Later in the afternoon, we headed over to my Grandma’s house for a late lunch. It was kind of weird because my parents took off for their “second home” in Virginia last week, and my brother and his family joined them.  Since the last thing my other brother wants to do is spend Easter with his favorite sister (and procurer of his razors and deodorant, I might add), they spent Easter with just my sister-in-law’s family.  So there was a very small crowd at my Grandma’s.  Nevertheless, my children were very entertaining and adorable.  Even though this was the best picture I could get of them:

We did get some super-fun playtime in with Jonah at my Grandma’s as well. Her coffee table is the perfect height for a game of ball! You want to watch this, it’s 15 seconds of ADORBS!

Finally, we left my Grandma Brads’ house and headed for my Grandma Burns’. The other weird thing about Easter is that we weren’t having a big meal there, since there really weren’t even enough people to cook for. So we just had dessert, which was excellent. I had great fun hanging out with my favorite cousin Anna, since her sister (whose name starts with an E and ends with a y and has an mil in between), who was formerly tied for favorite cousin, had better things to do than to join us. Her text message on the subject said, and I quote, “I was napping”. PLEASE!

{Side note: Don’t worry Mackenzie and Shelby, you are still tied for favorite cousin on the Brads side.  But let’s just keep that betwixt us, if Donovan finds out I’m afraid he’ll have a hard time finding something to live for.}

So, Easter was a wee bit weird, BUT!  We made it work, we spent time with what family deigned to be around us, and most importantly, we remembered that the grave couldn’t hold Jesus. Can I get a WHAT WHAT!?

That was our Easter! How was yours?

My family has quite the pasttime of late, and it is called Wii bowling!

I know, we are sooo 2009.  Really, we’ve enjoyed it since we got our Wii over two years ago, but it’s had a real renaissance in the Rapson house within the last couple months.  Both the big kids are pretty good, they’ve both even had (and subsequently lost) their “PRO” status.  The day Sophie got her PRO was like, the best day of her life!

A night at “Rapson Lanes” features trash-talking, Turkeys, spares, strikes, and the occasional total miss – but almost never a gutter ball.  We’re actually kinda good – if you take the ages of the players into account!  We always have a great time playing together, even if Daddy ALWAYS wins.

And even if we have a really tiny TV!

I love my nerdy little Wii bowling family.  Sophie and I play together all the time in the afternoon when Jonah is asleep, Joshua is at school, and Bobby is at work.  Just two girls kickin’ it with their cartoon alter egos and some shiny bowling balls.  Sometimes we even turn on the Yo Gabba Gabba channel on Pandora and REALLY light up the in-house bowling alley with our sweet dance/bowling moves.  We know how to have F-U-N!  And it’s great that it’s something we’re all always up for.

What’s your favorite family game to play?

My niece Lily loooooooooooooooves her some Kate (or Take, as she likes to call her). My sister likes messing with Lily’s emotions, as evidenced by this video. It’s hilarious and pitiful all at once.

Grandma has a “life alert” button on her wrist that she can easily press, but she had for some reason not even been able to do so, probably due to confusion (which is unusual for her). (There goes THAT great idea.)  She had knocked her phone off the hook and hadn’t been able to use it either.

Anna called 911 and Grandma was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where it was determined that she has some sort of internal bleeding that started all this distress. Praise the Lord she did not break any bones, praise the Lord Anna found her when she did!!

Now she is getting all sorts of tests.  Last night they were giving her blood as well.  My mom stayed the night with her in the hospital.  Please pray for our Grandma, and while you do, please read what I wrote about her a couple years ago, and be reminded what a special and wonderful woman she is, and how we love her so.  Thank you.

A Remarkable Woman
originally published September 14, 2009

Yesterday was Grandparents Day. Emily and I saw Maria tweeting about how she was writing about her grandparents, and we thought this was the perfect time to introduce you to our grandma.

