Rhinelander '08

It was almost exactly one year ago that we spent a few days in Rhinelander with Kevin's parents in their newly renovated cottage on the lake. Last year, I was shopping for long sleeved maternity clothes because the weather was 40 degrees. This year Mother Nature was kinder - it was sunny and 75 every day.

Owen started the trip off with an 11 inch wide mouthed bass - needless to say, he was "hooked" on fishing. He spent the better part of the weekend standing on the pier casting his pole (which Grandpa found at a garage sale for a steal). Lyla soaked up the sun and waves at Hodag Beach - she was in Heaven!

Kevin and his dad definitely enjoyed several hours a day of fishing - but neither could beat my biggest fish catch - a 14 inch bass! Just goes to show girls really are better - and more efficient. I keep reminding Kevin it only took me 30 minutes and one beer to catch the big one.

The north woods of Wisconsin are a stunning display of God's creative nature. I could not have asked for a more beautiful sunset anywhere. And so glad I had a camera to capture it.









I love these at sunset with Kevin and the kids...















And the best for last...

that was easy...

Monday morning, 8am conversation at the Ruff house...

Owen: "Mom have we ever been to Disneyland?"

Mom: "Disneyworld, but not Disneyland. That's in California."

Owen: "Can we go to California to see Disneyland?"

Mom: "Probably not honey. It's very expensive and we'd have to save lots of money."

Owen: (hands out to the side, with a quick witty thinking face) "Well, we could just get the easy button. It saves you LOTS of money."

Thank you Staples. Perhaps I could bill them for the tickets.

paint job #4...

This is my fourth - and hopefully final - paint job on Lyla's band.

For all those faithful, observant fans out there - you may be saying to yourself "did I miss something? I only remember the pink dots and purple band..." Don't rush for the Ginko Biloba just yet. You're right - sort of. For you see friends, I could not possibly post paint job #3. I am too much a perfectionist and worry what others think to allow you to see the ugly grass green paint I subjected her cuteness to. Sorry sweet girl.

Here is a much cuter creation...

I am your Father...

Owen had not so suddenly developed an obsession with Darth Vader. He's always been intrigued by "the dark side," in the form of Halloween Costumes and the Halloween house on our block. Think of the creepiest, bloodiest, strangest decorations you can - then multiply it by ten and voila! The Halloween House. So really it should come as no surprise to me that He would love Darth.

Thanks to the McMarketing geniuses of the world, our kids can be obsessed with characters way beyond their viewing age. Think Spiderman, Hulk, Star Wars, Batman - movies no four year old should possibly be able to view, lest we never get our beds to ourselves again. But somehow McDonald's still has a toy for them. ick.

Anyway, we were in the Gap last week because I had a coupon begging to be used and my husband was at a baseball game for the night (read - I wasn't up for four more hours in my home alone with two kids). Owen spotted the new Junk Food t-shirts - you know, the cool old school ones pre-washed so many times that if you sneezed on them a hole would surely appear? There he was - Darth - in all his glory. On a cream colored tee.

For those who have yet to spend a day with Owen - let's just say he's akin to an F4 tornado when it comes to a mess. A cream colored $22 Darth tee would be multiple shades of brown and blue by the end of the hour. Wasn't happening. Oh but he wanted it so. Still not happening.

Then came last Tuesday. We enrolled in a Food Allergy study with Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Apparently, Children's is hoping to become the national research center for food allergies. They are taking 1,000 families and testing them yearly via a scratch and blood test to see if there are genetic markers for allergies. And some other stuff too that I'm too tired to remember right now. Owen's peanut allergy is such a severe one that it is caused with even tiny inhaled amounts, so they were not able to skin/scratch test him because he would be "exposed" and therefore potentially have a bad reaction. In retrospect, this was more than good - sitting still for 15 minutes - well, remember the F4 thing.

