She's Off To Japan

This morning our alarm went off at 2:30am. Ugh! I am not a morning person, and I don't move well in the mornings, so the 2:30 alarm was not a friendly sound to me. ha

After we got dressed, we drove an hour to Ashley's apartment to pick her up, as well as Chelsea, who had spent the night with Ashley. They decided to pull an all-nighter (ah to be young again lo)

We took Ashley to the airport, and got her checked in. I made her agree to let me take some pictures and her comment was "Do I have a choice?" ~ She knows me so well. :)

As we said our good-byes I was fine with the "I love you" and "Have a great trip" part. However, when I said "Have a wonderful Christmas", I lost it. I hadn't intended to cry, but realizing this was our first Christmas

without all 3 of our children home with us, is a sad thing, so I think as a mom, I'm allowed a good cry.

But, that having been said, I must also say that I am so super excited and happy for Ashley and Lance to have this reunion and time together. They were married at the end of April, and in early May, Lance went off to war in Afghanistan. He's a marine, so they are right in the thick of things, and as time went on, the stress was starting to wear on Ashley. She wouldn't admit it, but as a parent, you know your child well enough to see it.

Jay and I both were smiling thinking about which one of them will run to the other the fastest, and how long their first embrace will be before they stop hugging. What a sweet image, and part of me wishes I could be there to see that happiness that will be on both their faces. Sadly, she wasn't excited about the thought of me tagging along, so I made her promise that she will take LOTS of pictures, and she assured me she will.

With lay-overs and total flight time, it will take her 23 hours to fly to Okinawa. She left her at 6am this morning (Monday), and she'll arrive in Okinawa at 9pm tomorrow evening (Tuesday). LOL


In 19 days she'll return, and I know it will be hard for both of them. But, as Ashley said before leaving "I know it's going to be hard to leave him, but it won't be as hard as the last time when I knew he was going to war."

One of the last things she said before she headed up the escalators to her gate were sweet words I'll carry with me for the next 19 days "Oh my gosh mom, Seriously? Another picture??"

I wish both my daughter and my son-in-law a wonderful reunion, and lots of wonderful memories of their time together. And I wish for them both a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. I love you both!!

Donovan's Daughters

I forgot to blog about Austin being in his school play a week or so ago. Funny thing was, he didn't try out for the play.

One day during lunchtime at school, I got a text from Austin, the conversation went something like this:

Austin: I'm in the play
Me: What? I thought you weren't trying out.
A: I didn't
Me: Wait. What?
A: I'll explain when I get home. Oh, and I got the lead.

Do I need to try to explain just how long of an afternoon that was? I nearly pulled him out of his truck when he got home begging for more information.

It turned out that the kid who had the lead, had something happen and he just decided to quit the play.

This was a month into rehearsals.
This was 3 weeks before the play.
This was a lead role.
This part had over 130 lines to be memorized.
Did I mention it was 3 weeks before the play?

The co-directors of the play scrambled to figure out who they thought could do this, and they both thought of Austin. According to one director, when they asked Austin if he'd do it, he just shrugged his shoulders and said "Sure, why not".

Fortunately for Austin, he is extremely good at memorizing. The one thing he can't do is accents. His character was an Irish immigrant, but Austin is a true, no accent, midwest farm boy. The directors let the accent go.

A week before the play I asked Austin if he'd like me to run lines with him and he said "What for?" I explained that it might help him with learning his lines. He looked at me and said "I've had them learned for a few days now." Uh, ok, nevermind then. lol

I will be honest, I was so nervous on the opening night of the play. I knew this was a lot of pressure, and Austin's never had a lead role before. I wanted this to be a great night for him, but I needn't have worried. He did great!

He never missed a single line and was animated and believeable. Well, as believable as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenage boy can be when portraying an Irish father of 5 daughters.

All of the kids did awesome and the play was a great success.

