10 year getaway

Since we just celebrated our tenth anniversary, we decided we wanted to go away somewhere.  Obviously we couldn't go too far or for too long, but we still wanted something. 
We decided to go to Hermann Hill Winery and Inn in Hermann.  We had been there twice before...once when Z was 9 months old, and once about a month after mom died (in 2007).  Since then, life has been a bit hectic, and we hadn't made it back. 
We stayed in the cottage part of the Inn, so it is not a traditional B&B.  It is our own separate building.  There are two main rooms--the kitchen/living room and the bedroom/bathroom.  Splitting the rooms is a see thru fireplace, with flatscreen TVs mounted over it in each room.  The kitchen has the breakfast already made and in the fridge to be rewarmed, along with a waffle maker and coffee maker.  There is a table in the kitchen, and a loveseat in the living room.  There is a deck off the back with a totally private hot tub and grill, and it overlooks the Missouri River and the train tracks.  The sound of the train happily reminds us of the house we used to live in, right down the street from the railroad tracks.  The bedroom has a gorgeous king size bed, and a bathtub bigger (no joke) than my bathroom at home!  Next to the tub is another fireplace, an aroma fireplace.  There is also a shower with 4 showerheads, heated towel racks, and a heated floor.  Heaven on earth! 
We had reservations for Monday and Tuesday night, so left Monday after lunchtime. We left the boys with Dad and Dena (and a 4 page list of info!) for the first 24 hours, then Mike and Dorothy came Tuesday to cover the last 24 hours.
We started out at Jimmy John's for lunch, then headed out. We made it to the Inn by 3.  We got a nap in, then ran out to a nearby winery (Stone Hill) and grabbed a few bottles of wine.  We got some cheese and crackers and sausage and oreos for dinner.  We got home and ate and drank and watched movies (CMT was doing a Pauly Shore week...random, yes, but we watched Pauly Shore!). 
We slept until after 9, and ate a yummy breakfast (waffles and an egg/potato casserole and coffee).  We decided to ride on the Katy Trail.  I have not ridden a bike in at LEAST 15 years.  Probably longer.  Nate just bought one, and has been riding it for awhile, but not me.  So we rented bikes and rode.  We rode...are you ready?  We rode TWENTY TWO miles.  We both (ok, mostly me) have a tendency to bite off more than we can chew.  But it was so nice, and it wasn't hot, and we were just chatting and looking around...so we got 11 miles down, and figured we'd better turn back.  So a 3 hour bike ride!  We had fun, though. 
We got back and took a long nap (3 hours will tire you out!).  I was pretty sore, too.  Oh well.  I read an entire book while we were there, too!  Unfortunately, most restaurants in Hermann (at least the decent ones) are not open on Monday and Tuesday nights, so we had very few choices for dinner.  So we just went to the store and got some steak and potatos and salad, and Nate grilled it up for us.  Yum! 

Here we are at mile 110 on the Katy Trail.  Too bad I didn't actually get any pictures of the bikes...

More Pauly Shore, and then another great night of sleep!  (We started out our married life in a double bed, then got a queen size.  At that point in time, I was sure I would never want a king size bed because Nate would be so far away from me.  Since then, 4 kids later, I have changed my mind...I would love a king size bed!)
Another delicious breakfast, then checkout and time to head back home. 
We didn't really miss our kids, but it was good to see them again.  :)
We had a good time just the two of us, reconnecting and relaxing. It was wonderful to have just us, to not have to deal with anyone else.  We reflected on the last 5 years of our marriage--having Z, moving, sick mom, then losing mom, struggling to get pregnant, having triplets, surviving the first year of triplets.  We are grateful/hopeful that the next 5 years won't be quite such big stuff!  We talked about the next 5 years of our marriage, about some goals we have, and where we want to be then.  We had a chance to dream together. We slept, ate, talked, watched TV, read, enjoyed our time.  I love our family, but love that we love each other first.

