Block Towers, Henry's Phone Call, and Will & Cara's Wedding: July 6-11, 2015

 On Monday, July 6, the boys rode their "horses" (the arms of the couch) to Texas. They carried their American flags, perhaps in the spirit of America's birthday we had just celebrated. Mommy and Daddy also had another reason to celebrate - we sold Mommy's old condo on this day! We had done our final walk-through on Sunday. Mommy felt some nostalgia - it had been the first residence she had owned... it was where she had many gatherings with her international friends... it was where Mommy and Daddy had first met, where he came to pick her up for their first date... it was where they had their first kiss (not the same day as their first date - keep that in mind, kids!)... it was where Mommy had spent her final night as a "Moldenhauer"... but she felt a great sense of peace about letting it go. (And we felt a sense of relief at not being landlords anymore, even though we had always had great renters.)

 On Tuesday we finally made it back to the library after a long absence. We signed up for the summer reading program. We were several weeks behind already, though we read plenty of books each day. It was everyone's first experience with a reading program, including Mommy's. Next summer, she'll sign the kids up on time! The boys got to spend the night at Grandma's on Tuesday, so Mom could take Helen to visit the surgeon on Wed morning.

 The visit to the surgeon was to see how her mouth was healing after her cleft palate surgery. Praise God, he said the palate looked beautiful! He said we didn't need to come back until she turns 2. At that time, we will see all the specialists at the clinic. He's most interested in having her see the speech pathologist to determine if she will need any therapy for her speech (that's why we will wait until 2 years old, at which time she should be talking more and this will be easier to evaluate). So we made our appointment for Sept 2016 and thanked God for His healing blessing!

 On Thursday Mommy spent a lot of time prepping for Schmidt vacation. We also discovered that Helen LOVES meatloaf. (Her Daddy was so proud!)

 The boys played well together, after a rough spell of not getting along so well the prior week. Thursday was also craft day. Micah and Henry decided to string beads for bracelet gifts. Unfortunately, when trying to tie one of Micah's bracelet together, she dropped the beads all over the floor. At that point, Henry decided to switch to drawing with markers. Mom gave Helen some play dough, so she could also have some creative time. Unfortunately, Mom became distracted while trying to stop Henry from drawing all over his arms and wasn't paying attention to Helen... who was began putting chunks of play dough in her mouth. Thankful, at least, that we use the "safe" homemade play dough for babies in our house!

At least he's getting better at his "H's."

On Friday, the boys built a terrific block tower. This photo was taken just before Henry knocked it down (Micah was not smiling anymore at that point).

Henry found the calculator and assumed it was a phone.

Henry: I'm talking to Uncle Davey.
Mom: Really? What did he say?
Henry: Shh! Mother, you have to be patient while I'm on the phone with Davey!

Taking notes - phone messages perhaps?

Micah's tower-building skills have really improved all of a sudden.

 

He proudly gave Mom a tour of his creation.

That day we also made a trip down to the mailbox. On the way, we discovered blackberries along the side of the road. Mom made the fateful decision to pick them for each of the kids to enjoy (there were enough for each kid to have 2 or 3). In the process, she contracted her first ever case of poison ivy. She didn't discover this until she was on her way to the wedding rehearsal that night (our friends Will & Cara were getting hitched). While Mom was rather uncomfortable, we were quite thankful she was the only one who ended up with poison ivy, especially since she had been carrying Helen in the Bjorn at the time of the blackberry picking! Thank God that Helen had on her leg warmers at that time!

 In the midst of it, Mom got the three kids and herself changed and to the wedding rehearsal on time, even despite bad traffic (another miracle!). Daddy had to get their earlier, straight from work, because he was one of the groomsmen. "Mr. Will" is Daddy's buddy from his college days. He was Daddy's fraternity "little brother" and was also a groomsman in our wedding.

 We decided to go ahead and sit up close in the sanctuary for the rehearsal, knowing we would need to be sitting in the back for the actual ceremony. The boys were very intrigued by being so close to the action.

 And sometimes, got a bit too close to the action.

 Henry figured he'd be the understudy for the best man... just in case.

 After the rehearsal, we enjoyed a tasty dinner at Buddy's Pizza. Thankfully, we were seated at a table with Will's cousin and his wife, who have two small kids of their own. Though their children were with Grandma that night, it was nice to not feel self-conscious about the typical childish behaviors at the restaurant; they could totally relate and we had a lovely conversation (in between interruptions).

The next morning, we dropped Daddy off to hang out and get ready with the guys. We had to stay to watch the limo drive off because the boys thought it was a pretty cool vehicle. 

 At the actual ceremony, we didn't last too long in the sanctuary. To tell the truth, the kids were actually quite well behaved. However, the priest's mic was not working so you could barely hear what he was saying. Any little movement created noise that blocked it, so Mommy packed up our crew and headed for the cry room. Bonus: the sound system in the cry room worked quite well, so we could hear everything, had a nice view, and the kids could wiggle all they wanted!

Mr and Mrs. William Rein

Next, we had a little time to kill before the ceremony. We weren't too far from Walled Lake, so we hung out at Grandma's house (they had already gone up to the UP for the Schmidt Vacation). Then off to Novi for the reception at the Suburban Collection Showplace. 

 Mommy was nervous about getting through the meal by herself, but it worked out rather well. We were seated at a table with some of Will's family, including a boy who was very much into Thomas the Train. That boy didn't want to eat his fruit, so Henry was the delighted recipient of an extra bowl of fruit (the kids got fruit instead of the salad appetizer we got). They were also served french fries and chicken fingers. Plus, they got cookies for dessert, in addition to the wedding cake. They had nothing to complain about for the meal!

Between the fruit and the rolls, Helen was satisfied as well.

We stayed at the reception longer than we expected. But it was just so much fun. The boys cut a rug on the dance floor (the sugar from the dessert may have been helpful in their energy level). They were quite a hit. Helen hung out in the Bjorn with Mommy on the dance floor and didn't complain at all about having to be sandwiched between her and Daddy for a slow song. Our plan was to drive up that night to the U.P. for our Schmidt Family Vacation, so we were kind of glad the kids were getting all that energy out - in hopes that they'd sleep the whole way!

As we walked out to the car after the reception, we looked up at the stars on that clear night...
Henry: Look up there! There's food up there!
Mom: Those are stars, Henry.
Henry: Well, they're stars that look like food.