Dotzour Family.com – Page 10 – Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia

June 24, 2011June 20, 2011

May trip to Wichita – Part IV: Visiting with Julie, Jerry & crew

On Saturday evening of our visit in Wichita, we visited with our good friends, Julie and Jerry Anderson. Julie and Bryan were good friends and neighbors as kids. Her husband Jerry is a great guy, and they have two little ones – Grayson (6) and Carter (2). On this visit, Julie’s parents, Janie and Van Buchanan, joined us too. It was a lot of fun to see friends!

Here’s the whole gang with a little balance-the-camera-on-the-truck trick.

When we visited last year (see post here), Julie and Jerry were just about to put their house up for sale. So it was great to see their new beautiful home!

Before supper, the boys all hung out in the living room.

The boys getting ice cream. Grayson’s a big Jay Hawk fan. Takes after his parents, uncles, and grandparents I think.

This little Carter dude was so adorable. I couldn’t stop taking pictures!

After dinner, we headed out to the driveway where the kids all played with bikes and balls and chalk and the hours sped by.

Love this new picture of Sylvia skipping along in the sunshine.

One kid pushing, one kid riding.

Wait, what?! Two kids riding.

Grayson’s quite a biking force. This kid’s got good physical acumen.

There’s Carter with his Grandma. So nice that they get to spend so much time together:)

Andrew and Carter played some t-ball. I think we can consider the evening a rousing success since neither of them walloped the other in the head with a ball or bat. There were a few close-calls!

Sir Carter-of-the-adorable-eyes.

The boys played with the soccer ball for a while. Grayson’s a skilled boy, and he shows a lot of focus and drive to play.

Another one of Janie and Carter. Too cute!

There’s Julie with Carter and Jerry in the background.

Look at that beautiful boy:)

After dinner, Sylvia made a bee-line for the costumes <aside: warning – if we come to your home, Sylvie will find your costumes. even if you thought they were just your clothes.>

Sylv and Grayson took a break from coloring for a sweet pic.

Noting that the four kids were in the same location for the first (and only) time during the evening, I ran over to get an Anderson/Dotzour kids photo.

So glad that it worked that we were able to all be together. Whenever Bryan and I get to spend time with Julie and Jerry, we always find ourselves wishing we had more opportunities to play and hang out together. Oh well, we’ll take what we can get! Thanks again, guys:)

June 23, 2011July 1, 2011

May trip to Wichita – Part III: Visiting Grandpa Harvey

Grandpa Harvey has had a really rough year. Perhaps one of the saving graces is that it doesn’t seem like he remembers much of it. Lola Mae passed away in May of 2010, and since then, Grandpa has been living in an assisted living community. The day we arrived in Wichita for our visit, he took a turn for the worse, and spent a few days at the hospital. He’s now living in a higher-assistance memory care facility.

During our visit, Grandpa’s presence faded in and out. I’m sure we were a really overwhelming crew, but he seemed happy to see us.

Here he’s saying hi to Sylvie. She had her little bunny give him kisses, which they both enjoyed.

There’s Bryan greeting his granddaddy. Grandpa Harvey really is one of he nicest, kindest-hearted people I’ve ever met.

The kids discovered a bowling set in the corner of the room, so they enjoyed a rousing game of bowling-at-the-hospital.

Checking out a mysterious red button on a teddy bear.

Andrew and Sylv check out Grandpa and the bear.

Grandpa recognized Melanie, so that’s nice to know that they connected.

At one point, Grandpa got the bowling ball and threw a couple frames.

Sylvie and Grandpa play with a teddy bear.

There’s our dear Grandpa. Love him so much… Leaving him there alone at the hospital was gut-wrenching. Grandpa’s had a life-well-lived. I hope these upcoming months are peaceful and content, in whatever times or places him mind might take him. Love you, Grandpa!

June 22, 2011July 1, 2011

May trip to Wichita – Part II: Visiting Grandma Jo

When we were visiting Grandma Jo at the hospital, we took over the waiting room for our time together. The kids, sensing the opportunity to perform for a rapt audience, took full advantage of the attention:)

Grandma had her hair colored specially for our visit. The hue? A sunny marigold:)

There’s always a lot of laughing when Grandma Jo’s around.

These two monkeys, too, caused quite a bit of silliness…

I thought this was so cute. Grandma Jo was smelling Sylvie’s feet to see how they smelled.

One of my favorite images from the trip…

We came back for a visit the next day and settled in to the now-familiar waiting room.

Andrew loves the game Blink, and here he and Grandad duke it out.

Andrew and Grandma Jo play some sort of arm-raising game. Perhaps they are practicing their semaphore.

So there’s our pictoral review of our visit. Grandma Jo ended our visits with an elbow bump rather than her traditional leg kick. We’ll see if it sticks:)

It was sad not to be seeing Grandma Jo either in her home or in her new apartment, but we certainly did have a nice time together, no matter where the location. Grandma Jo is such a lively, vivacious woman. It’s sad to know that her health is really causing her some problems these days. I hope that she’ll have a health-filled summer.

