Happy Birthday Uncle Brett

Kate wanted to be sure to wish Uncle Brett a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. There are two videos because I did not realize she wasn't done. :)

Fire Days

We enjoyed a fun morning in Pekin at “Fire Days.”  We had never been before and had it not started raining we would have stayed for the other activities, but despite the rain, the kiddos still enjoyed the fire truck parade, especially Lincoln.  Duane and Alissa and their girls came too.  We warmed up afterward with lunch at Avanti’s. :)

 

Transplant Update

 

As many of you know, Nic, Mike’s brother, found out last summer that he needs a kidney transplant.  Four of the siblings were able to be tested to see if any of them would be able to give Nic one of their kidneys.  Two of the siblings were perfect matches.  We are now to a point where the transplant surgery, that has for a long time seemed for away, is actually now quite close.  The surgery will take place at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago on May 28th.  It is not yet known if the surgery will be in the morning or the afternoon.  They expect John’s surgery to last approximately 2 or 3 hours and then Nic’s surgery to last about 3 or 4 hours.  We tentatively expect John will be able to return home on May 30 or 31 and Nic a few days later.  There is a pre-transplant meeting scheduled for next week and as we learn more details, I will try to update you.  For more detailed information, please step on over to www.normalrassis.blogspot.com.  We will do our best to keep you informed and on behalf of the family we sincerely thank you for your love, concern, care, and prayers.

Mother’s Day Photos

Here are a few pictures Mike took of the kids and I yesterday.  I did not even get the camera out at either Mother’s Day event (sad) but Aunt Ruth was snapping away last night, so hopefully I can snag a few pictures off her blog for our photo album. :)

A Girl After Grandma’s Heart

For weeks, my Mom has been promising Kate she would take her flower shopping in May.  Since Mom was going to help me pick out flowers for my pots, we just took Kate along.  I wish I had taken my video camera along.  We walked into the flower shop and she said, "Oh my! Look at all these beautiful flowers.  It is so lovely.  Let’s get cracking, we have flowers to pick."  She proceeded to pull her little red wagon and look at all the flowers, in absolute awe the whole time.  At one point, I tried to put a peach daisy in her wagon, she looked at me in all seriousness and said, "I don’t really like that one, but if you want it, I suppose you could just carry it."  Most of the flowers she picked are ones that I would have picked myself, so it worked out well in the end.  She did a great job helping me plant them all.  I asked to take her picture by the flowers when we were done and she said, "But Mom, my dress is all dirty, I can’t take a picture like this."  I convinced her that people would just think she had been hard at work and it would be okay.   Thanks Mom for taking us flower shopping!   

Ice Cream Cones and Hungry Frogs

This past week, we had ice cream cones for dessert one evening.  The kids thought it was a fun treat.  After ice cream we played a game of Hungry Frogs, which Lincoln may have loved the most.  He laughed with glee almost the entire time.  (He did get a bath after the game, if you wonder about his dirty face in every picture.)  We also had our first corn on the cob of the "summer" and after every bite Lincoln would say, "Mmmm, dat’s good."   

Just Like Daddy

God is really good at keeping me quite humble, especially when it comes to my opinion of myself as a parent.  We will go several weeks and things will be going well, the kids are obeying, my patience level with them is good, I don’t seem to mind the whining or fighting that sometimes occurs at our house.      THEN I have a bad day and the 342nd time Kate says, “Mom” she gets a “WHAT?” ground out with my teeth clenched and a bit of an edge and the terrible two tantrum that Lincoln throws just gets my goat, rather than simply shrugging and trying to teach him through it…but all in all, it’s good because I continually have to go back to God and say, “I CAN’T do this, I don’t know how.”  Any everyday grace is there and I’m truly thankful. 

 

Kate is so full of life and a lot of fun.  It’s common for her to get up and say, “I dreamed of a beautiful sunny day and now look how lovely it is outside.”  She learned how to write her name and is busy writing it and any other word I will spell for her.  She can swing by herself now and is just growing up.  Almost every day we talk about when August is as in her mind that is a pretty great month, preschool resumes, our baby arrives (Lord Willing) and it’s her birthday month.  Life just doesn’t get any better.  She also recently starting taking showers and we have a shower addict on our hands.  She wants to take multiple showers a day and we’ve had to institute a two minute shower rule or we’ll go broke paying our water bill.  Lincoln is entering the terrible two’s, but he’s still our snuggly little boy.  He is really starting to want to be just like his daddy, he wants to dress like him and be with him.  A few of this weeks pictures are of him mowing with his mower, which he had to have his hat for because Daddy mows with his hat on.  He also got quite upset with me when I wouldn’t let him put gas in his mower like Daddy.  If Mike is going anywhere Lincoln is quick to say “I ready, I go.”  All in all, though we have some frustrating days, our kids have blessed our life so much.  We’re excited to meet #3 (15 more weeks give or take) and below is a picture for my out of town friends of me at 25 weeks.