I am a woman who believes that being up front and truthful is the best way to handle most any situation. Perhaps I should just reconsider the timing of my disclosures. Owen knew way too soon he was getting a shot. For two days he cried at the thought of them sticking him. So in an effort to bribe him for bravery, I promised the Darth Vader shirt for a good visit to the study. I knew this would still not calm his fears, but would at least give him a pleasant outcome to look forward to (and something nice for us to talk about instead of the shots).

Fast forward to the study (which technically is rewind now for you). Tiny room, lots of people, a million questions, the New York Post (doing a story on the family ahead of us), hungry baby, thirsty kid, blah blah blah. You surely get the picture. I guess if you're gonna do something unpleasant, may as well go all out, huh? The nurses allowed us to at least keep Owen and Lyla in separate rooms for the blood draw. Kevin went with Owen and I with Lyla. Really, there was no good choice bad choice here, because both were equally terrible. I'll spare the details, but let's just say that finding a vein in a chubby armed eight month old is a challenge for even a world class children's hospital. I can only imagine what moms with very ill children go through on a daily basis there. My heart sinks for and with them.

For Owen, the physical pain was very minimal. It was the fear and anticipation that was overwhelming for his little spirit. And as I watch and listen - knowing the outcome will be relatively painless, I can't help but think God must somehow feel this way about me too. I kick and scream about so much, when really the pain is so minimal in the end. Well, at least most of the time.

I've been working on this post for three days now and still feel I have ten more chapters to go, but I'm going to stop for now and perhaps post more later today. As for the title of the post, I had grand intentions of tying in Darth's words with those God so often reminds me of Himself, but well....sorry. I have a million things swirling in my head and sometimes this blog becomes more of a spot to think outloud for me. It doesn't always make sense on the screen. Read what you want. Just don't avoid me in the grocery store because my kids look dirty in scary cream colored shirts.

fun times on the Fox....

Our neighbors recently invited us to take a ride on the jet skis with them along the Fox River. Owen had a blast!

let's put it to a vote...

Okay, so Cranial Technologies has an annual calendar for their banded babies and I want Lyla to make the cut. Problem is, I can't seem to decide on a photo. I can only submit one. So I thought we could take a vote. Look over the photos below and tell me which you like best - or scroll down and look at previous ones and tell me if you like another one better. I'll number them to make it easier. To vote, just click on "comments" at the end of the post and let me know your choice. Thanks!

number 1


number 2


number 3


number 4


number 5


number 6


number 7


I had to add this one. This is an Owen look if I've ever seen one! Don't vote for it though. =)

last photos of the old paint...

Before I repainted Lyla's band, I took a few more photos of her in the pink dots.





Only four more weeks to go!

You're in the right place still...

So I'm having a week of cleaning and organizing our cluttered life - the office, the kids room, laundry, etc, etc. In the middle of it all, I could no longer look at the jumbled blog I had, so I chose to simplify it and go with Owen's current favorite color of green. My new favorite color is orange, but that looked to Halloweeny for the blog, so green it is - today.

Just some random updates here - Lyla visited Cranial Tech today and we found out she only has one more fitting and then her graduation! So that's four more weeks total - only all of the hottest month of the year, hehe. We are super excited to say goodbye to the band and hold our sweet little girl's head next to us soon. It got a new paint job today, which I'll post pictures of later.

Owen is enjoying his newfound swimming skills this summer - not quite swimming on his own, but a new confidence in the water for sure. His favorite topics to discuss lately are time (how many minutes till we get to...) and Heaven (what kind of house will I live in, when does your skin fall off to get there, and most importantly - will Ray be my neighbor there). Anyone care to explain these to him, I'll pay the phone bill.

Kevin has managed to build a garage and keep our yard amazingly lovely this summer. He's a real green thumb - and I'm a real lucky lady.

