Groneman Family

Kiera just managed to get finger nail polish on BOTH of her beloved blankets in a matter of 2 minutes time. AAAARRRRGG. Oh well, nothing we can do about it. Burgandy nail polish doen't look so hot, but i'll bet she still loves them just the same.

Lydia has been busting out new words left and right lately. She is also singing phrases in songs which is totally cute. Yesterday I gave Kiera a dum - dum after lunch and Lydia started pleading "Too! Too!" and I realized it is because I usually ask her "do you want to have one too?" Cute. My favorite is Lydia singing "I know you" (the first phrase from the Sleeping Beauty once-upon-a-dream song). She sings it while dancing. I'd love to get it on video but of course that is impossible. Yesterday Lydia was having trouble with her stuck stroller and and she started asking for help. She said help about 10 times ....only she omitted the "P". Too early to discuss naughty words? Kiera has a new best friend ever since I got back from the hospital: Elmo. I've been replaced by her elmo doll. She insisted this week that Elmo needed clothes. So now elmo wears one of lydia's shirts. Kiera has been teaching Elmo to read (which is

This Saturday night we will be having Saurbratten and Spatzel. Here is an invitation to everyone to come! Brett, Katie and BJ are already in. Hope some of you other's can join us!

If you're looking for something to brighten your day: Call the Nestle Crunch Hotline at 1-800-295-0051 (This may take several attempts if the line is busy). When you are asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, just wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile. Promise! Keep going and press 4. Listen to the options...then press 7 Funny stuff!

Yesterday we went to feed the ducks at our local ponds. Kiera INSISTED that she wanted Emmy, Chad and Erica to come. Too bad. This morning Lydia was playing with my phone and shortly thereafter I got a phone call from Brett: "did you call me?" It seems Lydia misses her uncle brett. Whenever lydia finds something that rocks back and forth she stradles it and says "neigh neigh" (horse noises). She remembers the rocking horse in Utah. It seems like my girls are missing Utah. Bad parents story: today we went to disneyland. Steve was pushing the stroller and suddlenly stopped. I looked down to see Lydia under the stroller with road rash on her forehead very traumatized. She had wriggled her way under the tray (which must have taken some effort). We had not put her seatbelt on which was obviously a mistake. Poor thing! We went to disneyland with some friends from the ward today. just as we were parting ways one of their kids who was "grumpy and not eatin

Hope you have a great birthday little guy....and remember to always ask for clearance before taking off and watch out for toys on the runway when landing!    Wish we could be there to share the special first birthday.  Have a Happy 1st Birthday!

The power went out at our place today around 9am. There have been several long power outages lately with all of our heavy rain and storms. my friend in the ward had there power out for almost 48 hours and it was when it was COLD. Oh, other randomness this week is that our front door fell off it's hinge one day for no reason. It was on a very windy and rainy day. I couldn't get it shut again so we had a very much open front door all day long with the wind and rain coming in until steve got home to get it shut. Then we didn't dare open it for the rest of the week (steve finally had the time to fix it today). We had planned to get a babysitter and go to Macoroni Grill tonight, but at 2pm we still had no power and we knew it was going to start getting dark and cold soon (and we had no idea how long the power would be out). Also, we had the problem that we couldn't go anywhere since we couldn't get our car out of the garage. Steve's brother and his wife live in

I like these Sunday morning talk shows. This clip (see it all the way through) is priceless:

So originally my plan was to leave to come home today. Cambrie said she didn't think I needed to stay for any reason...but I was hesitant to go because she isn't supposed to lift anything for 6 weeks or so. And there was the issue of the crib and the High chair. But I figured out that the high chair would be a floor chair if you didn't attach it to a normal chair. And they have a toddler bed for Kiera in the girls room...but she usually takes her naps in the parents room...so with Steve there to pick Lydia up out of her crib in the AM and put her down at night...Lydia take Kiera's bed for naps...well that eliminates the need to lift her. And Cambrie still has probably 50 meals in the freezer so she's set that way. Still, yesterday AM I had no intentions of leaving. There was supposed to be more heavy rain in So. California and I didn't want to be driving in it. But I took Steve to school and he told me that the rain wouldn't start till afternoon. I tho

YEA!   My honey came home to me.  I worried about her when I learned she was traveling on what was supposed to be a stormy day....but she didn't run into anything serious once she left CA.  It's bitter sweet....having her home is great and having Cambrie feel better is great, but you probably can guess why there's a little piece of sadness in my heart.  It was good to have my sweetheart sleeping next to me and to go walking with me this morning.  I sure love my Marilyn!  It's just not the same without her here.  All the dang kids up and left me for good, but at least she returns.

