Dinner Club Christmas

For the past five or six years (girls, how long has it been??) some dear teacher friends and I have enjoyed cooking, sharing recipes, and eating the delicious creations we make at our Dinner Club. We all love to cook, enjoy being together, and the combination of the two makes for many fun times. Every year our Christmas gathering includes our hubbies (though not pictured here). We all missed sweet Sara and her husband, Alex, last night who were busy entertaining family from out of town; and also my hubby, Jim, who was feeling under the weather. At one time we all taught at the same school, and all taught first grade. That's when this club came about. Even though now only two of the girls are still employed teachers (Angela teaches third grade, and Julie teaches kindergarten) we have continued to meet every couple of months to catch up on the "news" and to enjoy a meal together. (I should add that we all continue to teach in one way or another, too. Adri homeschools Cole, her second grader, and Annika, her preschooler; I work as a sub and have "Grandma school" occasionally for Joel and Silas; and Sara is constantly teaching her darling little girls, Caroline (4) and Maddy (2) at home).

Left to right: Me, Angela, Adri, and Julie (Sara is missing!)

We take turns hosting. The hostess's job is to secure a date for the next dinner club, prepare an entre' and provide the beverages. We all enjoy creating a theme-decorated table at times and often include a "favor" for each of the gals, though that is not an expectation. The rest of us take turns opting to bring either an appetizer, a salad, a bread, or a dessert which rounds out a wonderful meal. Each of us bring copies of the recipes we prepared which we then add to our wonderful Dinner Club Cookbooks that Julie made for each of us a few Christmases ago.

Our cookbook

At one point, Sara had the idea to add a DC Journal, passed from hostess to hostess, who records the menu and special events of the night. Somewhere along the way (??) the journal may or may not have been completed, so at times is a somewhat sketchy account of our gatherings. All in all, our dinner club has been a successful and enjoyable adventure for us. Hmmm, let's see . . . who is supposed to be planning the next gathering?? (I think it might be me!)

Wiseman

It's such a blessing to have our grandsons live so close, especially when special events occur. On Thursday Gpa Jim and I were able to go see Joel perform as a wiseman in his 4 year old preschool program at Isaac Newton Christian Academy. He doesn't look like he was experiencing stage fright at all!
The program was so cute. As the school principal narrated the Christmas story, each child had a chance to say a line or two at the appropriate time, for example, several different times during the story, the angel spoke "Do not be afraid!" I love how the kids are all doing such random things in the picture below.

We are proud of our sweet little wiseman!!

Paramedics and Policemen

Well I've finally experienced 911. Last Sunday they came for me! Here's the story: I woke up Sunday morning with bad "heartburn" pain accompanied by an ache in my upper back. I took some Tums, hoping it would go away, and went to church. I felt sleepy during church and on the way home had a sort of sharp stabbing pain right in that breastbone/back area. When we got home, I crawled immediately into bed - felt awful. I did take two more Tums hoping again that it might help. I also knew that for heart disease in women two of the major signs of heart attack are heartburn and upper back pain (one can also have shortness of breath, dizziness, and nausea). I have heard that women having a heart attack can experience just one or all of these symptoms. I might have done nothing, but after I mentioned how I was feeling to Annie when she called, she and Justin insisted that I go see a doctor. (Justin sells drugs to cardiologists and is very familiar with symptoms of heart attack). It was such a drama. I first called the nurse associated with our insurance company to determine if this was really an emergency. After tons of questions, her advice: After you hang up, take an aspirin, lie down with your head elevated, and call 911. What??? Okay, I've never done it before, but thought I'm into this now, so I guess I will. Maybe it will prevent me from having to go to the emergency room. If they come and check me out, say I'm okay, then all is well. They came about 10 minutes later, five guys in all, and I felt so silly lying on the couch. Though the pain was still there, I didn't feel like it was worth all of this attention! When they checked me out, though they couldn't determine whether or not I was experiencing a heart attack, they did say I needed to follow up by going to the hospital. I chose NOT to go on the ambulance - Jim was still home (having to call the elders at church to say he couldn't make their noon meeting, nor pick up the pizza he had ordered!) and said he would take me. Thankfully they took us right away at St. Luke's emergency room, and a couple of hours later I was free to leave. I had an IV, an EKG, a blood test, and was given some sort of cocktail to drink (it numbed my mouth and throat for 30 minutes - weird). I think the purpose of that was to see if it took care of the "heartburn" pain. It didn't. Of course, after receiving discharge papers, I was told to follow up with a cardiologist this week to have a cardiolite treadill stress test. I was now in over my head. I ultimately decided I might as well run the entire gamut and then receive peace of mind for future occurrences.