And I'm keeping busy with the photography stuff. I have my second wedding booked this weekend and I'm super excited! Weddings are always fun because most everyone wants to be photographed looking their Sunday best. And those who don't can typically be bribed with a cute red sucker. =)

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Happy Birthday to my amazing mom! She doesn't look nearly old enough to be a grandma, but she is definitely a favorite around my house. Always my biggest supporter and fan (except when I use black and white photos instead of color), I am incredibly blessed to have her in our lives. Sweet Kathy Sue is always ready with a smile, an encouraging word, and a bottomless pit of both useful and useless information. Always ready for adventure (just back from her second annual weekend float along Current River) - and always looking for someone to hunt arrowheads, a.k.a. ROCKS, with her. There's no dream too big for her to tackle - she went to college right after my graduation, and is now today a successful physician's assistant. And I couldn't be more proud to call her MOM. Happy Birthday! We love you!

Peanut-free baseball...

Well, Owen got to see his first baseball game last night! For those who aren't aware (or apparently have never been around me in the last four years), Owen has a severe peanut allergy. To most, a baseball game is an every day event - but to anyone with a nut allergy, a game is a reaction waiting to happen. Kevin and I both were disappointed this summer when we realized we couldn't take Owen to a White Sox game, for fear those around us would be enjoying those nasty legumes. =)

Then Enjoy Life Foods (www.enjoylifefoods.com) partnered up with the Kane County Cougars to host Peanut Free night at the ballpark. The stadium was powerwashed, along with all of the kidzone bouncy houses and slides, the concession staff was educated, and both teams agreed to keep the dugouts peanut free for the night.

Owen donned his Cougars shirt, Grandma came to babysit Lyla, and Kevin, Grandpa, Mom and Uncle Bryan loaded up the car for the fun to begin. And FUN he had! We arrived early enough to take in all the pre-game happenings, and didn't leave until the last car was in the lot. He danced between pitches, bounced in the bouncy house, pitched a ball 19MPH, ran the obstacle bouncer, ate hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy, ice cream, rope candy, and pizza (really -all of that fit into his 35lb four year old body). Washed it all down with lemonade and soda. This of course, allowed him to have the pep to stay awake for the fantastic fireworks and running of the bases.

We are already looking forward to the game next year!

He's four!

Well, it seems I blinked and my baby boy turned four. Owen has spent the last two weeks celebrating his birthday with friends and family and now the festivities will end with a firework frenzy.

As a healthy, vivacious four year old, Owen is a ball of fun to all who know him. He's never met a stranger, as he introduces himself and greets anyone who'll give him a look. For a paranoid mom, this is of course, a stranger danger nightmare. However, I am reminded that he sees the world with a pure heart - the way God intended for us to see it.

He loves his friends - the neighborhood kids making the top of the list. He adores family, with an extra sweet spot reserved for sister Lyla. At the moment, he's crazy about Scooby Doo, Caillou, Spongebob, and Spiderman. Favorite snack is a Hershey's chocolate bar, and he can drink his weight in apple juice (diluted, of course, for all you worried moms out there). His favorite "job" at school is holding the door, and he loves to practice in public - making this southern mom proud of her little gentleman. Owen also has a witty sense of humor (gets it from his dad for sure); he often asks me to order him peanuts with sesame seeds at the "MisterDonald's" drive thru. This, of course, would kill him (remember those nasty food allergies), but he thinks it's funny all the same.

Four years ago I had lots of hopes and dreams for my new little one. I can honestly say he's all I dreamed and then so much more. We are incredibly blessed that we get to be parents to such an amazing kid.

Owen Ruff - Happy Birthday! And in response to your question about driving a car now that you're big - you only have to live four times as long now (and then we'll think about it). We love you!

Cousins...

My cousin Carla visited with her family a few weeks back and we had a fantastic weekend playing in the yard and the park. Of course, this is not reflected in the end group photo - but is rather a typical scene when trying to get four kids four and under to POSE for a photo. The pictures reminded me of many we have at home from our younger days with cousins. We are incredibly blessed to have a family that still gets all the kids together whenever possible - even though we all live in different cities.