Sunday, December 26, 2010

A Wonderful Christmas Weekend!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope Santa was good to all of you, because he was certainly good to us here in the GFL!  Robbie and I finished putting the presents out at around 1 AM and then crept into bed ourselves.  The kids slept in until about 7:30 AM, which was about an hour more than my sister got with my nephew!  Lol!  We let the older two sleep in the same room together in their new pajamas.  Of course, there were the hours of excited whispering before sleep was actually attained.

They crept into our room, and Sandy woke me by speaking in a hurried, hushed whisper, "Mommy!  Wake up!  Santa's came!  Come on, come on!"  Robbie and I rolled out of bed, and tried our best to sound genuinely excited as we rubbed the last of the sleep our of our eyes.  I grabbed the camera and took pictures as the children squealed and gasped over their Christmas stash.  After the Santa presents had been thoroughly enjoyed, we moved onto the wrapped presents under the tree.  The rest of the morning was spent taking toys out of packages, the children rotating through their various toys and playing with each of them, Robbie snuck back into bed to grab a 2 hour nap, and I began the preparations for Christmas dinner.

We had a wonderful afternoon with my mother, my younger sister and nephew, my mother-in-law, and sister-in-law.  I cooked the ham and everyone else brought sides from homemade bread, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, mac n cheese, etc to peanut butter pie, pumpkin pie and an apple pie!  On a side note, my mother-in-law makes the BEST apple pie I have EVER eaten.  She only makes it twice a year, for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and always makes an extra one just for my husband.  I literally stuffed myself, and then we all sat around the table, chatting and laughing the afternoon into evening as the cousins all played in the rooms together.  Later, we moved into the living room, as Atticus finally woke from a very long afternoon nap, and Grandma Hemrick (M-I-L) played Christmas carols on the piano, with Robbie singing, sometimes seriously, sometimes silly, and the children running in and out just enjoying the excitement of Christmas.

Later that evening, when it was getting close to bedtime for the kids, the grandmas and aunts all said their good-byes, had rounds of hugs and kisses, and made their journeys home.  I gave the older two baths, where they each enjoyed some new bath "paints" they had gotten, brushed teeth, and climbed into Gideon's bed for a bedtime story with Daddy--a rare treat since he's usually still at work when they go to bed.  I love to watch my husband interacting with my children.  They have such a wonderful bond.  They absolutely adore their father, and he them.  He would make different voices for the different characters, and let Sandy pitch in on some of the short sentences that she could read, and Gideon would throw in his comment on the pictures.  They laughed and giggled as Robbie would change from one voice to the next, and eventually made it to the end of the story.  Then he put them to bed for me while I was busy with Atticus' nightly routine.

We tidied up the house for a while, then settled into the living room.  Robbie enjoyed his new PS3 game, while I worked on my cross stitching and occasionally got up to do some task with Atticus.  We switched over to a movie eventually, while I waited to give Atticus his last medicine in the wee hours of the AM.  Robbie would step outside to smoke a cigarette and we actually got to see the snow beginning to fall shortly before we went to bed.

We woke up to steady snowfall and the beginnings of a rarely seen beauty of a white yard.  The kids were excited and couldn't wait for enough accumulation to go outside to play in it.  Gideon even said, "NOW its Christmas, Mommy!  Its snowing!"  Robbie had to run out that morning and take one of his cooks to work, and the kids and I began our normal morning routine, minus the trip to Sunday school with Nana, of course.  Once Robbie returned, I finished getting the kids ready to go outside, donned in the new scarves and hats that Grandma Hemrick had made.  I was having trouble finding Gideon's mittens, so I told him we'd grab some socks and just use those for now so that he could go ahead and enjoy the snow while it lasted.  As he followed me into his room, he said, "Socks for mittens?!  How clever!"  I almost had to stop walking from laughing so hard! :)  (For those who might not know Gideon, he took FOREVER to talk.  It wasn't that he didn't know how; he was just more than happy to let Sandy do all his talking for him.  So when he breaks out with something like this, it always makes me smile.  Another time, Robbie had made him a monocle out of a fuzzy pipe cleaner.  When Robbie showed him, Gideon placed it over his eye and said, "Hmmmmm.  How mysterious!" He's too funny!)  They all spent about 45 minutes outside, throwing snowballs at each other, making snow angels, having Robbie swing them around by the arms, running, and laughing.  They all came in thoroughly cold, complete with rosy noses and cheeks, just in time for coffee, hot chocolate, and soup and sandwiches.  They're all three napping now, as Robbie gets ready to head into work.  All in all, it has been a wonderful Christmas weekend.  Atticus was home this year, the kids loved their presents, we had a wonderful time with family, and we even got snow!  :)

Sunday, December 5, 2010

It's a Classic!

