Happy Birthday, Aubrey

Two years ago today we added a first to our family.  Aubrey Lynn was our very first great granddaughter.  And she was (and still is) beautiful!!

She was welcomed by her adoring parents, Amber (our first granddaughter) and Chris,

 Her grandmother, Amy (our daughter),

and big brothers (in the background here) Jack and Dane.  Here you can see her welcoming (or getting used to) brand new little brother Wade.  Don't worry, Wade's eight months old now and she really does like him a lot.

Her birth initiated one of my all-time favorite amateur photo shoot shots entitled 'When Photo Shoots Fall Apart'.

You can see that she took it all in stride and that's pretty much the way she rolls.

There might be chaos all around, but Aubrey remains stoic - just taking everything in.  She was like that when she was tiny and she's like that now.

Aubrey has lots of talents and interests though.  You might think, with three brothers, she'd be a little intimidated but not so much.  She can hold her own with all of them and play their games as well as they do.

And even though necessity sometimes has her playing boys' games, she never forgets her female origins.

Her femininity is also demonstrated by her amazing accessorizing skills.

 

Although sometimes those boy fashions have a tendency to rear their masculine heads.

Aubrey is also quirky

friendly,

Fun-loving,

and generous.

 She can dance

knows her way around cell phones,

 of all kinds

and she's a very good eater

and doesn't care who knows it.

All in all, Aubrey's a wonderful little girl.  We're so happy that she's part of our family and we're hoping her birthday is as awesome as her.

Happy Birthday, Jared

Today is our Jared Micheal's 18th birthday.  He was our 4th grandchild and 3rd grandson.  Jared lives in Waverly, Nebraska with his mom, step dad, and younger sister.  His older brother Ryan lives and goes to school in nearby Omaha.

Today I interviewed Jared for his birthday.  Here's how it went.

Happy birthday, Jared.  Are you having a good day?  Oh yeah.  Things are going good so far.  Packers won!  Oh good!  I was going to ask if you were interested in any particular sports teams.  Yeah, I like the Packers and I've recently started following the Kansas City Chiefs.

Are you doing anything special for your birthday.  Yes!  Mom organized a little cookout and we're going to have all my favorite foods like shrimp, chicken, and bacon.  It's going to be glorious.  Bacon?  Yeah, we were going to have bacon for breakfast but we forgot it so we'll have it tonight.

Did Ryan come home for your birthday?  Yes

And will Emily be there also?  Hopefully.  Unless she's off doing her thing.

Are you enjoying high school?  I'm enjoying my last year of high school.  I'll miss Waverly but basically I feel like I'm ready to move on.

What are your plans for next year?  I'm thinking of applying at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and studying Business/Managerial Economics and Accounting.  I guess you like numbers huh?  Quite!

What career path are you interested in pursuing?  I'm looking into being an Investment Analyst but at this point I'm pretty flexible.

I know you detasseled corn over the summer.  What's the hardest aspect of detasseling?   The hardest part is actually detasseling along with the physical struggles that go with it like moving around in razor sharp corn leaves and sometimes slogging through mud.  But aside from all that it can be an enjoyable experience.  What do you like best about it?  Definitely meeting new people.  Did you save the money you earned or buy something with it?  For the most part I'm saving all the money.  Oh, for school next year?  Yeah for school ... or maybe a car.

Are you single or dating someone right now?  Single

I heard you took over some responsibilities to help your mom last summer while Marcus was away during the week and only home on weekends.  What were they and how did you feel about that?  Basically, I guess I was the man of the house.  I was in charge of mowing the lawn every week, trimming the bushes, doing some cleaning, and making sure Mom was sane.  It was interesting because I'd never been in that situation before.  Did you like it?  Not necessarily.  It was one of those things that you just had to keep doing and move on. I'll bet you feel pretty good about having done it right?  Yeah definitely!

Is there anything else you can tell me about yourself that most people might not know?  Not really.

Well there's a lot I can add about Jared too that this interview just doesn't cover.  He's one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, fun loving people I know.  He's quick to help out in any situation, he loves kids, animals, cousins, and the Christmas house and he'd do anything for his mom.  And he's loved so much by his extended family and his close knit Waverly family.

The only drawback about Jared is that we just don't see enough of him.  At any rate, we're wishing him the happiest birthday ever and a year that exceeds all his dreams and expectations.

Happy Birthday, Clara

Two years ago today, our 20th, and possibly last, grandchild was born.  Clara is our 8th granddaughter and by the organizational skills she's already exhibiting, I can assure you she's all girl.

She was welcomed to her family by her mom and dad, two brothers, and one sister.

 

 And although her older brother and sister were anxious to cuddle her, 

she somehow always looked more at peace in Mom's arms.

Clara was a wonderful baby and her siblings were so excited when she came home from the hospital.

 She was even a good sport a scant month later for her first Halloween.

She smiled early and often

And, although her first, favorite toys were her feet,

she enjoyed a wide variety of other interests including stacking rings,
 swings,

and cell phones.  (Although sometimes she had to figure out whether it was a remote control or a cell phone.)

