October

This month focused around my parents coming down for the Canadian Thanksgiving. For all you Americans who don’t know when that is, it’s the same day as Columbus Day. They ended up arriving 2 days later and stayed a whole week!

While they were here, we spent a lot of quality time together. Unfortunately, I still had to work, but they spent the daytime with Olivia and the kids. So, that Friday they went with Olivia to the Dothan Art Museum. After I got off work, we headed to Corn Dodgers to spend the evening. For all ya’ll who don’t know what in the world Corn Dodgers is, it’s basically a farm that’s been converted into a theme park for farm kids. There’s a corn maze, which we unfortunately didn’t go through, along with several other smaller attractions spread over a few acres.

They had a corn cannon and were able to let Tannin shoot some corn at the target for a chance at $50. Needless to say, no one hit the target. The corn was too misshapen and the cannon barrel all out of spec…nah, they just wanted to make it a challenge, lol.

Anyway, we got supper after that and then followed him onto a “train” ride where a lawn tractor had barrels painted like cows pulled behind it, with cutouts to ride in. It was pretty fun and Tannin had a blast! Then we jumped on a gigantic blowup trampoline where he held my hands and jumped with me until he fell down and decided he was done. It was time to move on to the petting zoo. He loved feeding the animals, but wasn’t sure how he liked the goats and piglets attacking him for more. He ended up pushing through them and trying to get out of the pen. He also got to ride a pony. Then there was a water racing station, the “Tower of Tires”, a grain bin full of corn kernels, and a pumpkin patch.

After racing the duckies a few more times we headed home after a long, fun day.

The next day I woke up sick and ended up sleeping most of the day. So, instead of going to the reenactment, everyone took it easy and hung out at home.

Sunday, I was feeling better and after church we headed out to the Battle at Newton Reenactment. Olivia got me hooked up with the crew and before I knew it, I was put on the cannon. I was put in position 4, which is the position to fire the cannon. I was given the pull cord with which to fire the cannon, which had a fuse on the end which was placed in a hole at the back of the barrel. It only took me a try or two to get the technique right (essentially an uppercut punch) before I was blasting the Confederates to kingdom come! Afterwards I found out that every time a cannon went off, Tannin would go, “Boom, boom!” along with hand gestures to emphasize the explosion. He’s pretty cute.

Tuesday, they headed to the beach while I went to work. They had a great time at Panama beach and even got to see a dolphin! I came home to two hermit crabs and even got to name one. So now, we have added Colonel and Jr. to the family. That night, I had to say goodbye to my parents since I was heading to work early that next morning. Olivia and the kids said goodbye noon the next day.

Thank you so much for coming Mom and Dad! We loved having you guys down South here! I know Tannin loved spending time with you too.

At the end of the month, since we were leaving for Atlanta before Halloween, we got Tannin a Captain America outfit and Alana a Ninja Turtle outfit and went “Trunk-or-treating” at a local church. Tannin had a blast playing the games, rode on a little train that they had and ran around in the pumpkin patch. I think that was his favorite part! At the end of the night, we picked out some pumpkins and headed home. Then, right before leaving for Atlanta, we carved our pumpkins, one for each of us. Olivia carved an oak leaf. It was kinda cool because she didn’t go all the way through, making it thin enough to allow light from the candle to get through. Mine was a creepy dragon-tiger face. Tannin’s was a super-T symbol, and Alana’s was a cute little face.

We left for Atlanta that last Friday and made the 4-5 hr trip. We left Tannin with the grandparents and experienced being away from our son for the first time ever! I remember going to the McDonald’s for some food and saw an indoor playground. I saw it and thought, That’s perfect for Tannin! I can’t wait to bring him here….when I realized I wouldn’t be able to since he was back home in Alabama…needless to say we missed our little boy the whole time we were there.

 

September

Well, we finally wrote this month…and this time it wasn’t because we forgot, lol! We have been very busy with some big family changes involving a career change and change of residency. If you want to learn more, feel free to email us and we’d be more than happy to explain.