$23 K coming our way (plus or minus a few hundred).

Mom is officially headed your way (Utah). The weather was supposed to be pretty bad for the next few days. I'm doing ok anyway-- just weak and not eating quite normally. But I can handle life pretty well i'd say. THANK YOU to both grandma and gramps for sacrificing for our family's behalf. Steve and I were trying to think of a way we could give a big THANK YOU to them...gift cards, a special trip somewhere... But we concluded that the thing they would appriciate the most is a visit from their granddaughters. So, we purchaced flights to come to Utah, we are coming March 13th-19th for a "thank you" visit.

So we just had either a microburst hit or Cambrie heard that there might be tornado's with the weather that we were to get today. But whatever it was, it was fierce!! There was so much water coming off the house that you couldn't even have clear view of the yard, and so much rain that you could see sheets of it coming down in the backyard. I seriously thought the tree in the backyard would have a major limb come down if not the whole thing. Cambrie feared the window would break and closed the blinds in the room she was working in. It was CRAZY! Lightening...etc. It passed pretty quickly but I will bet we got over an 1 inch of rain in 10 minutes. We also had another bigger earthquake about 5 days ago. It was scary stuff to feel my bed jumping around...especially in the light of the Haiti Earthquake. The thing is, when it starts you don't know how bad its going to get so the adrenalin was released and then it took me about 1 hour to go back to sleep. Cambrie is doing well,

Hmmm...it always seems like when your mother is gone I like to keep busy by doing SOME sort of project.  The last time she went, I made full extension drawers for one of her kitchen cupboards.  Time before that I knocked a hole through the bathroom wall for light to come through. This time I'm doing two things:  Copying videos to computer and installing a ceiling fan in our bedroom. I've spent a portion of a couple of days installing the fan.  First I had to run power to the middle of the ceiling since we don't have a light fixture there.  That means I had to run it through the attic.  I took power from the garage door opener (that doesn't get used often) and had to run some romex down the center of the attic over to the bedroom.  Well one problem.  The attic is full of insulation and the bottom of the trusses are all covered so there's nowhere to walk...and the trusses are 2 feet apart.  I kind of had to walk along the sides of the trusses bracing myself with ar

I posted on Cambrie's blog if you guys wanted to check out her status. She's willing to take calls now and can actually talk since she doesn't have a mouth-full of saliva anymore. Give her a call

Yesterday we had a fun game night.  Buff was working, but the other two Groneman families were there.  A couple of games of "Ticket to Ride" and a few games of "Scrabble Slap".  Buff actually was able to get off work and join us to play a few games. My kids must cheat though, because I didn't get to win any of the games :-(  I went and got rolls and BBQ pork and Apple Fritters from Walmart.  I also made my world famous cheese dip.  I do believe there was some chocolate consumed during the course of the evening as well.  At one point in the evening, someone made the comment that everyone there was a Groneman.  Interesting.  Little Emmy was fun to play with for a while but she got sleepy and went right to be without any fuss.  Cute little gidget.  Anyway....I had fun!  Thanks everyone for coming over and helping me not be so bored while my sweetheart is gone.  Speaking of which, I couldn't get Cambrie out of my mind the entire evening.  I *so* wish I could do

I wish I could say that it is good. It isn't. Steve took her to the hospital about an hour ago. Her nausea has been the worst it has ever been today. And she has a fever...and I don't know all of the other symptoms, but I think that she has picked up a bug...probably when she went in to the Dr office on Monday and was there for a couple of hours. That was also the day that her feeding tube clogged and she had to go into the GI lab to get it opened up again. Things didn't go perfectly there either...and things went downhill from there, until now. Poor Punkin. I told her today, that if she ever asks if I will be available to tend her little kids so she can have another baby, the answer will be no...just to protect her! :( It is no fun to watch a loved on suffer! The little ladies seem to have adjusted to having me take charge (when Steve isn't around). The biggest problem with them is that for some reason they seem to wake up 1 1/2 hours before they should...and t

Anyone interested in a game night Friday or Saturday?  I'll provide chips dips and dinner.  Anyone?  I'm tired of hearing the wind blow, the shutters flap, and having tumbleweeds blow through my house.  If you're interested, tell me which night.  If you're not interested or are working, I'll watch more of Law & Order on the computer.

