Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for December, 2008
New Year’s Eve
This holiday has never really been a big deal to me. We rarely have any plans, and to be honest, I often don’t even stay awake to midnight! But it is definitely time for me to reflect on the year that was and the year that is coming up.
2008 was the year that:
- We lost Dave’s Aunt Ruth
- We finished our basement
- Ryan had ACL surgery
- Emma turned 1
- Emma learned to walk
- We made the move to a minivan
- We discovered the public library
- Ben turned 3
- We spent a lot of time at State Farm pool
- Ben mastered swimming alone with his swimmies
- Dave and I both turned the big 40
- Ben started Sunday school and preschool
- Our basement flooded
- We lost my Uncle Jim
- I started this blog
- Ben got potty trained
- Emma got 4 stitches on her forehead
As you can tell, there were many more good things than bad this year, for which we are thankful. I hope that we can always remember the good things, and think about the lessons we learned from the bad. As everyone always says, the year flew by. It is so true that the older you get the faster they go. Sometimes I just want to slow things down so I can soak in everything that’s happening around me. Of course, other times I want to speed up time…but just when the kids are making me crazy!! 
Who really knows what 2009 will bring our family. A few of the things I’m looking forward to are:
- A trip to Vegas with school friends in January
- A trip to Florida (we hope) over Spring Break
- Tearing down our deck and building a patio
- RyRy graduating from high school and starting college
- Celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary
- A new challenge at school when my current coworker retires and I begin working with a new media specialist in August
I’m sure there will be so many more joys and challenges for the Kerber family in 2009, and I look forward to finding out what they are. May you all have a safe and fun night tonight, and have a healthy and happy new year.
The last Christmas
Last night we had our last Christmas celebration, with Grandma & Grandpa Kerber and Aunt Theresa. The kids were so excited to open gifts again. I swear, they’re going to grow up thinking that Christmas is really a week-long holiday! We had a very nice night, and both kids were very excited about their presents. Emma got a kitchen from Grandma & Grandpa, and she was instantly like a little mother putting stuff away and collecting all the pieces to put them where they belonged. She also really loved a little Fairy cottage that she got from Aunt Theresa. It had lots of “babies” she could put inside and lots of doors and windows to open and close.
Ben loved everything he got, but a few highlights were his helmet and knee pads and his Story Reader from Grandma & Grandpa. You may not think that a helmet and knee pads would be that exciting, but the kid had them all the entire night. Being a little chip off the old block of his dad, he loved the idea of staying safe while riding his scooter outside. The Story Reader is a machine that reads books for you, and gives you a noise to indicate that it’s time to turn the page. It’s much like the old books on tape, but just in digital format. He also got a bunch of books to go with it, and has already listened to most of them at least once. He especially loved Mack truck he got. Mack is the truck who carries McQueen in the Cars movie. You just really can’t top anything Cars with Ben.
It was again a great night. I feel like I’ve been saying that in just about every post I have, but it’s true. We’ve had so much holiday fun this year. And spreading it out has been a nice way to keep us all from being totally overwhelmed with gifts. My kids are so lucky to have so many family members who love them.
The Henrikson Christmas
Yes, we had another get-together today…this time the Henrikson family, my mom’s side…in Leland at my cousin Debbi’s house. The cousins on this side basically grew up together as brothers and sisters, and it’s always great to get together. Tonight there were 32 of us there, and we had a blast.
The “little” kids (11 of them ranging from 20 months – 14 years) had a gift exchange and the “adults” (aged 17 – 70) had a grab bag. We did what is known as a “chili dump” meaning that we each made a small batch of chili, brought it, and we dumped them all together into one big pot. It sounds kind of gross, but it was really great!
One of the highlights of the afternoon and evening was seeing Deb’s youngest son Brady’s new puppy, Holly. Santa brought her for Brady even though this was the first year he didn’t ask for a puppy. She’s a 6 week old miniature shitzu, and she is adorable! Emma was absolutely in love with her, and so was I. I would so love to get a puppy if it didn’t mean sooooo much work and commitment. Dave just kept saying things like, “where would we put her when we go to your folks?” or “who would take it out when it’s 1° at 5:30 in the morning?” I know we’re not at all ready for a puppy, but Ems just adores puppies, so it’s tempting. Plus, Ben would really benefit from getting one, too. He’s very interested, but half scared, of almost every dog we see. If we do take the puppy plunge, it won’t be for a long time.