There is a lot we could say about our grandma. Like, how when Em’s dad was helping her clean out her house recently (where she’s lived since 1969), he found over 50 plastic rings you get off the top of a milk jug, that she was keeping around, you know, just in case. Or that she watches waaaaay too much cable news, or has been convinced for as long as we can remember, that she is going to win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse (seriously? Stop getting her hopes up, you jerks!)

But while those things are evidence of her quirkiness, they are not really indicative of who our grandma is.

She is quiet, she is very shy. Recently when my mom and I were talking about how my Sophie doesn’t really like big groups or parties, Grandma laughed, and said, “Well she gets that from me!”

My grandmother is certainly old-fashioned and conservative, and yet she is the most independent woman I know. She married at twenty, and had two kids in 11 months (that gives me heart palpitations!). She moved from her home in Kentucky to Ohio with her husband and two toddlers so he could take a job at Frigidaire and give their kids a better life than they had. She kept house for twenty-four years, and then, our grandpa died suddenly. He had a heart attack at age forty-four. Her two kids were grown, and she was alone, about to become a grandmother, supposed to be enjoying an empty nest. Who could have imagined?

Fortunately, Grandma had gotten her driver’s license a couple of months before Grandpa died. Up until that time, he’d done their grocery shopping every Friday after work, because she didn’t drive.

When speaking of Emily’s parents wedding, which took place just three weeks later, my grandma told my mom, “I never wanted to break down so bad in my life.”

But she didn’t. She got a job at Elder-Beerman, a local department store, and worked there for the next twenty years until she retired. I think she retired because she was 65 and that’s what people DO when they are 65. She could have worked longer, it seemed. But she devoted time to being a grandma. She was the best hide-n-seek player EVER, and really, still is. I have never seen her run out of patience with a child. She mowed her lawn, cleaned her own gutters (and has been scolded for doing the latter as recently as this spring!), and every Sunday, cooked an amazing lunch for her entire extended family. Emily, her sister, Anna, and I owe our closeness I think, in large part to Grandma and her Sunday dinners. To say the majority of our childhood bonding happened there over biscuits, meatloaf, hide-n-seek, and rummy games would not be an exaggeration.

Now our grandma, though thinner and a little more white-haired, still opens her house to us every Sunday, though we don’t make it nearly as often. But we do see her as much as we can, because, well, she is the best cook in the entire world, and because our children adore her. They love her never-ending supply of desserts, coddling, and energy for hide-n-seek.

And we love watching them love her.

Our littlest tricker, Jonah:

Lovely Lily, in her 2nd year of costumed cuteness:

Captain SAMerica, who apparently was so busy that this was the best pic we could get of him all night:

My little Minnie Mouse, Sophie:

The dazzlingly wicked Kate:

My big boy, Joshua (as Ash the Pokemon trainer):

And our whole cute cousin crew:

We had the best time.  This is such a fun family tradition for us!  The kids were all so excited, so good, so sweet, so cute, so thankful – it was a blast!  I can’t wait ’til next year.  What did your kids dress up as for Trick-or-Treat?

We love you, sweet girl!

Many moons ago, before we bought our van, I agreed to road test a 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control, baby!) on our family vacation to my parents’ mountain home in Virginia.  After we got our van, I was all, “Aww man, I love my van, I am kinda bummed I agreed to this Outlander test drive. My van is so roomy and did so well on our Easter trip to Virginia.”   So, when we got ready to leave for vacay, I wasn’t so sure about the Outlander.

But then I drove it.  And WOW, does it drive NICE! I mean, so, so smooth.  It is really a pleasure to drive.  Even though we had to put the available third row down to fit all our crap in it and the kids had to all ride in the middle seat together, it was totally awesome.  The kids actually enjoyed all being together in one row, by some miracle.  See?

Sibling Togetherness!