Hugs are a tough commodity to come up with around here. It took me 10 days to get my first one! I must be doing something wrong...but twice when Kiera was coming up to me, (I was assuming to give me a hug for some crazy reason)... instead she wiped her nose on me and then went about her business. I can see that I didn't bring enough pants! :)

Ok, by California standards, it was a nothing. But we had an earthquake this evening. At first I just thought Steve slammed the door hard when he came in...but that house shook too long for it to be that, so then I knew it was an Earthquake. I haven't felt one of those for 25 years. It probably won't even hit the news. But I hope it wasn't just a preliminary minor quake before a bigger one. (Kim see if you can find anything about it online tomorrow ok?) And if we all DIE TOMORROW in the big one that is going to dump 1/2 of California into the ocean...I leave my gardens to Katie, as she is the one most likely to be able to take care if it in that house! :) Christa, I missed talking to you yesterday. I hear you have found a house you like online. I know it is far from yours...but I would like to check it out for myself. How about sending me a link? Poor little Lydia has cut 3 teeth in in the last 4 days or so...and another is about ready to pop. She has been having

The time has come for our traditional "guess where the missionary is going on their mission" For those who are new to our family since we did the last one, which was Brett's, it works like this: Guess where: guess When: Guess what (language): I'm doing my interview with the bishop tonight at 5pm and I put my availability date as Jan 29th. That's just to give you a reference to guess with. My guess is that I will be called to Argentina, spanish speaking on April 7th. The person who guess the closest date and place will get a prize. Happy guessing!

I had a GREAT DAY yesterday. Stevo was home and kinda took over with the little girls who prefer him to me 20 to 1...so that left me with some time. So I decided to go back to the new.familysearch and do some genealogy. They have this new feature just added last month where you can go from your ancestor to their decendants...which opens up a whole new realm of possibilites as far as finding people who haven't had their work done. I actually read an article in the Ensign probably 9 months ago written by George Durrant, "Picking apples at the bottom of the tree" (or something like that) that talked about doing that. One is only responsible for one's direct line of ancestors, their siblings and their children; but one can extend that to their grandchildren etc, so that is what I did. It was GREAT!! SO much to find there and so easy to find them! I could teach any of you who are interested in 5 minutes how to do it! I AM THRILLED!! TO PIECES!! THIS IS WHAT I HAVE WA

Emmy brought her parents over to Gramps' house yesterday. We played balls and toys...she really likes the xylophone alligator...and then Emmy went down for a nap. While she was down, the three big people played Gramps' new game " Ticket to Ride: Europe ". We played the original game (US version) a couple of months ago when Chad brought it over and all three Groneman families played. We all liked it. So I bought the Europe version which adds some interesting new aspects of play to the basic game. Yesterday we played two rounds. I like the game because it moves fast (played in less than an hour) and you're never out of the game until the final points are counted.  Erica, you're right...I re-read the rules and when three locomotives show up in the 5 draw cards, you're supposed to throw them all out and deal 5 new.  Tangent:   It's so nice to have a grandchild here in the area who I can see first hand and share the delight of all the new things she learns

I'm worried. I think our place is a house of Vampires.  It's Saturday so of course I'm home.  Buff came in before the sun came up and went to bed after a night at the Charleston.  Brett came in before sunrise and went to bed after a night at the Hospital.....or so they tell me.  I'm not as stupid as I look though....you can't fool me that easily.  I have a hunch they really weren't at the Charleston or at the Hospital, but out feeding on Blood.  Why else would they wear those clothes that they can throw in the wash after they get blood on them?!?  Huh?!?  I didn't just fall off the turnip truck you know.   I think I'm going to go down to my little shop area and cut me some wooden stakes just in case.  I'll make some wooden crosses and hang some garlic on their bedroom doors.   I've been watching vampire movies and learning while Marilyn is gone (she won't watch them with me so now's a good time).  I know how to handle this.

Steve got home from school today, so he packed up the little girls and took them to Disneyland! What a great dad! I would have gone with them, but I don't have a season pass. Cambrie is still weak and nauseated. She can't remember at what point she got over the nausea last time. I was thinking it wouldn't be too long since she had one good day shortly after they put in the feeding tube but that hasn't happened again. But at least food smells don't seem to bug her this time. That is great since the rest of us are pretty much addicted to food. She is resting right now. She finished off season 3 of Lost. It gets frustrating for her to want to interact with her children and she can't. Too weak and mouth full of saliva. Progress isn't happening fast enough. ...so if you can, keep the prayers going for her, and sweet Katie. Sometimes, life just isn't all that fun! Thanks! Love you all!