This story is from a little while ago and involves my oldest, Sandy.  Sandy is a very precocious little girl.  She is also very vocal (she knew over 300 words by the time she was 18 months old!).  She is constantly making me laugh, or pause to think with the things that she says.  (She can also irritate me faster than the others, but I guess that just comes with being the oldest! LOL)

In this particular story, we were riding home from my mother's house, which is across town, and she was about 3 or 4 years old at the time.  She had been watching the movie "The Chipmunks' Adventure", where they fly around the world vs the Chipettes, over and over again.  She particularly loved the song, "Woolly Bully" and we were singing it over and over again as we drove along.  On about the 10th round of "Woolly Bully", I had had enough of singing and the following conversation took place:

Sandy:  "Let's sing it again, Mommy!"

Me:  "My voice is tired.  Why don't you sing it for me?"

Sandy:  low whisper coming from the back seat

Me:  "No, no, you gotta sing it where I can hear it!"

Sandy:  sigh.  "I'm singing it to God."

Me:  Laugh.  "Oh!  Does He like that song?"

Sandy:  "Of course, Mommy.  It's a classic."  (said in the most blase, everyone should know this information kind of voice!)


I laughed so hard that I almost wrecked the car!  I couldn't believe that she knew what a "classic" was!  Guess she'd been listening to Robbie and I talk about music!  This is just one of about a thousand "Sandy stories" of little insights from her perspective!  I love my daughter.  She might frustrate me from time to time, but life would certainly be dull without her!

Monday, November 29, 2010

What a game!!

So yesterday was the big game...and what a game it was!  I'll go ahead and say that sadly, the Packers didn't win.  The Falcons managed to score a winning field goal in the last 45 seconds of the game.  It was neck and neck, back and forth the whole game.  I was up on my feet so often, that I don't know why I even bothered to sit down! 

The whole game was quite the experience!  We got to Atlanta, managed to park at a gas station (who was selling spaces for $40--but they were only 4 blocks from the stadium!), and walked to the stadium.  As we passed the lots for the season ticket holders, you could see tons of tailgaters, see folks tossing the football, calling out to passing fans and jeering opposing fans.  Packer fans were calling out to one another in excitement for the upcoming game, and people honked their horns and yelled out of the windows of their cars as they passed on the street.  Our first stop was Falcons' Landing, which is basically a carnival of game related booths.  We were walking along when my husband got pulled into a dance-off competition between the Green Bay fans and the Falcons fans.  First was a Packers' fan that started things off with the Worm!  It was pretty good!  Then the Falcons fan went with some moves of her own.  Then it was my husband's turn.  I'll just say that my husband is actually a pretty good dancer.  He's a goofball, so he doesn't mind making a fool of himself, and he just let loose with the South Kak hop and the A-town stomp and blew everyone away!  The Packers might have lost the game, but the Packer fans definitely won the dance-off! LOL!

Next we made our way through the line to finally get into the stadium.  There were lots of little shops along the lobby area.  Then we moved into the mezzanine area, where all the food vendors are, and where I got my first view of the field.  Wow!  That's the best way to describe what I was feeling as the field first creeped into my view.  The field looked so vibrant and bright.  The players were all warming up and their uniforms looked so crisp and sharp against the green and white of the field.  Fans were pouring in all over the stadium, there was a low rumble of voices as everyone was talking to each other and shouting to the players as they went through their warm up routines.  The smell of nachos, pizza, burgers, beer, etc filled the air, and the air was electric with anticipation.  We got a drink and some burgers and headed off to our seats.  We had just enough time to scarf down our food before kick-off.