Here we are on the balcony.  And yes, my left eye looks crazy.  I think I have some sort of pinkeye or infection in my eye or something else weird...just to add fun to our trip...I had to wear glasses most of the time! 

It was entertaining to read some of the entries in the "journal" in the cottage room, that everyone wrote in about their time there.  Several couples got engaged while there, and one girl wrote (after just getting engaged) "Maybe in 10 years we can come back for our anniversary and leave our kids at home.  Wouldn't that be funny?!"  And here we are...we are that "funny" couple.  Don't feel like we are really that far from being just engaged, but holy moly, we are. 
We had a fabulous time, and are so grateful for the help from the grandparents that were here to watch our boys.  And they all had a good time...the boys survived, as did both sets of grandparents.  Oh, and the other best part?  We didn't "actually" pay for ANY of the trip!  We got a gift certificate from Mat and Marbree to a B&B as part of a thank you for watching P last fall, and paid for the rest with cash we had on our Discover Card rewards.  My grandparents sent us money for our anniversary, then totally out of the blue sent us more money that we got 3 days before we left.  And last, in January we started an all cash budget, and we started collecting ALL of our change in a 2 liter bottle that we sealed up (no use tempting ourselves to steal from it!).  We emptied it (we had planned on using it for this), and we had $92 in it!  What a blessing that we were able to do this for "free"! 
Love my husband, loved our time! 

Happy Father's Day

Happy late Father's Day to my wonderful husband!  We didn't do much, but he got to order Chinese (a favorite treat of his, not so much of mine!) and we got him an Amazon gift card. 

I've got nothing sappy or sentimental to say (at this exact moment) about Nate as a Daddy and husband, just that he is good.  I think I have gotten that across on a few other posts of mine!  I am grateful for him...glad he is around to be a man for the boys to watch and grow up to be like...glad he does the Daddy stuff that I don't want to do (wrestling and Legos, to name a few)...glad to have him partner with me on this whole raising kids things.  He is good stuff.   

I tried to get some good pics of Nate with the boys.  Unfortunately, they did not cooperate nearly as well as they did with me on Mother's Day.  Ah, well, what can you do?  Thankfully, after a few years, Nate has figured out how HE needs to take pictures...just look at the camera and smile.  That way, no matter what crazy thing the boys are doing, he is looking good :) 

These are the best I got...at least they're amusing, and you see what our world is like in general life (someone always screaming, Z being a nutball and/or messing with one of the little boys, someone looking off to nowhere, someone staring at someone else trying to figure out what on EARTH they are doing, and 3 of the 4 trying their best to NOT be where we want them to be!) 

Happy Father's Day to all! 

A rare sight

Oh, the boys have been sick.  It has been rough.  They have been whiny and clingy.  As in, I don't move, and they all fight over the spots in my lap.  And you can imagine how much Z loves that, which adds to the fun. 

I started thinking maybe the fever was due to the MMR vaccine they got at their last checkup, since L was also getting a rash, so I started to panic and called the doctor.  The nurse suggested we come in, since it was on day 3.  NOT what I was hoping to hear.  In fact, I really didn't want to go in, because I figured they would just say, "Yup.  It's a virus.  Wait it out, give them ibuprofin, keep an eye on the rash.  Call us if it gets worse."

But, since I ditched the doctor last week (more on that story in a sec), and since I figured staying at home just meant more time with whiny, clingy kids, I loaded them up and took them to the doctor.

I signed in L and N, and the nurse says, "Ok, so that's a $40 copay."  Ummm, negative, ghostrider.  So I said, "Ok, then let's just look at L.  I will transfer the info to N."  Call me cheap, but I refuse to pay $40 for what I think is going to be nothing.

And you know what?  It was nothing.  Pretty much to a tee what I thought they would say.  Thankfully I just paid $20, which was still annoying, but at least not $40. 

We came home and played outside, then L took a GREAT nap and slept off the rest of the virus.  Unfortunately, I think it transferred to C.  Super. 

