Tagged

I've been tagged so since it's Self Portrait Tuesday I'll play....

20 years ago - 1988 - I was 23 years old, married for 6 years, had 2 daughters Lynn was 5 years old and Shannon was 3. Our family was complete! We were completing our very first major remolding on the house. We moved the bathroom to the backside of the house, and added a laundry room upstairs. The bathroom door would have opened into the living room so we punched a hole in the wall to enter through the kitchen. Our old bathroom was a chunk of the kitchen that they put in so they didn't have to use the 2 seater outhouse that was left in the backyard. I remember planting flowers in my only garden around the light pole, the girls helped me.

10 years ago - 1998 - Well our family that was so complete was finally complete we added a son, he was 8 years old by now. We are doing another remolding job... this year it's the kitchen. We gutted the entire room walls and ceiling added all new cupboards, counter top, appliances and flooring throughout the kitchen, dining room, computer room and laundry. The kids were all into their own things. Lynn is playing softball for Whittlesey, she was a 3rd baseman and left field. She was actually afraid of the ball and thought she would just play to look pretty at the games but by the end of the season she was actually pretty good. Shannon is spending every moment she can babysitting for her new cousin Josh, she can't get enough of him and when she's not mothering him she has her nose stuck in a book. She read from the time she got up until she went to bed, her favorite gift that year was a book light so she could read in the car when it got dark. Adam is in t-ball, this is his first year making through an entire season.... let's not talk about his 1year (when he got run over by the big kids, smashed into the dirt under their feet while his mother wasn't paying any attention) and lets not talk about when I finally talked him into playing two weeks later he made a home run and tripped while running into the dugout and smashed his nose to open up the cuts from the first run over again.... yeah he finally this year became a ball player for real. Adam also was in 2nd grade which is the year he was diagnosed with dyslexia after a extremely long year of testing and my constant challenging of the teachers to figure out what was wrong.

5 years ago - 2003 - Our complete family is still growing.... this year we added 1st a grandchild and then a son-in-law. Someone sent me this saying and it's etched in my brain.

"Our family is a circle of strength and love. With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love. Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger."

That saying sums up this year for the family. And I'm not sure how this is working out but once again we did some major remolding, or did we ever have a year without remolding??? We tore down our unattached garage and built a new much bigger garage. We also moved our daughter as far west as we could drive. This was the hardest adventure I and John have ever had to make. It's hard to remember what feelings we had since they seem like forever ago. I am adding a paragraph from the beginning and end of the "Moving" scrapbook.

Beginning of book - "Our family has grown up so close that it's hard to let her jump from the nest and grow her own wings. We can make it through this, there may be lots of tears but we will all grow with the experience we are about to venture into."

End of book - "Driving though Chippewa and down 29 was a sad time again for me.... we're home but someone is missing. A part of us is broken and we'll have to learn how to overcome this emptiness. I'm remembering the day we drove her to Eau Claire for school and how we cried the whole way home and she cried every weekend when she had to go back to school. The experience she gained from having to be away from home, paying her own way and making her own decisions. I know she'll be home soon...again.... and she'll be so blessed with her experience and knowledge. Her growth with Jesse will be stronger than ever.... we're home"

3 years ago - 2005 - I can't think of anything.... but I'll give you some inside scoop. As I'm writing the 20 years ago and then 10 years ago... racking my brain, talking out loud, asking John and Adam to help me remember..... My "common sense smart" son says... "why don't you get the scrapbooks they have all that stuff in them?" Sometimes his smarts drive me crazy... the kid spells and reads at a 4th grade level but his common sense is over the top.

1 year ago - 2007 - Moved Lynn and Jesse closer to home, Shannon and Elly were moved out of the house and Adam can finally see what being the baby of the family feels like. Another major remolding project - I got my garden shed, it was a run down horseshoe shack that I made John put as far on the end of the yard as it could get and then when we started fixing it up we moved it closer... I love it and don't know where I would put my stuff if I didn't have it. I was also on the town's garden tour, stressful yet fun.

So far this year - 2008 - We have enjoyed our kids every moment we can. We love the visits we get from them but we also finally started to enjoy the peacefulness of the house when it's just the two of us. I still would rather have the house full of kids and noise but let's not tell John that!!!

Yesterday - I took pictures of Adam at his grandparents old farm house. It's an abandoned house and Adam never seen the inside of the house since they moved off the farm while he was in his last month of cooking. The history of the pictures and Adam being the last grandchild for them is memorable, I hope they think so... John doesn't think they'll appreciate the location since it's so run down since they sold it. Oh well I'll give them a different pose.

Tomorrow - I am doing what I always do and will continue to do until I can figure out how to stop.... I am running myself short. I have one hundred million things to do and a short night to get them done.... before I leave for 2 days.

Next year - Empty nest.... need I say more. I may have to have the grandchildren over to spend the night more often..... did you catch the children part? LOL So far it will be only 2 but there's hope for 3 by then.

Me today - sitting in my spot on the couch typing this book, ya' gotta love a laptop. Oh yeah and the many Kleenex's by my feet since I stirred up my allergies sorting though fall clothes.