This month began with me getting my biometrics done for my permanent residency…again. Now, we’re just waiting on the government to approve it. I got to go to my first Wood Turner’s Meeting with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. We had a great time and I learned some new things to try out. We were challenged to make a kitchen appliance or tool of some sort. I ended up making a potato masher – that is, a showcase potato masher because it wasn’t strong enough…and I stained it and sealed it with the wrong stuff to use it with food. Whoops, lol :)

Mom and Dad Evett had their 20^th Anniversary which my father-in-law used to plan a surprise vow renewal after an anniversary getaway. Family and friends gathered to celebrate their marriage and be a part of their official reaffirmation of their vows. Congrats guys! We love you dad and mom!

After that, we took a trip to Atlanta for 5 days. This is where our comment at the beginning comes in. We had some meetings to attend and mom watched Tannin during the day while we sat in meetings.

The month closed out with me going to a Forge Meeting where I learned how to make a dragon head out of metal! Not sure I’ll get the chance to try it, but it was cool to watch. That’s all folks. See you next time!

August

Finally, the month we’ve all been waiting for. We found out that I would be working the week Alana was due and would be out of town, about 2 hours away. After talking to Olivia’s doctor, he said that she was progressing wonderfully and recommended inducing just to make sure that I was there. So we planned the induction for Wednesday the 5^th and I headed out of town to work the 2 days prior.

The special morning arrived and we headed into the hospital at 5 a.m. After getting Olivia admitted, I headed out to get breakfast while they got her all hooked up and ready to go. At 6, the doctor came in and broke her water. We had asked that he do this before starting the Pitocin to see if her body would start labor on its own.

After an hour she was having contractions 5 minutes apart but they wanted to see if they could get labor to speed up. So, they gave her a small amount of Pitocin which quickly got the contractions to 2 minutes apart. The nurse upped it one more time and they started coming in hard and fast at about minute apart. Olivia was doing great! She was breathing through the contractions and I was rubbing her back trying to provide some counter pressure. About 3 hours in, Olivia asked for an epidural. The contractions were coming really fast and if this was anything like her labor with Tannin, she still had 5 hours to go. No one knew just how far along she was!

She got the epidural and 30 minutes later the nurse came in to check on her and found that little Alana was crowning. We were all pretty shocked that it had happened so soon. Thankfully, Olivia’s sister Shelby had just arrived to take the pictures.

They quickly got the doctor in there – he wasn’t even able to change out of his suit, lol – and he threw a gown and some gloves on. Ten minutes later, we welcomed our little Alana Rose Reimer into the world! She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz., measured 20 ½” long, and had a head full of curly, black hair. She’s holding up the family tradition of having thick, black hair at birth, at least on their mother’s side, lol. Olivia was born with black hair that was 3” long! It used to stand up straight…she was pretty cute, no bias.

Tannin was able to see us that night and say hello to his new sister! He was staying with grandma and pawpaw while we were at the hospital. He had no clue what was going on and wasn’t entirely excited about this new person taking his mommy’s lap. Since then he’s come to like her, hugging and kissing her before going to bed.

Over the next day and a half, we had some friends from church and family stop by to say hi and see how the baby and momma were doing. After that, we were discharged and got home the afternoon of August 7^th. Olivia was feeling great, not having the spinal headache she had had with Tannin.

After that, Alana had her 1 week appointment that next Monday. I was back at work and life was finding its new rhythm. Since then, life has been interesting, trying to juggle two kids needing our attention and investment in their lives. It’s been good though: stretching, but good J

Oh, and I got my extended Permanent Residency unofficially approved! The reason for this is because my initial Permanent Residency was a conditional one, one that needed renewing after 2 years. Olivia got all the paperwork together and sent in. We received a confirmation letter and an appointment for me to get fingerprinted in September. This new card will be good for 10 years while we work on getting my citizenship. Yay!