Which brings us to the rare sight...when Nate got home, he grabbed C while I finished getting dinner together.  The other boys were playing fine (FINALLY) but annoyingly underfoot.  C and Nate passed out.  It was such a treat for Nate to have just one kid, and for them to take a quick 20 minute nap together. 

So onto the other part about ditching the doctor last week...

I took the kids to a playground near our house that we frequent pretty often.  We hadn't been in awhile, so I was kind of excited to see how much more they could do.  And they did great!  They loved the stairs, were good on the slides, and were wary of the places they should have been wary of. 

Which is the problem...C got a bit confident of a small set of stairs.  The stairs turned, and the second step had two open sides.  It was pretty low, but C misjudged, and fell off of it, and bit through his lip.  I think he went from the outside to the inside, because it was pretty clean.  It was about 11, so I rounded up the kids to go home to assess.  A lady at the park looked at it and suggested I just call my doctor.  Well, I hadn't actually even thought of that.  It had stopped bleeding pretty quickly and didn't look huge.  But then, was I  being negligent or something? 

So I called, and he said I could come in if I wanted, so I told him we would be there in half an hour.

On the way home to grab a smaller stroller, I called a girlfriend of mine who is a nurse in Children's ER, and told her about it, and she told me what my mom gut was already saying...that it wasn't a big deal probably, and that they probably couldn't do much about it.  Of course, she hadn't seen it, but based on what I told her, that was her guess. 

So based on her reassurances, along with my mom gut, and the fact that it was lunchtime and a trip to the doctor would be at least an hour roundtrip plus a copay, I chose to stay home.  And it has healed fine. 

Point is, I felt like I had skipped out on the doctor already, so I figured I'd better take the kids today.  Not sure why, it's not like I owe them anything...I guess I just needed to feel like I was doing the right thing and watching out for my kids.

All is well, at least for now.

Ten years of marriage

Ten years ago, it was sunny and warm, and I was the bride on the corner.

I got married at the church I grew up in, and as a little girl, I remember driving by on Saturday afternoons and seeing the receiving line and the beautiful bride smiling and laughing and loving life in her gown.  And I wanted to be her. 

Ten years ago, I was.  My wedding was all that I wanted it to be...it was perfect.  Laid back, calm, wonderful. Family, friends, husband.

And ten years later, I am not quite that same girl.  Life has changed sooooo much in ten years. 

But I'll tell you what has not changed...that husband of mine.

I love him so much more than I did that day.  I remember people telling me marriage got better, but when you're 22, you can't imagine better.  How could it be better?  But it is.  It totally is better.  I read some survey in a parenting magazine about marriage after kids, and one of the answers was "Never better!" (which 27% of people chose).  Nate and I discussed that survey, and agreed that we are at that point...never better!   

It hasn't always been easy...we have had some hard moments/days/weeks/months, just like any marriage does.  My grandpa told me once, around his 60th anniversary, "We've been married 60 years, and 50 of them have been great!"  I have remembered that often.  The knowledge that it doesn't have to be perfect all the time, coupled with the experience that it isn't perfect all the time, and knowing that no matter what, we will still love each other.  After 10 years, we have weathered some storms.  We have gone through a lot...kids (ummm, triplets!), houses, friends, parents...you name it.  We have grown together.  We have matured together.  We have become less selfish, and have worked on meeting the other person's needs.  We have seen the best of each other (and the worst of each other!).  We have seen each other love our children...which is such an amazing way to see each other! 

So happy anniversary to my sweet husband.  What a blessing he is to me, to us.  Can't wait to spend the next ten (ok, more than ten!) years with him.

