Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for grandparents
A textbook Sunday
There’s Indian Summer, and then there’s 70° in November. Today, it was sunny and 70° outside. No, I’m not kidding…it really was that warm! Grandma Judy, Grandpa Scott, Brett, and Kelli came down to spend the day with us, and it was a really great day. The kids played with Brett & Kelli so much, and they had a blast. They played downstairs, out in the front yard, downstairs again, out in the back yard, and back downstairs some more. Let me tell you that basement was trashed! I swear they had gotten out every single toy we have down there and none of them seemed to find their way home. But it didn’t matter. Just by looking at it I could tell that it was awesome. I think my favorite thing they had done was to set up our blocks to make a sort of wall in the corner. Ben told me that he was a puppy, and that was his cage. His sleeping bag was in there, and an empty bucket was, too. He said that was his blanket and his food. It cracked me up.
“Were Kelli and Brett your owners?” I asked him.
“Yes, he said, “They took care of me!” He had a huge smile on his face.
I love that he is starting to interact with kids more and he’s joining in with imaginative play. He’s getting so grown up, and I seem to notice more and more changes in him daily. What a mixed feeling that is.
I’m calling this a textbook Sunday because we literally got to do everything I hold near and dear about Sundays. We went to church as a family, we came home and went straight outside to ride bikes, more family arrived and we ate dinner together, we played outside with our neighborhood friends, and we generally had an awesome time just being together. It really reminded me of my childhood Sundays, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. For the first time in a very long time, I dread going to bed tonight!
Happy anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa
Everyone makes such a big deal over big, fat, round anniversary years. At 10 years, everyone I know goes somewhere together to celebrate. At 25 years, there’s usually some kind of get-together or party to celebrate. Then comes 40 years, for some reason a real biggie, it seems. I can remember my grandparents’ fortieth anniversary party very well from my childhood…it was a par-tee!
Well, this year is Mom & Dad’s 49th wedding anniversary, and while many people don’t think that’s a big deal, I have to disagree. They’ve gone through 49 years together as husband and wife…almost five decades, people! I can’t even imagine! And while I know that next year will bring all the fanfare with the 50th, I hope they know how much I respect and appreciate their marriage now, even though no one may be making a big deal out of it. When I talked to Mom today, she said that this was, “just like any other day.” But I have to disagree…a 49th anniversary is definitely not like any other day.
Thanks for everything you do for us, Mom & Dad, but more importantly, thanks for the great example you’ve set for all of us. We love you…happy anniversary!
To Sycamore they go
Tomorrow Danielle is not babysitting, so the kids are off to Grandma Judy & Grandpa Scott’s for a long weekend. It’s been awhile since they’ve been up north, so I think that everyone involved is very excited. It’s been fun preparing for the trip this time, because Ben understands the days of the week more. So each day he’s asked, “What day are we going to Grandma Judy’s?” “Thursday,” I would say. Then we’d have to go through the days of the week song to figure out how many days away Thursday was. It was fun building the anticipation with him.
As always when the kids or we are away, I do feel a bit guilty for being so excited. But I do know that the kids will have so fun, and that Grandma & Grandpa absolutely love having them there, so why not enjoy my own little break, right?
Right? :s
Back to Grandma & Grandpa’s house
Tonight Dave took the kids and met my mom and dad halfway between our houses. We usually meet at a McDonald’s, have dinner there, switch vehicles, and then head home…us without the kids and Grandma and Grandpa with two houseguests. It’s always with mixed emotions that we do this. In this case, it’s so much nicer for the kids and easier for Dave to have them go up there since I’m working until almost 8:00 p.m. all week. I know that the kids and the grandparents have such a great time when they’re there, but we miss them a lot!
I’m so thankful that my parents love having them. I know the kids are making memories that they’ll always cherish.
Happy Father’s Day!