The following Monday after the play, I again got a text from Austin:

A: I'm in Speech now
Me: What?
A: Mrs. V and Mrs. P (speech coaches) told me they saw me in the play and they want me on the team.
Me: So you have groupies?
A: What?
Me: Nevermind

Here's a couple of pictures from the play:

Here's Mr. & Mrs. Donovan. Yep, they sure look Irish don't they? lol

This is one of my favorite pictures. Austin is 5'7", but he looks so tiny next to all those big guys. lol

Mr. Donovan giving one of his fatherly speeches

When a girl is in a play, you normally give her a bouquet of flowers, but what do you do for guys? I knew Austin would die of embarrassment if I gave him a bouquet, so I had to be creative. I decided to take one single red rose and tie it to a big bag of skittles, which happens to be his favorite food of all time (yes, he swears it is one of the food groups). After the play, the rose was on the counter and the skittles were never seen again. If you look closely, you can see the tip of the flower and part of the skittles, hidden behind the congratulations picture his girlfriends little sister had made for him. But at least he survived. :)

Oh, and I thought his hair would be great for the Winterfest dance or even Prom, but I was vetoed by both Austin and his girlfriend. lol

Brag Alert

I have failed so miserably at the Project 365 in recent weeks. I've been in a bad flare that lets up for a day or two and then I'm right back in bed. Since I haven't participated in 3 weeks, I have felt terribly guilty...and therefore avoided coming here.

However, it is what it is and since I can't change it, I'll just move on. :)

One thing that really made my rough day better was reading this in the school announcements this past Wednesday:

Other Announcements:
Congratulations to our 2010-2011 New National Honor Society members:

Anna XXXX, Taylor XXXXX, Kacey XXXXX, Paiton XXXX, Austin Heeren & Rachel XXXX. 

We are so proud of him! He's a pretty mellow kid (just like his dad) and he never acts excited, so when he told

us about it the day before it was along the lines of "Oh, by the way. I'm a new member of the National Honor

Society". As if he were saying "I'm going to take my truck in to get an oil change." 

Austin is a very good student.He's always been very concientious about getting his homework done right away,

whereas Jay & I were the type who decided at 10pm on Sunday night that we better get to our homework

done that was due on Monday morning. lol

Ashley & Chelsea were/are good students as well, but they have had to work at it, whereas Austin just has

it come so easy to him. Jay and I on the other hand worked at it (well, maybe not so much) and were 

average students.

hhhmmm....I wonder if Austin was switched at birth and he's not our biological child. That would explain

why he's so good at school and so easily, because he sure didn't get it from us. Thankfully he looks just like

his dad, so  yea, he's ours. lol 

The 'Dreaded' Phone Call

Ever get one of those calls late at night that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up just hearing it ring? We had a call like that last night. 

Ashley called us around 1:00am, and was upset. It had been storming, and when she got off work at midnite she drove slowly back to her campus (visibility was very poor). When she got closer, she found the street was closed due to flash floods. Since she knows her way around the city pretty well now, she tried different directions and different streets, but both routes leading into her campus apartment were closed due to street flooding. I had the phone on speaker mode so Jay could participate in the conversation as well.

She sounded near tears and she knew this would last a while as it was still coming down in sheets of rain. "Mom, I can barely see to drive it's so bad and I don't know what to do". Jay in a moment of wanting to comfort his daughter said "I'll come down and help you." "Dad, there's flooding everywhere, and you don't even know your way around and I don't need you getting lost. Plus, as hard as it's raining, it's nearly impossible to see unless you know where you're going. So, no, don't come down".

Jay told her to check into a hotel for the night. She immediately said "I can't afford that. I still have my books to buy for this next semester". Then she added "Hey, there is a convenience store over there. I'll just go there and sleep in my car."

I yelled in to the phone "Uh, helloooooooooooo. NOT a good idea there girlie! Murderers and pervs hang out at places like that overnight. Promise me you will stay away from there!" She laughed at me for being overly paranoid and said I watch too many cop shows, which is probably true, lol, but this is my baby we're talking about!

By this time she started to cry. She was exhausted, upset, and didn't know what to do. Jay again told her to check into a hotel for the night and told her that we would help her out by paying for it. Her comment was "I feel bad asking you to pay that much." Jay had the best comeback "There is never a price we could pay that would be too high for one of you kids, especially when it comes to your safety."

She agreed and called us back about 20 minutes later saying she found a hotel. She said the first place she went to was full from others pushed out/back because of the flooding, and the second hotel had just a few rooms left for the same reason. She was in her room, and all giddy because all they had left were king bed rooms, and yet she said she was so tired that she didn't care if all she had was a cot somewhere.

Well, she may not care, but we do. Thank you God for keeping her safe.