 

 

July

Before I do this month’s entry, I thought I’d give a shout out to our Quorumites (small group in Waukesha). I realized after I had posted last month’s newsletter that I had forgotten to mention them. In June, we said goodbye to our friends from the Quorumite group.

 

These amazing people have been a part of our lives for nearly 3 years. We met them when we began going to NTBI in the fall of 2012, right after getting married. It was a newly married’s class at Elmbrook Church and once the class had ended, we decided to keep going as a small group. Ever since then, our group has changed, grown, and developed into what it is today. Olivia and I were blessed to have them as a part of our lives in many ways!

 

One that I remember was in the middle of January. After getting back from Christmas in Alabama our car wouldn’t start because the fuel line had frozen (apparently they water down their gas the further south you go, lol). One of the men in the group came over and helped me get it fixed, and luckily the weather warmed up around the same time and we were able to drive again.

 

Thank you Quorumites for all your love, support, friendship, and living life together. We won’t forget you all and hope we can see you all again!

 

Now, on to July. This month was mostly just working for me and pregnancy for Olivia. For the 4^th of July, we bought some fireworks and lit them in the yard. It was pretty fun. Tannin loved all the lights and noises, staring up at the sky as they went off. Every time there was a pause so we could light the next one he would turn to Olivia and sign for more.

 

Speaking of Tannin, he’s grown in his vocabulary, occasionally trying to repeat words we say, usually only once, much to our chagrin. He loves to be outside and see the dogs. Our neighbor has a pool and has let us use it, so we brought Tannin there after work on several occasions. He’s finally becoming okay with the water, not freaking out every time we bring him close to it. He’s even starting kicking! So now we’ve just got to show him how to use his arms at the same time, lol. Oh, and he’s getting less messy at meal time. Cleanup isn’t nearly as bad now. Meals where we used to have to bathe him afterwards, he only needs a mild cleaning. Definitely nice. Oh, and we found out that he’s not really scared of much. During a thunderstorm, instead of getting scared like most kids, he raises his arms and goes “boom, boom”, trying to mimic the thunderclaps. It’s pretty funny to watch, lol.

I’ve been enjoying working in the shop; they have a carpenter’s shop with various woodworking tools, so it’s been nice to use my hands again. I’m working on a clock right now. I got all the gear ratios figured out and the gears cut out. We’ll see how far I get on this project in August.

 

June

Welcome back for another edition of the Reim Times! This month was chalked full of events…my wife called it craziness! It started out with me finishing busses on the 12^th, while my elementary school had finished the week before, meaning I was only working half the hours for the same pay that week! Woohoo!

Following that Friday, we headed to the Wisconsin Dells with some friends from college. We had a great 2 nights there, put up in a condo, playing at the waterparks and hanging out together. The place we stayed at – the Wolf Lodge – had a great waterpark that Tannin…eventually liked. At first, he screamed in horror when he ran into the water fountains pluming from the ground. The poor kid was scared out of his mind. Once we convinced him that it wouldn’t kill him or corrode his flesh, he was willing to play in it. It took him an hour or two though, but by the end of it, he was very, very tired…as were all of us, and severely dehydrated. It’s amazing how dehydrated you can get playing at a waterpark. Ironic, I know.

The next day I went with the other husband to Noah’s Ark Waterpark while the wives stayed with the kids at the lodge. Us guys went on all the rides, finding all the extreme ones and finished right after noon. I even got to try body surfing! My friend had done it before, sooo he showed me up, lol. There was one ride where you were sealed in a capsule before hearing a countdown “Three, two, one…” and then the bottom dropped out! You were dropped straight down into a tube that looped, generating some serious G-force before finishing the loop to the bottom. Definitely the best ride there! After that, the 100-ft slide seemed like a breeze, hardly even pumping my adrenaline. I guess the crazier stuff you do, the more accustomed your body gets. Not sure if that’s a good thing…ahh, who cares, lol.