AND – when the McD’s we always stop at (because there is no where else to stop!!) failed to have a changing station in the bathroom, we were SAVED by the Outlander’s tailgate!  Yup, Jonah got his diaper changed on a tailgate. Klassy we ARE.

de-pantsed on a tailgate

Now, after we got back on our way, the Outlander continued to impress us.  We drive through quite a bit of mountains to get to the particular mountain that my parents live atop, and I am always a nervous wreck during that part of the drive.  We’ve done it in several different vehicles, our Camry wagon, my Lexus, my Toyota Sienna van, a Chevy Traverse – and this was by far the most comfortable I’ve ever been during that portion of the trip.  The Outlander ROCKED those mountains!  My mechanic husband was super, super impressed.  As a matter of fact, I would say he has a serious *crush* on the Outlander.  He really does not want to give it back!

Among other things, what I LOVE about this Outlander is the aforementioned smooth handling, the leather seats, the fancy entertainment package (interfaces with your IPod, IPhone, bluetooth device [like my Droid], amazing sound system, Sirius Radio), and the eighty gazillion places to charge your electronic devices!

But back to our journey:

Now, when we actually got to my parents’ house, the Outlander had to head up the gravel mountain roads that comprise their “neighborhood” and then their steep, steep driveway.

the house is waaay up there

this driveway goes up and up...deceptively steep!

Ok, so anyhoo: it’s a long, gravelly, steep way up with a classic hair-pin turn at the top, you gotta be going at least 12 miles per hour to make that one. And the Outlander did awesome! Again, the smoothest trip I’ve ever made up that drive!

As I mentioned, the Outlander also has an available third row seat, so after we reached my parent’s place, we got all our crap out of the car and popped up that third row so that if my parents wanted to go somewhere with us, we could all go in one car. It was fabulous!  We did this when my mom went with us one day to a place we go every year when we are in Virginia, Amazemen Square Children’s Museum in Lynchburg.  On the way home,  we tested the Outlander in a way we were really hoping not to…you see…

After the museum, we stopped at McD’s to get the kids dinner and get the adults some beverages (mmm Iced Mocha).  We sat in the parking lot while the kids ate and we stole Wi-Fi.  And then Joshua, the pukiest boy who ever puked (but not for a long time! I thought I was safe!!) says, “Mom, I don’t feel good….”  Of course I totally panicked. He was buried back in the very back seat of the car so I shoved a bag at him and told him if he needed to throw up, to throw up in the bag. Which he then immediately did.  *Shew*! The bag held it!

Until we got him out of the car.

Then it broke as he was getting out.

Vomit everywhere!! All over our loaner car!  And our kid!

You have never seen three adults jump out of a vehicle so fast.  My mom went to work cleaning up Joshua (whose shorts, fortunately for the car, bore the brunt of it), I went to work cleaning Joshua’s car seat (Cannot even COUNT how many times I have done that!), and Bobby went to work on the Outlander.

Let’s just say, the Outlander also cleans up REALLY NICELY!! Bobby detailed it with baby wipes, and yes, gave it a PROPER cleaning when we got home. I swa-ear it’s as good as new.

So. Now it was time to go back up the mountain.  Little did we know the Outlander’s greatest challenge lay ahead.

You see, my crazy old dad had decided the driveway needed new gravel that day.  So, while we were at the museum, he called to warn us that the gravel was a little deep and that we would need more speed to get up the driveway.  My Famous Uncle Paul was also on his way to my parents’ and received a similar warning.  THEN, my dad called and said Uncle Paul had beaten us there but had gotten STUCK.

And not just stuck, but rather, his car was teetering in very precarious position. Kind of on the edge of the driveway that is right over a 200 foot drop.  You can see Uncle Paul’s post here on how he got stuck here:

Long story short, the two Mayberry tow truck guys that came UP the mountain to rescue Paul were no help, because the tow truck was way too big to get around Paul’s Jeep Liberty without knocking it off the mountain.

But you know what WASN’T too big to get around Paul’s car?

The Mitsubishi Outlander!

While an unsuspecting ME was in the house trying to keep my kids from being run over by the various and sundry vehicles in the driveway, my husband decided to borrow the tow strap from the Mayberry Men, drive the Outlander around the Jeep, attach the tow strap, and pull that Jeep up the mountain.

And it worked! Imagine my surprise when my mom came in the house and told me what happened!

after the Outlander saved the day!