June 21, 2011June 18, 2011

May trip to Wichita – Part I: Comings and goings

On May 20, we took our bags and our expert-kid-flyers and headed down to Wichita, Kansas to see Bryan’s grandparents for our annual spring visit. Melanie and Bryan’s dad were driving up from Texas to meet us at the airport. Bryan’s mom had been in Wichita for the last week, providing support to Grandma Jo and Grandpa Harvey – both of whom were having a rough week.

Grandma Jo (that’s Mark’s mom) has been living in her home on the golf course, working at Economy Corner, visiting the gym, and generally living a pretty active life. She’s been having some health problems recently, and she’s been in and out of the hospital these last months. She’d gone in to the hospital the week of our visit, and she had decided to move into an assisted living facility when she was discharged. So LuAnn spent the week before our visit getting her new place set up. Fast action! And while I’m sure it will take a while to feel like home, all the homey touches LuAnn prepared really do make it feel like a loving place to be.

Our visits with Grandma Jo were at the hospital, which was a little sad for everyone, but it was nice to see Grandma Jo in high spirits and in good color:)

Grandpa Harvey (that’s LuAnn’s dad) has been having kind of a hard time since his wife of 70 years died last May. He’s been in an assisted living community, and while he’s a real sweetie to everyone, he’s increasingly losing touch with the “whens” and the “whos” of life. He really can’t seem to hold it in his head that his Lola Mae is gone.

The day of our arrival, Grandpa Harvey had some sort of further incident. Perhaps a stroke (although they said it wasn’t) or just a jump in the confusion of the mind. So he was moved from his assisted living home to a hospital as well.

And thus, Mark, LuAnn, Melanie, Bryan, Andrew, Sylvia, and I traveled from hospital to hospital to visit our dear sweet grandparents.

Before we get to that, though, I thought you’d like to see some pictures of Melanie and the kids goofing off.

Here’s Andrew being crazy silly with his super-ooper-duper favorite Aunt Mel.

There’s Sylvie playing with some dollies she found at Grandpa Harvey’s hospital waiting room.

These next ones are silly. This is Sylvia posing while Granny and Melanie take photos of her…

Adorable! Granny, looks like you were getting a good shot there!

Total ham!

Here’s Melanie reading the kids their bedtime story. It all looks so peaceful.

Now it’s funny! Ahh, the giggles:)

Much laughter was had. Mel, you’re a great story-teller.

Here’s Sylvie trying on some new purple flipflops from Aunt Mel. So sparkly!

And here’s a little tour of Grandma Jo’s apartment.

The bedroom complete with lots of pictures.

Andrew and Sylvia had fun trying out the organ.

Here’s a great wall of images. From the top-left counter-clockwise: Gordon and Betty Jo on their wedding day, Gordon, Grandma Doll (Grandma Jo’s mom), Betty Jo, Bryan, Melanie, Grandma Jo working on a plane during WWII (see the close-up below), family photo when Andrew was a babe, Uncle Thane (Grandma Jo’s brother), and…hmmm…not sure about that last one. Maybe Grover Gordon and Jennie Dotzour.

And here’s a picture of Grandma Jo as a Rosie the Riveter at the Boeing plant in Wichita.

This is a nice picture of Dandy and Grandma Jo that’s now hanging above the organ in the living room.

When I took these pictures, Grandma Jo hadn’t yet seen her new place. And we were off to visit her at the hospital…

June 20, 2011June 18, 2011

Bryan’s birthday

On Bryan’s birthday (May 17), I ran to Java Cat to get some tasty breakfast treats. The kids put all our candles in the two chocolate eclairs. Here’s the birthday boy with his kiddos.

Digging in to a delicious breakfast. Sylvie wanted to sit right next to Bryan, so she pushed her chair up so it was touching his:)

Andrew made a special birthday card for Bryan. Such a sweet kiddo.

Looks to me like Bryan likes his gift. Those two boys are such a joy in my heart.

Happy 33rd birthday, hon! I’ve enjoyed being the same age as you this last month, but I’m going to go ahead and try out 34 now. xoxo

June 19, 2011June 18, 2011

Mud Run

Back on May 15, I ran the Madison Mud Run with some bootcamp buddies – Julie, Heather, and Deb as well as some of their friends. When Bryan, Melanie, and I ran it last October (see post here) and nearly froze ourselves to pieces, I expected that the spring run would be a warm-weather walk in the park. Well, the temperatures were well above freezing, but it as still a chilly-cold and very windy day.

The theme for the run was “super heros,” and our team name was The Masked Capers.

Here we are clean BEFORE.

And filthy AFTER.

The fall event is scheduled for October 29. Anyone want to run with me?

June 18, 2011June 18, 2011

Three girls a-picinic-ing

Sylvia’s Toddler Time class at Monona Grove Nursery School ended in late April. In order to keep up her socialization and to retain some structure to our week, I invited her friends Celia and Rayna to come play at our house on Tuesdays in May and early June.

The three girls had a topsy-turvy time…sometimes being a complete delight (see pictures below) and sometimes (in Sylvia’s case, many times) experiencing high degrees of angst over the difficulties of three-year-old interactions. I thought of it as having the opportunity to flex that “working-with-other-people” muscle. No matter what, though, Sylva and I always looked forward to the days that our friends would come over to play.