Anyway, back to our holiday celebration. Even though we were all having a great time at the party, it was a tad bit bittersweet, because it was the last time we’ll see my parents until the end of March at the earliest. They’re leaving tomorrow for Florida. I think that Ben kind of understood it better this year, and he was very sad to say good-bye to them. I’m really hoping that we’ll get down there for Spring Break.
We still have one more Christmas party to go, and it will be another big one. It’s kind of nice to have Christmas last all the way until New Year’s Eve!
The Atherton Christmas
Today we traveled to Earlville to get together with the Atherton side of the family. We used to do this every Christmas Eve at Grandma Jane’s, and it was always a fun party. The highlight was singing Christmas carols with everyone…and the pinnacle was a rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with everyone taking a different day. As most of us cousins got married and started families, it just got too hard to get everyone together on Christmas Eve. But we still tried to get as many people to Grandma’s as possible. That changed the last few years. Grandma couldn’t really play the host anymore, and even if we all brought everything it just got too difficult for her. Now that she’s living in the nursing home, our celebration was very different, but it was nice. We were at my aunt and uncle’s house, and actually almost everyone who still lives in Illinois was there. It was, though, not at all the same without my Uncle Jim there. Even though no one said it, I know that we were all thinking about the many years of singing while Jim accompanied us on his guitar. It was certainly a little bit bittersweet to all be there without him.
Happy birthday, Uncle Rod!
What a bummer to have your birthday on the day after Christmas. I’m sure that Rod’s had many “double gifts” over the years. But hopefully he knows that this birthday wish comes separately from all of the activities of yesterday. I’ve always felt lucky to have Rod as a brother-in-law. When I was single, he did hundreds of “guy things” to help me out. Yesterday he did something (I don’t remember what exactly) that was just like Dave does. I said to him, “you are so like Dave…you two are peas in a pod.” His reply was, “well, you knew what to look for when you were searchin’ for a man!” And actually, in a way, he was right. I’ve always admired my sister’s marriage and both of them as parents. I hope that we can do as well over the years.
Have a great birthday, Rod!
It’s Christmas!
Wow what a day! I can only try to tell you about the wonderful day we all had. Last night, we left milk and cookies out for Santa, and went to bed in great anticipation for Christmas Day. When we woke up this morning, we rushed downstairs to see if Santa came and he did! Ben was very sad that he didn’t get to see Santa’s reindeer last night, but he was very excited to see that Santa ate our cookies and drank the milk. And then we saw all the things that he left for us, we were all very excited!
Once we started opening all the presents that Santa left, the excitement built even more. He brought Ben some new Lightning McQueens (which is what Ben asked him for) and a Batman scooter. He can already ride the scooter around the house, and we can all hardly wait to ride it on the sidewalk when it gets nice outside. Emma got a Moxy Uglydoll and a baby with a stroller, bottles, silverware, and a comb & brush. She was thrilled and wanted to get it out of the box instantly while saying, “baby…baby…baby…” over and over. He also brought some very appropriate stocking stuffers like McQueen underpants for Ben and new silverware for Ems. Both are things we need as we’re just mastering the skills to use these items. And of course, Santa brought us some new books. Always.
After we opened everything up, we had some really good play time while we waited for family to get here. First to arrive were Grandma, Grandpa, Curtis and Brett. They loved all of our stuff from Santa, too. A little bit later Aunt Nanny, Uncle Rod, and Ryan arrived, and we had some turkey dinner. Dave had roasted the turkey in the rotisserie, and it was awesome, if I do say so myself. It’s really great to have a small group for dinner. It’s still the festive atmosphere without the total chaos. Don’t get me wrong…there was plenty of chaos when presents started, but dinner was relatively calm.
Once Emma woke up from her nap it was time to open presents. Ben the elf 
helped pass everything out and then we tried to open orderly from youngest to oldest. One problem was the youngest wasn’t too interested in her wrapped presents. Ems mainly just wanted to push her baby around in her stroller. Once we did get her attention enough to open her first gift, though, that changed. Dave & I got her a Little People doll house, and she loved it! After that, it was even tougher to get her to focus on a new present. Maybe that should tell us something…like we got her too much?? She also really loved pushing around the grocery cart that Grandma & Grandpa got her. It even had a baby in it just where she rides with Mommy!
Ben had a lot of favorite gifts. Dave and I got him his third Cars case with even more characters from the movie. He loved them, of course, as he loves most anything Cars related. He loved a space guy who rides a motorcycle that Grandma & Grandpa got him, and he was also pretty excited about getting Don’t Break the Ice. But really he loved everything he opened, and played with it all at some point during the day.
