Easter, An Anniversary, The Sicknesses and The Toothfairy

Another blog busting at the seams.  I just can't seem to catch up these days.  Just ask the single load of laundry that I have washed three times because I keep forgetting to put it into the dryer.

Eck, the laundry.  How I loathe it. 

Last week was a doozy for the Coles.  We were all sick with something at some point during the week and/or previous weekend.  Rich had a touch of something a couple Sundays ago that lasted a few days.  Then it was Lena and Sam for a couple of days.  Then mine came and wouldn't leave.  Fevers, sore throats, upset stomachs, boxes of tissues, barrels of Tylenol and sinus medicine, gallons of soup, and too many days missed at school and activities and church and work.   

Oy vey. 

Today we all seem to be securely on the mend and I'm refusing to acknowledge any further symptoms from anyone. 

Denial...in the end it's the only way to combat the constant barrage of villainous viral infections.

Other than the fever fairy who has taken up residence in our house lately, the tooth fairy also stopped by for a visit!  Yes.  That's right.  Sam's snaggle tooth finally came out!

Hooray!

He has two other loose teeth, so we'll see if those take as long to come out as this one did.  He looks so cute with his big gap.  Love this boy.

We went to Mom and Dad's this weekend for Easter and had an awesome time!  Lori's family was there too and even with 6 adults, 5 kids, and Lilly, the world's best dog, that big old house still held us all very comfortably.

Meals were devoured, expeditions of the egg and old wedding dress varieties were had, old friends were embraced, rockets were launched, church songs were sung, ball was played, food was prepared, Mom and Dad's 45th wedding anniversary was celebrated, conversations and laughter were in endless supply...

As were the love and joy that always surround us when we are all together. 

(Notice how I seamlessly glossed over the children's exhausted laments, mealtime meltdowns and sugar crashes?  That was purposeful.)

Easter morning.

Church pictures. I think Sam is still trying to figure out how to smile without a front tooth.

There's a good one.

 
Egg hunt!

Rich provided a bubbly environment for the egg hunt...and posed for a few bubbly model shots. :)

Love...

Sisters...with a wrinkle filter in place! Yeah!

Our brood.

Anniversary flowers!

Lori recreated our Nan's coconut Easter bunny cake!  It was perfect, of course. 

The roots of this family's tree...On April 20, 1969, Mom and Dad pledged to God and to each other that they would build a life together, respect each other, take care of one another, love each other through all life had to throw at them. And so it's been over these 45 years.  They have traveled hand in hand over the peaks and through the valleys of their lives and have continued to honor their love and commitment to each other every step of the way. The beautiful life they have made together...the beautiful way they share their days and have loved each other and the rest of us, even when the road hasn't been easy...they have "trusted steadily in God, hoped unswervingly and loved extravagantly". 

That is marriage.  That is love.  That is my Mom and Dad.

And this is silly Sam...

Lovely little Lena girl...

Looking too grown up.

My beautiful mother.  Seriously, look at her.  That's what many years of clean happy living gets you, folks.  Flawless skin, timeless beauty and a joyful soul! 

And there it is.  Lori's wedding dress.  She swore Mom has had it all these 20 years.  Mom swore she didn't.  And after a dark and dangerous expedition to the WAY back of my dad's closet, lo and behold, she found it!  Of course we made her try it on and it very nearly zipped all the way up!  My ageless, beautiful, skinny sister.  The dress had come unzipped here, but I still made her pose with Lena, who was wearing Lori's veil and beaming with excitement over her aunt, who looked like a princess.

Love that girly girl of mine!

Third Time's a Charm...and Dining Room Update!

Yep.

We painted the hutch. 

Again. 

I know, I know.  Don't be so judgy.  :)

The distressed green looked good with our old boring tan and cream walls.  But my awesome husband has nearly finished his upgrades to our dining room and, with the updated gray walls and amazing white wainscoting, well, the green hutch just wasn't cutting it. 

But this time is the last, I swear.  Because now I LOVE this hutch!

And guess whose idea it was to paint it gray? 

That's right.  My sister. 

She's so smart.  Seriously.  She needs to have her own decorating show.  She's so much better than me at knowing what will work, judging color and patterns, at making a room make sense and look perfect and fresh.  I just kind of go with what I'm drawn to and, while sometimes that works, sometimes (like with the hutch the first two and a half times) it doesn't.

Oh well.  Lesson learned. 

Me being me, I still wanted to keep color in there somewhere.  What can I say.  I'm just a colorful gal.  After trying a few (...or maybe five...feel free to judge at this point...) other colors we had laying around the house, I ended up just flip flopping what was already on there - green to the inside and gray to the outside. 

What a difference that flip flop made! 