After that weekend, we finished packing our few belongings into cardboard boxes...My wife just smirked at me when I said “few”, reminding me that it took us a few weeks of slowly packing our house up, followed by a solid 7 hours of work Tuesday morning before we had finished packing, loading, and cleaning and hit the road. That day, we made it just outside of Indianapolis and settled in for the night. No road problems yet!

The next day, we were making great time! Tannin was doing awesome, being a great sport and playing with a makeshift toy holder that Olivia had strapped up for him. It held his attention for a few hours. He “read” books and watched movies and ate snacks, and slept a tiny bit. We had passed through Nashville and were going to hit Birmingham by supper. We were making great time, flying through the towns.

We had just pulled away from a pit stop and had hit the interstate when all of a sudden, boom my gas was gone! Gas pedal that is. And no, there was no sound…luckily. But there was no power, nonetheless. So, I pulled off the road. Fortunately, we had just hit a section of highway under construction and they had widened it 2 extra lanes, so I had lots of room in between the cones. Unfortunately, I had not pulled far enough off the shoulder to be comfortably away from traffic. The trailer behind us was angled toward the road and I was getting nervous we might get hit, so we started making phone calls.

We were able to get the number of the station we had just stopped at and they had someone pick us up. While the guy was there, I had him help me roll the truck and trailer further off the highway out of harm’s way. Then, we all packed into his truck and headed back to the station. During this time, we had received word that a relative lived within an hour and was on their way to help us.

So, we hung out at the gas station restaurant, had dinner and some ice cream while we waited for them to arrive. They put us up in a hotel for the night and helped me get the truck moving enough to get it off the road. Turns out, the bracket for the gas pedal had broken, so there was nothing for the pedal to pivot on. The throttle had seized as well, so once we got that fixed we had about half the power back. After a great night’s sleep in a wonderful hotel room I got up first thing the next morning and took the truck into a mechanic (who just happened to be a couple blocks away from the hotel). He put the bracket back into place with a screw, told me that it would get me to my destination but I should probably get it welded once we got home.

We had breakfast and then we were on the road again. Instead of stopping in Birmingham, like we had planned (we just wanted to be done by this point), we went straight to Dothan. We were home by dinner.

We spent the next couple of days unpacking the trailer into a storage unit and trying to sort out what we needed right now and what could stay packed away for a while. On Father’s Day I got to go and watch the new Jurassic World movie. It was pretty great. Gotta love the Indominus Rex :)

Since we have been here Tannin has had at least one big change. He’s now the youngest in the house (at least for a bit longer) and enjoys all the attention he gets from his Aunts and Uncles who are more like big brothers and sisters. I think all the interaction is encouraging him to talk. We’ve had a couple of words that just popped out of nowhere that he now uses all the time. For example; he now uses the words “no”, “snack”, and a weird version of “water”. With that last one he sticks his tongue out while making a “lal, lal” sound. He’s pretty hilarious.

The last little bit of June was pretty calm. We just hung out at the house and spent time with family, including a small pool party for my brother-in-law’s birthday.

Oh yeah! Then the job hunt began. It started out with me applying to the different job agencies which offer temporary job placements. After sending out about 20 applications, we decided to try a different angle to see if we’d get more bites. Opening up the phone book, my wife grabbed the phone and tried calling every cabinet/carpentry business in town to see if there were any job openings. I love my wife! The second place she called said they had just fired two of their employees and were looking for good, dependable workers. She was able to set up an interview and I headed there first thing the next morning.

Upon arrival, I noticed there wasn’t any parking. After looking all around the building, I decided to park at the food market across the road, slightly confused. I found out later they had employee parking in the back, but it had a different business marking that area. Well, once I made it to the door, I found that it was locked. I began to get worried that it may be closed or that the address I had was wrong, but the sign for the construction company was still there on the door, so I tried knocking. After a few seconds, a man answered the door and let me in. It was kinda weird, but I was glad that I was in the right place.

