March

Well, Richard decided to give me this month because he didn’t know what to write. Turns out neither do I. lol March was pretty slow. We did have some big news at our ultrasound though! We found out that we’re having a girl! We’re both very excited to meet our little Alana Rose. Tannin did great during the appointment. He sat in his stroller and hugged his stuffed animals. Towards the end we had to pull out the iPod but for the most part he just enjoyed watching the screen. We immediately went out and bought a couple of outfits for her and have slowly been adding to the collection ever since.

On St. Patrick’s Day Richard decided to play a joke on everyone and dye the Ranch dressing green. Unfortunately it turned baby blue instead and everyone joked that they were eating smurf blood. lol The kitchen staff didn’t think it would get used but it went pretty quick.

Tannin continues to grow. He started cutting 4 teeth, two molars and two canines, so he’s been pretty uncomfortable which gives mommy a chance to practice patience. J Hopefully they come in quickly and we can get life back to normal.

February

Well, this was a short month, and as such, this will probably be a short post. Shelby went home on the 2^nd. Thanks again for being an awesome birthday present for my wife! We really enjoyed having you here for 10 days!

On the 9^th, Olivia took Tannin to the Pediatrician for his check-up and discovered that he isn’t gaining weight. It’s not like he’s unhealthy or anything. He’s a great weight for his age…but apparently not his height. See, he’s in the 99^th percentile for height at 32 inches and showing no signs of stopping. The doctor told her to make sure she feeds him a lot, especially, fatty foods. She said to give him lots of butter on his veggies and Nutella, ranch, and peanut butter on his snacks. How would you like a doctor to tell you to pig out on fatty food?!! So, we’re trying to feed him “right”, but he keeps running it off cuz he seems to think life is entirely about motion, kinda like the energizer bunny. J He just keeps going…and going…and going, lol.

Besides this, he’s begun to play peek-a-boo by himself and thinks it’s the funniest thing ever! He’s a pretty awesome kid.

There was one big thing this month (other than Valentine’s Day), at least for me. I got to teach Flood Geology from the 9^th-13^th! I had a blast! To mix things up a little, I decided to bring my Nerf gun and shoot all volunteers…unfortunately the gun wasn’t very consistent so I rarely hit anyone. Everyone seemed to pay full attention and seemed to get a lot out of the class. Monday was all about how the world was before the Fall, Tuesday was all about the catalysts that led up to the Flood, Wednesday was all about how the Flood went down, Thursday was all about the aftereffects from the Flood, and Friday was all about a specific aftereffect of the Flood: the Ice Age! The only assignments I gave were reading throughout the week and a paper over the weekend. They could do 1 of 3 options: write a summary of what I taught; create a timeline; or, write an application paper. There were definitely more summary papers than anything else, but the timelines and applications were really neat to read through! Actually, all of them were because it showed me just how much everyone got out of the class!

On the 13^th-14^th, we were able to watch the kids of some of our friends so that they could enjoy a night out for Valentine’s! We had a blast and kept the kids busy until bedtime, and then it was rush, rush, rush again once they woke up.

For our Valentine’s celebration, we ended up getting some Chinese buffet to go and ate it at home while watching 10,000 BC (don’t worry, we watched a chick flick the night before). That food tasted sooooo good…until I ate too much, that is. Then it just started tasting worse and worse, but we were soooo full.

Well, that’s all I can remember. Other than a few highlights here and there, the month passed by pretty quick. Enjoy your month and God bless!

January

Where does the time go? Sorry about the delay. February has been a busy month (plus we kept forgetting to write it…) but now we are finally able to sit down and catch you up on the lives of the Reimers in January.

The month began with us heading home. Heading out from Great Falls, MT, we began our long flight to Chicago. We arrived at 3 in the morning only to find out that the hotel shuttle service didn’t start until 4, so we opted for the taxi instead, crashing in our room only to wake up 6 hours later to make sure we didn’t miss the continental breakfast. Getting our belongings together, we signed out and began heading home. Tannin slept the whole way, making it a great time for Olivia and I to talk and enjoy music.

The next day, Tannin got to go to a birthday party for our friends’ baby! We enjoyed some great snacks and I decided to spill some hot chocolate all over myself…and the wall…and the carpet floor, lol. Whoops. Luckily, everything cleaned up fine.

