Sammylou my love

Our sweet Sammylou turned 5 years old yesterday! This sweet little 7 pound baby girl graced us with her presence 5 years ago, and has never failed to amaze us since! She's always been a calm, calculating little being. She absolutely knows what she wants and will fight to the finish to get it!! I will just never forget that one of sammy's pediatritians said that she would someday be a great lawyer. She would always check people out before letting on any feeling, opinion, or reaction.

Sammy is a girly-girl! She loves her Barbies, makeup, mani/pedi's and perfume. She can also hold her own with her big brother. Sammy is a strong, kind, sweet, helpful young lady. She is an excellent big sister, who dotes on her baby sister with the same conviction as I did with my baby brother. She's so similar to me, I sometimes get chills! Sammy loves friends, love, hugs and singing. She is nuts about gum, candy and broccoli! Sammy is a beautiful little girl that we love to bits. We hope and pray that she will always feel happiness and love.
Happy Birthday to our Sweet Samantha Grace Huggins Petzold!!!!!

Catching up

I feel like everytime I have the chance to sit down and write, I'm just catching up. I had every intention to write over spring break, but time just got away from me! Speaking of spring break, it was great. We just stayed right here in good 'ol Olathe, but had a ball. We got together with friends, went to lunch, played outside, cleaned, cleaned, cleaned the house, went to the park, and relaxed. It was hard to go back to school after that week!
Now we're looking forward to Sammy and Will starting soccer this weekend. Both girls have birthdays in a few weeks. Easter is coming up. It's springtime, and we love it!
My countdown to the last day of school has already begun. (2 months from today!) I just cannot wait until we have time to not constantly rush. I know I'll be rushing around trying to keep Livi out of everything, but that I will welcome with open arms! It'll just be one more tool I can use in my "get in shape girl" plan! Speaking of that little stinker, she just pulls up on what or who ever is closest. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth! She is pretty well done with her bottle and moved on to milk. I think at this point if we gave her baby food, she'd look at us like we're nuts!
We're all ready for some beautiful warm weather so we can celebrate spring!

 Livi was munchin' on some dirt and grass. Yum!

 My little spring chicks!

 Will's spring break was spent shooting hoops 90% of the time!

 The Fam

 All ready for St. Patty's day!

Q-t-pie!

Missing You

The hardest part of all of this is seeing Grandma's heartache.

She tries so very hard to keep us all from feeling it along with her, but I know she's suffering. I just wish I could save her from it. What do you do when you've spent the past 63 years of your life with someone cooking their meals, caring for their needs, putting them first? What a loss.

I just wish I could take it away so she didn't have to deal with it. I really don't think she ever dreamed she'd be the one left here on Earth to deal with the grief. She is struggling and I hate it!

I miss him when I'm there. I miss his presence. I miss his wisdom. I miss his strength.
I miss saying "I'm going to Grandma and Grandpa's house." G & G are now just G. That is just foreign to me. I want to save her from her heartache.

10 Months

Miss Livi Lea,
You are just 2 days shy of turning 10 months! I cannot even believe I just wrote that! With each month that passes, I realize how much you are growing and changing, and I remember that you are my last baby! Livi, you are just such a sweetie! Last week I took you to the doctor and found out you had a double ear infection and croup. Even when you're sick, you hardly fuss. You love, love, love to eat, and your very favorite is spaghetti. When you eat it you make a mmm, mmm, mmm noise. You started crawling just a couple weeks ago. Now you've got it down and you're moving around pretty quick. You're trying to pull up on stuff, but so far you just get up on high knees.
You love to watch your big brother and sister every chance you get. They love you to pieces, and would do anything for you! You've always been a good sleeper and you're keeping that up. Usually you sleep 12 hours a night and you take 2 naps during the day. Right now you take 3 bottles a day, but we just started whole milk, so soon you'll start having less and less formula.
In the bathtub the other day you were playing with your toys and I swear you said "ball" after I did. You say "dada" and "mama" a lot, but I'm not sure if it's always on purpose. You try so hard to clap, but it ends up being a one handed tummy smack! You like to dance to music by shaking your head and rocking, too. 