It was surprising, yet pleasing for me to see how much the kids played together. There were lots of things that they both loved and it was a glimpse into our future, when they can actually entertain themselves and play with each other. I could see it…that day is coming! All kidding aside, it was really cool to see their bond growing right in front of our eyes.
By far, though, the greatest thing about today was having all of the family together. Well, not all of the family. Of course the Florida Athertons weren’t here, and of course we wish they would have been. But as much as they hate the cold, I don’t really see that happening anytime soon. I can’t even describe how awesome it was to have everyone come to us this year. Sure, it meant a little bit of extra work for us getting ready, but it was nothing compared to driving the 2 hours up and back and spending the night in Sycamore. Sure, we love doing that, but on Christmas, it was soooooo nice to let my kids stay home and just play. I really owe my whole family a great big thank-you for making the drive this time. We got a couple of great family shots. Well, ours is not great, but it’s decent. I’m hoping that Grandma or Aunt Nancy got a better one for me to post, but for now this will have to do.
Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas Day. I hope I always feel this appreciative for everything that I have, because I truly am very happy and extremely blessed.
One Christmas tradition I don’t love…
…is being sick. I am almost always sick at Christmastime, and I know it’s all due to a lack of sleep. This tradition started in college, I think, when I would spend finals week cramming for those silly tests. I’m sure that was because of my incredible dedication as a student and not due to a complete lack of preparation throughout the entire semester. Either way, I inevitably came home with a horrible cold, or the flu, or bronchitis (only one time, but it was memorable). Now, it’s the same old story. I’ve heard “Honey, why are you still up?” from Dave at 11:00 or later more times in the last two weeks than I can count. There are just a million things to do. And while I love all the planning, shopping, baking, wrapping and partying, it’s taken its toll, and again I’m sick. I have that deep barking cough that I just can’t shake, and my voice sounds like Kim Carnes after a concert. It could be worse, I know, and I’m really trying not to complain. I finally got some Nyquil last night, so I had a great night sleep, and there really isn’t much to do today, so I’m taking it easy. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
I hope Santa brings you all what you’re hoping for the mostest!!
Braggin’ rights
Tonight is the annual Busch Braggin’ Rights game between Illinois and Mizzou. It’s one of the first big hurdles for the Illini to get over before the start of the Big Ten season. In honor of the big game, both kids were decked out in their orange and blue.
Since Clarice the reindeer was blocking Emma’s outfit, I decided to get another shot of her. 
That was not easy! That little girl is on the go all the time, and when she doesn’t want to do something, good luck in talking her into it!! This was my best effort in showing her cheerleader’s uniform:
Let’s hope the Illini can pull out a big victory as an early Christmas present to all of us alum!
I-L-L…
Happy birthday, Grandma Kerber!
It’s Grandma Kerber’s special day, and we hope it’s a great one! I’m sad to admit that I don’t know what number it is, but actually that’s a good thing. This way, Grandma never gets older! I’m sure that she probably doesn’t love having a Christmas birthday, but we try to have her party on the actual day to remember that it’s a separate holiday. This year, though, we had the party last Sunday. It worked out better for everyone schedule-wise, I guess. It was still a f un party…especially for Ben, who got to help Grandma open presents and blow out her candles.
Happy birthday, Grandma. We love you!
We have the power
But we didn’t for several hours this afternoon and evening! We think the high winds probably had something to do with it, but whatever the reason, it sucked. Everything went out a little before 1:00 this afternoon. Try explaining no electricity to a three-year-old who just wanted to finish watching The Grinch…not fun. Fortunately, there was no water coming into the sump pump hole, so Dave wasn’t freaking out the pump not being able to run. We had a party at Aunt Theresa’s tonight, so we were happy to escape the house of dwindling temperatures. Ben and I left here about 2:45 because I couldn’t cook my dish to pass here, and we had to do it at Theresa’s. Dave and Emma came after she woke up, about 3:30. By then, the temperature was already down to 60°. That doesn’t seem too cold until you’re sitting around in it…then it’s pretty chilly. While at the party, we periodically called home to see if our machine picked up, which would indicate our house having power. Thankfully, about 7:00, it did. Shew. When we got home at 7:30 the house was up to 65°, so it must have been on for some time. I wonder how cold it actually got in here. It’s -2° outside right now, so I’m sure it went down a lot colder before we regained power. Currently it’s back up to 68° and we’re all much happier!