Creativity

I am not remotely creative.  At least in the artsy/craftsy way.  I try to avoid it...that is why I send Z to school and Sunday school and Bible study.  They do it all with him.  And if we're home, I send him straight to Daddy. 
Nate is incredibly creative.  He is so different from me in that way, but it is one thing that has allowed us to work so well together.  He is creative, thinks outside of the box, and dreams.  I tend to organize it and put it all together and make sure it runs.  Not my point. 
My point is Z.  He is creative and can imagine things like his Daddy. 
Last night Z found an empty Nilla Wafers box and says, "Dad, we can't throw this away!  We can make something with it!".  He chose the right parent.  I would have said, "Sure we can, Z.  Let's do it later."  Then I would have recycled it.  But Nate looked at it and said, "Sure we can, Z!  What can we make?".  Z, of course, wanted to make an animal, and thought a spider would be best.   

The two of them sat down after dinner while I bathed the little boys and they made a "red rosy spider".  Not sure if he really meant the Chilean Rose Tarantula, the Mexican Red Kneed Tarantula, or a type of bird eating tarantula, as those are all favorites (really, this is my world).  Again, not my point.  They covered the box with paper, drew the appropriate number of eyes on it, collected sticks for the legs and the fangs, and colored hairs on it.  When asked what he wanted to do with it, Z suggested we hang it from a web in his room, so Nate hung it from a piece of ribbon that Z found. 

Z was soooo proud of himself.  I was sooo proud of both of them.  It makes me love Nate even more when I see him being an awesome daddy.  I love that he is sensitive to Z, and he cultivates Z's interests, and doesn't shove them aside.  I love that he takes the individual time to work with Z on things that are important to him, and that he looks for ways to involve Z in them.  

Nate has made all sorts of crafts with him as he has gotten older...the pillowcase from Halloween, this spider, masks, forts, etc.  He shows Z how to use tools and lets him practice with his actual tools (drilling and hammering, for example).  Nate is willing to let hime try all sorts of stuff, and does it with patience.  I cannot claim the same for myself...at least not as often as Nate does.    

What an amazing husband I have...I am blessed.  

And what an amazing oldest son I have...love watching him create and focus and imagine and work hard. 

This picture cracked me up of his smile. :)  He was so proud!

EEEK!!!!  It's going to get me! 

I'm a better mom already!

I've been in kind of a funk for the past few weeks.  Nate finally labeled what it was for me...burnout.  Yup, it happens.  I just got tired of my kids, I have been kind of crabby, not wanting to do anything, my house is a pit, going through the motions.  I told him the other day I wished someone would come rescue me from my life.  Not long term or anything, but get me out of here.  I need a break.
 When he finally diagnosed me, I felt guilty.  Like I shouldn't be burned out...these are my kids.  This is my life.  I shouldn't need a break.  "Great" moms do this all the time, they do more than me, and "they" don't need breaks (actually, this is sounding famaliar...yes, I did write a post like this a few weeks ago...see...it has been a few weeks).  At any rate, I was feeling guilty.  Not sure where this guilt is coming from, or where I got my picture of what the "perfect" mom is, but that is beside the point.
Nate left last night for a softball game, and he called while he was driving to tell me he was "going to rescue me".  Yup, my Mother's Day present is to NOT be a mom for the weekend.  Nate is taking the boys down to his parents house.  He is leaving work early, driving down during naptime, and not coming back til after church on Sunday. 
I felt kind of bad.  I cried.  I felt undeserving. I felt like a slacker.  I felt like I was letting both my husband and my boys down by needing a break. 
But then, Nate reminded me, "You will be a better mom and wife when you've had some time for yourself."  (He was, in fact, quick to add that I already am a good mom and wife...that was not his point.  His statement was encouraging.) 
And he was right.  In fact, I am a better mom today, knowing that this weekend I will have some "me" time.  I loved my kids and played with them.  I read books and talked and snuggled and tickled and joked and and taught and pushed on swings, and I smiled doing it.  My attitude was just different.  I also got some stuff done around the house...all the windows cleaned, swiffered under the couches, 7 loads of laundry done. 
Just the knowledge that I have a break coming up is giving me a burst of energy, and some excitement for the everyday stuff.  I know I'm a good mom, I know I'm a good wife.  But I love the thought of some time for myself!