So, to recap the long journey (and several inches of layered paint) that my poor hutch has endured over the past month, a photo dump:

Beginning:

 Terrible mistake:

Not quite right:

Sanded/distressed:

Gray Love:

And can we talk about the awesomeness of my husband for a minute?  Just look at this room!

I mean, dear lord in heaven.  Rich did an amazing job with this with his good taste, sense of knowing what will work, mad carpentry skills, motivation to do it right instead of just quick and/or cheap, crazy work ethic...and he looked good doing it. :)

...I can't help lovin that man of mine...

Before (tan and cream walls, brown chair rail):

 

During (trimming out entry ways, figuring out paint):

 Building wainscoting:

After (light gray walls, white wainscoting and entryway trim work):

 

And gray hutch:

The room looks so much brighter and bigger and taller now, not to mention updated, fresh and finished.  Love!

Rich, thank you so much for your diabolical levels of awesomeness!

Wallowing in the Season...

Things have been, as I'm sure they are for every family this time of year, hectic for us since I returned from my road trip. 

We had Lena's preschool Thanksgiving party where all the students dressed up like Pilgrims and Indians and ate goldfish and popcorn (you know, authentic Thanksgiving day fare), then we headed up north for Thanksgiving with Rich's parents, which was super fun and special but far too short.  We threw in a movie on the way home from Chardon and, the next day, had Sam's nearly-a-month-early-monster-themed birthday party. 

 

 

All within a week's time. 

Whew. 

Last weekend we had the Wingers (minus Matt) over for dinner, nearly had simultaneous heart attacks with every man, woman and child in the Columbus area while watching the OSU game, and went to Jack's Christmas pageant at their church, which was adorable and all the kids did so well.  And this week Buddy the Elf came to live with us (the kids are equal parts creeped out and amazed, but either way both are on their best behavior = score!).

This weekend is our annual ride on the Polar Express in Newcomerstown, but we have to come home right after because our kids have their Christmas pageant at church Sunday morning and then will be singing some selections from the pageant later Sunday evening at our church family potluck (my band is also performing at both).

Whew. 

Then it's my birthday, Sam's school holiday concert, Lena's preschool holiday party, Sam's birthday, Christmas in Chardon and then the Kraft family Christmas Eve party at our house complete with grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, kids, gross amounts of food and a visit from Santa Claus,  culminating with our church's (and the band's) Christmas Eve service. 

Whew whew. 

It seems like a lot as I write it all down.  And some days it feels like a whole lot more when it's mixed with all the other day-to-day stuff going on at work and the kids' schools and our house.  Fitting in quality time with the kids and Rich, making special Christmas memories, finding time to make good meals, buy presents, address cards, write blogs, and work on the rocking chair I dug out of someone's trash, and, and, and...

Sometimes these dizzying days flash by me too quickly to hold onto any of them as tightly as I'd like, to let the true reason for the season fully sink into me.  And my memory is for shit, so next week I'll forget which kid said what tender sweet thing to the other when no one was watching or that special hug Rich gave me when I really needed it or what Pastor Frank said during the sermon that struck me so true. 

But some moments stick.  Some still quiet moments within each day pull at me, remind me, calm me, center me. 

The simple perfection of reading book after book to the kids in a big overstuffed chair in our living room, all snuggled under a blanket, their little faces illuminated by the lights of the Christmas tree beside us.  Thursday lunches with my sister, catching up and laughing and commiserating and eating and connecting and fostering that relationship because, for me, it's one of the most important relationships in my life.  Sinking into the couch beside Rich every night after we put the kids to bed, feeling his quiet love and strength beside me.  The tingling goose bumps I sometimes get when I'm singing with the band, when we're all feeling the song and the holy spirit fills us and everyone in the room with its palpable presence.  The way the morning sun hits the water of the reservoir, throwing silvery white light in every direction...it's so awesome each time I see it that gratitude to God for such beauty consumes me, as do meandering thoughts that include whether that warmth of glistening watery sunlight in any way compares to the light I will surely see when I finally gaze upon His face. 

So yeah, even with my shit memory and our rushed holiday schedule and the speeding up of time as I age (what's with that, by the way?), all is not lost.  Tis the season to be stressed and jolly and crazy and joyful, right?  That's life.  It's up and down and sideways and slantways and longways and backways.  Is it better to have no messes, no noise, no rushing, no stress, no inconveniences, no worries if it means having no friends, no family, no joy, no relationships, no love, no laughter?  Because one doesn't exist without the other. 

Life is messy.  You can either wish it way or wallow in it. 

I'm ashamed to say that sometimes I wish for a day to be over, for a bad day to hurry up and end. 

But today...today I wallow.