A Look Back at 2013 - MAY

May is Brain Tumor Awareness month and so my mom made a large GRAY RIBBON to put on her door with names of mostly DIPG kids and others that have passed away from brain tumors.  Oliver, of course is the one in the center with golden wings.  We will always continue to raise awareness for brain tumors in Oliver's memory.  ALL of these fighters will have a special place in my heart.

I was looking through these sweet posters that Oliver's classmates made for him after he passed away in 2012.

Fun at Chuck E. Cheese with our little friend, Chloe.

Finn throwing rocks in the lake at George Wyth.

Eden and the fourth graders.

McKenzie and Eden -- 4th grade Vocal Music Concert

Phineas... I mean... Batman with his Super Donut Ring...

Eden's Talent Show - Eden and her friends got together for an exercise routine with a twist.  They performed to the song "Flashdance".  The crowd was constantly laughing!  I did a similar thing in my 5th or 6th grade talent show and told her about it.  They did a GREAT job!  Upper right photo - Eden, Sayde, McKenzie, Jaida, Kamiah, Gabby.  Eden and her friend, Camdyn.  Eden with Grandma Young.  Sayde, Eden and McKenzie.

Talent Show

The boys on our friend's motorcycle.  Love those smiles!

Eden drew this picture of Emily from the movie "The Corpse Bride".

 I always try to take last day of school photos of the kids with their teachers and classes.  I didn't get Jaren's class or a photo with his teacher and one of his associates.  Jaren is with Mrs. Heinz, one of his para educators who happens to be our good friend.  Eden is with her 4th grade teacher, Miss Flack.  Jaren was chased and is getting some hugs from a classmate who I think may have had a crush on him!  :)  Every year on the last day of school, we take the kids to get ice cream cones at Rudy's Tacos down the street.  Eden invited McKenzie and Sayde to join us this year!

Last day of school.  Eden 4th grade/Jaren PreK

A Look Back at 2013 - APRIL

Sassy Phineas, age 3

Eden had a piece of artwork picked to be shown at the school district's Culture Fest.  It was held at the Waterloo Center for the Arts.  We invited my mom and Eden's former art teacher, Deb Wesley.  Deb and my mom worked together several years ago at Lincoln Elementary in Waterloo.  Unfortunately in July, Deb suddenly passed away.  We were so sad to hear this news as her and my mom had recently become good friends.  She was always so nice and friendly.  Eden loved her as a teacher.

Eden and mom

Eden's former art teacher and Grandma's good friend, Deb, Eden and Grandma Young

~DEBRA FOGLEMAN WESLEY~

Debra, daughter of Mae (Bogatzke) and Kenneth Fogleman, was born May 27, 1953, at St. Anthony Hospital in Carroll, Iowa. She lived and grew up in Manning where her father worked with the postal service. Debra graduated from Manning High School in 1971. And then went on to graduate from Mankato State University (Minnesota State University) with an Art Degree.
After graduating from college Debra moved to New Orleans for 12 years and worked as a dispatcher for a trucking company. She married Joseph Wesley and one child was born to this union. Debra moved back to Iowa in the late 1980s to Osceola where she worked as a dispatcher for the Jimmie Dean Company. She continued to work as a dispatcher when she moved to Waterloo. Debra went back to school and graduated from UNI in 1993 with a BA in Art Education. She taught for the Waterloo Community School District and held positions in both elementary and high school from 1995 to 2013 when she retired. Debra’s hobbies included gardening, photography, music and art. She was an animal lover and owned three dogs, a cat, and a horse.
Debra was taken to the emergency room at Allen Hospital in Waterloo where she died July 3, 2013 at the age of 60 years, a month and 6 days.
Debra is preceded in death by her parents.
She is survived by her daughter Quinn Wesley of Lehi, Utah; siblings Nancy (Stephen) Muhlbauer of Manning, Carmen (Rob) Yancey of West Des Moines, Steven (Julie) Fogleman of Manning; nieces and nephews: Shannon, Mitchell, Justeen, Caden, Rylie-Shea, Rachel, Jackson, Stephanie and Brian; other relatives and friends.
Visitation
Friday, July 12, 2013, 10:00 AM
ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH
MANNING, IOWA
Funeral Service
FRIDAY, July 12, 2013, 11:00 AM
ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH
MANNING, IOWA
Officiating
REVEREND JONATHAN CONNER
Honorary Urn Bearers
DEBRA’S NIECES AND NEPHEWS

A Look Back at 2013 - MARCH

 ST. PATRICK'S DAY

This year we set up a leprechaun trap and he left the kids some Starburst candies, Lucky Charms and gold coins!  We had homemade shepherd's pie and sparkling cider for dinner.  Iron man was Jaren's 'plus one' for the event. 

EASTER
 

We went to Clinton to visit my grandparents for Easter this year.  It was the first time I got to see my cousin's sweet baby, Logan.  He wasn't very happy in the photo below!  Jaren sitting with great grandpa, showing him things on the iPad, the kids sitting on the front steps, my cousin's little family, G & G, and Jaren being goofy in the hotel room.

 Easter Sunday.  We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa and then the kids had an egg hunt in their back yard.  My mom is pictured with them on the bottom right.

Before we headed out of town, I wanted to visit my grandparents graves and make an arrangement for them.  It was the first time I'd been out there since my grandma died.

