The Fourth of July Weekend celebrating started with Saturday at Crown Center. Grandma Marcia, Zaydie Larry and Samantha met Miriam, Mikaela, Jonathan and me for a day of Clifford the Big Red Dog and playing in the fountain. Samantha was really the only one who was excited to see Clifford. Mikaela reluctantly agreed to be photographed with him, but Jonathan wouldn’t get within 10 feet of him. After the photo-op, the kids spent a while playing in the “Clifford World” that was set up in Crown Center, before moving on to the fountain.

All of the kids had fun in the fountain. Mostly, Mikaela and Samantha played together and Jonathan prowled on his own. Once they all got the hang of the way the jets worked, they had a blast. The wind picked up, and despite the sun, it started getting chilly. So we got everyone dried off, picked up treats from Chip’s Chocolate Factory, and headed for home.

With Bubbie’s unveiling scheduled for Sunday, June 13, Martie and Bob Kramer and their granddaughter Rylei were in town for a few days. Mikaela, Samantha, Jonathan (and even Ella) enjoyed the chance to catch up with their cousin. The fun came first – dinner out together at Martie & Bob’s old favorite, Waid’s.

Then, on Saturday, playing at Monkey Bizness (the rain interfered with plans for the Zoo). Saturday evening Rylei came over and the kids made and decorated cookies.

With Rabbi Levin unavailable due to his back injury and Rabbi Harris also unavailable, I conducted the unveiling ceremony at Bubbie’s graveside on Sunday morning. I edited the ceremony on the fly, as I watched the storm clouds approaching. The raindrops started falling just as we said they last Amen, and by the time we were pulling onto the highway the rain was falling in sheets. After the ceremony, we all (plus many more extended family members) gathered back and Marcia and Larry’s for brunch. The kids got more time to play together, the adults got to catch up, and we all ate waaayyyy too much.

Our Passover season started with Jonathan’s CDC model seder. We enjoyed the usual mix of cute Passover songs about working for Pharaoh and a plague of frogs and opportunities for the kids to sample seder plate foods (Jon liked the hard-boiled egg, the matzah, and the celery dipped in salt water. The horseradish? Not so much). First Seder was our usual Seder at Aunt Judy and Uncle Lloyd’s house, made notable by Mikaela leading the Four Questions (in English) for the first time.

We hosted our usual small second Seder here at our house – just us, Grandma Marcia and Zaydie Larry (Grandma Sali helped us prepare while she was in town, but had to head back to be with Paca Steve for Passover), Uncle Matt, Aunt Sarah and cousins Ella and Samantha. The kids were great, considering they were being asked to sit through a much longer than usual dinner for the second night in a row. Mikaela took a regular turn reading parts of the Seder and led the younger kids to open the door for Elijah.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We had the largest Thanksgiving Feast yet at Grandma Marcia and Zaydie Larry’s house – I believe the final count was 28. We were served by the biggest turkey yet too – a full 30 pounds of Thanksgiving bird. It was great that so many out-of-town-based relatives were able to join us – Grandma Sali and Grandpa Steve from Montana, Corey, Monique and Annie from Chicago, Steph from Springfield, and Jeff and Brandi from Houston. Both the food and the company were great!

Now, if the Jayhawks can just pull off a victory over the Tiggers this afternoon . . .

We buried Bubbie today. It’s been an incredibly emotional few days. The words and notes of support from family and friends have been wonderful. Jonathan doesn’t really understand what’s going on – just lots of people around and disruptions in his schedule (though getting to spend some fun time with Aunt Mo this afternoon was a treat). But Mikaela is struggling with all of this. At first, she just tried to ignore that Bubbie had died. She wanted to pretend that nothing different had happened, she even wanted to go to Sunday School on Sunday. But she left Sunday school about 15 minutes early, as the reality of it all hit her, at which point she also decided that she wanted to come to the funeral. After the funeral, Mikaela turned to Miriam and said, “I just want to go home and go over to Cannon’s house to play and forget all of this.”

All of the grandkids spoke at the funeral. Corey and Matt and Greg all spoke beautifully. I had an unusually difficult time figuring out what to say. You can read the full text of what I wrote after the jump.

It’s rare that I find myself at a loss for words. But as I sat down to write the words I would say now, I was overwhelmed with such a flood of memories of Bubbie that it was impossible to pick out individual stories or find a coherent narrative. I’m left with sense impressions – flashes of images, snippets of sound, whiffs of smells.

