Summer Vacay Sum-up...

We just got home today after spending a week in Minnesota at my grandparents' house on the lake.  It is one of my favorite places to go and spend time.  I have so many memories made there.  I don't remember the lake not being a part of my life because it always has been!

I was actually conceived in the master bedroom of the original cabin.  Too much information?

My Grampy was born across the street from his lake home in the farm house that his parents established.  My grandpa was an unexpected surprise when he arrived after his twin brother, as my great-grandma didn't know she was pregnant with two babies!  He was born in 1936, and during one of the boat rides we went on this past week, I was thinking about how much family history comes from that land.  It is such a legacy and I am so proud to be a descendant of it!

In the 60's and 70's, my great-grandpa divided up his farmland that lined the lake shore into plots and gave nine of them to each of his nine children and put the rest up for sale to the public.  Many of the people who owned or own property on the lake now are good friends to the Peterson family.  It has become a place that is so special to so many other families, too!

So many things have changed over the years.  Grandpa had built a typical lake cabin on his lot in the 70's.  4 bedroom, 2 bath, open to the 2nd floor, where me and my cousins used to sleep in the upstairs hallway and peek down through the railing at our parents while they played cards and laughed until the late hours.  If the whole family was at the lake for the family reunion or the 4th of July, or some other long weekend, people would be sleeping anywhere they could fit.  The hallway, underneath the stairs, on the living room floor, couch, and even on the lounge chairs outside.  I'll never forget the feel of the orange shag carpet under my feet when I'd come running inside from swimming in the lake.

When I was still young, Grandpa built the "big house" next door to the cabin, which is a big, brick house without shag carpet, but with lots of new things that kept us entertained when we'd visit the lake.  A basement with a pool table and a hot tub, and eventually a Pac-Man machine would keep us busy for hours and out of our parents' hair.  My cousins and I still enjoyed sleeping 3 to a queen bed because what is more fun than staying up super late with your cousins, having pillow fights in the pitch dark?  I am the 3rd oldest cousin out of a total of 20 grandchildren and now, we're gradually marrying and having children and now there are 9 great-grandchildren already, with my bun in the oven on the way.  Currently, when we all get together, there would be 45 peeps.  I'm pretty sure that number is right. That's just from my grandparents, down.

I love coming from a large family.  There is always some sort of action happening, and there is usually some joking and laughter going on at all times.  With a large family, there are also a lot of opinions that are voiced and most of the time, no one asked for anyone's opinion, but everyone is eager to give it!  I don't love this part, but it's just the way it is.  It has taught me to keep my mouth shut, for the most part.  Sometimes, I can't take it anymore, and I have to join in, or I'll explode!  But really, for the most part, the large family experience is a positive one.

We didn't head to the lake last weekend, just to relax, although we did plenty of that!  We made the trip because my oldest cousin, Lissa, was getting married in the backyard with the lake as their backdrop.  When we were driving from the Twin Cities airport to the lake on Friday evening, we drove through one of the scariest rainstorms I've ever seen.  There were tornado warnings surrounding us, and the radio promised they'd be paving our path the whole two hour car trip.  We stopped in a suburb of the cities for dinner and to wait it out and we discussed how we were hoping the weather would shape up for Lissa's wedding the next day.

It did.  The storm the night before had knocked down the tent and forced deconstruction of all of my cousin's entourage of hard work on the flowers and decorations.  On Saturday morning, just mere hours before the wedding started, the backyard did not look ready.  I was busy inside the big house, tending to Avery and watching the hubbub of commotion, while looking out the windows to check the progress of set-up.  I have to say it was amazing what happened over the course of only a couple of hours!  The backyard went from showing no sign of a wedding happening that day to complete tables and chairs, tablecloths, centerpieces, flowers, and hanging picture frames from trees.

It was a beautiful wedding.  I mean gorgeous.  Like, the most beautiful wedding I've ever witnessed.  Honestly.  Hats off to my Aunt Kris (mother of the bride)!

This wedding meant a lot to me.  I grew up with Lissa.  So many of my childhood memories include her.  She was in my wedding and she helped pick out the bridesmaid dresses.  She made it difficult because everything she tries on looks amazing on her.  This wedding meant a lot to me, too, because I knew how much she was looking forward to it.  I knew how happy she would be on this day, and I was so excited to witness that! Love you, Lis!