As I said, the game was fantastic.  A close game back and forth up until the very last few seconds of the game.  After it was over, we managed to eventually make our way outside, where we were waiting to meet up with a friend who had seats in another area of the stadium.  While we were waiting, I ran back inside to use the bathroom.  While I was gone, Robbie actually met the in-laws of one of the Packers' players (James Jones), and had his picture taken with them!  I always miss the good stuff!  We eventually wandered down to where the Atlanta players were leaving to go to their cars.  We got some of their signatures, and our Falcon fan buddy even got his Decoud jersey signed by that player!  We slowly made our way back to our car, enjoying the walk together and excitedly recounting everything that had just happened.

We were all exhausted as we made our way back home to SC.  Not a lot was said, but the silence would be broken by the occasional, "What a game!" followed by more recounting of various plays throughout the game, and then we would all fall back into a tired but comfortable silence.  It was a wonderful day, and I owe all the folks that made it possible a BIG thank you!  Thank you Valerie for watching all the kids on YOUR birthday so we could go!  And thank you to my mom-in-law, Sandy, for buying us the tickets!  Go Pack Go!  :)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Going to see the PACKERS!!!!

I'm super excited right now!!  And, if you hadn't already guessed by the title of this post, it's because Robbie and I are going to go see the Green Bay Packers play vs the Atlanta Falcons on November 28th!!!  Yaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!  This was a bit of an unexpected, but oh so pleasant, surprise for us.  We had been talking all season about wanting to go, but knew we really couldn't afford it.

Well, in steps my Mom-in-law, who graciously bought us tickets as an early Christmas present!!  It was like, "Really?!  You'll pay for us to go?!  I can't believe it!!!"  And, my younger sister, Valerie, has been super wonderful in agreeing to watch all 3 children so that we can go!  This is especially wonderful of her because the game just happens to be on her birthday.  She's the best!  How many sisters do you know that would be willing to add another 3 children (1 with special needs) to take care of for their birthday present??  Hmmmm....I'm gonna have to get her something extra nice!

We've also got 2 of Robbie's friends going with us, though one of the friends is actually a Falcons fan.  So much for a trip with just me and my husband, but it's still going to be a much needed break!  I can't wait!  Jersey? check!  Cheese head? check!  Title Towel? check!  Tickets? check!  Now I just have to find a way to occupy myself until then!! :)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Gideon the Cowboy

Gideon is my 3 year old son.  And he is ALL boy!!  He loves robots, dinosaurs, cowboys, cars, etc.  He loves to wrestle around with my husband, to watch TV, and to sing, dance, run, scream, etc.  But man, does he have an active imagination.  He's constantly playing one imaginary scenario or the other.  Sometimes he'll shift from one into another, and you'd better be quick to keep up with his train of thought!

The other morning, Gideon came bounding into my room at about 7AM with his black, felt cowboy hat on.  "I'm Woody and you're Jessie," he quickly informed me.

"Well, Jessie's going back to sleep," I replied.  (It had been a long night with my 1 year old heart patient son, Atticus.)

"No, no, Mommy.  I'm Woody and you're Jessie!", Gideon reaffirmed to me.

OK, I thought.  I'll give him a mission.  "Listen Woody!  Do you hear that?!  It's your teddy bear!  He's trapped and you have to save him!  Quickly!  Don't waste time!"

And with that, Gideon smiled and ran out of my room.  I lazily rolled back over and cuddled with my husband, who was snoring away, oblivious to the interchange I had just had.  A few minutes later, Gideon comes bounding back into the room, teddy bear in hand, and gives the bear to me.

"Oh, thank you!  Thank you!", I said in my best bear impression.  "You SAVED me, Woody!"

And my wonderful Gideon, without missing a beat, reaches up, touches the corner of his cowboy hat like he was straight out of an old-timey western, and says, "My pleasure."  I laughed so hard I almost rolled off the bed, all while Gideon stood there looking rather pleased with himself.  This is the sort of imagination I'm talking about.  There are numerous other stories similar in addition to this one, but this being the most recent, I thought I'd share it.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!  LOL!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Looking forward to the weekend!

