Stormy skies

During the summer when Missi and Kathi were with us, we had "date nights" with them.  This particular evening was Kent and Kathi's turn, so Missi, Lindsay and I had been doing some swimming.  After Lindsay was put to bed, Missi and I went back outside to cover the pool.

The skies were stormy and threatening looking, and I was keeping a watchful eye to the west.  This was making Missi nervous, but nothing like when I told her to drop the cover and run get Lindsay out of bed while I opened the basement/cellar!  The sky had turned a nasty shade of green.  We stayed in the basement during a violent hailstorm, and worried about Kent and Kathi.

All was fine, no tornado appeared, and Kent and Kathi made it home safely soon after. That was our first, but certainly not last, visit to a basement during tornado season.  It was good to know that Missi could respond so quickly, and without questioning, when needed!  

Christmas

December 10 - I didn't have to get up to go to work!  Lindsay and I spent a lot of time baking cookies and making little crafts (one-year old variety) and decorating and reading and playing.... being a stay at home mom was a nice change!

We spent Christmas at home with Missi and Kathi and Kent's folks and little brother Rob.  Although technically Lindsay's second Christmas, it was the first she could really understand and enjoy the packages.  And there were plenty to enjoy!  

 It doesn't take little ones too long to catch on to presents, does it?

Lindsay and daddy exploring

"Hug Me" baby saw many repairs through the years

My parents made this display when I was a kid, but
 we didn't use it much.  It just wasn't the message we
wanted to emphasize to our kids about Christmas.

Lindsay and grandparents (Kent's parents)

                

Career Status

So while we were in Missouri for Thanksgiving, my mom and I were talking.  She told me how she hated working when we (my brother and I) were babies, taking us out in the cold to grandma's in the morning,* and how she was sometimes so worn out she couldn't tell if she was sick or just tired, and how she was afraid I was at the same point.  So she made me (us) an offer - if we could manage so I didn't have to work, she would buy Lindsay's clothes to help out financially.

hiding from Grandma

talking with Uncle Doug

bet Grandpa's asleep before me

Grandma doesn't spoil me

On the way to work Monday morning, we got to talking about could we make it financially, and decided that we could.  I double checked, and I had enough in-service time, so I gave my two-week notice that day.  And we were all much happier.  My original office had disbanded (our special projects were finished) and I had been put in a new colonel's office (nice man, but a job with a lot more politics) and I really missed being with my baby.

Of course, Kent stopped going to California so much, so there wasn't that travel.  But he also started working 10 hours of overtime each week, so we didn't even notice a pay "cut".




*side story - Once when it was to be a particularly cold night, Dad and Mom took us back to Grandma Adams' house to spend the night so they would not have to take us out the next morning (mom was always a little paranoid about things).  My other grandparents' farmhouse caught fire, and they couldn't find my folks to go out there, cause they weren't at home, they were at grandma's with us.  The sheriff tracked dad down and told him, and they hurried out to the farm.... in time for dad to push the old piano that grandma wanted rid of into the fire!  Firefighting help was just neighbors, but the horse trough and well were frozen, so there wasn't much to do but watch it burn.  

Happy 1st Birthday!

I'm terrible at party planning.  I've always known this, but it's even more glaringly apparent looking back through old pictures.  So, sorry kids........

Lindsay had been sick so her first birthday was an extra quiet affair.  Her grandparents and some family friends joined us for the Butterfield tradition of chocolate cake, served picnic style on a white sheet on the floor.

Maybe someday we'll get the video transferred from VHS and can link it here... that's where all the pictures are!

the birthday girl!

snap links, blocks and...

stacking rings.. what more could you want?

just about partied out

Canning with my little helper

One summer evening Kent, Missi and Kathi had gone out and Lindsay and I were home alone.  I was blanching corn to freeze for winter.  Lindsay kept busy crawling round and round (you could make a complete circle through the downstairs).  Having her underfoot was not too bad, except when I had to drain the boiling water, so I would lead her into the next room, then run ahead and be done with the boiling water before she would catch up.

As I'm working away in the kitchen I realize I haven't seen her in a bit.  I go to check, and discover her hanging off the side of the aquarium!  She's holding on for dear life, but won't make a sound because she knows she shouldn't be there (it's only a foot drop to the floor; the aquarium sat on a end table next to the stairs... she simply climbed up two steps and onto the table.)

But the fish were well fed that night...... and for the next couple of days. :) 

helping dad is better than helping mom any day!

Watching the Blue Angels... from the top of the Sears Tower

We often daytripped to Chicago, visiting the museums or zoo, and sometimes we would stay overnight, usually at the Embassy Suites.  We especially loved to do that in the winter - take a mini-vacation and swim the weekend away.

But this was a summer trip with the kids and grandparents.  Kent and I took Missi and Kathi up to the top of the Sears Tower, while the grandparents watched Lindsay down below.  While we were looking out over Chicago, we were surprised to see the Blue Angels rehearsing!  Sometimes they were at eye level, and sometimes actually below us.  It was an amazing sight.  When we finally went back down, Kent's folks said they though we weren't coming back, but they understood when we told them what was going on.

Canoeing and grandma's day with the little angels

During our family get-together in Missouri over Memorial Day, we decided to take Missi and Kathi canoeing, along with my cousin Nate and his wife Mendy.  My mom volunteered to watch Lindsay and their daughter Trisha, who was 6 weeks younger than Lindsay.

We went to Bennett Springs State Park, where the girls wanted to go every time we were in Missouri.  They loved to feed the fish at the trout hatchery.  So we headed out, rented a couple of canoes and had a great afternoon on the river.

Not wanting to take too much advantage of mom, we didn't stay out all day.  What did we come home to find?  The babies were playing quietly, and mom was vacuuming.... Vacuuming up all the dirt from the planter they had pulled over... you know, the one mom sat there watching them, saying 'they can't pull that planter off'.  Everyone/thing was fine - except the plant.  But it didn't stop mom from watching our kids many more times in the future.  She was great like that!

It wasn't me, really........

Who? Us? Cause trouble??