Weise, Juedes, Smith, Spindle & Daily Family Bulletin Board

[ztagirl05]

What were my mom the unc and aunt laura like as kids? Trouble makers, good, etc.
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Much Luv,
HiL

[jimyzguy]

Your uncle was an absolute angel! A book was written about him but unfortunately never published.

[MomYZ]

This is a great and big question that I've been thinking about how to answer without writing a book So I'll just start by saying that Renee, Jim and Laura were good, smart, creative, cute, handsome and beautiful kids that we were ALWAYS proud of!...and still are!
_________________
Mom, Grandma, Me
With Love From Wherever I Am

[mjyzgal]

aw c'mon gma
we want details!
the nitty-gritty!
pleeeeeez?
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<3 me

[MomYZ]

By the time I was 25 we had 3 little kids. Not uncommon in those days when the expectation was to get married and have kids ASAP. Sometimes I was overwhelmed with the responsibility and physical activity required to keep up with and keep track of these kids....even though they were really good kids.

Up til Renee was 4, Jim was 2 and Laura was a baby we lived in an apartment. Some of the things I remember are Renee and Jim getting up really early on Sat/Sun and raiding the freezer to eat ice cream. That was a bad thing because we were on a very tight budget, saving for our house, and we didn't often have ice cream. I guess they also got up and Renee made their cereal bowls too. And they quietly watched cartoons.

The kids played outside a lot, splashed in mud puddles, rode tricylcles, jumped in piles of leaves and played with neighbor kids. That was a busy street corner area so I was always outside with them.

When we moved to our home in Lindenhurst they had a much bigger outdoor area to explore and lots of neighbor kids to play with. Looking back it was a lot of freedom for them and we moms didn't worry too much. The kids might be playing somewhere outside for hours without the adults watching, wondering or worrying.

Once Jim and his friend were gone too long, I got realllly worried but we finally found them playing in a house excavation. As I recall, the kids were having a hard time climbing out of the dirt hole.

I remember Renee and JIm as being somewhat shy. I tried to get Jim to go to Mrs. Lundy's music/rhythm school but he cried and wanted his Mommy so that never happened. Renee didn't want us to leave her at Leslie Zersen's birthday party. I don't remember if she stayed alone or we stayed with her. She didn't want her picture taken in the studio at age 4. Those pictures all show her looking a little red eyed!

Laura could not stand having her feet touched so buying shoes for her was a nightmare. Seems to me that she and Grandma Nehls had a bit of a time when Grandma tried to buy her shoes.

Incidentally, my Mom thought we were not strict enough with our kids, we didn't MAKE them do certain things and we let them talk back to us. I guess parents often do the opposite of what their own parents did. We were not adamant about eating and meals. We had some friends who made the dinner experience a nightmare because the would not let the kids leave the table until the plates were clean. Grandpa and I promised each other we'd never do that. Renee and Jim, I think, were not too picky and would eat most meals I cooked. Laura was picky. My rule was, If you don't like what I fix, fix your own. When you're a little kid that's tough but you can spoon out the peanut butter ....so that's what she grew up on.

Grandpa worked long hard hours to support his family so I often had to take all three kids shopping. That was kind of a hassle with the three of them begging for their fave foods. Shopping at Sears for clothes was a nightmare because they would hide in the circle racks of clothes.

Every now and then I'd have a really bad day, get mad at everyone and want to chuck it all. Even though I had a "June Cleaver" life. I would tell Grandpa that if we ever got a divorce I would be out of there and he could have "these kids". I was probably PMSing because I never really meant it. Divorce was not an option. Whatever problems there were we had to work them out.

In these early years it was very important to us that the kids would be ready for school and would do well. I taught Renee how to read using a comic book series from the Chicago Tribune newspaper. She read her first word, WAX, at four. She and I taught Jim how to read. When he went to kindergarten he came home the first day with some kind of notice from the school. His teacher called and asked if I knew that he could read. Seems he'd read the notice to the class. I think Renee and Jim taught Laura how to read!

Laura lost a front baby tooth at about three when she ran into the corner of a wall. I think Jim had something to do with that. I'm told that over the years Jim pummeled his sisters but most of it was not in my view.