I introduced myself and answered questions as he shot them off to me before I handed him my resume. He skimmed over it, looking at me and asking about my different skillsets. Seeming satisfied, he asked me when I could start. It took me a second to realize that he had given me the job before I answered, “Right now, if you want.” I had dressed up a little to look nice for the interview, but I wasn’t about to let pass an opportunity to show him my work ethic. Luckily, I had thought far enough ahead to bring a water bottle. Looking at his work clothes, I didn’t see any stains or tears, so I thought how bad can it be? The worst case is I’ll have to spend a bit of money for some new clothes. So, I headed off to work, calling Olivia to let her know the good news! I spent that whole day pressure washing the finish off a deck, soaking myself to the bone, with mixed weather and spotted showers adding their two cents. But I was happy, happy that I had landed a job within a week and a half of moving into an entirely new area with almost no connections (family definitely helped). Life was good. By the end of the week, I had pressure washed and sanded a deck, packed up a tree, fixed a fence, patched a roof, and installed a door. I’m definitely enjoying the diversity and I hear we’ll be renovating some kitchens soon! I can’t wait.

 

May

Alright, since we’re moving next week we figured we should get a head start on our blog and not put it off until the last minute lol. There was quite a bit that happened in May but thankfully it all held off until after Mother’s Day J, which was great by the way. My wonderful husband made me a homemade ice-cream cake in the shape of an “M” and woke me up with a gift and a homemade card. The card was the best part. J

That next Tuesday was my last day of work here at the school. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I picked Tannin up from the nursery that day. I was going to miss the 4 hrs in the morning that I would have to myself but I’m so glad to be able to spend it with my little man. Poor Richard still had to work in the kitchen for the rest of the week.

That Friday was graduation for the students. Richard and I volunteered to watch some of our friends’ kids while they sat through the ceremony. Tannin had a blast running around the playground with them for 3 or 4 hours.

The next day was Richard’s birthday! He turned 23 and since his birthday last year was kinda ruined by Graduation (it took the whole day and neither one of us felt like doing anything after that) I wanted to go all out this year. So I planned a backyard BBQ and invited our close friends from the school and the people from our small group. Unfortunately it rained and we weren’t able to be outside but we still had fun hanging out inside. One of the men from our small group braved the rain in order to cook the burgers and hotdogs on the grill and the food tasted great! We had root beer floats and I even made him a cake. Seeing as this was only the second party I had ever planned from beginning to end I thought it was a smashing success. It even stopped raining right at the end so that all the guys could go out and play a round of disc golf. J

We celebrated our 3^rd Anniversary on the 22^nd as we ran through airports in Milwaukee and Charlotte on our way to Florida so that we could attend my friend’s wedding lol. Tannin was as good as could be expected. He slept through the last flight but the first one was a little rough. We got a nice surprise when we arrived in Montgomery, Alabama when my parents met us at the airport. We had planned for them to meet us the next morning in order to drive us to the wedding but they just couldn’t wait that long. They were there at 11:45 pm when we got off the plane.

The next day we traveled down to my parents’ house where we hung out for a few hours before leaving for the wedding. Tannin loved running around with the dogs. He was a little hesitant about meeting the horse but I think he warmed up to her eventually. After a short nap for the little man, we all got dressed up and jumped in the car to head to Florida. (It was about a two hour drive.) The wedding was outside and Tannin had a blast running around with his Uncle Wyatt and Aunt Sophie. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was great. Since the bride was a friend of mine from the Civil War reenactment group I was a part of, there was even a cannon fired during the reception. Tannin loved it and didn’t seem phased by the loud boom. It was about that time that we looked at the time and realized it was after 7! We had to get home and put the munchkin to bed. We said a quick goodbye to all our friends and loaded back up for the ride home. That night Tannin got to sleep in Aunty Shebi’s room while mommy and daddy got some much needed alone time lol. He did great and they kept him busy for a while the next morning letting us sleep in!