Milk!

Group Crawl!

When we're at work, you spend your days with either Grandma or Caitlin. You are always such a good girl for them! I think you do so well with going to just about anyone, but sometimes you'll have a preference and want to stay with Mommy.
Livi, we just love you so much! Thank you for making us smile every single day!   

Wardrobe Malfunction

Allow me to give you a glimpse into my morning last Wednesday. (So wish I had a picture of it!) As I was diving into a busy day of paperwork and teaching (lather, rinse, repeat), I was surprised with the following message from Sammy's preschool teacher entitled "Skirt":

Good Morning! Just wanted to let you know that Sammy showed up this morning with a blue shirt and tights but no skirt………I asked her if she forgot something and she said “I didn’t have a skirt at home”
I really just can’t stop laughing :-)

With my naturally calm, cool reactions, I immediately dialed her teacher's direct phone number. I WAS DYING!!! As it rang I just prayed I read the message wrong, or she was really wearing leggings. Her teacher picked up laughing and confirmed my fears. Sammy was, in fact, not wearing a skirt, or pants, or anything of the sort, unless you count the navy tights she had on. I was digging for my keys in my purse while talking to her thinking I would zip home and get Sam some pants to wear. Thank God they had a change of clothes I had sent and stuck those pants on her.
So, now the back story. The night before, Sammy and I had our usual outfit "discussion" before bed. She wanted to wear a shirt with Christmas trees on it with a skirt and tights. I tried to explain to her that the shirt did not match the tights, but she was not having that! I tried for other outfit options, but she wasn't budging. What ended up being layed out was the Christmas tree shirt and the navy tights (with argyle down the sides, no less!). I assumed that Ryan would help her pick out a skirt or alternative pants the next morning. Boy, was I wrong!
When I asked Ryan about what Sammy was wearing, he said he thought it was fine! No pants! Not fine! I guess I learned my lesson: Never leave the children's wardrobe choices to my fashion-challenged husband! We got some super good side-splitting laughs out of it, though!

Oh, so belated!

It is simply ridiculous how long it's been since I've written! I am ashamed! Oh well! I'm over it now!

There is no way I could recount the past 3,4,5,6 months, so I'll just start with the most recent and (maybe) work backwards. Livi is now a 9 month old sweet doll baby. She is a big eater, smiler, laughter and talker. She just barely started crawling, and we're totally cool with that! Will is just loving kindergarten and thriving. It's amazing when he counts by twos, does addition, and reads. It makes my mommy (and teacher) heart melt! He's showing his natural skills in basketball lately, and I just know Grandpa Great is smiling down on him when he plays. Sammy is fabulous as ever! She is a great peer to the students in her preschool class. She is loving her gymnastics class, and still perfecting her princess skills!

Our family was rocked with the sudden illness and death of Grandpa Huggins a month ago. It has been a terribly sad, confusing, gut-wrenching time for our family. While we grieve, we are awakened to the realization of the incredible family Grandpa built. While he was suffering in the hospital, all of us, all 20-some of us, took turns keeping vigil by his bedside 24-7. And now we are just so incredibly blessed to be able to surround Grandma as she deals with the loss of her husband of 63 years.

Although we had the opportunity at his funeral, it was just too hard to share thoughts and memories of grandpa then. Now as I think back, I just keep wishing that I could tell everyone about him; from memories I have from childhood to my most recent memories of him with my kids. Grandpa had this innate sense of knowing a person's character. He was never outspoken, but you knew how he felt about you if you had time to shut up and listen. Grandpa was an excellent example of a devoted husband and father. I remember hearing the Wynonna Judd song "She is his only need" when I was in high school (I think) and thinking, "This is them." They were a perfect combo, and now half of it is gone.