She also enjoys ice cream cones

And playing kick ball (or anything else that all the older kids are playing).

And although she's not a fan of baths, she does appreciate the cuddles afterwards.

As I mentioned earlier, she's a great organizer and very, very helpful.

If she sees an item on the table and knows it belongs on the desk, she takes care of it right away.  If she sees me pick up my Ipad and I don't have my stylus, she hurries to get it for me.

In addition, she has a great sense of humor especially if she's done a good job hiding from her grandma.

Her best friend and mentor is Eli so she always does exactly what he does and exactly the way he does it.

She also drums,

 flies,

 and relaxes in her very own chair.

But at the end of the day, there's nowhere she'd rather be than in her mother's arms - just like when she was really, really little.

So, Clara, we're wishing you the happiest of birthdays and an awesome year to come.  We're so glad you're one of our very precious grandchildren.

To Streak or Not To Streak

On July 9th I joined a group whose goal was to run (or walk) at least a mile every day with the premise being that you can always find time to do at least a mile if you just let go of the reasons to skip it.

Prior to joining this group, I had walked 20 days in March, 16 days in April, 0 days in May, 0 days in June, and 2 days in July.  It's easy to see that I started out pretty motivated and I was even able to carry a lot of that motivation into April, but when travel and other focuses got in the way, I let it go completely.  I never forgot that I should keep moving hence the two days I walked in July prior to streaking but it was easy to let other things get in the way of what I knew I should be doing.

But starting on July 9th, I completely embraced the premise of the streak.  You can always find time for a mile.  And I always did.  A couple of times I forgot until late in the evening but always remembered in time to get it in.  When I was sick (really sick) I hated it, but I managed to trudge at least a mile every day and when I felt better, I was glad that I'd persevered.  One night we were at Four Winds Casino and wonder-of-wonders we were both winning.  But I hadn't walked yet so we cashed out just in time to get that walk in (and actually brought home a little money for a change).  My son-in-law while driving from the Des Moines, Iowa area to Indiana stopped at a Wal-Mart and walked in the parking lot until he had his mile in.  Where there's a will, there's a way.

I started getting up in the morning and thinking about when the best time to get my walk in would be.  And it became not only motivating in itself, but I've started to see tiny little tangible results.

It wasn't results like that that I was looking for when I started.  I really tried to keep walking because I believe that as we get older, if we don't keep moving, we soon won't be able to move.  I suspect that one of the secrets to longevity is to keep active.  And even if I'm wrong, the years that I do live will be better years if I'm able to keep moving.

And now there's a brand new focus for us streakers.  We're going to try to walk to Kandahar where Dan (my son) and his battalion are currently deployed.  And I'm looking for team members.  You don't have to walk to Dan or his battalion.  There are lots of guys over there you can focus on or you can focus on all soldiers and every time you walk you can picture yourself meeting them halfway or part way or all the way and returning stateside with them.

Ideally we'll get far enough so that when they're on their way home, we'll all walk as far was we need to (within reason) to meet them at their house.  We're looking at finishing this streak sometime in January or February if we're lucky but maybe a little later if we're not.  (It depends on when they re-deploy.)

I hope I can get a lot of people to join me because we're going to need to cover a lot of miles.

And I realize there are more difficulties for some people than others.  I'm lucky to have a treadmill so not only can I walk no matter what the weather conditions but I can clearly see my distance which I then log into my computer.  I'm lucky that I have a pretty good history of walking so a mile wasn't a problem for me.  All I had to do was convince myself that I could do it every single day.  Right now I'm trying to shout out to everybody but most particularly to our friends and relatives who are about our age and haven't done any walking and don't have a treadmill.

How about this - walk around the block when it's fine outside and mall walking when it isn't.  Or how about walking around your house until you log at least a tenth of a mile (about 250 steps) - every day.  Or a quarter of a mile when it gets more comfortable for you.  Those tenths and quarters will really add up if enough of us do it.

And if you really truly can't do it every day, give us what you can do.  If you were able to go out on Wednesday and walk 2 miles but that's it, we'll gladly take your two miles.  I encourage streaking because it worked so well for me but that doesn't mean it will work for everybody.  If you're a new walker or runner, give the streak a try.  You might be surprised.  But for some of our more experienced movers who go to the gym a few times a week to #getyourmoveon, please share your miles.  We need them.  So if you're just trying out this walking thing and daily is really overwhelming, we'll happily take what you manage to do every other day or a few times a week.

Just turn in your distances to me and I'll tally them and share our totals with other team leaders.  You can email me (maryhibner@comcast.net), call me (219 879-3008), or leave your weekly totals on Facebook - just be sure to tag me.  Our current streak started on the 4th of July (I was late starting) and ends on Labor Day.  That means this streak or distance tallying will start on September 3rd.

So come on and join us.  You know you always meant to get your move on.  Can you think of a better time to start?!!!