Happy Birthday, Ezra!

Our grandson, Ezra, turns five today. We were living in South Korea at the time and had bought plane tickets six months in advance hoping to arrive near his birthdate. We were flying over the Pacific ocean when our daughter went into labor. We arrived to messages on our phones that Ezra had arrived so we went straight to the hospital from the airport. 

Two weeks ago our niece married and we spent the weekend at my sister's house. She had lots of chickens and Ezra loved feeding them every day.

 

 

 

                      We did some exploring too while everyone was preparing for the wedding.

We spent time on a bench swing imagining it was a crab boat and Ezra was the captain. We ran into bad weather and all sorts of problems that we could imagine.

                                         We also went egg hunting and found eggs every day.

 

                                         But his favorite things to do was to feed the chickens.

 

His very favorite chicken was a small scrawny one that was terrified of everything. He did everything he could to feed it but it would take off every time he came near. 

                                                    He chased this poor chicken everywhere.

                                                                  But finally gave up.

                                                      There you are, I've got you cornered now.       

Sadly, last weekend a raccoon got into the coop and seven chickens were killed including Ezra's favorite.

Rocketman was the photographer for our niece's wedding so we also spent a lot of time in the church they were to be married in.  

Ezra with his big brother. The wedding was beautiful and the boys did great considering it was a long day for them.

Happy 5th birthday, Ezra! We love you so very much!!

Roman William Meverden - November 17, 2015

Our fourth grandson was born yesterday afternoon, Roman William Meverden.  He was a week later than his due date but he knew when he wanted to come. He gave his mommy a 30 hour labor including hours of pushing. I  can't even image what she went through. My children were born by C-sections for both of our children due to  my suffering with toxemia which included extremely high blood pressure. Poor mama was so exhausted from the ordeal but she is a trooper.

Here is a photo of the new family.

Grandma (me) totally smitten with Roman. I held him for over an hour in which we just stared at each other. He would glance around the room and then back to me. I wondered what he thought of it all and if he had any idea how much joy he has brought to us. I thought about how I held his daddy just the same way and marveled at where had all the time gone. But knowing that as we do as grandparents, we know that every moment spent with them is so very precious.

I found out that things had changed a whole lot since I had his father in 1987. Back then, the babies were brought to you to feed whether by breast or bottle and then returned to the nursery. They didn't like to keep the newborns in the room with you very long, germs and all. Roman stayed in their room the entire time.

The decision of circumcision is totally your decision with no pressure one way or another. When I had Luke, I was given a three page report on the importance of not having your child circumcised. Then a social worker also spoke to me encouraging me not to have it done.

They offer things like aromatherapy and massages. Wow, that would have been great.

Rocketman and I were treated to a steak dinner in the hospital in celebration.  No such luck for my son and his wife.

The nurses did all the changing of the diapers. They wouldn't even allow me to change one. My son and his wife did all the diaper changes.

I must be sounding really old. My mother told me that when she was in labor with me they gave her ether and it made her totally out of her mind as to what was going on and also very, very ill. Yuck. So change is good.

Happy Birthday, Roman!!

Baby Shower!

 I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog. I have been a sewing maniac this summer making lots of quilts for special events in our lives. One of them was a baby shower for our daughter-in-law, Amberleigh. It was held at one of her sister's homes. You can see her two sisters in the photo above. This is a baby quilt I made as soon as I heard she was pregnant. It was a kit and I loved how it turned out.

I also had just gotten her wedding quilt back from my long arm quilter and I was able to get the binding sewn on just in time for the shower. She loved it.

 My son had a Winnie-the-Pooh room when he was a baby and he wanted the same for his little one. They decorated the baby's room in the original looking pooh and I found this pooh bear on line. This was a perfect gift from my mom. She loved it and it was so soft and cuddly.

 My daughter was also able to attend and it was wonderful to meet all of Amberleigh's family and friends.

 I also won a prize for a game where we had to look at jars of baby food and guess what they were. There were 10 and I got 8 right. I reversed the green beans and peas. I'm pretty good at baby food jars.

My parents were in town when I completed Amberleigh's wedding quilt and they helped hold it up so I could take a photo.

Here is a close up of the quilt. I absolutely love how it turned out.

