Category Archives: tristan

Ugh, it’s August already

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People say this all the time, but…Man, this summer has gone by fast! I’m not thrilled that it’s August already.  Somehow I’ve never gotten over the feeling that August brought to me when I was still going to school.  Whenever I see those dreaded words — Back to School Sale — plastered all over stores, I feel like Doom has drawn closer.  I never liked going to school, obviously :-)

I certainly can’t complain about the summertime weather; it’s been wonderfully mild, at least where I live.  I associate favorite foods with different seasons of the year.  Summer brings to mind fresh cantaloupe, watermelon, real tomatoes that come from the garden, and sweet corn.  Last night Michele made sweet corn for supper along with some fresh sliced tomatoes and Spanish rice.  She had just bought the vegetables at a nearby farmstand.  There are lots of them dotted around the countryside around us.  The corn was delicious.

The past few days have been a little rough because I haven’t been feeling well.  I’m better now.  Thankfully, Michele’s health has been pretty good for a while and we just hope it lasts.

It is crunch time for Michele and me in terms of deciding whether to push ahead with homeschooling for the little ones, especially Tristan.  And there seem to be more than the usual number of details to settle for Keegan for entering his sophomore year.  I just about choked when I learned that his school fees total about $500.

After reading it through a second time, Keegan lent me the last Harry Potter book to read shortly before noon yesterday.  I finished it at midnight last night.  I wasn’t sure, to be honest, whether I really wanted to read it or not.  It wasn’t because I was afraid Harry might end up dead, but more because I always hate to see the end of any good book series.  I needn’t have worried, though, because overall it was a very good and fitting end to the whole series.  I don’t have to worry any more that someone will spill the beans about critical plot details because I’ve read it all, and I enjoyed it.  In the last few chapters there were a few minor plot details that caused me to scratch my head but they didn’t matter.  One of the marks of a great book or book series is that you want to read it (or them) all over again, and that is certainly true of the Harry Potter books.  I want to go back and re-read them all, and also watch the movies once more.

Travellers now home

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The weekend was fairly quiet; it seems like I spent most of it asleep (which, unfortunately, is not much of an exaggeration). On Saturday we left the house only once, to visit a nearby AT&T store where I tried, unsuccessfully, to determine whether our street address was eligible for DSL service. Long story, but basically, because our house is new and built in between two older houses in an established neighborhood, it appears that our address is unknown to AT&T. Since it isn’t in their database, apparently it doesn’t exist ;-)

Yesterday was also a quiet day and the only time we went anywhere was in the late afternoon. We made a trip to Woodman’s in Kenosha (I don’t like grocery stores but this one is more tolerable than most) to pick up some food for dinner. My parents-in-law along with Keegan and Tristan arrived back from their week-long missions missions trip shortly after we got home. They had a great time; so great, in fact, that there was a lot of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (yes, I am being a little sarcastic) at the fact that the trip was over. This happens every year and there is an air of gloom and doom and sorrow for several days before equilibrium is reestablished.

Tristan looks quite different: his hair has been bleached a little bit (especially his eyebrows) by all of the time spent out in the sun, and he now has a tan and freckles on his face. We think he looks a lot like his cousin, Bjorn, just now. Shortly after getting home, he started complaining of a stomach ache and later in the evening, he threw up. He then fell asleep on my lap and hasn’t stirred all night long. (Yay! Maybe this trip finally cured him of his nighttime wakefulness!)

I went to bed really early last night so I woke up early this a.m. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet, “alone time” but that was quickly dispensed with by Brinley waking up within minutes, crying for me. She’s wide awake next to me right now, playing with her stuffed animals and other toys rather than going right back to sleep. I predict a crabby day ahead for her.

Boys gone to Canada

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With some sadness and lots of fanfare, Keegan and Tristan left with Grandpa and Grandma Jozwiak on a missions trip to Manitoulin Island, Ontario. This is what Keegan has done each year for the past eight years, but this year is Tristan’s first time. His grandparents promised him that he could go with them once he reached six years of age. He has been looking forward to this for weeks and was unbelievable excited and goofy from the minute he woke up early this a.m. It feels strange to only have two children to ourselves for the next week!

Tristan Is Ready to Go Brinley and Cohen Want to Go Too Travellers on Their Way to Canada Will There Be Enough Room? Bye!

