Nelson Family Blog: November: Funerals and Birthdays.

I have gone almost an entire month without a blog post. I do have a good excuse though. It had been absolutely crazy this month.

We started off the month with John's aunt Judie passing away after a battle with ovarian cancer. We were very busy with family time, a wake, and trips to Hospice before she passed away. It was sad to see her go, but it's great to think about her being in a better place.

Two days after Judie's funeral, I got a phone call that my grandpa Marlin had fallen in his garage, the paramedics had to do CPR, and that it wasn't good. Grandpa passed away the next day. And just like that, we had another crazy, whirlwind week. Grandpa's death was a complete shock to everyone. He had just finished combining 4 days before he died. The day he fell, he was mowing lawn, changing the oil, and he went and voted earlier in the day. It was fast and unexpected, and it hit all of us pretty hard.

Luckily, I got a nice bereavement leave from work, so we got to head to Minnesota pretty early and we spent a lot of time together with family sharing memories and dealing with our emotions. We spent all 4 days that we were in Minnesota at Grandma and Grandpa's house, together as a family. Many people brought food by for us, and it was just really a nice time together. We had a four hour wake on Sunday, and that was pretty tough. It was hard to see all the familiar faces, while hearing how sad they were that grandpa had died. It was long, but it was nice to talk to a lot of those people.

Veterans' Day was Grandpa's funeral. It was freezing cold, and it was so sad to say a final goodbye to Grandpa. We were very lucky to be blessed with such a great grandpa as long as we had (87 years old!) and he died the exact way he would have wanted to, working in his garage. Grandma handled everything ok. She is now in assisted living, and adjusting to it slowly. Ryan made some really nice memorial things to remember grandpa, including some memorial jars with some of the corn that he combined just 4 days before he died. Everyone seems to be doing ok, and moving on with their lives in a healthy way, while still remembering all the great things about grandpa.

After this crazy, emotional week, things slowed down a little and got back to normal. We have been busy with work, piano lessons, and homework and the weeks seem to just fly by.

Today is Elliott's 5th Birthday. I know I say it every year, but it is just crazy to me that he is 5 already. He will be in Kindergarten next year!

Elliott is such a character. He is a sweetie most of the time, and loves to give hugs and kisses. He also loves to snuggle with blankets and favorite stuffed animals. He still asks a lot of questions, loves to sing-especially Christmas songs, and constantly asks us to play games with him. He adores his sister, until they start fighting. He is starting to test boundaries a little more, but overall is pretty well-behaved. He can't wait to start school, and loves daycare, even though he asks if it's a "no-daycare day tomorrow" every single night. We love him so much, and I will keep snuggling with him as long as he will let me.

Elliott had a fabulous birthday. We started it off with church, where he got to tell everybody it was his birthday. Then we came home, and we let him open his gifts from us. He got a craft bucket, a razor scooter, and a dinosaur smash egg from us. The dinosaur smash egg was the major hit. Emma and Elliott played with that toy the entire afternoon. It came with slime, baby dinosaurs, moon sand, putty, and some other things that kept them busy for a couple hours.

At 4pm we left to go to Chuck E Cheese, per Elliott's request. We let the kids play games for an hour, and they had an absolute blast. I think the adults had fun as well. The kids redeemed their tickets for some crappy toys, and then we were on our way to Pizza Ranch (also Elliott's request). We enjoyed some Pizza, cake, sang Happy Birthday, and then Elliott opened the rest of his gifts.

It was a perfect 5 year old's birthday party. We finally got the kids settled down and put to bed about an hour ago. Monday morning might be interesting. We also have a busy week coming up with Thanksgiving, so it seems the busyness never ends. Here's to another crazy week!! :)