A huge milestone for Tannin, he jumped with both his feet off the ground on the 6^th! This isn’t supposed to happen until he’s 2 ½ to 3 years old! Wow, our boy is pretty awesome!

Right before this, I began driving bus again on the 5^th, followed by NTBI starting up again on the 9^th, though I was working in the kitchen well before then. Olivia got the break up until the 9^th though, lucky her!

One important thing we need to share with you guys that we have been holding back for over 2 months now (I suppose it’s over 3 months as of this writing)…my wife’s pregnant!!!...again, lol. So, on the 13^th, she went to her first midwife appointment and got to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Definitely assuring for her since she hadn’t been able to see a midwife for over a month since knowing.

The month closed out with a big surprise for my honey. I had been communicating with her family in Alabama and on the 24^th, right before her birthday, I picked up her sister Shelby from the airport. She had decided to surprise my wife and so I told Olivia I would do all the errands that day and she could relax at home until I got back. I originally was going to take Tannin as well, but he decided to get sleepy – those kids, lol. Well, that gave me the perfect excuse to go pick Shelby up, so I left early to get as many errands done as I could (because they did actually need to get done J) and then picked her up, stopping to pick some flowers up on the way back home.

Once we arrived at the school, I had her hide out of sight until I could go home and keep Olivia from accidently seeing her. We almost messed up, but Olivia thought I was just hiding a surprise present (which I was, lol) behind my back. So, she closed her eyes and then I gave her the flowers and we went to our house. A few minutes later, as we were talking in Tannin’s room, the doorbell rang. I told Olivia we should see who it is, and when she opened the door, boy was she surprised to see her sister standing there! It was a great time!

The next 10 days were great having her around. She was a real help, especially babysitting for us. She watched Tannin all day on the 25^th so that I could treat my wife for her birthday! We went to a tactical laser tag facility called iCombat and got to shoot each other with guns that made shooting sounds and had recoil to match it. Not to mention, the guns looked like real M16’s! It was a great time…even if she beat me. Then we had to race back for me to play a NTBI league volleyball game. Following that, I brought her out to Texas Roadhouse, one of our favorites!

The rest of the month was spent hanging out with Shelby and letting the two sisters catch up. That meant I got a lot of reading done…a lot, lol. It was good though. I had been wanting to get caught up on some of my reading projects and it worked out perfectly. I got a charter that last Saturday which meant that they got a full day together going to the mall, etc. From what they told me, they had a great day!

Well, that’s all folks. Hopefully we can get February’s done a little quicker. J God bless.

December

Wow! We are getting on this early! Woohoo, go us J This month began with our intern oral book reports. Richard got to go first and tell how he didn’t like his book lol. Then I got to do mine on how amazingly wonderful my book was J

This month we also had the Christmas party for the married students. It was so much fun and Richard’s first time to attend. Both times it came around while we were students Richard was working in the Resthaven café and I would have to bring him some food. I was so excited when I realized he could come with me. It was a get together and white elephant ornament exchange. We gave a spiderman ornament wrapped in a juice box and ended up with a small, mounted deer head.  The first year we got a homemade ornament that looked like a tootsie pop and last year we got a Gandalf/Santa/God the Father tree topper. So much fun!

The next day was the school open house. Pretty much everyone decorates their houses and dorm rooms and then opens them up for everyone else to walk through, admire, and eat their cookies and goodies they left out. It’s always a blast! Tannin loved getting wheeled around in his stroller from room to room, listening to the music and seeing the lights and decorations. He also loved the cookies…his face had chocolate chips smeared all over it lol. One room had racing chickens in it. LIVE CHICKENS! Mine lost but Richard’s won J So in preparation for that our tree when up, we hung our pretty new garland on the wall and got a couple of wreaths to hang in the hallway. We had the Veggie Tales, Star of Christmas, playing on a continual loop on the tv and I even made cookies!

The 12^th brought the last day of classes for the school which meant no more kitchen for Richard and no more desk work for me J He still had buses for a while but then got the rest of the day off.

Oh yeah. That last week of school Richard developed a weird swelling on his leg that by Wednesday got so big he could barely walk and was in constant pain. At that point we realized it was a boil. We tried to get it to the surface so we could pop it but the thing just kept getting bigger and bigger. After a failed attempt at lancing it ourselves (we looked it up on youtube) and Richard’s inability to go to work the next morning, I finally convinced him to go to the doctor. At the clinic they lanced it and packed it really good. Richard said that it felt a lot better while he was sitting. He could still barely walk but at least now he could get comfortable. He told me it was one of the most painful experiences of his life and gave him a new appreciation for the plight of Job who had them all over his body. After the lancing the swelling started slowly receding and now he just has a really nice thick scab.

