Sad day to be a homeowner

Last Sunday Jason noticed a huge crack down the trunk of our gorgeous maple tree in front of our house. After a few estimates and tree experts who told us it couldn't be saved, we made the decision to take it down. I cried when we made the decision and I still have a sick feeling in my stomach. We loved that tree and felt terrible that we had to end its life. The tree people think that the tree took up a lot of water with the heavy rains a few weeks ago. Since it was at its fullest foilage, it couldn't handle the weight of the limbs and cracked down the center. They've seen a lot of trees like it this season.

The view from across the street

The crack down the trunk

Another view of the cracked trunk

It was such a great tree. The colors in the fall were beautiful

Trimming off the limbs

More trimming

It was such a tall tree.

The view from inside the kitchen this morning. Some neighbors came and hauled some of the wood away and friends of the workers hauled more away this afternoon. One of the guys busted his chainsaw so he has to come back later to finish off the trunk of the tree. I want to put a sign in our yard letting everyone know that the tree was cracked and couldn't be saved. I've seen some people drive by and shake their heads. What are ya gonna do?

Coming down the hill at the park by the Wilson Center in Brookfield

Our baby is growing up too fast!

The above photos were taken by our good friend, Andrea Warp (http://www.arwphotography.com/). Each photo shoot gets better and better. We had a perfect weather day. Sarah definitely did better for the outdoor pictures than she did for the indoor pictures. Running around suited her much better!

I can't believe it's already July 10th. The summer is cruising by so fast. We traveled down to my parents' in Iowa the weekend of June 21st to be at the 1st service in their new church building at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Williamsburg, IA. It was such a powerful day since we've witnessed the long road the church experienced to achieving this goal. Mom and Dad put a lot of sweat and tears into the process and it was a joyful day to be there for the first service. We were thankful that Williamsburg didn't experience the flooding but were sad to hear the stories of all those affected in nearby Iowa City/Coralville and Cedar Rapids.

Mom and Dad came up to Brookfield the following week to spend some much needed time away. Dad helped Jason get a lot of projects done around the house and Mom loved watching Sarah so I could get things done, as well. It was so lovely to have them here for more than a quick weekend now that Dad's retired. Sarah absolutely loved having them here and kept calling for them in the mornings after they left. The best part was watching her reach for both of their hands when she wanted to show them something. It would melt my heart.

We had a nice family get-together on the 4th of July. Ron, Ann, Meghan, Bob, and Sean joined my folks, Jason, Sarah, and me in celebrating the day. The cousins were in the baby pool for a short time together and had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk and the bubbles. It was such a beautiful day and we spent most of it outside. A bunch of us played croquette. Bob is definitely the croquette master! He won all three matches much to the chagrin of Jason and his dad (they're usually ultra-competitive....it's pretty funny actually). We tried giving the cousins a bath together, but Sean wasn't about to let that happen. He was a little freaked out by the strangeness of the tub. Put Sarah into the mix and forget about it. :) All in all, I'm glad it worked out for the family to spend a relaxing day together.

Jason is excited to go to the Cubs game tomorrow. I'm going to drop Sarah off at the grandparents' house so I can finally see "Sex in the City". I think Jason is actually a little disappointed that I'm going without him. Let that be our little secret. :)

The rest of the weekend is up in the air which is kind of nice. I think we'll finally take in the Brookfield Farmers' Market and go on a long bike ride now that we have the bike trailer put together. Sarah has been a couple of rides and seems to do well in it. We're also getting excited for our trip to Richmond to see Kim and Cleo. Kim can hardly wait to see Sarah.

That's all for now!

We love the summer!

Cooling off on the 4th of July

Playing with the balls

Uncle Bob, cousin Sean, Aunt Meghan, and Sarah

It's been a crazy few weeks

I apologize ahead of time. I'm having trouble with the layout so it will be a little hard to read.