My kids have a wonderful father. When I was pregnant with Ben, Dave would tell me that he was worried that he wouldn’t be a good dad. I think that because his own relationship with his dad was a bit tumultuous at times, he was concerned that he just didn’t have the best example. Well, that may be an exaggeration of Dave and his dad, but he definitely didn’t have an example of the type of dad he wanted to be. But I knew even then that he was worried for nothing. Dave is such a sweet loving person that it was obvious to me that as soon as he met that baby his love would guide him and fatherhood would come naturally for him. It definitely did. Not long after Ben was born, Dave would look at me pointedly and say, “I love that little boy!” Then, when I was pregnant with Emma, he worried that he’d never be able to love anyone as much as he loved Ben. He was wrong then, too. His love for Ben simply expanded twofold when Ems came along. Soon after, I would hear, “I love that little girl!” just as much or more.
Now, I can’t even imagine him not being a dad. He is so patient with the kids, and teaches them so much about being kind and being safe. As always, he is the perfect yin to my yang. When my patience is gone and I’m at my wits end with one or both of them, he can always step in calmly and diffuse the situation. They worship him…both in different ways. Ben wants to do everything Daddy does, and his most favorite thing is to work with Daddy using his tools. If anything breaks his first response is, “Don’t worry…Daddy can fix it!” He has complete and total confidence that his dad is pretty much Superman. Emma loves snuggling with him and finds complete comfort sitting in his lap. Dave is in big trouble very soon, because I’m pretty sure that she’s gonna figure out how much she has him completely wrapped around her little finger.
Ok, I’ll admit that I do bust his chops at times about “letting” me be in charge of a lot with the kids. And yes, I’m pretty sure that if I wasn’t around, they may never get a bath again. 
But overall, Dave is a wonderful father, and on this Father’s Day, I hope he knows how much we all love and appreciate him around here. Again, though, as I said back on Mother’s Day, I really hope that he knows it every day instead of just on one random Sunday in June. I hope that I don’t forget to tell him how much I appreciate him and I hope Ben and Emma always realize how lucky they are to have him.
As for my own dad, well, I could write an entire post about him, too. He’s been so much to me over the years. Dad is certainly not a man of many words, but he’s definitely a man of action. As a kid he taught me to ride a bike, to ride a motorcycle, to read a map, everything I ever needed to know about football, and to appreciate my nature to question just about everything. Throughout my adult life, he’s helped me move a million times, he’s built me everything from bookshelves to golf clubs, he’s painted the high spots I couldn’t reach, and just yesterday he helped Dave install our new door. The man, in my eyes is still Superman. Thanks, Dad, for everything you continue to do for me and now for my family. I hope you had an awesome day today!
I wish that every kid had the chance to view his or her dad as Superman. I know that my kids and I am more fortunate having had the chance to do so.
They’re home!
It was so great to get the kids home today. I can’t even describe how anxious I was to have them get here. At one point, about ten minutes before they were scheduled to get here, Dave said, “here they are!” and I went running out front to greet them. Of course he was wrong, and it was some other van pulling into the subdivision. It was like I was a little kid waiting for Christmas. Then suddenly Ben appeared on the deck and shouted “Surprise!” It was awesome.
Grandma Judy and Grandpa Scott brought them all the way home because Grandpa planned to help Dave install our new sliding door. It was a long, hot job for them, but they got it done, and now we have a brand new awesome door! 
Of course, as with any home improvement job, there were a few wrinkles. For example, the screen door that came with the door was an inch too tall for the opening. Seriously? How could they get the measurements right for one door and wrong for the one that’s connected to it! I mean, really…that seems like it would be a simple concept for door retail…order the same size in the glass and the screen doors! But I digress. The fact of the matter is we now have a much nicer, more solid door that seals way better than one that’s half rotted on the bottom! I can’t wait to get the screen door in and installed so we can stain it all and be done with this project! Hopefully that all happens before the end of the summer…
So the house is sealed better and way nicer now that the kids are sleeping in their beds tonight. How can it feel so different having them sound asleep above us?? I’m not sure, but it is definitely more comforting and full of love.
Our mini-vacation
This week Ben and Emma are at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Judy’s house. I am attending a class all week, and since I can’t stay with them during the day and expected to have some homework at night, we thought it would be easier (and a lot more fun) for them to head to Sycamore for the week.
It’s really quite pathetic how excited Dave and I are about this free week. Sure, neither of us is actually going anywhere, and I’ll probably have more work than I normally do, but it’s still like having a ton of free time. I really is like a mini-vacation…just in our own home.