We had lots of fun with these little kids and were always proud to take them out. They pretty much behaved themselves and we got lots of compliments on our handsome family. So that's my view of the early years!
_________________
Mom, Grandma, Me
With Love From Wherever I Am

[MomYZ]

We lived in Lindenhurst for 12 years. The kids all went to Millburn Grade School for K-8 except Laura who left in 7th grade when we moved to CA.

I don't remember any times when the kids did anything really dastardly! Maybe they do! Renee and Jim did have bad tempers for a period of time. Everyone probably knows about Jim being sent to his room until he could "behave like a human being." His room was on the second floor. He climbed out the window, dropped to the ground and came around to the kitchen patio where he sat down Indian style and glared at me. ...with a red face! I think he was 8 or 9ish.

He also would stomp upstairs, very mad, and slam his bedroom door. He did that so many times that the door jamb was loose and we had to repair it before we moved. But this angry phase passed at about age 11 and he's been a great guy ever since.

Renee and I had some nasty screaming arguments about who knows what in her late grade school years. I really don't remember why we argued.

Laura seemed to just go with the flow. I don't remember her having temper tantrums. She was kind of sensitive. One time we got a call from the school when she was in fourth grade. They were reading about Indian massacres and she got faint and nauseous. We were worried about her health but I think she had a very vivid perception of what she read and the impact was immense.

During these years we were pretty involved with the school. I was a hot dog lady and a library lady. Grandpa served on the school board. It was important to us to be visible to the teachers and involved with what our kids were doing. I was a 4-H leader for cooking, I think, and for the MIllburn Maidens baseball.

We took a few long vacations, some with the neighors, and had lots of good times. In the summer, the neighborhood moms took all the kids to Lake Miltimore for afternoons of swimming.

The kids had chores to do. Lawn moving, weeding the garden, shovel the snow, pick the tomatoes, etc. Jim usually had the garbage task. I guess he didn't like it because he wrote us a poem which is tucked away in storage. Wish I had it here to quote. Laura wrote poems too starting about age 5. She loved "Somewhere over the rainbow"....it always made her cry. I think sometimes we'd play that just to see if she'd still cry.

The kids each had good friends in the neighborhood. Our house was always open to having kids come over to play, eat and sleep. Lindenhurst was a very quiet and safe neighborhood where everyone watched out for all the kids. Of course, there were spats among the kids It always seemed to me that 2 girls together got along fine...but not three!

Laura and her friend Carol did have a bad experience at a movie theather in Waukegan when some creep exposed himself and made a pass at them. Grandpa and Carol's dad were ready to kill. I think we didn't let the girls know how much went on with the police to try to find the creep and how frustrated and angry we were. We wanted them to just put it away and move on. I think that was hard for them to do.

I don't think we ever worried about the kids getting homework done. First of all they didn't have as much homework as kids do now. They did the work in school for the most part. They took guitar lessons and practiced. Renee could play the guitar and sing, Then she learned to play the piano using the guitar chord notations and sing while she played. I was so envious. I could never do that even tho I took piano lessons for 8 years.

Renee, Laura and I loved to sing together. We actually "performed" at a couple of showers and at my cousins wedding. I think we were pretty good.

The girls were 4-Hers in cooking and sewing. They did the County Fair projects and won blue ribbons. That's why we have 4-H brownies and why Renee makes such good spaghetti sauce! Jim was in sports in grade school. He was tall for his age and did well in basketball and football. I don't recall him being involved in baseball. We loved going to his basketball games because that was the hot sport in the midwest. We had some pretty exciting games when our little school competed with the big guys. It was sort of like Hoosiers!

When Laura started kindergarten I got a job teaching nursery school. I was a lucky Mom to stay at home with my kids all those years. So for some of these grade school years I was gone all day too. When I came home I just wanted a short nap. I probably shoed the kids away to play or watch TV while I caught my breath.

I'm a "glass half full" person so I tend to remember the good stuff and bury the bad stuff. The kids may recall things differently. But to me these were great years and they were "all American kids."
_________________
Mom, Grandma, Me
With Love From Wherever I Am

[jimyzguy]

Here's a few more details from #1 son:

- The biggest thing I remember about the day we got CAUGHT playing at the house construction site - by the builder! - was that he came screeching or skidding into the driveway - it was gravel for a while - and was yelling about our messing up his site. I think he and Mom exchanged words - he was Bruce something.