It's been a crazy few weeks for our family and once again, a long time since I've posted anything on the blog. I'll start with our nephew, Sean's birthday party on May 17th. It was a fun gathering to celebrate his first birthday. He was such a trooper since he had been up the night before with a 103 degree temperature as he was getting over his double ear infection. Since then, he's had tubes put in his ears and we're all hoping that it will help the little guy. The party was celebrated with a great meal of lasagna, salad, and bread followed by cake, presents, a trip to the park with all of the little nieces, nephews, and cousins. The guys even played some basketball. Good times.

This Sarah about to go down the slide at the park at Sean's birthday party.

After Sean's party, we started looking ahead to Kim's wedding in Jamaica and preparing for a busy Memorial Day weekend of socializing, packing, and going to the Brookfield Central H.S. parade performance on Memorial Day. My Grandpa Whitehead had seemed to be having more and more health problems and complications and was very frustrated. We got the call on Saturday morning that he had passed away in his sleep sometime the night before. He passed away the way he had always hoped. While we were sad to lose him, we knew he was in a better place and happy to be with Grandma again. We went down to Iowa on Sunday and over to Winterset, Iowa on Monday for the evening visitation and the funeral Tuesday morning. Kim flew in from Virginia so we were all able to be there. We stayed at our family friends', the Meases', while we were there. It was so nice not to be in a hotel room and to be with them. They're like my second Mom and Dad. The picture below is of Sarah riding their play horse in their basement. Sarah did great with all of the traveling, etc. She wasn't too happy during the funeral when I had to play the piano and sing and Jason played the saxophone. She's in a clingy, Mommy phase right now. My Aunt Jan and my sister helped occupy her when we were busy during the service. It was nice to see our extended family and friends and to hear all of the fun stories about Grandpa. He and his friends were quite the pranksters.

After the funeral, we drove all the way back to Milwaukee to unpack, do laundry, run errands, and re-pack for Kim's wedding in Jamaica. Mom, Dad, and Kim only had one day to do that while we had two. It was a stressful experience, but we all made it down there safe and sound and had a fabulous time. The first night was the welcome dinner so we got to meet Cleo's family and friends. It was a wonderful evening as we were right next to the water enjoying great food, music, and conversation. The picture below are of
Cleo and Kim welcoming everyone to the dinner.

Cleo, Kim, Vicky and Jerry Mease, and Jason at the welcome dinner

Below: Kelvin (Cleo's oldest son), Cleo's Uncle Charles, Brennan (Cleo's second son), Rebecca (Cleo's mom), and Cleo's Aunt Shirley

We slept in on Saturday morning which felt awesome. While we missed Sarah, we knew she was in good hands as she was staying in-between Jason's folks and his sister and family. We were relishing the opportunity to sleep in and catch up on a bit of sleep. We ordered room service and ate out on our patio overlooking the resort and the ocean. Jason went snorkeling with Cleo, his boys, and Uncle Charles. It went much better than our honeymoon snorkeling in Maui. :) While he was snorkeling, I went to Kim's room and we had a leisurely morning getting ready for the ceremony. We both had our hair done by a lovely Jamaican woman who crazily hairsprayed our hair to withstand the humidity. I was surprised when Kim asked me to do her make-up. Being the younger sister, I always looked up to Kim for make-up and hair advice. I was honored that she trusted me with that on her wedding day. The nerves started building up as we neared the ceremony time. It had been windy all day long and right when the ceremony started, there wasn't even a light breeze to be felt. We all dripped sweat throughout the ceremony, but it was still beautiful. The minister was charasmatic, yet focused the marriage on their committment to God and their love for one another. It was lovely! Once we got through the pictures on the beach and in the garden area, we moved onto the reception.

Below: Kim before the ceremony. She waited up there until the last minute to avoid the heat.

Below: Jason and I before the ceremony. He walked my Mom down the path and I walked by myself as the Matron of Honor.

Below: Kim and Cleo Battle's first dance as man and wife. They danced to the Etta James song, "At Last".

Below: Cutting the cake. Note the beautiful view in the background.

Below: Paul (Kim's former co-worker in Milwaukee and he introduced Kim and Cleo), Vicky, and Jason having a blast on the dance floor. It was very hot, but it didn't stop all of us from dancing!