Our trip to Korea is coming up fast and I still have a lot to do before we go but we can't wait to return to the "Land of the Morning Calm." We will be taking a trip down to Busan to see Hellena and her twin girls. We've never seen them in person. I also am working on my shopping list because I don't want to forget anything. My bojagi teacher who is living and teaching in New York right now is setting up an exhibition in New York for next September and she wants me to take part. I have some ideas for bojagi projects and it is perfect timing that we will be in Korea soon and I can buy the fabric I need.

Judah's 1st Birthday

Judah turned one on February 25th so we had a little family birthday party for him. Of course we did the Korean tol because it's so much fun to see what they choose. He immediately went for the bowl of rice which means he will never be hungry. Our tol consisted of: computer mouse (he will be a gamer which is a highly respected job in Korea), ruler (I forgot), bowl of rice (never be hungry), money (will be wealthy), pencil (will be a scholar), ball (professional player) and string (will have a long life). His mama wasn't surprised at all he went for the rice. Right now he is all about food.

 Judah and mama helping to blow out that candle.

                                             He loved the rocking horse we got him.

His brothers loved the cupcakes. 

 

And so did Judah. It was a great time and we all marveled at how fast the year had past.

 

Happy 30th to our baby girl, Laura!!!

Laura June Meverden was born at 4:46pm on January 14, 1985 at St. Joseph Hospital in St. Paul, MN. Her first due date way January 7th but when my OB could not detect a heartbeat at a few months, he moved the date to January 24th. Fourteen happens to be mine and Rocketman's favorite number. She was born on a full moon by emergency C-section. 

I had developed preeclampsia five months into the pregnancy. The day Laura was born, I was full of fluid and my blood pressure was 150/110. It was too dangerous to continue the pregnancy. Laura came into the world without a peep with her eyes wide open and taking everything in. She was perfect in every way. When my mom saw this photo, she wondered who that was holding Laura because I looked so different due to all the fluid. It ended up taking a entire year for my blood pressure to return to normal but it was all worth it.

We love you so very much, Laura, and we are so proud of the wife, mother and woman you have become.

Waterpark Weekend 2015 Edition!

This year's annual waterpark trip with our daughter and her family, we thought to find a waterpark closer to home instead of the 3 1/2 hour drive to the Dells. I found the Metropolis in Eau Claire, only an 1 1/2 drive, through Trip Advisor. For the most part, the reviews were really good. The biggest downside was it was $200 a night more than the Dells  but I decided to book the weekend anyway because not only did it have a waterpark, it also had an indoor amusement park also attached to the hotel.

I picked up the grandboys Friday morning while Rocketman was at work and we left a few hours after lunch. The drive was great with no weather issues which can be a great concern when it's bad. We checked in and got into the room only to find there was no heat and the thermostat was broken. Rocketman went back to the front desk and they gave us a new room.

I had brought quite a bit of food and thankfully Noah was able to get everything to fit into the hotel size refrigerator. I missed the full size kitchen we had always enjoyed at the Dells hotel. The two bedroom suite was also a lot smaller than the Dell hotel suite. We ordered pizza delivery, ate and then hit the waterpark.

Judah and his parents arrived and it was time for bed. The day was split between the waterpark and Action City. I didn't take any photos at the waterpark but I did take quite a few at Action City. Unfortunately, my camera decided to take mostly blurry photos. But I did get some of the grandboys and Rocketman is on the look for a new camera for me.

                                                                       Mama and Ezra

                                                             Grandpa and Judah

                                                       Noah driving his first go-cart.

                                                                       Ezra and Daddy

                                                             Wooooooooooooo

 Grandpa and Noah  

 Noah, Ezra and Daddy. 

Little Ezra. This is how we all felt after the weekend. One favorite Ezraism, we took the two older boys to the waterpark and it was time to leave. As I was drying Ezra off with a towel, he asked, "Grandma, can you wrap me up and carry me like a burrito?" It was the funniest thing I've ever heard and we did just that except Grandpa carried him back to the hotel room.  Even though I was disappointed in the hotel, it really is about spending time with family and for that reason it was worth every penny. But I think we will try somewhere new next year or return to the Dells.