The Date Has Been Set

Ashley & Lance have set the date for their public wedding ceremony next Summer.

The church has been reserved and deposit paid.

The reception location has been reserved and deposit paid.

The photographer....well, that's still undecided at this moment. But hey, I feel good we have those two main locations done. We'll keep plugging away at the rest.

Planning this ceremony is a lot harder than I imagined, because the groom is serving in the marines overseas. He won't be back until a short time before the wedding, and Ashley doesn't want him to feel left out, so she wants to confer with him on every. single. detail.

She's so sweet and naive. I keep trying to tell her that when it comes right down to it, he cares is that she's there, he's there, and the minister is there. The rest is just blah, blah, blah for the most part.

Sure, there are some details he is interested in, but if you try to have him discuss whether to have netting or ribbon around the centerpieces for the tables, and you're going to see his eyes glass over.

So for the next year I'll be helping to plan a wedding.

Donations of advil and wine are appreciated.

Ready For The Weekend!

Whew...what a week!

First, Austin had the stomach flu from h-e-double hockey sticks. The poor kid was so crazy sick that just today he finally went back to school, even though he still felt tired and still had a headache. Somehow, amazingly, neither Jay or I got it. I think it was due to all the prayers we said...and the fact that if Austin even looked at something, it was sprayed with Lysol. LOL

Then our internet adapter broke. Yes, I do have internet on my phone, but I'm still struggling with the whole touch screen thing and typing on it is much slower than typing on my laptop. The good news is that I read more this week than I have in the past month, and I got some really good menu ideas for the summer.

We received our new wireless adapter today, but it wouldn't allow the installation process to go through. With the way the rest of this week has gone, I wasn't surprised. lol I called Customer Service and may I say that "Rebecca" was so patient and helpful. Within about 20 minutes I had internet again and I was smiling!

Then I got a pretty bad fibro-flare on Wednesday. I was really bummed by it because I had actually felt really good for a few days. I was able to take care of Austin, keep the house up, and run errands...and I still had energy to cook supper, and do the laundry. It felt great. Then dumb ol' reality had to come back and smack me upside the head. By today it's getting better again slowly, so I'm going to attempt camping with the guys this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Still no new well. We're on week 72 with no water. Ok that's a slight exaggeration yes. It's only been a little over a couple of weeks, and technically we do have water (in a giant barrel), but well, it's just not the same and I'm taking a moment to whine about it. :-p

Well there you have it...our crazy week. It's one of those weeks that I am so glad to have behind us. Bring on the weekend!

I Thought Flu Season Was Over!?!

Yesterday was not one of the better days in our house. I should have seen it coming when I had a horrible time trying to sleep all night the night before. I take a pretty strong sleeping pill, so now sleep usually isn't the enemy it used to be. Sunday night was the exception.

I finally dozed off for a short time only to be awakened by the feeling I had wet the bed, but it went down my leg too. I turned on the flashlight application on my phone and let out a long string of "No! No! No!"s. One of the dogs had gotten sick on the bed - my side of the bed - and I had laid in it! G-R-O-S-S!

I yelled "We're selling the bed!"

Jay scurried out of bed and said "I'm sleeping in one of the girls' beds" and he left me there all alone.

I took a quick shower. Then I stripped the bed and was too tired to re-make it, so I grabbed a couple of blankets and tried again to go to sleep. Again, I managed to doze off for a short time, when Austin stood beside me and said "Mom, I'm sick" and he proceeded to prove it, without giving himself enough time to make it to the bathroom."

The poor kid had it really bad and I felt awful for him. Each time he would get sick it would happen almost immediately, which gave him no hope of making it to the bathroom. After 4 times of cleaning up after his attempts to get there, I finally handed him a small garbage can and he kept that by him the rest of the day.

You all need to understand that I hate the thought of vomiting more than just about anything. I will do anything in my power to avoid it at all cost, and now I have had to deal with cleaning it up 5 or 6 times in less than 12 hours. That's just wrong!

Once he stopped getting sick, the fever set in, and that's when I thought I'd lose my mind. He just could not get comfortable and I felt bad for him, but uff da kid...give your mama a break! As I tried to clean or do whatever I needed to do, I would get a text from Austin saying "I'm hot","I'm cold", "can you re-wet the wash cloth for my forehead", can I have more water", "can you open the window", "can you re-wet my washcloth", "can you close the window", "I'm hot", , etc...repeat, repeat, repeat. This happened every few minutes and went on for a few hours. Because of how much I love this kid, and knowing he felt so miserable, were the only things that kept me from taking him into town and dropping him off at someones doorstep.