Movies galore

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I’ve seen two new movies in the theaters in the past few days, and that is extremely unusual. Fortunately I liked both of them very much. Thursday night I went with Keegan to see the latest Harry Potter movie, and this afternoon Michele and I took Cohen and Brinley to see Ratatouille, the latest Pixar movie. Tristan and Keegan are with their grandparents for the weekend.

[tags]harry potter and the order of the phoenix, ratatouille, pixar[/tags]

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

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Yesterday (and the night before it) were pretty difficult for us because all three of the little ones were sick with colds and fevers. But we still had a bit of fun when, yesterday afternoon, I managed to pull a second loose tooth from the front of Tristan’s mouth. Thus the title of this post, which refers to a song I heard when I was younger.

Tristan Missing Two Front Teeth
[tag]tristan[/tag]

Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!

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For years now, we have struggled to get the three youngest kids to stay in their beds throughout the night. Brinley is the worst. So when she stayed in her bed all night Thursday, Michele and I made a big deal out of it the next morning when she woke up. She came into the living room to cuddle with me and as we were sitting there, Tristan woke up and came to sit down next to us. When he heard what Brinley had done, without any preamble he said, “Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!” We thought that was hilarious!

Remembering five years ago

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Yesterday marked the five year anniversary of my father’s death. I still miss him and still grieve over his death. Those last days, when he was in intensive care in the hospital and we were visiting him each day, seem like a weird dream. Yet they are permanently stamped in my memory, especially the night when we all gathered ’round him, each taking his or her turn to say goodbye, telling him through our tears that we loved him, not sure whether he could hear us or understand, holding onto his hand, until he took his last breath. I recall the overwhelming sense of loss and bewilderment, and there is a flood of memories that just lurk in the background of my mind. One of the things I most remember about my father is his hands, which were large and calloused, often showing cuts or bruises or scratches from whatever he was working on. Because he had to take medication to thin his blood (to help prevent blood clots), he bled easily. Some other memories: his false upper teeth, which he would sometimes pop out of his mouth to scare us when we were little; the way he laughed; two of his middle toes which were fused together; the scar on the back of his head that always looked to me like someone poked him there with a large fork; the bright red hair that only started showing a bit of gray in the last few years of his life; the shoes that he preferred most of his life, which were leather wingtip style shoes in brown, black, or oxblood, size 12 D (I think); some of his favorite foods, including things like fresh sweet corn, lutefisk, lingonberries, a good “corn fed” steak with potatoes, and pickled herring; the way he looked and walked when he first woke up in the morning, stumping over to the coffee maker to get that much-needed cup of coffee (eventually drinking a whole pot); his frequent saying, especially to visitors, that “You don’t have to be crazy to live here, but it sure helps!” And many more things like that.

Below is the last picture taken of him that I know of. He’s holding Tristan in his lap. He loved holding little kids and seemed to have a built-in knack for calming them down.

Father Holding Tristan

Piano playing

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We recently had our new piano tuned and it sounds wonderful! I try to play it every chance I get. Unfortunately my hands are not as flexible and strong as they used to be so they tend to ache after playing the piano for a while. I miss having the sheet music I used to play when I was taking lessons. One of the pieces I remember playing is Sonatinas by Muzio Clementi. A few days ago I found a website offering downloadable/printable sheet music that is out of copyright. The Clementi piece I used to play was there so I printed it out. I can’t play it very well yet but it sure brings back memories!

Michele bought an introductory piano book for Tristan and maybe others to use to try to learn how to play the piano. Tristan in particular is very eager to learn and right now he is dancing around me as I sit here typing this post, anxious for me to sit with him to look at the book and begin learning! I’d better go.

Storm in the night

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Early this morning a thunderstorm came through our area. As is his habit, Tristan had already made his way from his bed to the floor next to our bed. The lightning flashed across the sky and when that happened, he woke up and got pretty scared. I reached out a hand to comfort him and he eventually fell back asleep. I describe this incident because it made me think back to long distant memories I have of doing exactly the same thing when I was Tristan’s age. I remember as far back as when I was three and four years old, waking up in the middle of the night and going to my parents’ room and laying down on the floor beside their bed or else getting into bed with them, seeking comfort and reassurance. As is often said, history repeats itself, sometimes even in the little events of life.