The furthest back that I can think is the stories of Grandpa pushing me around in the wheelbarrow at their house. I can remember spending the night and sleeping in one of Grandpa's white t-shirts. All of us cousins would pile up in the bed with Grandma to hear Little Black Sambo and say prayers. Inevitably, one or two of us would wind up in bed with Grandma and Grandpa. He would "complain" about getting kicked all night long! I'm not sure which one did it, but one of them kept a giant container stocked with skittles and m&m's for us to dip into as we pleased; a tradition that still continues!

My childhood memories of Grandpa include the vision of a quiet, solid, happy, proud man. Never away from Grandma's side, he provided her the perfect balance. As I grew and thought that I was the wisest of them all, Grandpa was still a part of my life. Being our "next door neighbor"; Stacy, Eddie, and I were there a lot. I just recall Grandpa's calm, quiet presence every time I visited. He would listen, most likely disagreeing with my wild opinions and ideas, but rarely voicing his opinion. When he spoke, you listened, and respected what he said. As I moved out of the college years I realized that my parents and grandparents were kinda cool and pretty smart, too.

As we started a family, Grandma and Grandpa Great were a huge part of our children's lives. Will was the first "Great" and named in honor of Grandma and Grandpa's first son, Willie, who they lost when he was 3. It was just magical watching Grandma and Grandpa with Will. I will never forget how priceless that time is with them! Grandpa loved throwing the ball with Will. He brought out construction cones when Will was about 18 months so he could practice hitting a ball off of a T. And I'll never forget Grandpa coaching Will on how to do a push up just a month before he died. He maintained that calm, strong, solid demeanor, even then.

Grandpa always got a big kick out of Miss Sammylou! He really liked to egg her on when she was exercising her diva spirit. She just loves to put on lipstick and perfume with Grandma the second she gets over there. After Sammy and Grandma used up all the Chanel No. 5, Grandpa said there'd be no more of that! He kept their perfume stocked, but just something a little cheaper! Sammy would always go sit on Grandpa's lap and he'd show Grandma just to get her fired up! He just loved that!

Grandma and Grandpa helped us out on countless occasions. They came over to babysit Sammy and Will if our babysitter fell through. Even at 80 years old, they were there doing everything they could to help. I'll never forget Grandpa pulling up to the back of the house with extra groceries or the latest soup they'd whipped up. He was not a big phone talker. At all! Lately though, he'd call me just to ask if the kids were watching a certain TV show that he saw or to tell me about the great meat special at Price Chopper.

I don't think he ever did hold Livi, but he just loved to play with her. He'd get her laughing by getting head to head with her and pulling away just as she tried to grab his glasses. He'd always say, "I don't care!" or "You're not gonna bite me!" It was just so fun to watch him with her!

Without fail, anytime I visited their house, Grandpa walked me all the way to the door, waited for me to get in the car, and said, "Come back." Those two simple words held so much. As I come to grips with the fact that he's gone, I think of those words often. I know for sure that he's with countless loved ones in Heaven now, including his little boy, Willie. That gives me peace. I just wish I could hear him say that again.

a day in the life

Soooo..........it's been like 3 months since I posted anything, and there's just no way I could recap it all. Maybe I can just try to give you a glimpse into a day in the life of the Petzold family. I've got my new gig at the high school so I get up with the roosters and usually leave before anyone else is up. Ryan plays the role of Super Dad every morning, and he'd doing an amazing job! He gets all three kids ready, fed, and off to school every day! Then he heads off to his new, exciting job! I now spend my days with kids ranging in age from 15-19 doing a plethora of activities ranging from teaching reading and writing, math and science, to chasing down running students and sitting with them as they lay on the sidewalk in front of the school. When I get done every afternoon I get to go pick Will up from school and then get the girls from Grandma's or Caitlin's. Evenings are crazy since Will has practice or games 4 days of the week.

All of the kids are doing just great! Will is thriving in full day kindergarten. He plays soccer and football and loves every second. He's lost 3 teeth, too! Sammy loves preschool, but loves her new BFF Marin even more. Seeing Livi is like a miracle before our eyes every day the way she grows and changes.
That's it in a big-time nutshell!