created new traditions with her in town and let her mould into some of the Hepler's long standing traditions. We had tea time in the evening. I had an extra person to talk to. As much as she wants to THINK she has overstayed her welcome, she knows in her heart that is not true. That could never be. I can honestly say that neither Dutch or I have complained about her being with us for this long of a time. What a blessing that is. So now as she packs her stuff to "move out" of Megan's room, I hope she has as fond memories of the 6 weeks as we do.
Now... the last 2 I have to break the news to is Lucy and the cat, Brandi. That will be a WHOLE other story!

Monday, December 15, 2008

What a weekend!

This weekend we had a busy, but wonderful weekend of fun and work. Saturday, leaving the house at 9:00 and not coming home until 8:30 was tiresome, but the amount we got done in that time frame was astounding.

Mom, Megan, Joshua, and I left at 9:00 to get the kids to swim lessons. Megan is getting so much more confident and was trying to learn to dive. I feel bad that she has the same "bottom" that her mom has... you know, the one filled with Lead. She just sinks to the floor of the pool when she dives in. She sure tries her best though. Joshua was assigned 2 boys as his swim teacher yesterday. One boy had no interest in teaching. He was much more interested in talking with the passers by. The other boy, John, was so sweet. Him and Josh got along great and he really enabled Josh to trust him. I don't think Joshua stopped smiling for 2 straight hours.

Next we went to an appt for my mom. She was pricing out some home materials to get a better idea of her budget. (boring).

Then we headed to PETSMART, KOHLS, and LINEN's and THINGS. Sales, sales, sales!! WOO HOO! Petsmart had Santa there to take pictures with people's pets. We sure wished we had Lucy, but we really enjoyed watching the other dogs "sit" with Santa. We picked out presents for Lucy (our dog) and Brandi (our cat). What fun.

Finally, on the way home to West Sunbury, we decided to stop at a Live, Drive-thru, Nativity. We had an hour to kill before it started, but I was not driving all the way home and all the way back. It was our final decision to sit it out in a parking lot and wait the hour. Luckily we had a portable DVD player with us and we sat in front of a small airport where we could watch helicopters and airplanes come in and out. The Nativity was beautiful and done very nicely by the children of that church.

After we made it home and got dinner in the oven, we went BACK out to see Santa at the local firehall. So, needless to say, we really ran all day.

Some precious statements the kids said this weekend:
Sitting at the kitchen table discussing how Megan can tease grandma, but when grandma teases back Megan gets "heartburn".... Megan states... "Well, grandma, you are my BEST FRIEND. When you have a best friend, you like to tease them". That

Joshua sitting on Santa's lap. He finished telling Santa everything HE wanted so decided to add...
"and something sparkly with penguins on it for my grandma, some toys for Megan, some bullets for my dad..." Isn't that adorable??? I know he forgot me, but that was the greatest gift I could ask for anyway. My son thinking of others.

I am sure I will be able to tell you more stories as we get closer to Christmas. It is VERY hard for them to be "good" all the time.