Above: Brennan, Kelvin, Kim (Paul's wife), Paul, and Vicky

Below: Kim, Paul, Cleo, Kim, and Aunt Shirley

We had an fabulous night and everyone danced right up to the end. The dance ended around

9 p.m. so Jason, Kelvin, Brennan, Dad, and I got our suits on and cooled off in the pool. A fun way to end the night. On Sunday, everyone did their own thing. We eventually met Mom, Dad, Vicky, and Kim out on the beach and relaxed by the water. It was overcast the entire time we were there, but the sun still filtered through pretty strong. That night, we all met for drinks and dinner. Everyone mixed so well and had a truly enjoyable time. It was sad to see it end.

Below: Mom and Dad dancing to the local entertainer who sang and played the keyboard.

Below: Kim and I at Sunday night's dinner. Our bunched up cheeks hide our eyes when we smile.

Below: The view from our room

Below: The view from the end of the pier looking toward the resort. We stayed at Coyaba Resort on Montego Bay. It was a small, family-owned resort and we loved our stay. The food was excellent and the service was amazing.

Our flight home was uneventful. Since we got home late we didn't pick up Sarah until the next morning. I could harldy wait to see her. She had a great time while we were gone, but I think we were both glad to see each other. I had to take her straight to the pediatrician for her 18 month check-up where she measured 34 1/4 inches (95th percentile) and 26.4 pounds (85th percentile). She got some shots but all is on track. We went to school to see Jason since he was anxious to see her, as well. She was beside herself with excitement when she saw him come to the door. Too fun.

We spent the week getting back into the groove of things. We had a huge storm on Saturday night and water got into our basement. Our sump pump simply couldn't handle all of the water. We're in the process of seeing if we can save our carpet without the threat of mildew and getting estimates on a more powerful sump pump. While it was a record-setting rainfall storm, this isn't the first time we've had water when it's rained a lot. We now know that the previous owners lied on the disclosure statement when they said they didn't have water problems. A few neighbors have said otherwise. Ugh. We've kept a positive attitude. After all, it's just carpet. Many people have had sewage back up and high levels of water. We're blessed to have a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, food in our stomachs, etc. It's all relative and life is good.

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for checking in. Let us know how you're doing when you get the chance.

Two weekends ago, Kim came home for a dress fitting and a "Going Away Brunch" held in her honor at Trocadero's on the East Side. It was great to have her home and do wedding stuff together. It was kind of a crazy weekend since the initial plan included Mom and Dad coming for the whole weekend due to Kim's festivities and the Brookfield Central "Be-bop and Barbecue" fundraising event. My Grandpa Whitehead had fallen the weekend before and broken his hip at the nursing home. He spent close to a week in the University Hospital in Iowa City before the cardiologists and orthepedic surgeons could come to a decision on whether to have surgery. They did go ahead with the surgery and it was successful. Dad planned to stay another day to see if Grandpa was still doing okay so we met in Illinois where I brought Mom back to Brookfield and Dad was to come up the following day. When Dad got home, he got a call from the hospital that Grandpa was "unresponsive". He continued to be in that condition until Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Mom felt terrible that she wasn't home to help support Dad, yet she wanted to be here for Kim. Needless to say, it was an emotional rollercoaster with Grandpa's condition, Kim being home and seeing Sarah for the last time until August, and Jason's stress of making the fundraiser a success. The pictures above are from that weekend.

Grandpa is back home at the nursing home and receiving physical therapy 5 days a week. He's still getting disoriented from time to time. We're hoping that's just the effects of the drugs. He's not wanting to do much physical therapy, either. He just wants to stay in his room and not do too much. At 88, it's hard to make that effort.

We had a pretty relaxing weekend this past weekend. Jason's parents watched Sarah overnight on Friday so Jason and I enjoyed some Sarah-free time together. I got a ton of errands done that afternoon, we went to dinner together and watched a movie. Good times.