I'm super excited about this upcoming weekend!  Our church is taking a Family Retreat up to the mountains at a bible camp that I used to go to as a kid.  I probably haven't been in about 10 years!  I'm also excited because my hubbie gets to come with us-which is a rare treat because he generally has to work (seemingly) 24/7 for Mr Italian Krabs-and Atticus will be going too!  It's the first "vacation" we've gotten to take as the 5 of us.

My husband, however, is less than thrilled.  Don't get him wrong.  He's happy to be going and spending time with the family, and the folks from church.  What he's not thrilled about is the schedule.  We're supposed to be up at 7am....on Saturday.  This was not what he thought we were going to be doing.  I'm not exactly sure what he thought we'd be doing, but 7am was definitely not part of it! LOL!  When my sister brought us a copy of the itinerary, he just looked at it, then at me, and said, "You tricked me."  Poor guy.  He'll get over it! :)

The kids, of course, are thrilled!  They're happy that Daddy gets to come, that Atticus gets to come, and that they're gonna actually get to go to the mountains!  (We've made a few trips to the beach, a trip to Disney, a trip to DC....but I think this is the 1st trip to the mountains for them.)  Sandy's also excited because she'll get to pack some of her warm, fuzzy PJs because it'll be pretty cold.  She can't wait.  Each day she asks me, "Do we get to go to the mountains tomorrow?"  Then she dramatically sighs, slouches her body and says, "I'll NEVER get to go to the mountains!"  She's such a drama queen.  Maybe not for a 5 year old little girl.....maybe that's the norm.  But she is particularly precocious. Everything is over the top.  (ie Her favortie expression is, "Oh my goodness!  That (referring to whatever you happen to be talking about) just made my brain explode.....")  She's hilarious.  Such the comedian.  Just like her father!

Anyway, we'll see how this weekend goes!  Hopefully we have room to pack everything in the car! LOL :)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Welcome to the GFL

As I was sitting here staring at the screen, I was wondering what I should write about for my first post.  So I decided that I guess place to start is with a description of what exactly the GFL is.  I'm sure you've figured out that it stands for Goodahl Family League, but what exactly does that mean? Well, it's what my Packers-fanatic-of-a-husband lovingly calls our family.  It's Robbie, Melanie, Sandy, Gideon, and Atticus.  And the dog, Peek-a-boo, though Robbie would never claim the dog.  (I'll explain the name some other time, but no, the kids didn't name her, to my chagrin.)

I'm a Christian, wife, mom, cook, maid, chauffeur, seamstress, toy assembler, and unofficial nurse.  I'll quickly explain that last one.  Not only am I your typical "Dr. Mom", but our youngest son Atticus was born with a very rare heart disease known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  Long story short, he spent the first 5 1/2 months in the PCICU (Pediatric Cardiology ICU) and suffered unbelievable complications that nearly took his life numerous times.  But God works miracles, and he's been home longer than he was in the hospital, and is rapidly approaching his first birthday, so we can celebrate each day that those days are behind us.  If you'd like to read his story, I'll reference you to the link called Atticus' Caring Bridge Page.  I have a another website devoted just to him! :)  I obviously started his page first in order to record the events of what was happening to him at the time.  But now that we've been home, I keep finding myself wanting to relate stories about the other two kiddos, and Facebook only allows for so many characters....I digress.

Robbie works as a Restaurant Manager for an old Italian man (Mr Lou) that can only be properly described as the human version of Mr Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants.  Only cheaper.....and with a wife that is equally (if not more so) miserly, so its 2x the nagging, complaining, etc.  What can you do?  I keep trying to remind myself to be thankful that he HAS a job with the way the economy is today....but that doesn't stop me from praying that he finds a better one! ;)

I have a BA in Spanish, but don't really use it right now, unless you count translating Dora, Diego, and Handy Manny. LOL!!  I'm a stay-at-home mom so that I can take care of Atticus' many health demands, but this has also been a blessing.  It also allows me to spend time with my other 2 kids that I never got to spend with them before.  It also allows me to home school our oldest, Sandy (age 5), which was important to my husband and I.  Well, looks like I found something to write about after all!  :)  Keep coming back and I'll be sharing what's happening currently in our lives, as well as relating old funny stories.