- What I remember about Laura knocking her tooth out on the corner of the wall at the top of the stairs is that we couldn't find the tooth! There were a couple other mysteries like that in my early childhood that even now seem unexplained. I once found a bag of malted-milk balls under my pillow and never found anyone who would admit to putting them there. Obviously Mom or Dad did, but it they were so convicing in their denials that it still seems like a magical event to me.

- I used to roam pretty far by todays standards when I was young. Down the street at the corner was the entrance to the forest preserve (at least I think it was a preserve). There was a tree where a squirrel lived in a hole about 10 feet off the ground, whenever I went there I would smack the tree and sometimes the squirrel would come out and look at me. I considered him a friend.

- In case you don't know what a hot dog lady is, she's a mom who works at the school on Hot Dog Day which was a cool event for me. I don't remember how often, but you would get a mimeographed slip of paper - who knows what that is? - and get to mark off how many hot dog, potato chips, ice creams and milks(?) you wanted on HOT DOG DAY (woot!). I think you had to pay in advance and when the day came, for lunch you got to collect what you had ordered. It was soooo cool because you could order like 3 hot dogs and 3 ice creams! They were the ice creams in the plastic cup that you head with the wooden paddle shaped like an 8. I've had some recently but I can't remember where.

- One of the things Dad did on the school board was have prospective principals come over to the house for an interview. I remember that Mr. White - I think - came over. I had at least one serious run-in with him I think because I was whistling at the gorgeous special-ed teacher and she started crying. I feel kinda bad about it know. I hope she got over it!

[MomYZ]

I know it's a broken record but the kids were still great through high school and beyond. My memory is undoubtedly faulty about some of these things so I won't mind being corrected.

Renee went to Antioch High School for 3 years. Early in the first year she brought home a new friend from choir, Jan Ploss. I can still see that moment in my minds eye because I thought, "Hmm..I think she'll be around our family for a long time." Somewhere in the next 3 years Jim fell in love with her. He must have a thing for older women.

Renee was very active in choir and was a good student. Jim had his first year at Antioch and was on the football team. We enjoyed attending both of these activities and supporting our kids and their friends.

I've written about the CA move which was an upheaval for both Renee and Jim in terms of high school and friends. But still...they could have rebelled, could have gotten involved in drugs or wild partying ...lots of could haves. But they didn't. Again, they got involved in school activities and made it through with flying colors.

Laura had all her high school years in CA. She was a musical/ choir person and had a variety of friends but I mostly remember Cathy Hall, whose parents managed a hotel, and Rick and Bill. Laura and the guys were always together it seemed. And they seemed like nice kids. Was it in high school that Laura and friends would go to see Rocky Horror Picture Show? Dummy me! I didn't know what it was all about and didn't think it could be too bad. Years later I saw some clips and wondered how we could have let our young daughter go off so blithely without knowing what she was seeing.

None of the kids had serious romances with CA kids, at least that I knew of. But I guess Renee and Jeff (she met him in 8th grade I think) and Jim and Jan were keeping in serious touch.

At this point I lose track of what happened when because I was working and the kids were all busy with school and working. At some point around 1980 Jan and Jeff both came to CA and stayed with us for a period of time. That was pretty much a house full of kids but even then....great kids. We had a lot of good times. I look back on that time and think I was probably too permissive, didn't have enough house rules. Should have required that all doors be left open

During these years, everybody had a job. Renee worked at Carl's Jr., Jim worked at a food court salad place and delivered newspapers for awhile, Laura worked a bakery and a photo store. And Laura did a lot of cooking for the family. Again...hard working good kids.

They all went to college and lived at home. We provided a car and room and board and I think some living money. But the kids worked hard for spending money and college fees. The downside of living at home was that ...you live by my rules. I do recall some arguments about coming in late.

I'm happy that we have such great kids but I often wonder how we were so lucky. I know we screwed up some but we must have done a lot of things right.
_________________
Mom, Grandma, Me
With Love From Wherever I Am