The staff Christmas party was that weekend. There was a formal sit down dinner and potluck. Several of the ladies had claimed different tables and did the place settings and decorations. They were all different and it looked so cool. After the meal we played family feud with each table being a different team. Ours won! It was a blast.

To continue the theme of Christmas parties, our small group had one as well. It was a great time to laugh and talk. Richard almost got an electric thermos that plugged into the car lighter but it was stolen at the last minute. I got an interesting glass tankard and Richard ended up with a pretty, lacy, black apron with pearls on the neck. lol He traded with me when we got home ;)

Richard finished his buses for the year on the 19^th and we headed to Chicago on the 20^th for our flight to Canada. But before that, on the last day of school Richard went to work in a Santa coat and batman mask. lol He was Bat-Santa and the kids loved it! My husband is the best J

Anyway…we flew out of Chicago on the 21^st. It was Tannin’s first plane ride and he pretty much slept through the whole thing! lol We made it to Great Falls, Montana at about 4 in the afternoon. Richard’s parents met us at the airport and took us out to dinner at Denny’s. We had a good time catching up and letting them see Tannin for the first time in about 6 months. He’s grown quite a bit in that time. After dinner they drove us up to their house in Coaldale, a 3 hour trip.

Our first day in Canada was spent at the memorial service for Richard’s best friend Cam Enns. The two had been together almost since birth, in fact they were born two days apart! Cam had struggled with brain stem cancer for most of his life and had undergone three surgeries trying to eradicate it. We found out in October that it had come back and there was nothing they could do. He held on for as long as he could but in the end he passed away a week before we got there. Thankfully, Richard had gotten a chance to Facetime with him while he was in the hospital so he had gotten to see Tannin and the two talked for the first time in a while. If you guys could pray for his family and friends they’d really appreciate it.

The next few days we spent relaxing and helping out here and there with different things. Richard got to help his dad with scrap metal again and I got to go shopping for groceries with mom. Richard finished his slideshow for his class in February and started working on the homework booklet.

On the 25^th we visited Grandpa Reimer in the nursing home and got a four generation picture.

Christmas day, for us, was the 26^th. Everyone was there except Mike, Amy, and Jayda (Richard’s brother, sister-in-law, and niece). Amy is expecting and didn’t feel up to the trip. We got to meet Nathan and Vicki’s little boy, Julian, our nephew. Tannin wasn’t quite sure what to do with him and ended up barreling him over a few time, poor guy. lol Tannin got lots of toys and fun outfits from the grandparents and assorted aunts and uncles. We got some great stuff too, including the famed chocolate letters J The siblings had a gift exchange as well, Richard got some customized mugs and I got a quad-copter. Afterwards we enjoyed a turkey dinner and family games.  

The next day we headed off to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to spend some time with Mike and Amy. We got to meet Jayda for the first time and her and Tannin seemed to hit it off right away. Tannin followed her everywhere and she taught him how to go down the stairs. lol We enjoyed a couple of nights of family games and then headed back home to Alberta.

The last couple of days we lounged around the house and just hung out preparing ourselves for the long trip home on the 1^st.   

 

November

So this month I thought I’d take responsibility for the newsletter and look! it’s a little early. lol November began by me prepping for Tannin’s birthday party. I put aside all my other work so that I could make games and plan the decorations. Richard wants me to let you know that he was a great help! He made a last minute trip to the store to pick up extra cake stuff because I had ruined one….long story. He even helped prepare most of the games and drew me a wonderful picture of an 8 yr old Super Tannin to play pin-the-mask on the superhero. The party was a success. Most of our friends from the school came to hang out and play games and eat cupcakes. Tannin ran around in his batman costume, loving the attention and playing with the kids who came with their parents. When we finally got around to doing the cake, the little man did not disappoint. He started out just poking it. He kept asking me for permission to eat it lol. Finally he got the point and dove on in. It was…awesome! lol He had icing all over his face and clothes. He had so much fun J and we enjoyed watching him. Thankfully, one of our friends was able to take pictures of it for us so we have some amazing shots. After Tannin said he was “all done” I took him back to the house and stuck him in the tub. A few minutes later Richard comes home with cake all over his face. When I asked him what happened he said that one of the college kids had pied him with it. lol So he finished giving Tannin his bath and cleaned his own face while I went to say goodbye to the guests and start cleaning up.