We're really looking forward to Kim and Cleo's wedding at the end of May. It will be here before we know it. Better go. Sarah's looking like she's getting ready for lunch. Bye for now./

April 12, 2008

We had a nice visit over at Jason's parents' house yesterday. Meghan and Sean traveled up from Illinois for the afternoon so the cousins had some time to play together. Grandma brought out the crayons and the play dough so they were having a great time exploring those textures. She also made a wonderful meal. Of course mealtime isn't a very relaxing experience at this point in our lives since both Sarah and Sean require more attention. :) It was still nice to sit around the table and enjoy time with the family. Ron is pictured with the new addition to their family. They adopted Oscar from the Milwaukee Animal Shelter this last week. They're anxious to get him checked out at the veterinarian's on Tuesday. He's a Yorkiepoo (sp?). Cute little guy.

I hosted book club at our house on Friday night. Sarah spent the evening over at her grandparents house and Jason had a gig, so the house was just for us ladies. We had wonderful and deep conversations about the book, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and life, in general. It's a diverse group of women who brought many points of view to the table. Even though the subject matter of the book is tragic, we found time to laugh and make the evening "light" at times.

Jason is busy getting his students ready for the Bebop and Barbecue event this coming Saturday. Mom and Dad are coming up for the event, but mostly, to see Kim who will be in town from Richmond. We have some wedding misc. to finish up like dress fittings, looking for wedding jewelry, and we have a "going away brunch" scheduled for Kim Saturday afternoon. Busy weekend ahead!

Has anyone else been reading the Oprah book club book, "A New Earth"? I've been downloading the webcasts and it's been pretty enlightening if you're open to it. The basic principle...'live in the present moment'. So many people hang onto events in the past or worry about things they can't control. Check it out if you feel so moved.

It's been a long time...

It's been a long time since my last post. I'll try to catch up on all the major events.

1. The band trip to California went very well. While the weather was a bit cooler than we'd all hoped for, it was a memorable trip. After we landed at LAX (some kids saw Keanu Reeves at the baggage area) we went to Venice Beach and then to Santa Monica Pier for some sightseeing and meals. It was at least 70 degrees that afternoon, so we watched the sunlight bounce of the ocean waves. Very nice. The next day, we took a long bus ride down to the San Diego Zoo (the bus driver was lost but we finally found the zoo) and saw a lot of the zoo in a short amount of time so we could leave early and beat the traffic to get to downtown LA and Hollywood for some more sightseeing. The tour guide was excellent. She took us to see the new Disney Theater and pointed out some of the arts attractions in that area. The first picture on this post is of Jason and me in front of a sculpture dedicated to Disney's wife who donated a ton of money for the theater. It's made of broken pieces of china (the blue and white kind....I don't know the name). After the downtown LA tour, we went off to Hollywood to the Chinese Theater where we saw all of the hand/footprints of the stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We also saw the entrance to the Ford Theater where the Academy Awards Ceremony is held. Some kids saw Tom Cruise going into the Chinese Theater. I didn't believe him, but the guy at the door said it was really him. One will never truly know. There are a lot of look-alikes in that area. The next day started with clinics at a local high school that was organized by Sal Lozano of the Gordon Goodwin Band the Dancing With the Stars Band. He had some guys from the Big Phat Band and other area studio players come in and do clinics with all of the kids, followed by a jazz clinic with the top jazz band. Excellent clinic. After another bus snafu, we finally arrived at Universal Studios and City Walk for the afternoon/evening. It was pretty cold but we still went on the Jurassic Park ride even at the risk of getting wet. The last day was spent at Disneyland. Both bands did a recording clinic and the jazz band played at Carnation Plaza with Sal Lozano as a guest soloist. It's always a magical day when at Disney. I laughed so hard on some of the rides and enjoyed spending time with Kathi and Sarah Campbell throughout the trip. We left for Milwaukee the next day and everyone made it back safe and sound.


