The World According to Alisa: Chreaster

You know how there are those people who show up for Church on Christmas and Easter - Chreaster? Well I might have to start calling this blog Chreaster - I can not seem to find the time to sit down and actually string words together that other people actually want to read! So here it is the end of April - another month gone by without sitting down and thinking about what happened. Here we go...

Last month we were planning on having a family weekend doing fun staycation activities around town as Jon finally had a weekend off. We ended up losing my Grandma and traveled to Michigan instead. My Mom's mom had been ill for quite a while with dementia and we all knew the end was near, but of course that could mean a day, a week or months. My parents were in Wisconsin when they got the call that things looked bad and sure enough she passed 3 days later. We had one last picture of my Grandma and Grandpa from Christmas and it was actually a good one of both of them. There was a nice memorial for her and my Aunt Dona gave us some good laughs at her memories of growing up with her Aunt Betty and Uncle Johnny.
The nice part of the weekend was getting to spend time with family and friends - we met my sister Jennifer and her family at the hotel on the way out, and met up with Jon's brother Mark and his family on the way back. Here's a picture of the cousins - Garrett 1 1/2, Harper 10 months, Gavin 4 1/2.

Harper has been cruising ever since we got home - I originally thought she would be walking by 11 months, but it's probably going to be closer to her birthday. Which can you believe our baby is going to be ONE in less than a month?? It's crazy! She's such a sweet and determined little girl - one thing I can say, we do not raise quiet, shy children! Harper is such a happy baby and it's the most fun to get her out of bed in the morning - she starts with a "Hi" like she's SO excited to see you and then just breaks in to a grin and starts to babble and chit chat like she's just been waiting for you to come and talk. She is also determined and quite able to voice her opinion (without using actual words!). She signs "more" and "dog" and laughs when you tell her No. We just love her to pieces and you can't help but smile when you are around her! She eats Gavin under the table - probably because Gavin can't be bothered to sit and actually be still long enough to consume food.

Gavin is still smart as a whip and still VERY strong willed. We battle on a daily basis over pretty much everything. If it's his idea, no problem, if it's your idea - be prepared! If you say up, he will say down, if you say green, he says red. Part of me is impressed by his strong will, persistence and ability to take a stand on what he wants....the Mom in me wants to scream every time I have to explain, demand, discipline, etc., to get him to obey. As you know he is going to a second pre-school where he gets some extra attention in regards to his social skills, well that hasn't seemed to translate to Harper. Don't know if it's jealousy or what, but he just can not seem to actually be kind to her or say kind things...or say anything at all. Mostly he growls and when you ask him why, he says he's trying to scare her. Harper's usual reply? A smile. And yet he persists. One of the granola/hippie suggestions to raising children is positive reinforcement - don't focus on the bad behavior, focus on the good and PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE. I am assuming that works for the majority of children or else they wouldn't be publishing this mumbo jumbo, right? A few times I have caught Gavin being kind to Harper so I acknowledge the kind behavior with positive reinforcement... no sooner do the words "Gavin, that was so kind of you to share a toy with Harper, good job" leave my lips that Gavin gives a growl, rips the toy from her hand and says "I WON'T share with Harper". Sigh. So unfortunately, when I see Gavin doing nice things, I just ignore them (at least he thinks I do). He seems to be improving in his socialization with kids though - the other day at breakfast out of the blue he told us one of his classmates had come back to class and if you ask about the other kids, sometimes you are rewarded with a story about them. He's still a keep it to yourself kind of kid, but every once in a while you get a glimpse into his day. I still believe much of this is just being a boy - they're just different. No offense.

Easter was fun - my Mom and Dad were here to celebrate with us and Jon's family so we had lots of company. Church was packed and then we headed home to find the Easter eggs that the Easter bunny had hidden - Gavin LOVED doing the egg hunt and would get so excited when he would find an egg. It was fun to see him this year - Harper slept through the egg hunt.

I'll preview the next month for you just in case it's Christmas before I get back to this...

We are gearing up for Harper's 1st birthday on the 12th of May and Gavin and I will be heading to Chattanooga for my Goddaughter's 1st communion on the 4th. We then have a few weeks before heading to Florida for our first real vacation in over a year! Lots of exciting things in the next few months!

Ready for the Easter Bunnies??

If you were at our wedding reception, you may remember it was in an old building that housed a children's museum as well - the City Museum. We finally went and Gavin had a ball - I was a nervous wreck because you literally can not see where they kids are going as they disappear down some hole or slide or what have you, but to an active kid like Gavin, it was 7th heaven!

and suddenly I felt the strongest craving for a Slim Jim!

Ah, the joys of taking the monthly pictures...literally there were a lot more that I couldn't post but I think you'll get the gist once again, of how NOT fun this thing is becoming. Notice the change of venue in order to get the best shot. Oh well.