Once the excitement of the party was over I had a lot of work to catch up with. Whew!

Not long after that we had to completely rearrange our living room because Tannin figured out how to climb onto the back of the couch to grab the goldfish bowl. I barely made it in time to keep him from dumping the bowl all over the place. We have now had to move to a whole new level of Tannin-proofing.

Not much else happened this month. We had Thanksgiving at our mentors’ house. Rick (a professor at the school) and Jonell Barth had made a wonderful spread and we had an amazing time. Their daughter was in town and she had a 7 month old who loved Tannin. In fact, she’s the first girl to ever scare Tannin away! Lol He would go up to kiss her and then she would grab his hair and kiss him and not let go. It was so funny! After he realized he couldn’t get away he started yelling for help. Oh man, it was great! We laughed so hard.

That last week the temperature dropped. It was so cold! That was when the car decided to stop working. Richard would go out to start it in the morning and it just would not start. It’s rebelling against us for bringing it back up here to the cold after it had gotten used to the hot southern weather. We took it in to the shop and lo and behold there was quite a bit that needed to be done.

All in all, I think the highlight of the month was Tannin’s birthday. My little boy is 1! I can’t believe how fast he has grown or how far he has come…

 

October

…And finally, the period of procrastination has ended: October, the month of candy! This month, we got to meet with the missions pastor at our church, Elmbrook, and discussed possible avenues to pursue in our end goal of becoming missionaries. He suggested that I get a PhD in something so that I could have some sort of safety net in entering foreign countries. I have a passion for teaching, and this would be a sure way of getting a good job at a university. We’re considering this option, but not sure if it coincides with our end goals.

Moving on, Tannin was able to have his first Canadian Thanksgiving! We met at one of the professor’s houses and shared the evening with him, his family, and all the other Canadians, half-Canadians, and tag-alongs that happened to somehow be connected to a Canadian in some vague way.

On the 18^th, NTBI had their somewhat-annual Fall Festival! One of our friends from our small group came and spent the evening with Olivia and Tannin while I went with a friend to enjoy watching Walking with Dinosaurs, an animatronic theatrical presentation. I came home to find that they had won 3 goldfish at the ping pong toss…they’re still alive.

Finally, on the 26^th, I worked my last day at The Elegant Farmer. While we were liking the supplementary income, we were really glad to get our weekends back! I think I’ve been appled out.

Then on the 30^th, while the entire school was away for the bi-annual Tribal Cup competition with the other NTBI in Michigan, Olivia’s father came up with his wife, Melissa, to visit us and see their grandson. We had a great time with them, getting to catch up a bit and letting them enjoy Tannin. We had a great meal at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant. I love going there as much as we can J Then they joined us (the Batman family) trick or treating as we went to a few different houses before we all ran back inside to the warmth of our friend’s home. We enjoyed a fun evening with our small group from church hanging out and eating candy. On the 1^st of November, we said our goodbyes and they headed back to the Heart of Dixie. We love you guys!

As for Tannin, he’s growing stronger and smarter each day! On the 16^th, he climbed out of his highchair and almost successfully jumped to the ground, but lost his balance when his feet hit the ground. Then, on the 17^th, he started kicking a soccer ball around, not by accident, on purpose! His last major milestone was on the 20^th, when we gave him his first haircut. We’d trimmed his hair before, but never done a full haircut. His hair had grown to 3”, and we cut 2 of them off. He looks a lot different…I think for the better. When we first cut it off, Olivia looked at me and said, “Are you sure we did the right thing?” I laughed and told her, “Ya, he needed it. Even if we didn’t, it’ll grow back soon enough.”