Here’s some photos of our crew of three enjoying each other’s company on a warm May day.

First, picnicking and striking a pose:

I love these three of Rayna.

Here’s some cuties of Miss Celia Carina Jane

And my very own tutu girl.

Three friends.

These pictures here kinda make my chest hurt to look at. Oh those three!

The maple tree out front had just flowered, and I lay on my back looking up through the new green flowers, soaking up spring.

Thanks, Kathy and Jessica, for sharing your amazing girls with me. So glad that Sylvie has them as friends and I have you two as friends!!

June 17, 2011

Paint disaster

How is it that it’s been almost a month since I last posted? My focus turned to other things. I haven’t even written about our trip to visit grandparents in Wichita. Maybe soon…

However, I’ve been jolted out of my non-blogging status by an incident this afternoon. I had some work to do in the basement, so I asked the kids to amuse themselves for a while. “No eating,” I said, remembering the bag-o-marshmallows eating incident from last week. “Or leaving the yard. Or doing things that your conscious tells you are maybe not a good idea.” I asked them to get along and be good because after I was done working I’d be tired and my “bucket” might be a little low.

I didn’t specify that they shouldn’t take out the paints. That’ll be on the list next time.

So after doing some heavy, dirty not-really-fun work in the basement for a half hour, I come upstairs to see this:

And I almost sat down on the floor and wept.

I know why they did it, you see, I’d just rearranged all the art supplies. The painting supplies had been previously stashed in several different places, but now they are all together in organized glory in the old general art supply drawer. There’s paint they’ve never seen before. There’s new fingerpainting paper. There are brushes galore.

I did some heavy breathing. With my eyebrows lifted high, I firmly extolled upon Andrew and Sylvia the importance of getting permission from an adult before initiating a painting project. I questioned the wisdom of dumping out the entire contents of large bottles of paint.

The two of them kept catching each others’ eyes and smiling; then repressing the smile and trying to look apologetic. It wasn’t working. The giggles that wafted from the bathroom as they washed the brushes ticked me off.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of big, messy painting experiences. I just like to do them outdoors.

In this case, there was all sorts of paint tucked into the seams in our hardwood floors. Colorful:) Very hard to remove.

I did consider crying, but it’s really not my style. So although I wasn’t really in the mood, I took out my camera to capture the disaster pre-cleanup. I sent the kids to their rooms for 15 minutes while I did the bulk of the cleanup. There was so much paint on the floor that it seemed that having them wipe it up would have brought things from a localized disaster to a full-room/house paint bomb. Their main consequence is that there’s no painting until July.

Oh those kids, those kids. You should have seen the mischievous twinkle in their eyes. I love them so much, and I’m so proud of them. Being their mom can sometimes lead me to long for Happy Hour.

Fondly,

Althea

May 23, 2011

Back from Wichita

It’s late on Monday night as I write this, and I need to head to bed so I can get up with some pep for my bootcamp class in the morning. However, I had to share one of my favorite images from our weekend in Wichita. We flew down on Friday morning and had a sweet and heart-filled time visiting Bryan’s grandparents Grandma Jo and Grandpa Harvey, with Granny, Grandad, and Melanie (who all joined us from Texas), and an evening visit with the Andersons & Buchanans.

Our flights home on Sunday night were scuttled, so we ended up driving home instead. The kids did great:)

I’m going to try to finish editing and uploading images tonight, but here’s a sneak peak of Sylvie dancing on air.

May 21, 2011May 16, 2011

Kids, mud, and the Wisconsin River

While we were at Jack’s the kid’s favorite part was hanging out down by the banks of the Wisconsin River. The river is really high and in this segment has gone over its banks a bit, creating a nice shallow area. An area that the kids would come to find was a great swimming/mud hole.

Love these two little nature explorers!

Tiny spring leaves glowing in the light.

As they waded it, I warned them that they’d get their boots full of water if they went out too far. Moments later, their boots filled with water.

Looking across the river.

Andrew took about 50 pictures of Sylvie just standing there. I told him that he really didn’t have to keep pressing the shutter because she wasn’t really changing what she was doing. “I can’t help it!” he said. “She’s just SO CUTE!” I know the feeling, Buddy.

Sylv gets her hands muddy. I encourage her to wipe them off on the grass instead of on me.

The the kids pulled off their waterlogged boots, attempted to roll up their pants, and marched around in the mud.

Back at Jack’s they hosed down their feet in the sauna.

Later in the day, we headed back to the water. This time, Andrew and Sylvie didn’t mess around. They both stripped down and started splashing in the water. I love these three images:)

Running in the water!

Oh be still my heart. My two naked kiddos on the river.

Around this time, Andrew got cold. He rinsed off in the water and put his clothes back on. Sylvie, on the other hand, started going for the full-body mud experience.

This photo below is Terry’s favorite. The look she’s giving me amidst all the mud really is kinda spectacular.

Nothing like mud!

This is one happy, mud-covered girl.

While Sylvie indulged her muddiness, Andrew gathered flowers for me.

Thanks, my boy, for the Mother’s Day bouquet!