Thankfully, around 11:00 last night he finally fell asleep, and he's still sleeping this morning. I'm hoping his fever broke during the night and that he might be able to keep some small amounts of food down today. Unfortunately, he has his last school concert of the year tonight and this means he won't be going, so that's a real bummer.


Oh, and as far as my not being able to sleep on Sunday night...Yesterday morning when I came out to the kitchen, I saw my sleeping pill still sitting on the counter. I guess it helps it work better if you actually take it.

Prayer Request For Lance

I'm sending out a prayer request today for my son-in-law, Marine Corporal Lance Jones.









Lance is being deployed early this morning to Afghanistan. As of right now, we are being told he will be there until sometime in December and then will be sent to Japan until next Spring.

We pray that God will protect him and all soldiers fighting on our behalf. Please keep them safe from harm and bring them home quickly.

We also ask for prayers for our Ashley. She has had to learn very quickly what it means to be a military wife, and while the past several days have been very hard enough for her, the next year will be equally hard. I'm so glad she has her faith and all her family to help give her the strength and support she'll need.




Almighty and eternal God,
those who take refuge in you will be glad and forever will shout for joy. Protect these soldiers as they discharge their duties. Protect them with the shield of your strength and keep them safe from all evil and harm. May the power of your love enable them to return home in safety, that with all who love them, they may ever praise you for your loving care. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen

Happy Birthday Austin!

Happy 17th birthday to my son Austin. It's hard for me to believe that my "baby" with the bluest eyes I have ever seen is almost a man, but I couldn't be more proud of him.









 He is very smart, caring, and has always had a silly sense of humor that never ceases to crack me up. I love being his mom and we're so blessed to have him in our family.

As a toddler and young child, he was almost always called "Buddy". As he got older, he allowed his dad and I to continue that, but we had to shorten it up to "Bud". lol

So, happy birthday Bud. I love you so much, and hope you have an awesome day!!

Announcement

May I have your attention please! I have an announcement to make:

This Saturday I will become one of the most teased, picked on, loved, and in some cases, the most feared person on the planet. That's right, I will become a mother-in-law.

Ashley getting married!

I'll give you a minute to catch your breath and absorb that statement before I go on.


Ok, better now? Good. Here's how this has all come about....

Ashley has shown pigs at the state fair in FFA since she was in 9th grade. That first year she met a boy named Lance who was in 10th grade. He lived almost 2 hours away from where we live.

Innocent flirting went on over the next few years until he graduated and went into the military after high school.

When Lance came home for 6 weeks after his first year of serving, he and Ashley saw each other at a concert and started talking, and for the remainder of the 6 weeks, they were inseperable.

He is still in the Military and has been stationed in Okanowa Japan for the past several months, until he went to Hawaii recently for desert training. They have been training in the intense heat around a volcano (can you imagine???).

Lance and Ashley have maintained their relationship thanks to modern technology. They started out with IMing, then moved on to Facebook, and now also enjoy daily face to face interaction by way of Skype.

Ashley had told me that she and Lance have talked about getting married in 2011 when he is finished with overseas deployment. Then, about 3 weeks ago Ashley talked to us and said very causally "Um, well, you know how I said we were talking about getting married in 2011? Well, we've moved it up to the 24th of this month."

To say you could have heard a pin drop is a complete understatement.

Lance talked to us to explain why the rush. On May 11th, Lance will be deployed to Afghanistan and he'll be there until December. Lance is a Marine and his duty will be to uncover land mines. He (and others) will walk with metal detectors part of the time, and then there's other tools they use other times. It's obviously VERY dangerous work.

Lance has talked honestly and frankly with Ashley about the risks. He told us "I know you both love Ashley and take great care of her as needed, but I also love her very much and I want to have the opportunity to be married to her and to take care of her. If I marry her now and anything happens to me over there, I will be able to die knowing that she will receive military widow benefits, which means I'll still be able to take care of her. That gives me a lot of peace."

How do you argue with that?