If that wasn't enough for one week, yesterday I was coming home from a haircut appointment. Shawn (my hairdresser) and I had just finished talking about how much we hate driving in the winter weather conditions. After we hugged goodbye, wishing each other a Merry Christmas, etc., we both told each other to drive carefully. Just 5 minutes later as I was driving home on Blairs Ferry Road, I was rear-ended. Yup! I was doing my best to drive carefully, but it's sometimes the other drive you have to worry about. Katy, the other driver, said she was sorry, handed me her insurance card, and as I was sitting in my car copying down the info, a police officer drove up to assist. He first asked me if I was okay (thoughtful), then asked me to drive onto the first turn-off, and gave us forms to fill out. About 30 minutes later we were free to drive home. He told me that because of the poor road conditions he didn't issue Katy a ticket, but that she was clearly at fault. He handed me her info, gave me his name and badge number, and finally I was on my way home. Ah, the joys of winter!

Jorie's Birthday

Today our firstborn, Jorie Lynn, is 32 years old. So how old does that make us, her parents?? I hate that about our kids' birthdays - their getting older means we're really getting older. But her birthday holds such special memories for us. We had wanted a child so desperately, and then when she arrived right in the middle of the Christmas season, she was the most perfect gift. It was so easy that year to imagine the Christ child in the manger as we sang the Christmas carols and gazed at our newborn daughter.

This year we're enjoyed for the second year in a row the gift of having her and her family live just down the street. I was able to bake her a cake, babysit the boys while she and Mark enjoyed dinner out, and then Jim and I could be there to enjoy a little family party. It is still a sort of miracle to know that God entrusted her to us to nurture and raise, and now the joy continues as we still share in her life with her own little family.

Growing up Jorie was our child who enjoyed music the most. She was in a community children's choir, the high school choir, took voice lessons, participated in voice competitions, and also took piano lessons. Though she never was thrilled about having a birthday so close to Christmas, she HAS enjoyed celebrating her birthday by attending Christmas concerts. Last Saturday (as a birthday gift to Jorie) Jim and I treated Jorie and Mark to dinner out and a Christmas concert performed by Tribute, a local women's trio. Tribute has been performing Christmas concerts now for 10 years here in Cedar Rapids. They have become so popular that by mid-October tickets for their shows are usually sold out. We made sure to purchase our tickets as soon as they were available, and then enjoyed the concert together last Saturday. It was fun to be out with our kids and begin the Christmas season in such a festive way.

Settling In

I just spent three days staying at Annie and Justin's doing my "grandma thing" now that Claire is home. Annie and Justin are already so relaxed and confident with their new daughter. They seem to know what her different cries mean, know her eating schedule, and they tend to her so tenderly as new parents do. They marvel over every tiny sound and behavior their child displays. And they already see her changing daily. They noticed especially while I was there that she seems to be awake more each day, and is opening her eyes for longer periods. They are dealing as well as they can with the oxygen tubes and monitor, even though it makes things much more complicated. We are all praying that on Friday when she sees the doctor, they will say that she is strong enough now to breathe on her own. That would be such good news!

Since the kids were doing so well with Claire (about the only thing Annie really needed me for was to help with managing all of the tubes during bath time), I just spent my time cleaning, doing laundry, preparing meals, feeding and entertaining Sadie (their cat, who is feeling somewhat neglected), and cuddling Claire as much as possible. Annie and I also enjoyed chatting and marveling over the miracle of life and motherhood.