Do you think Mitsubishi will ever let me road test anything again?  I sure hope so!  But I hope next time I don’t have to be this thorough!

I know this was long, but to recap: I LOVED this automobile.  If I only had two kids, or if my kids were older, I’d definitely put it at the TOP of my car buying prospects!! If you get a chance to test-drive one, please do!

Emily and her sister  Anna were kind enough to let me be  a sidekick to their sisterdom and form the SuperCousins.  I never had a sister, but I had the next best thing.  I got to be close to my cousins and I didn’t have to share my clothes! (Although as adults, especially during and after pregnancy, we all three of us shared clothes!  As a matter of fact I still have a bunch of Anna’s maternity clothes hanging in my closet and she still has a bunch of my regular clothes that she wore post-partum.)

Kate doesn’t have a sister, Sophie doesn’t have a sister, and Anna’s baby Lily doesn’t have a sister…*yet* – I suppose that’s still a possibility, right Anna?  But they have each other! Girl cousins!  We’ll have Lily designing the bridesmaids dresses in no time, I am sure she is going to be crafty like her mama.

My niece Murrin, who is 13, came over Wednesday to help me with the kids at the CRAZY pool.  She was so sweet and kept such a good watch on Sophie, and Sophie loved it. She told all her friends at the pool, “Look, I brought Murrin!”  Another girl cousin success. Murrin also has girl cousins on her mom’s side of the family with whom she is very close.

Sophie also has lots of girl cousins on my husband’s side of the family.  One, Isabel, is only 3 weeks younger than Sophie.  When they get together it is C.U.T.E.!!  Sophie also has two girl cousins, Gabbi and Katie, who are about Joshua’s age.  I hope they will all be good girl cousin friends as well.

I can’t wait to see how my kids and Emily’s kids and all their other cousins grow closer as they get older.  And based on my own experience, I am going to do whatever I can to encourage these great cousin friendships!  I’m so thankful for my extended family.

(Photo by Anna B Photography)

My cousin Anna took this picture yesterday; it is of my and Emily’s grandmother playing hide-and-seek with Joshua (the blue blur) and Kate (the purple blur).

Grandma is pretty much the best hide-and-seeker ever.

This picture speaks to me; it tells me lots of things I already know but reminds me how important these things are.  For instance, that my grandmother is at 85, still an expert at the art of playing with a child, just like she was when Emily and Anna and I were little.  And that, like the speedy blurs that are Joshua and Kate, the chances to play with a child pass by in a blink.

It reminds me that there is a time to be still, and a time to be quick.  That the most fun things in life are also the most simple.  That people are more precious than things.  And most especially that I am very, very blessed that my kids get to enjoy my grandmother just as I did as a child.

Take some time to enjoy the simple things today.  Because Ready or Not, they won’t always be there.

Christmas shopping.

‘Tis the season.

Wait, what? You have all your Christmas shopping done, wrapped and sitting under your perfectly-decorated tree? Now all that’s left to do is sit around drinking hot chocolate and singing Christmas carols?

Lucky you.

I, on the other hand, haven’t done jack to get ready for the holidays. Fortunately all I have to do for Thanksgiving is show up at one grandma’s at noon and the other grandma’s at three with two cute kids. I’ve got that covered.

But Christmas?

Not so much.

As for decorating – I have visions of white lights all over our house and yard. However if I remember correctly, I found out the hard way last year that about 2 of the 43 strands of lights that we own work (please tell me I had the sense to throw out those that didn’t) and there’s a strand out on our pre-lit Christmas tree. So I don’t exactly have this part under control.

I don’t even know what to get the kids for Christmas. Kate has one item on her list: a puppy. Not gonna happen. (Unless her father buys her one while I’m not home. Which is entirely possible.) So I don’t know what else to get her. Sam has an extensive list of two things: a Reds hat and a Bengals hat.

Frankly, one look at our basement makes me never want to buy a toy ever again.

So, that leaves me in quite a quandary.

Give me some inspiration here, people. What are you excited about giving your kids (or spouse or neighbor or whatever) this year?