So - sorry we got everyone all hyped, but it turns out I'm not as pregnant as we would have wanted. I started bleeding yesterday, had an ultrasound today, and there's just a little empty gestational sac. The ultrasound report says it was probably a "blighted ovum" - a fertilized egg that implanted and started growing a placenta, but had so many chromosomal problems that the embryo itself didn't grow. Google says that this usually only happens once to any particular woman (I wish it hadn't been with the first, but I guess we don't get to decide these things) and that it's the cause of about 50% of first trimester miscarriages. The ultrasound also found some cysts on both my ovaries, but hopefully that will resolve once my hormones go back to normal (I haven't actually talked to a Dr. yet about anything, just nurses and technologists who have been very helpful and kind, but can't tell you what the next steps are). I figured everything was going

Neener Neener...Cambrie isn't the only one.  She had Lydia come into her room and hug on her.  Last night as I was reading in bed before going to sleep, and missing my sweetheart, Buff came in my room and hugged on me.

Cambrie pays a terrible price to have Children! Now I know that isn't news to you all. She came home from the hospital today ...finally...dehydrated still, and still puking. The only reason she is home is because she is a nurse and can hook up her IV's, feeding tubes, etc, but it's not an easy thing to do all that when you feel as lousy as she does! I know she gets megga extra credit points in heaven for being willing to make such a sacrifice to get children here! Maybe they'll think about adopting one of those cute little orphans in Ecuador next go around when Steve is rolling in the dough...eh? Course, you look at these darling little ladies and it is obvious why they keep wanting to have their own! It was so cute: When I got Lydia up from her nap (Cambrie having arrived home while Lydia was sleeping), I said "Look what I found!!!" and took her in Cambries room. She beelined straight to Cambrie and just loved on her for probably 5 minutes, which is an e

Christa, something to keep in the back of your mind when you're looking for a house in Utah.  Take a look at today's temperatures.  It's almost noon here, Provo is 19 degrees and Alpine/Highland is 30 degrees.  We can often see inversion gunk below us from our house (and sometimes it engulfs our house, but rarely).  Also the Salt Lake valley is almost always worse air quality wise than Utah valley.  How much importance you put on that is up to you.  I know Jacob used to have breathing issues. Katie, your students done with that test yet?......

Happy Birthday Erica!    Hope you have a great day!

It looks dubious as to weather Cambrie will get to come home from the hospital today. They were going to be sending her home...but she WAS tolerating water up until the last couple of days. They were putting it into her feeding tube as a flush...but even though it doesn't get into her stomach it sends her into waves of Dry heaving for about 3 minutes, just to have it in her intestines. So they are inserting a pick line and she will have to bring an IV pole home and be attached to that. Last time, I remember that she would hook it up at night before she went to bed, and then about 9 am it would be done and she could unhook it for the rest of the day. I hope it isn't any worse than that. Yesterday we had the little girls at the hospital to see their mom and Lydia likes to go around and around it, and I fear she will trip over the stick out stands at the bottom and fall and split her head on one of the other stick outs. Steve went back to school today, so it is just me and

So, here I am in Loma Linda....I surprized STEVO, who thought I was coming tomorrow...But I remembered the horror stories of other members of the family trying to get from Vegas to LA area after a holiday weekend. Something about spending and EXTRA 4 hours on the freeway in a parking lot inspired me to come a day early! So I BRAVED the storm (YES, I actually did find snow falling and snow on the road in South Utah Valley-but not really all that fearsome) and came toodling on down here. I too ran into the parking lot on the freeway scenerio South-west of Vegas...but it probably only slowed me down 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Can I just say again, I LOVE UTAH!!-But I hope the Majority of these So Californians stay LOVING California-But Utah does have room for 5 more Californians who are named Nelson...) Kiera was all dressed up in her princess attire and watching Beauty and the Beast with Stevo, who couldn't wait for the part at the end when Belle dances with the Prince, and of course Stev

We made it! 2010. Wow. Never in my life could I imagine I would see 2010....that was SO far into the future. Heck, back in the 60's the 70's seemed far away. New years day is always kind of a sad day around our house. As usual, we put our Christmas decorations away for another year. I love Christmas time so I hate to see it go. Last night we celebrated by playing Settler's with Buff (She won AGAIN dag nabit! Three times in a row!) We also played chinese checkers which yer mom won...by one move I may say. I think she cheated. We watched "Ewok Adventure". Haven't seen that since we lived in Virgina I think. Benjamin should love it. Marilyn has decided to miss the Las Vegas to California traffic that always happens Sunday afternoon after a holiday and leave Saturday instead, putting her at the Nelson abode a day earlier than planned. Anyway...that's the update on our lives, how about you ? And now for December BrainBasher Common Answer results.   Drum ro