Christmas Sweeties

Two of my little sweeties came over this morning for some Grandma time. We enjoyed some favorite Grandma toys, played hide and seek, and then enjoyed doing a project together. Last year I had seen a cute cookie idea in one of my magazines that I cut out and filed. Recently while looking through my recipes for Christmas baking, I came across it and knew right away who would enjoy making these cookies with me - two little elves who live down the street!

Joel and Silas worked so hard to carefully place marshmallows, red hots, and M & M's in just the right spots to create Santa's jolly face. No one knows just how many of those goodies ended up being popped into their mouths, but there were enough left over to complete a dozen cookies. Joel carefully counted out eight marshmallows for each of his cookies - just the right amount he thought he needed to make Santa's full beard.

Silas proudly displays one of his finished creations.

The boys definitely had a good time and look like jolly elves as they display their Santas. Below it looks like someone really enjoyed that red frosting!

Homecoming and Pumpkin Pie

The day of homecoming finally arrived for little Claire on Tuesday, December 2 (her daddy's birthday!) following twelve days in the NICU. What a happy day that was - cold and wintry, but the Schumacher home was cozy and warm with a new baby sleeping by the Christmas tree. She was sent home along with a couple of 175 pound oxygen tanks which she needs to be hooked up to for awhile. Though the doctor said the oxygen will be needed for about two months, Annie and Justin are hoping and praying that Claire will do so well in her adjustment to home that she will be off of it much sooner. For now it is necessary to walk gingerly and carefully throughout the house to avoid cords and tubes that reach from room to room. Occasionally the monitor goes off, but it is usually caused only by an occasional shallow breath or two. Granpa Jim and I were able to finally bring Thanksgiving dinner to them. On Wednesday, December 3 we belatedly enjoyed turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, veggies, rolls, pumpkin pie and chocolate mousse cake. It was definitely worth waiting for. And our hearts were truly thankful as we held and admired our precious grand daughter.

Thanksgiving Ups and Downs

Thanksgiving arrived, and Claire Grace continues to be cared for in the NICU. So instead of baking pies and roasting turkey, Jim and I opted to keep Annie and Justin company at the hospital, visit little Claire, and create Thanksgiving memories of a nontraditional kind. During the last couple of days Claire has endured little spells where she stops breathing. It happened at first during feeding times as she was working so hard to eat. Then later some of them occurred during her sleep. She just sleeps so hard that she forgets to breathe! So, the newest development is that on Thanksgiving day the doctor decided she needed to be on oxygen. So another "wire" has been added, and below you can see her "new look." The good news is that she is no longer under the lights for jaundice (she was taken off once and then needed to be put back under), and though she had lost weight, she is now gaining. She is almost back to her birth weight. In spite of all that Claire has been through so far (they just keep poking needles in my feet!) she is so sweet and mellow.

We finally convinced Grandpa Jim to hold her, and here they are together. He looks pretty comfortable with her, doesn't he?

Between feedings, we hung out in one of the lounges at the hospital and played Phase 10 and Hearts (yes, even Annie!!) Then Jim and I went over to Annie and Justin's house where I heated up our Thanksgiving dinner of Corn Bread Stuffed peppers, salad, and rolls, and then we brought it over and ate together. We were glad to be able to be together, though not in a way we would have planned or expected. Little Claire Grace is our newest blessing, and we'll take her however she is given.


*As a postscript to the "Ups and Downs" of Thanksgiving - one of the ups was that the hospital didn't charge for parking. The downer, though, was that a local cop decided to bless us with a speeding ticket on our way over to Annie and Justin's to get dinner. You know, one of those end-of-the-month, holiday quota things. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, sir!

Schumachers Three

On Tuesday I brought lunch to the hospital for Annie and Justin and had a fun visit with little Claire. This is a picture of the new little family. Tuesday brought some more difficult news, though. After hearing a heart murmur, the doctors did an echocardiogram (I think??) and discovered two holes in her heart. One is normal for 36 weeks of development and will most likely close up, but the other is not, and will need to be monitored as she grows. See Annie's blog for more details http://shoeprint.blogspot.com/*

I got to hold Claire for the first time today, too. She is just too precious. She is already so loved.