He is only home for 10 days, and then he has to go back to Hawaii to finish his training and then he'll deploy from there.

Lance and Ashley will be getting married this Saturday, April 24th, 2010 in a small park nearby. Thankfully Lance planned ahead and reserved a shelter house, because unfortunately it sounds like there is a good possibility for rain. (boo! hiss!)

Afterwards they will go to a hotel for the night near the airport, and then will fly out early Sunday morning, because, as I said, Lance has to finish his training. Ashley is done with classes for the summer on this Friday, so she is going to fly to Hawaii with him and they will have time together in the evenings for a honeymoon.

On May 10th my daughter will fly back to Iowa, and the following morning my son-in-law will fly to Afghanistan.

Prom 2010

If you happened to see my Project 365 pictures for this past week, then you saw a glimpse of the pictures I'll show here.

Last Saturday Austin went to prom with his girlfriend of 7 months. Boy, getting him ready for prom is sure different than with our girls. With them, they had to get their hair done and their nails done, and then the whole putting on of the dress, and then their make-up and jewelry. It was exhausting.

I asked Austin "So, are you thinking of doing anything with your hair?" His comment: "Washing it".

Ok then. lol

With girls, it is an all day ordeal to get ready. Austin was to be at his girlfriends house at 12:30 for pictures. He literally got in the shower at 11:45 and still had time to make the 20 minute drive to her house. LOL

But let me back-up.... it all started a couple of weeks earlier with getting measured and fitted for the tux, and then last week we had to get last minute alterations done.

The vest was a little big, so the shop owner showed him how to adjust that.

But his jacket fit great.

While they were busy doing all of that, I got a little bored and started playing around with the camera on my phone. Peek-a-boo. Someone's peeking around the mirror. ha!

I nearly cried at how handsome Austin looked in his tux. I think I mostly teared-up over how grown-up my little boy is getting. His comment was "I clean up good don't I?"

We went to his girlfriend "K"s house to take pictures. She was so beautiful, she looked like a princess. She even had a tiara to top it off. They looked so nice together.

We headed out to take some outdoor pictures and K said she felt the urge for an impromptu hug. :)

Before Prom officially begins, there is the Promenade, where students and their dates are introduced and they walk down a runway so people can see the dresses and tuxes, and pictures can be taken. Its a fun way to allow people from the community to see all the kids.

Our school alternates the locations of where the Prom is held. On the odd years it is held at the school. On the even years it is held somewhere else. This year they made an hour long drive to Des Moines for the meal, dance and after prom activities.

Here they are on the bus waiting to leave.

When all the festivities were over, Austin & K came back to our house. According to Austin they were just going to stay up and watch movies until it was time to go to church. They didn't quite make that goal...ha!

Another fun thing our community does is, most kids who go to prom, go to church the following morning wearing their dresses and tuxes. So fun! This year we had 16 kids dressed up at church! Considering they had only managed to get a little over an hours worth of sleep, I think Austin & K are still looking pretty good! :)

FFA Banquet

We went to the FFA Banquet last night, where awards are handed out and new officers are installed. Austin is very active in FFA (as were the girls when they were in high school) and it's a great organization with lots of opportunities. They attend the state convention every year and they go to the National Convention once during their high school years and they meet so many great kids from all over. Anyhow, on to the banquet.

Austin had a great night!

Here he is receiving his leadership award, which is given to 1 member from each grade that shows outstanding leadership in the organization as well as in school.



He is next to the yellow flag in this picture. He is receiving his 2nd year chapter member award.



Here he is receiving his Proficiency award for swine entrepreneurship...which basically means he won an award for outstanding breeding, raising and selling of his pigs.



Austin was elected as a Co-Treasurer for their chapter and this picture shows the installation of the new officers. Austin is to the right of the yellow flag.



Right after being installed, a section of the FFA flag banner fell down and Austin taped it back up. We joked that this was his first official action as an elected officer. LOL



And here he is showing his Leadership and Proficiency awards. :)



It was a fun night, as a lot of the kids are either cousins or friends who all show at the county and/or state fair, so we know not only them but their parents and families as well, which makes it extra fun. Another great part to the night was that it was potluck. Oh my goodness - the food was AWESOME!

Let's Dance!