As for my class, I’ve started making progress. Olivia helped me organize my scatterbrained efforts, and now I’m beginning to make headway. I was able to ask a bunch of the professors how they prepared for a topical class and how to organize their topic headings and got a lot of wisdom from that. Apparently they told me exactly what Olivia had been trying to tell me all along, but I guess I needed an outside source to get it, lol.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I was the Batman bus driver! The last day before school was out for Halloween, I dressed up as Batman and had a great time making a growling voice, especially because I had a bit of a cold, so it came naturally. The time was perfect too! It was before the time change, so it was pretty dark out, only making me look more intimidating. Every time I came to a stop and opened the door, the kids would walk up the stairs and I would say in my gruff, Batman voice, “Good morning!” I scared at least 3 kids…hehehehe (evil laugh)…. One guy was late for his stop, so once he came to the bus and I said good morning, he froze in terror, and then the whole bus erupted in laughter. I even made a mom nervous. I pulled up to the stop and after letting the girl on and saying good morning, the mom laughed nervously and asked me who I was. “I’m Batman!” I roared back in a good natured Batman voice. She laughed nervously again, “No really, who are you?” So, I had to pull my mask up and show her that I really was just me. She laughed pretty hard before she said, “You shouldn’t be going around dressed like Batman. You might scare some children!” …hehehehe. All in all, a great day! When I yelled at the students to sit down in my Batman voice, everyone obeyed immediately. It was great…all that power! J

Well, that’s all folks. Thanks for stopping in for another episode of the Reim Times. See you next month…which is really soon, lol. Sorry!

 

September

 

And now, the long awaited continuation...(sorry about that). I suppose not much happened besides our lives becoming more busy than ever. I started driving school bus again as the school year started up on the 2^nd. This means early mornings for me…really early, lol. Like 5:30…I know many of you can sympathize, and even though I’ve already done it for one whole semester already it doesn’t get any easier.

I was also offered a job at The Elegant Farmer, a local apple orchard and marketplace in Mukwonago. Starting on the 7^th, I soon learned a lot about apples, from Galas to Honeycrisp to Grannysmith to Cortlands. Stocking the apple counters for 8 hours a day, I got to know the ins and outs of apples, despite the fact that I don’t really eat them myself. Kinda ironic, the apple expert who doesn’t eat apples…at least I appear to know what I’m talking about anyways.

At first, Olivia decided to stay home with Tannin while I worked, but soon she felt too lonely and so ever since, she’s joined me at the Farm. Tannin has got to ride the ponies all by himself – he loves ponies – and run all around the property while Olivia chases after him. I’m pretty sure she gets a full workout just keeping up with the little man. The pinnacle of their time, I would have to say, would be when Olivia got to take Tannin on his first helicopter ride! She was freaking out the whole time internally, enjoying the view and then realizing that Tannin didn’t have a seatbelt on and she was the only thing keeping him in the cockpit. She had a vice grip on him until they touched down again. As for our boy, he loved it and sat completely still the entire time! J

And now that we’re talking about our son, we might as well update you on all his new developments. As for the toddler bed, he sleeps great in it now. One of the cooler things is that he has begun to try jumping. He squats down and then straightens his legs really quick and throws his head back. At first, we weren’t sure what he was doing, but then after Olivia and I jumped for the basketball net and then watched him mimic us, doing what I just described, we realized he was trying to jump. After that, he would just walk around the gym, randomly stopping to try jumping, then continue on a few more feet. The amount of squats that guy does, he might just be jumping soon! Oh ya, and he’s also started dancing. He really likes to do dancing squats and nod his head emphatically while moving his hands up and down. Occasionally he can hold a rhythm…. J

As for interning, Olivia has had a bit of a change up. Instead of doing nursery, she is now a multitasker. Monday and Friday she works as a receptionist at the front desk, answering phones and checking in guests. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, she works in the school library entering the books into the cataloguing system on the computer. In her free time, she grades assignments and tests for various teachers. Once they discovered how efficient and prompt she was in finishing grading, she was suddenly being approached by multiple people. She’s keeping up though. I love my wife! She’s such a great worker.

At the end of September, I got to sit down with the AMT (Academic Management Team) and discuss the possibility of teaching a module course in Flood Geology. I was ecstatic when my wife told me that she had gotten an email approving my course. I am going to teach in early spring once we get back from Christmas break! I’m hoping that gives me enough time to get everything ready…there’s so much more to do than I ever thought. At first I thought I could whip up a powerpoint in a week or so with a reading booklet and such, but then I began to formalize my course into a syllabus and research specifics for my course material. I now have two reading booklets (1 for required reading and 1 for fun reading) – of which I’m still not done Day 1’s reading yet, the beginnings of a powerpoint, and a lot of notes written down. Taking what’s in my mind and organizing it on paper is hard stuff!