*Sorry - I don't know how to install those little links to other blogs yet.

Sunday Sleepover

Joel, our oldest grandchild (4) is always wondering when he can come to Gma/Gpa's for a sleepover all by himself. We hadn't done this for awhile with my subbing schedule and his preschool schedule not matching up too well. But I have more free time this week, so I decided to invite him to spend the night on Sunday. We did some of his favorite things, which include hot tubbin' and building cities with Grandpa, using Joel's foam blocks. This time they built Disney World. Joel made Cinderella's Castle (Grandpa helped him build a monorail leading up to the castle) and Grandpa built the Tower of Terror. They used all of the extra random blocks to build a "lazy river." So fun!

Joel is sitting next to Cinderella's Castle with the monorail in front. The Tower of Terror is behind him to the left.

On Monday morning Joel helped Grandma make some Christmas cookies using her cookie press. He did a great job decorating and also gave the cookie press a few cranks, knowing exactly how far to turn it for each cookie. We had a great time!

More pics of our newest little rose

Though still hooked up to some wires, and in the NICU, Claire seems calm and content.

Mama Annie is beaming! In this picture, you can see a few of the bruises Claire received from her rough delivery. But she is a trooper, and doing very well!

Look at all that black hair!! If she were a boy, she'd need a haircut!

Blessed from Above

Yesterday was one of those days you just feel those blessings pouring down from God, and also enjoy his amazing planning. Our little granddaughter (Annie and Justin's expected child) was due December 24. Apart from those "oh, how perfect . . . a Christmas gift baby" thoughts and comments, our family had also discussed how "not fair" a 12-24 birthday is for the recipient. (Even Jorie, our oldest, whose birthday is December 11, has always wished her birthday was further set apart from the holidays.) And of late, Annie has been most miserable with water retention, swollen ankles, and then back pain from lying on her back to relieve the swollen ankles, etc. etc. Well, not to worry, our awesome God who has all things perfectly planned for us, revealed His plan yesterday and brought precious little Claire Grace Schumacher into the world. Her birthday is NOVEMBER 20!!! It is not even the same MONTH as Christmas!! Who would have even imagined. We are so thankful!! Annie had a difficult delivery, but came through with shining colors, and credited Justin as well with his skills as delivery coach. Though 5 weeks early, Claire weighed in at 5 pounds 15 ounces and was 18 3/4 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair, and of course is beautiful. She spent the first night in the NICU to monitor her for low blood sugar and blood pressure, but all of her other vitals look good. Our family is so blessed. A Thanksgiving baby is even more perfect than a Christmas one!

Flashback . . .

Turn the clock back 42 years . . . Honey Rock Camp, Three Lakes, WI . . . the time and place I met my awesome hubby! A few weeks ago we spent a fun weekend in the Eagle River/Three Lakes, WI area and made a special visit to Honey Rock where our romance began. It was a gorgeous fall day, and in the picture we're standing on the deck of the "new" dining hall. It overlooks the spot where the former dining hall sat - the place Jim was working as a cook that summer we met in 1966. The gorgeous setting still has a special feeling for us. Ahhh . . . fun memories . . . how could it possibly be that long ago??

You don't do that!

So that's the comment I got from my husband when I told him I was creating a blog. He said, "What?? You don't do that!!" Well, I am proving him wrong! Our youngest daughter, Annie, has been a great help trying to keep my in tune with change. She makes suggestions when it comes to new hairstyles and clothes, trying to keep me a "cool mom," and she is also the one who gave me the idea to have my own blog. So yesterday when she was visiting, I said I was ready to start and she helped set me up. It was really pretty simple, but now the problem is what to write about?? Is there any possibility that anything in my very ordinary life could be of interest to someone else??

I'm thinking that this will be a good place to keep track of cute things my grandkids say and do, and thus the name "Rho's (Rose) Garden." This garden must be well- fertilized, cuz since 2004 three little babes have appeared, and in about five weeks, one more little baby girl will be joining us! Not bad - four in four years!! So most likely you will see pictures of these darlings and little stories of their antics, along with bits and pieces about my life.