Some of the images that keep hitting me seem so inconsequential – a plaque that hung on the wall in the house on Oak that said, “Don’t criticize the coffee, you may be old and weak yourself some day,” but hints at Bubbie’s sense of humor. And then the sound of Bubbie’s bubbling laugh fills my head.

I heard the sounds last night of Bubbie’s great-grandchildren playing together, and was taken back to Sunday afternoons at Bubbie’s house. Images of playing games with my brothers – all of the games that were for us to play with, arranged together on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the hall; followed by the sound of Bubbie reminding us that the game wasn’t over until all of the pieces had been put away properly.

I emptied the dishwasher, and put away the longest knife in the drawer. It’s truly an amazing knife – long and straight and amazingly sharp. It was Bubbie’s brisket knife. Bubbie gave it to Miriam when Miriam was helping her clean out her kitchen for the move to Village Shalom. I can’t see that knife without smelling Bubbie’s barbeque brisket.

I caught up on my online newsfeeds this morning, and missed the sound and smell of newsprint. I learned to read the newspaper cover to cover from watching Bubbie do it (Dad tends to get short-stopped by the crossword puzzle). Thanks to Bubbie, I think I was the only fourth-grader in my class who regularly read the Metro section of the Kansas City Star.

Bubbie was watching the news on TV when I brought Mikaela and Jonathan over to visit for what turned out to be the last time. She turned it off to turn her attention to the kids. Jonathan gave her one of his patented linebacker-tackle hugs, and Bubbie just giggled about it. Mikaela gave her a hug and a kiss, and then led Jonathan in singing “You Are My Sunshine” for Bubbie. And the smile Bubbie had on her face as they finished, I think that’s the image I’m going to treasure most of all.

I have a new niece! Ella Dayne Rittmaster was born yesterday morning, October 4, 2009. She weighed 7.5 pounds and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great – Matt says that Sarah and Ella might even be able to come home from the hospital today. Mikaela and Jonathan are excited to meet their new cousin (even if Mikaela was a little miffed when she found out that Ella would be a girl, because she was “the only one who had to have a brother.”).

Ella shares her birthday with United States President Rutherford B. Hayes (1822); comedian Buster Keaton (1895); and actress Alicia Silverstone (1976).

On Ella’s birthday in 1648, Peter Stuyvesant established the first volunteer fire department in America; in 1824 Mexico became a Republic; and in 1957 “Leave it to Beaver” premiered on CBS.

Next week, Mikaela turns seven years old. Just about any day now, we’ll be welcoming a new niece into the world. Halloween will be upon us before we know it (Mikaela is all set to go as Harry Potter. Jonathan wants to be a dinosaur again). Grandma Sali and Paca Steve are coming for a visit. Then comes Thanksgiving, followed closely by Jonathan’s birthday and Chanukah is early this year (first night is December 11) and Miriam’s birthday will be during Chanukah. Deep breath. It should be a fun ride.

One random Jonathan note. We’ve been getting books through the PJ Library program. By far, Jonathan’s favorite is “Bagels from Benny”. It’s essentially a riff on the classic story of leaving bread for God in the Ark, the bread being taken from the Ark by a poor person, and the person leaving the bread learning the lesson that giving to the poor is doing God’s work in the world. The story ends with Grandpa telling Benny that feeding a hungry man has made the world a better place and saying, “and what better thanks could God have?” Jonathan thought for a moment and said, “Hmmmmmmmm. I don’t know. Maybe cake?”

Oh, and a couple of links, because people have been asking.
Mikaela’s Amazon Wishlist: http://amzn.com/w/3H9DXQM787VGX
Jonathan’s Amazon Wishlist: http://amzn.com/w/ZHKS0FLCFHN

We had a fun Labor Day brunch at Aunt Judy and Uncle Lloyd’s house. The weather was beautiful, and it was wonderful that Bubbie was feeling better and was able to be there with us. The kids had a great time – Uncle Lloyd showed Jonathan how to use a telescope (well, he tried – Jonathan couldn’t quite manage closing one eye and keeping the other one open). Mikaela, Margo and Teresa harvested apples from the apple tree out back. It was a perfect holiday celebration – good weather, food, family, and fun

September started with birthday dinner for Grandma Marcia at our house. I’m not sure how the math works out on this (math has never been my strong suit) but I’m told that she was celebrating her 29th birthday (or at least the anniversary thereof ). Mikaela decorated the cake (using an entire tube of gold dust in the process), and all of the grandkids helped to blow out the birthday candles. Grandma Marcia was treated to a birthday show in the playroom presented by the grandkids after dinner, with Jonathan on violin, Mikaela singing, and Samantha dancing.