 WARTBURG DANCE MARATHON

We attended our first Wartburg DM in Waverly.  It was quite a bit smaller than UNI's or UI's since it is a smaller campus, but the hearts and compassion of the students that volunteer is just the same.  They raised $30, 479.13!  We were only there for a bit, but the kids had fun dancing, playing with blocks, ping pong, having races and playing catch.  Eden sniffed out the mustaches, of course! 

A Look Back at 2013 - FEBRUARY Part 2

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

This was the first time we'd ever gone to California Adventure and we had so much fun.  The boys loved Cars Land, especially Phineas.  It was his VERY FIRST TIME going to any theme park.  He had a ball!  They were excited to see the cars driving through the streets to their photo op spots.

They saw the army men from Toy Story as well as Phineas and Ferb.  Goofy conducted the water orchestra and later did some swing dancing in the square.  Cousins Addison and Aubrey on one of the rides.

Jaren was conked out in the stroller so Ed and I walked around with him and Finn in A Bug's Life area.  Finn loved going on all of the rides.  He stayed on a few of them for multiple rides since there were no lines late at night.  Ed sporting some Mickey ears, Eden getting sassy with her light up Michael Jackson gloves and finally ending the evening in their bunk beds.

STORYTELLER'S CAFE 

The kids had a blast at Storyteller's Cafe.  We ate breakfast while many characters walked around greeting the kids at each table.  I had to get a photo with Dale, who I love!  The bear came around and gathered the kids for a conga line and dance party in the lobby of the restaurant.  Such a cute place!

This was the Grand Californian Resort and Spa.  It was such a pretty place to stay.  They had story time near the fireplace and it was just really spacious, but cozy at the same time.  The bed in the corner is where I spent many hours as I had a touch of the flu while we were there.  Awesome.  It was cool because you could enter both theme parks from here and we got to enter the parks an hour before everyone else.  We stayed overnight... or maybe two nights.  Heck... I can't remember since it was over a year ago that we went!

DISNEYLAND 

The kids playing around after we ate breakfast, Finn was having fun driving the car, Eden and cousin Nat holding hands while walking (too cute) and Jared cringing... reminding us NOT to wipe your butt with white princess gloves on!!!

The kids with Aladdin and the Genie.

 

 

I had found some cute fabric to make the boys each a pirate head scarf/sash for their swords and the girls each a pirate head scarf.  I also added the girls names to their scarf with white crystals.  They turned out really cute!

Since this was Finn's first time at Disneyland... it was also his first time meeting Mickey Mouse!  Some fun snapshots around 'Mickey's Movie Barn'.  Ed sticking his finger in a butt crack.  We just can't help ourselves.  Our nieces, Addison, Natalie and Aubrey relaxing on Mickey's couch.

Sassy Eden and the boys in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.  It was the first time we ever walked through it as well.  The boys trying their hardest to pull the sword from the stone.  Ollie used to love that movie.  I have a similar photo of him trying to unearth it as well!


It was the first time we'd been to Mickey's Toontown during the day and actually got to really see it.  The kids had fun with the interactive parts of the buildings.

Ed and me outside the fairies garden.  I didn't realize that Ed was wearing his Iowa Hawkeyes pj's until later.  Oi.  Eden and her favorite fairies.  You'd have to ask her their names.  I only know Tinkerbell!  Finn was so cute when he was meeting all the characters!

Jaren the Jedi Master!  He was picked out of the audience to participate.  Oliver would have LOVED this.  I'm sure he was looking down smiling.  Jaren was fun to watch on stage, but was the first one they wanted to go up and he was scared, he didn't know what they wanted him to do.  They had him sit down and I saw that he was trying to tell them he wanted to go, but they must have thought he had already gone.  He had fun anyways!  I think the boys were in awe to see these guys in 'real life'!  

 Phineas on the plane ride home.  Thank heavens for iPads!

 DEKALB, ILLINOIS 

Our good friends live in DeKalb so we stopped there to see them for a few days on the way home.  The two photos on the left are to their neighborhood "Eden's Garden" and "Eden's Gate Dr.".  The upper right picture was from the hotel we stayed at the night before our flight.  We got a kick out of "Eden's room".  There was a local frozen custard shop that we had to stop at on our way out of town... "Ollie's Frozen Custard" and yes, it was delicious!

Our friends... Kael and Jaren, Eden-Kael-Jaren-Cullan, Phineas fell asleep with his ring pop stuck to his forehead, Jaren and Briea, Eden-Kael-Jaren, Jaren and Cullan.  For some reason I don't have a picture with little Ayla.  She was most likely making a mess somewhere!  *wink*  Her and Finn are the mess makers of our families!  I just realized Cullan was wearing his "Team Ollie" shirt that day!  Our friends have since moved to North Carolina and we miss them terribly.  A short trip to DeKalb was only about 4 1/2 - 5 hours for us.  We were happy to have been able to make memories with them and look forward to some beach trips in the future!

HOME, SNOWY, HOME

While the weather was rainy at times on our trip it was pretty sweet for the most part.  This craziness was what we came back to!  It was nice to have a trip to plan and look forward to during one of the most difficult times of the year.  Thank you to Jared, who always opens his home to us when we go to California, and the Gillespies who do the same!  We love you guys!