2. While we were in California, Sarah spent the week with my folks in Iowa. They had a great time with her despite the fussiness due to cutting a molar. I did laundry and repacked when I got back from California and got down to Iowa as soon as I could since I missed her terribly. It felt so good to hug and kiss her when I saw her. I spent the rest of the week in Iowa where I met my girlfriend, Serena and her daughter, Michaela for lunch at the restaurant that Kenny (Serena's husband) opened on the west side of Iowa City this past December. He owns the Mid-Town Restaurant on the east side and decided to go in with some partners to open the Mid-Town 2. So if you're ever in Iowa City, check it out. Nice family restaurants with home-made mashed potatoes. :) It was great to see them. Kim, Cleo, and Jason made it down to my parents' house for Easter and to celebrate Kim and Cleo's upcoming marriage with my Grandpa Whitehead, my Great Aunt Gladys, and my Aunt Jan and Uncle Wayne. It was good family bonding time with absolutely no shortage of food. My mom completely outdid herself! Mom and Dad had huge news for us after the celebration for Kim and Cleo subsided. Dad is retiring! Yeah!!! They're very excited for this new chapter of their lives to begin and we're looking forward to seeing them more often. I already told Dad I have a long list of projects he could help with around our house. HA!!!


3. Mom rode back to Wisconsin with us to help Kim get ready for the big move to Richmond. We helped pack her kitchen and worked on some wedding planning. The big job came with move out day. My girlfriend, Andrea, watched Sarah all day while we went down to help pack and clean. Bless her!! I was worried about how Sarah would behave since she's reached the tantrum phase. I was thankful to hear that she had a 2 1/2 hour nap and did just fine with Andrea. Whew. Anyway, after we got the truck loaded and house cleaned, we scurried back to the house to clean up and go out for Mexican and Kim's favorite restaurant, La Perla. I'm sure it wasn't a very relaxing dinner for Kim since Sarah was pretty fussy and I looked stressed out. The margaritas tasted great, nonetheless. We celebrated Mom's birthday with a piece of flan which Sarah attempted to devour. It was hilarious! She wouldn't let Mom hold the spoon and she kept shoveling the flan into her mouth. She would've eaten the entire piece had I not grabbed her and handed her off to Jason to distract her in the other room. Too funny. The picture of Kim kissing Sarah and the picture of Kim and Cleo, and Sarah eating the flan are from our La Perla night. The pictures above those are of Easter and the stay at Mom and Dad's. (The last picture was taken by Andrea who has taken so many of our professional pictures. It's nice to have a friend who uses your daughter as a guinea pig to test out her new orange background. Too fun.) Kim and Cleo came back to our house for their last night in Wisconsin before the long drive to Richmond. We all put on a brave face and didn't get too emotional since we'll be seeing Kim the weekend of April 17th for her dress fitting and brunch shower,etc. I'm sure the tears will flow heavily when she leaves that weekend since she won't see Sarah until sometime this summer since Sarah isn't coming to Jamaica with us for the wedding. The fact that Kim has moved is starting to gradually sink in. It's now becoming real. I'm so happy to hear that her first two days of work have gone well, that her cat survived the traumatic trip, and that Cleo's family welcomed them when they arrived. Of course we'll continue to talk every day. That's the kind of close relationship we have and no amount of distance will ever change that.
4. We had a nice dinner out with Jason's sister, Meghan and husband, Bob on Saturday night. We met at the Texas Road House in Kenosha. Great hot rolls with cinnamon butter. We met to celebrate Meghan and Bob's February b-days. It was great to be out without the kids so that we could enjoy good conversation and laughs without interruptions. Meghan was a good sport to come out since she was still getting over being sick. She was also a good sport to get up on that saddle as the people around us all wished her happy birthday. Sorry about that by the way, Meghan. I really didn't know they made people get up on a saddle. :) Anyway, good times.


5. I started my babysititing job today. I'm watching a 3 month old named, Jacob, two days a week until the end of the school year. Jacob was adopted by friends of ours from our small group at church. Silvia had to return to her teaching position after being on adoption leave so she needed help on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Jacob was lovely. It's Sarah that may be a problem for awhile. She wanted to sit in the bouncy seat, his swing, take his socks and bib off. Of course she wanted to be held when I was holding him. She never wants to be held...she always wants to be on the go. This will be good for her since she's been the center of attention up until now. We're hoping to try for baby #2 soon so this will be good training for her. Wish me luck. :)

I'm sure there's more to tell you, but I need to hang it up for tonight. Keep in touch!