Sunday, we visited my mom’s church and then hung out at the house. Richard took off with Garrett and had fun riding bikes, sword fighting, and working in the carpentry shop. At one point he came in with a homemade vase made from a slice of tree trunk and a bouquet of wildflowers from beside the road. It was so cute!

After dinner that night we packed back up into the car and drove back to Montgomery. Since our flight was so early the next morning we wanted to make sure we had a good night’s rest. We got at 5 the next morning in order to catch our flight at 7. We had a better flight this time, I think mostly because we were able to find places for Tannin to play in the airport. They had little play areas where he could run and explore while we ate lunch and just relaxed. He slept through 2 of the flights this time and was pretty good for the one he was awake for.

We got back to Milwaukee around 6 where some friends from the school had agreed to pick us up. We treated them to pizza and ice-cream as a thank you J…and that was pretty much our month. It got a little crazy there at the end but it was a lot of fun!

Tannin has almost finished cutting teeth, at least for now. He’s got pretty much all of them except for the two canines on the right. He’s finally started talking! At least a little bit lol. He said “momma” for our small group but has refused to do it since. However, the boy loves his daddy and greets him with “dada” all the time. He even said, “cock-a-doodle-do” at one point. While we were in Alabama he really loved the dogs and what started as him trying to say the name “Blue” (for his favorite one) turned into “bubble”. Now all dogs are bubbles…lol. It’s pretty adorable but we’ll have to work on that. J

Richard’s note: On the 15^th, we remembered my best friend Cam as it would have been his 23^rd birthday. Unfortunately he passed away about 6 months prior due to his brain cancer spreading to his lungs and then the rest of his body. He fought hard, but God knew it was his time. Out of respect for his family’s wishes we won’t be posting pictures, but I wanted to include this video in honor of him. It will be great someday to see him again!

April

Welcome back for another synopsis of life with the Reimers! April opened with Spring Break. This meant that I was also off of busses (except charters, of course).

For Easter, Tannin got to have his first egg hunt. We “hid” them all over the playground. It was the funniest sight to watch him try to coordinate holding a bucket and putting eggs in it. Instead of putting them in the bucket, he kept trying to hold all of them in his hands, lol. It finally got too cold for mommy to take it anymore, so we moved the hunt inside in order to harvest the gummies that we had put in each plastic egg. After he had collected them all, we showed him how to open the eggs and then sat back and let him enjoy eating his Easter snack. I may have “accidentally” given my son an entire Hershey’s chocolate cross…which may have been eaten in one sitting…and may have led to him drooling brown snot out his nose for the next two days…hehehehe.

Two weekends later, New Tribes Bible Institute hosted their biannual Tribal Cup competitions here at the Waukesha campus. Students from the sister campus in Jackson, MI, came to participate in a variety of sports. I was on the Waukesha volleyball team (we won).

Since we now have a bigger apartment, we had room to host a family. They were a fun couple to hang out with, and they had a little girl Tannin’s age. The kids had a blast playing together and us adults had a great time talking. We also got to see a friend from JHBC (Jackson Hole Bible College) whom we hadn’t seen since graduation in 2011! It was great to catch up on each other’s lives and have her meet Tannin and us meet her new boyfriend.

The very next weekend was the Senior Banquet. I was working in the kitchen in charge of making the salads. Olivia got to go though and enjoy the meal with some of our friends in the senior class. I made a 10-step layered salad (I called it the Citric Laminous), complete with mandarin oranges, strawberries, and a whole assortment of other awesomeness that I wouldn’t eat, lol, but I know most people like. I really got to grow an appreciation for people that work banquets serving gourmet meals. All I did was a salad, and it took us 3 hours non-stop, and we barely got them out on time. Working in the back, I got to eat all the leftovers once the seniors were done. It was some pretty fantastic food!

Well, that’s April. Tannin doesn’t have much news to tell you other than his chocolate snot. Since May is just about over and we’re just getting this out, we should have more news to share with you very soon. Until then….