Tender Moments

Wow...it has been quite the week. I have a lot to tell you all about, but I haven't quite had the time or energy yet to do it. Nathan had a "Grandma Day" with Brenda two days before she passed away. I'll write more about that later, but one of the things they did was play Monopoly. They loved that game. I, on the other hand, can do without that blasted game. WAY too long to play a round of that game. Give me Uno, Give me Sorry, give me any other game than that. Those two however, loved that game. Brenda went into the hospital that night, after a fun "grandma day", and they were never able to finish the game. In fact, after we came home from the hospital after Brenda passed away...there...on the table...was the unfinished Monopoly game. I have to say, that that was much harder for me to see, than seeing Brenda's body after she passed. It literally ripped my heart out to see that.

Anyways, since then, Nathan has been nagging us to play monopoly. Trent started a game with him on Sunday, until family showed up and they were never able to finish. Last night, at Nathan's game, while Nathan was in the dugout with Trent (it was Nathan's turn to sit out that inning, and Trent helps out in the dugout), Nathan became upset and cried, telling Trent something like, "You said you would play a game of monopoly, but we never finished it". yeah...stab us in the heart. This poor kid is grieving his grandma...big time. She has been a HUGE part of his life...his whole life. We even lived with them for 2 1/2 years. She has gone to every game, in every sport, yelling at the top of her lungs for Nathan.

So today, all of us took a "mental" health day and went and bought a monopoly game. While Jonathan napped, Trent, Nathan, and I played monopoly for 2 1/2 hours. Oh...my! It was kindof fun I have to admit, and Nathan is one sneaky fella talking me into things that I thought were good choices, but he was conning me the whole time! It was fun. The game is still on our table until we "officially" finish it.

Tonight as Nathan was going to bed, I walked in his room, and he was on his bed tacking up his crumpled up program from Brenda's memorial service up on his wall, right next to his head where he sleeps. That just about ripped my heart out. I found a new non-crumpled one and he hung that up. (just like the picture up on top) I have to say, that I have held it together pretty well, but after everyone was in bed tonight, I could not hold back the gut wrenching tears. My heart aches for my kids losing a grandma. A grandma that was such a HUGE part of their everyday lives. We all have great memories, and we will keep those alive. It just stinks...ya know? I can't get that picture out of my head, of Nathan lovingly hanging the program by the side of his bed. He has his sports heroes on the wall, he has many posters of his Book of Mormon heroes on the wall, and now he has his most favorite hero of all. His grandma. And because of that, Brenda...you are my hero too.

The Fah-bulous Four Generations

Brenda Kunz, Trent's mother, passed away on March 14, 2009. I'll write more about that after we get all the funeral preparations and things done. The funeral is on Saturday, so I'll fill you in next week. This picture was taken 5 days before she passed away. Trent and Brenda both have March birthdays, so GG (great grandma) came up for all the celebrations. We lived it up, and I am so grateful that we did. I am SO glad that I got them together to take this picture. It is just priceless now.

The poet

On Sunday, in primary (age 3-12 which I am the pianist for...LOVE this calling...I absolutley love being able to show up for church not having to prepare for anything and just being able to sit behind the piano and listen to the kids sing...it is the BEST!), the kids were asked to write a poem about mothers, and then asked for volunteers to read them. Of course Nathan was ecstatic to share his. Here it is:

Awesome Cook
Super Woman
Loves Me
Drives me
WICKED Awesome

He put a lot of emphasis on shouting the "Wicked" part. All the leaders got a good chuckle out of that one. (Speaking of Wicked...have any of you seen the Broadway musical Wicked? It is coming back here. If not...you should...I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!)

Great Grandma

Trent and his mom both celebrated birthdays this week. (I can't believe I'm married to a 37 year old! What an old man. Wait...I guess I'm 36, but STILL!, pushing 40 people!) Trent's grandma, known to my kids as GG, came into town to celebrate. They came to Nathans basketball game, and as Brenda and GG were walking by the bench, Nathan said to his friends,

"Guys...this is my Grandma and her....her...and her Mother."

Ding Dong Doorbell WHAT?

Last night we thought it would be fun to leave a treat at my friends house. She introduced me to a new heavenly treat...Mini Cadberry milk chocolate Eggs. Oh my heavenly goodness! She mentioned how we could buy some and split the bag. I bought the bag a few days ago and continued to eat one every time I passed the bag before I had the chance to give her, her half. Oops...only a few left. So, instead of just giving it to her, we decided to Ding Dong Doorbell Ditch. Nathan was ECSTATIC!! He could hardly contain his excitement at doing such a crazy thing. The poor kid...guess his life is pretty boring. It was great fun as he rang the doorbell, jumped off the rock wall thingie, and into our van as we sped away. Good times. Gooood times.

I have never been very good at those little diddy's like, "What would a woodchuck, chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood" type of things. So in my effort to say Ding Dong Doorbell Ditch in my excited state, I mispoke one of the words.

Let's do a Ding Dong Doorbell B*****. Oops. Big difference between Ditch and B****. :) Dull moments around here? Never!

Childhood Ruined?

Conversation with Nathan tonight
"Hey Nathan, could you please take this jug down to the recycle...." and he interrupts before I can finish my sentence

"Mom....are you trying to ruin my childhood?"

"What? How would taking the recycle down to the curb in the morning ruin your childhood?" (and now I am laughing, because it just struck me as such a funny statement)

"Oh...I thought you wanted me to take it down right now (as he is standing in his underwear before bedtime), and that would definitely ruin my childhood!"

Yep...that makes more sense. No one wants to take out the garbage in their underwear. What a funny kid.

Kids and Clorox

Kids and Clorox...Clorox and Kids...what does that mean? Disaster. While I was creating my last post, Jonathan was in the laundry room....which he often does while I am on the computer. It is literally 3 feet away from me. He likes to get out the mop and drag it around, and pull down some cans from a shelf in there...ya know...harmless stuff.

He came near me, and I smelled Clorox on his hands. I immediately scooped him up and ran to the sink to rinse off his hands before he got it in his eyes. Phew...disaster averted....well....not quite that is. My brain then wondered how he even got Clorox on his hands...I first wondered if there was some on the outside of the bottle that he touched? I walked back to the laundry room (I should say laundry closet, because it is teeny..tiny...barely fits my washer and dryer) and I see the gallon size Clorox with the lid off. Uh...oh...NOT good. There on the laundry room floor was a big ole puddle of Clorox. Then I looked down and saw this
Holy Ca-rap!! Jonathan's clothes were literally soaked with Clorox, and when I picked him up, it ruined my very favorite black sweater and my new brown corduroy pants....grrrrr. Just how favorite is this sweater of mine? Here is a conversation with my friend telling her of my Clorox experience.
me: You know that black turtle neck of mine?
Robin: Yeah...the one that you wear almost everyday?
me: Yeah...that's the one that was ruined. (I knew that I wore it alot, but I guess I wear it a LOT more than I thought)

There are some small miracles though...he didn't get any in his eyes, and it just so happened that the night before, I got a SBE (sudden burst of energy) and did 5 loads of laundry that were all sorted into piles on the floor in the laundry room. Could you even imagine if I had not done that? It would have ruined most of those clothes! As it was, the only thing that was left, was a big ole pile of my dish rags and dish towels, that soaked up a lot of the Clorox. Thank heavens for SBE's baby!