Happy anniversary, Grandma & Grandpa Kerber!
Grandma & Grandpa Kerber were married on June 6, 1953, which means they have been married for 56 years. Yes, I said fifty six years! Isn’t that just amazing? And even though we didn’t have an official get-together this year, I know that all of us were thinking of them today and hoping that we will all be lucky enough have so many happy years together. Congratulations, Gene and Kathy…and here’s to you spending many more years together!
Happy Memorial Day!
I’m a little sad today. Memorial Day is usually a day I love. I mean, really, what’s not to love: it’s the day off preceding the final run of school before summer break, the weather is almost always nice and it’s usually when we get all of our flowers planted outside, there’s often a family cookout, it’s a day to remember loved ones we’ve lost and to decorate the cemeteries in which they’re laid to rest, and it’s a day to remember and appreciate the many men and women who have given their lives to protect and serve our country. But today just didn’t turn out like that at all.
This morning Dave woke up feeling very sick. He was not himself at all, and never really felt any better all day. So, the family cookout that was going to be at our house got moved to his parents’ house and the kids and I had to go without him. The weather was crappy all day, and it’s so muddy under our landscaping rock that we could not get our flowers into the ground. Since he was sick and the weather sucked, we didn’t even consider going to the parade this morning, so there was no reflection or memorials at all. And even though I literally drove through Earlville yesterday, I didn’t visit the cemetery where both of my grandpas and all of my great grandparents are buried.
Overall, it was just kind of a sucky Memorial Day. At least there are only 6 official days of school left. June 2nd cannot come soon enough.
Happy Easter!
It’s Easter night, and I sit here tired out from a really great day. We got up this morning and got ready for church before coming down to see if the Easter Bunny had visited us during the night. When we got downstairs, the first thing Ben said was, “There’s no eggs on the plate anymore!” He knew the bunny had hid them! 
Once they saw the baskets, though, the eggs had to wait. Both Ben and Emma were so excited to see all of their stuff. I have to say that the bunny was very generous this year. It seems that maybe there was more stuff than usual…maybe the bunny had some leftover toys from his Spring Break trip to Florida, or something. 
Anyway, the biggest hit in the baskets were a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy for Ems and batman underpants for Ben. The bunny hit the nail on the head with both of those items! In fact, Ben wanted to put on a pair of his underpants immediately. It was pretty funny.
After going through most of the basket items, it was time to find the eggs. 
Ben was absolutely running around the house yelling, “there’s another one!” every time he saw an egg. He’d carefully bring each one back to the egg plate on the kitchen table and then head out for more. Emma, on the other hand, was 
much more interested in her stickers. We got her to find a few eggs here and there, but really she would have been much more happy just continuing to stick stickers into her little notebook and ignoring the craziness with the eggs. She did find the last one, though, because it was in her high chair.
After church, we headed out to Grandma & Grandpa Kerber’s house. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Dan & Aunt Mary were already there, but we were still waiting for Salina and Bella to arrive before we could start our egg hunt. 
Once they got there, the kids were off hunting eggs. Ben was literally running around the farmyard yelling, laughing and screeching every time he saw another egg. He was so excited. Emma was de
finitely more into it this time, but she was just kind of methodically walking around picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. I guess it didn’t help that the wind was blowing hard and it nearly knocked her off her feet at times. But she was having a lot of fun, too. When everything was collected from the yard, we opened up all the eggs and found out what treasures were inside. Ben was so excited that some of his eggs had Cheetos in them! Leave it to Aunt Theresa!
I have to say that after the egg hunt, somehow I miraculously got this awesome picture of the two kids.
We enjoyed a great dinner and then I brought Emma home to nap. There’s not really a place at the farm for her to get any real sleep, so this was the best solution. Ben and Dave had work to do around the farmyard; they were trimming trees and picking a lot of stuff up for Grandma & Grandpa. I’m not sure who loved that more…Ben or Daddy!
Emma and I went back out and we ended up staying until almost 7:00. Poor Ben was fighting sleep so badly on the trip home, but he just couldn’t win the battle. He was out cold when we got here. Needless to say, they’re both out now, and I’m on my way, as well. It was another great holiday, and again I feel lucky to have such a wonderful family.