When Eric and Lissa turned toward each other to say their vows, I could only see Eric's face and I had a plain view of him.  The look he had in his eyes, as he said the words intentionally made me sob.  I mean, sob like a baby!  I was glad I was wearing my sunglasses because it was kind of embarrassing.  He just seemed to be really thinking about each word he was saying and he wanted her to hear them.

I'm so glad we made the trip to the lake this summer.  It was a wonderful week, start to finish.  After the wedding, most of the family left, and it was just us and my Uncle Brett's family with Grampy and Gramma.  It was quiet and relaxing, and so perfect.  We went to visit my great-grandma Peterson twice, and Avery loved chasing around her cat, Pepper.  Yesterday, Avery and I went one last time and she gave her Great-great-grandma a kiss on the cheek.  It was something I hope I never forget, but I'm kicking myself because both visits, I forgot my camera.  Seriously, my pregnancy brain is reeking terrible regrets!

When we were on our way home from the airport today, I called my parents to tell them we were almost home and  my Dad said he had gotten a text from my grandpa that said Great-Grandma had a heart attack this morning.  She is home and alert, so it sounds like she is doing pretty well, considering, but it's just one of those things...I just saw her yesterday!  And I'm so glad that I did.

I hold my family in high priority, and this week has been a valuable reminder to continue to do so.  Thank you for listening to all 1,269 words of it.

Four Months...Really???

Apparently, it's been four months since I've posted!  I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not.  I've been avoiding the blog for...well, four months, I guess!  I'm going to really try to blog more regularly because a lot of important things are happening in the Bruce household right now!

Here is a summary, to bring you up to speed, in case you don't know:

1.  The most life-altering event is the fact that I am pregnant again!  I turned 22 weeks today, and it is flying by. I'm feeling the baby moving all the time now, which is awesome.  Up until a few weeks ago, it was still hard for me to believe I was pregnant, even though I was growing like crazy!

2.  Avery will be 19 months old on Friday!  My baby is over a year and a half old!  She is growing and changing so much every day, she is difficult to keep up with!  Her dynamic personality comes out all day long and keeps me laughing (most of the time).  She is talking like crazy and is still such a Mommy's girl.  Her favorite thing to do is play outside, so whenever we're inside, all I hear is, "Outside?  Outside?  Yes?  Outside?"  Well, either that, or "Elmo?  Yes?  Elmo?  Abby?  Elmo?"

3.  We were house hunting for a bigger home to move into a couple of months ago, but decided that our small, cute house is the place for us for a little longer.  So, we're doing a few, simple things to make this place a little more livable for our family for the time being.  If I'm really good, I'll blog about what we accomplish.  One thing we've done is get a portable air conditioner so that I don't keel over this summer.

4.  I am currently trying my hand at some gardening.  I'm not a gardener, so I'm still quite skeptical about what the results will be, but crossing fingers for plump, juicy tomatoes and some fresh herbs to cook with.  It actually has me inspired to build some raised beds and overhaul our garden area behind our shed next year.  We'll see what happens.

Those are the four big things that are happening around here.  I'm living one day at a time, learning to be content with the fact that our house is rarely completely picked up or cleaned, and instead, I get to play with the most awesome, sweetest little girl there is.

Okay, hopefully I'll be back soon to give some juicy details about our life.

Flashback Friday...

In February 2008, I donated over 10 inches of my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

15 Months!

Avery, you are 15 months tomorrow!  Excuse me, TIME, where did you go?

Here are some things you are up to right now.

 First of all, you are walking everywhere, which is quickly turning into running everywhere!  Walking has really helped you reveal so much of your personality.  You are eager to explore.  All day long, I chase you around, making sure the things you want to touch, turn upside-down, empty, and lick are safe things for you to do so.

 You still love to play with Mommy's mixing bowls.  You pull them out of the cabinet by yourself and bang them on the floor, slide them around, put them inside each other, and lick them.

 When we say "smile", this is what we get!  You bring so much joy into our lives every day, it's almost too much to bear sometimes.

You are getting more comfortable with your Bompa (above) and your PawPaw.  You are always a little more weary of men, but you're learning that they are good men to love!

