The Kruger Family: Ringing It In

New Years Eve was a pretty normal day for us. Blaine headed off to work, and the boys and I headed off to the grocery store. Owen was not thrilled to be stuffed in the middle of this cart that was one seat too small. Why don't any carts accommodate for more than two children?!?!? And of course a balloon from home accompanied us in Cash's hands.

We got our groceries and headed home to hang out in our pj's all day, play outside a little and watch a little too much TV.
Late that afternoon, we headed to my friend Melanie's house for pizza and sparklers to ring in the new year. And yes, they are still in the pajamas. As always when they get to hang out with their buddies Will and Rex, they were all wild banshees running around like crazy. We finally were able to calm then down for just enough time to eat a little dinner and then we headed out for sparklers.

We desperately tried to get all three boys lit sparklers for a picture, but just as soon as we thought we had it someones would go out, so this is the best we got!

Cash stood at Jim's legs the entire time just waiting for Jim to hand him a sparkler.....fat chance Cash!

We made it home in time for a New Years toast to have happy and healthy new year and then everyone was off to bed!

That night I got the news that Maw was doing poorly and may only have a few days left.

This year did not particularly ended on a high note.

While many wonderful things did happen this year, they were matched with some disappointing news as well. As I look back on 2013, I am blessed that we were lucky enough to move into a bigger house in a great neighborhood, to hear the news that Rachel is expecting her first baby, our baby turned into a toddler, Eli has grown into like a real kid instead of a little boy. He has become more inquisitive, and responsible, Owen has become even more funny, smart, caring and snuggly. We have watched our three boys grow up another year, we have watched them play together and include Cash in games of tag and playing with toys, we have watched them totally fall in love with their baby brother, and become totally protective of him when we are out.
We met up with some friends at one of those kids gyms a few weeks ago, and Owen came up to me and said "someone is being mean to our baby" and was intensely concerned about him.
I am lucky. I am blessed!

Hearing the news about Maw has been hard, but amazing at the same time to have been given time to spend time with her. I am convinced that the reason my family is so amazing and close is because of Maw. Her house was like our hub. She had us all over at least a couple times a month for dinner while we were growing up, and her house was always a meeting point for us. Every summer she would have a dump truck full or sand dumped in her lot behind her house for all the grand kids to play in. We would all go to her house on days when we were sick and our parents had to work growing up. She had us over for holidays. Her house these last few years has had an open door where multiple cousins have lived with her for different reasons. My cousin Zach has been there for the last few years, which has been so wonderful that he has been able to be with and visit her every single day.
Especially these last 4 years, I have made a special effort to go and visit with her on the weekends with the kids. How lucky I am that I live close enough to my grandmother to see her on the weekends. Her caregivers have been amazing and we know them all.
Cash found the ramps that were installed in her house particularly fun to run up and down over and over again, and Eli and Owen would always go for the big bucket of Legos that she kept at her house for all the grand kids to play with when they came over. We almost always ended up in the backyard where she would sit on the porch in her chair and just watch the boys and they would beg my mom to push them on the swing or would run around her great backyard kicking balls. She always had her caregivers buy cookies in case any of her great-grand kids came by and the boys never missed an opportunity to have a snack at her house.
I have spent a couple of hours every day at her house this last week. There has been a steady stream of family members coming in and out to see her. We spent hours over there on Saturday with aunts, uncles and cousins looking through old photo books, scrap books that she meticulously kept, reading the many, many articles from the paper written about her and other family members and talking about memories. We were all taking pictures of pictures so that we could have copies of the amazing pictures she had.

She is a true matriarch. There are 11 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren that she has. We are all so close and all love each other very much. And the crazy thing that is we are all here in Austin together, with the exception of Ethan (who will be back soon) and one other cousin in Houston. We all get together often and love hanging out with each other. Maw is a truly amazing woman who has lived an awesome, long life. As I am writing this, she is still holding on, occasionally responding to us with smiles and open eyes. What a blessing she has been in so many lives. I love her dearly and have loved this time this last week that I have been able to spend with her.