I love being able to see you interact with your grandparents on a regular basis.  I hope they are always special people in your life.

Gramma is the next best substitute for Mommy!  I suppose that's because Gramma "feels" a lot like Mommy.

 When you wake up from your nap and I ask you if you want to play, you always respond with, "Ball!"  And it's the first thing you go for.

You love to feed your baby doll her food and give her medicine.  You give your babies lots of love throughout the day, too.

 You are in love with books, and always have been.  It's so fun to watch you read to yourself.  Your favorite place to read your books is in your glider chair in your bedroom.  At least twice a day, you make me follow you in there and you pat the seat and sign "help" to get  you up there and give you some books.  Anytime I ask you if you want to read some books, you respond with an emphatic, "Ohhh!"  It's your way of saying, "Yes!"

If you and I are playing in the living room, you constantly pick out a book, bring it over to me and back yourself up onto my lap.  It melts me.

 There's that "smile" again!

 Today, I was watching you read 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and you were "reading" each page to yourself, complete with finger-pointing when the doctor says, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" and touching your head when a monkey bumps his head.  You are so smart.

Some other words you say are: Buh-bye, hello, Ra-Ra (Riley), more, no, oh me! (oh my), oh bye! (oh boy), Dada, Mama, nite-nite

You have started grabbing your diaper and whining when you have a dirty diaper and need changing.  Potty training might be around the corner for us!

When I ask you if you're hungry, you sign "eat" and run to your high chair.  When I ask you if you're thirsty, you find your sippy cup of water and go to town on it.  I'm pretty sure you understand 90% of what I say to you.  You are able to follow pretty much every command we give you.

You still fall a lot throughout the day, but you always pick yourself back up again.  You have determination that can't be beat.  You love to walk around with your hands clasped behind your back and you look so proud while you're doing it, like, "I am so grown up, I can walk with my hands behind my back!"

Avery, you are such a gift to Daddy and me.  We have plans to give you a little brother or sister someday, but if for some reason we couldn't, we would be so grateful that we have you!  Your happiness and love for life are such a testament to me of how I should live each day.  I love you, baby girl.

First Sign of Counting...

When I weaned Avery from breastmilk to whole milk back in December, I was diligently warming the bottle of milk in our bottle warmer that never got used when I was nursing her because she rarely had a bottle.  I figured it was about time to use the thing.  Usually, when I'd make her a bottle, Avery would be in my arms, observing my every move.  At first, she was very patient and would just sit quietly on my hip and watch.  That lasted probably 3 days.  Her patience began to dwindle and eventually, she would start screaming when she saw me put the bottle in the warmer.  She had realized that the warmer kept her from getting her milk, pronto.  However, she wouldn't really drink it straight from the refrigerator because it was too cold.  In the warmer, it was room temperature - just right.

Well, it didn't take me too long before I ditched the use of the warmer and just popped the bottle in the microwave for thirty seconds.  Thirty seconds is a lot faster than 2-3 minutes in the warmer!  This time, it was only about two bottles before she figured out that the microwave also kept her from getting her milk right away.  By the way, my child gets her impatient nature from her daddy.

I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, last week, I decided to start counting when I push "start" on the microwave to distract my impatient munchkin, which totally works.  And she thinks it's hilarious when I say, "beep, beep, beep!" when the microwave beeps.

Then, on Friday, she started "counting" with me.  She uses the same tone with her voice and makes some made up word for each "number."  I was impressed.

Then, last night, I was on my own for bath and bedtime routine because Stephen was at basketball practice.  So we did bathtime, which is always a huge hit, and it was time for milk.  I closed the microwave door on the bottle of milk and when I pushed "start," Avery said, clear as day, "ONE."

Excuse me, come again?

So, she knows that "one" comes first when counting?!?!?!  I know every parent thinks their child is the brightest, or whatever, and I'm learning that I'm no different.  But bigger than that, I am reminded all the time when she surprises us with things like that at how amazing our Creator is.  He created this little girl and gave her to us to raise up and enjoy.

Clearly, she is smart and is soaking up everything she can throughout the day, and I am so thankful that she has a longing to learn.

I am most thankful that she is happy and healthy and has the most adorable giggle I've ever heard.

We are so blessed.