This past Saturday we went to Ashley's University. They had their annual showcase where they do every dance they did throughout the past season, as well as doing some new dances. Even though we had seen most of the dances at competitions or football and basketball games, it still is fun to see them again. Here's some pictures from the afternoon:

One of their Pom routines (How adorable is she???) :






Their Kick routine. They kick almost non-stop for up to 3 minutes. It is an exhausting type of dance, but so awesome to watch.



Hip-Hop routine (her least favorite. As she puts it, I'm a small town farm girl that shows pigs...not a gansta girl):





Their Lyrical routine (so beautiful):





This is another Pom routine (these outfits are my favorite):





Here's a shot of the whole team. Ashley is in the back row, right under the center of the balloon arch.



As soon as that was over, we left to head back for our high school's Spring dance show. They too performed all the routines they have performed during the past season. They also do an all-male dance and a co-ed dance. Austin's girlfriend is on the dance team, and therefore he knew she would be asking him to be her partner. He was a good sport and he did a good job considering he's never danced before. Here's a couple of shots of him dancing. They did a mix of songs including the COPS theme song. The girls were police officers and the guys were inmates and it ended with the guys in handcuffs. It was pretty fun to watch.







Chelsea stayed with Ashley while she got changed and finished up at her university, and then both came to watch their brother. I was so surprised that they actually agreed to letting me take their picture. Score! :)


I love this picture but it also makes me laugh. Ashley looks so tiny in comparison, and Chelsea looks to be almost the same height as Austin. In reality, Austin was slouching and Chelsea was wearing her cowboy boots with 3" heels. LOL

Peace & Quiet - Yea Right!

If you have read this blog any time over the past year and a half, you know that I have had many challenges regarding my health. We have been from doctor to doctor. I have been on pretty much every website you can imagine. We have looked into every recommendation given by family & friends. It has been a time of laughter, tears, frustration, denial, anger, and just about every emotion you can think of. But mostly it's been very overwhelming.

I'm one that needs to time to process everything that is a major life event, and I've not had that. Oh sure, I have spent many days over the past year sitting alone all day in my house, whether that be in the recliner or my bed, but still...you have the phone ringing, dogs barking, and people stopping by. Plus, you see things that need to be done - laundry, dishes, bills, etc. Life is rarely without interruptions, and it doesn't care what else you have going on.

For that reason, several weeks ago I decided to plan a weekend away, all by myself. As it turned out, this weekend, Jay & Austin are gone on a golfing trip to the Branson area, so this was the perfect weekend for me to be gone as well. One of my girls had no plans, so I hired her to be my house/dog sitter for a couple of days.

I only went an hour away, which my girls thought was ridiculous. But it wasn't the distance I needed. Those of you who are moms and wives will understand. I needed away from the distractions.

I had let everyone know what I was doing, but only Jay knew where I was staying. That way some sweet, well-intentioned friends who I love wouldn't stop by thinking I may be in need of some company.

I packed the essentials - clothes, toiletries (on a side note, my girls think "toiletries" is the silliest word in the english language lol), my medicines, and some GF snacky foods. Oh and of course, I brought along Diet Coke with Splenda (which I am still trying to get used to).

Then I also packed my laptop, a book, and some movies...by the way, last night I watched "Precious", and I see why it won awards. Very hard to watch at times, but amazing as well.

I was excited to sleep in this morning, but my bladder had other ideas. That meant I was up by 6:36 according to the alarm clock. I went down to the complimentary breakfast after my shower and while waiting for my personally made omelet to be finished, I had a nice chat with "Cory" the nice young man making my omelet.

I learned about how he got fired from his previous job due to the economy (Seriously? Or was there some other reason? Must keep an eye on my omelet!).
I learned about his engagement and how he is living with his parents until the wedding.
I learned he is double jointed in his elbows, which helps him with his cooking (? I didn't ask).
I learned he is allergic to strawberries after asking him to leave the mushrooms out of my omelet due to my allergies.
I learned he has other allergies too, including dogs and cats...and cows.
And most importantly I learned that you can learn a lot about someone in the short time it takes to make an omelet. Thankfully, soon someone else was waiting for an omelet and they became Cory's new BFF.

So I did a little shopping and did a little web surfing today, and was back to the hotel after lunch and settled in to start processing. However, over the next few hours I answered about 50 phone calls from my daughters, that included such classic, super important questions as:

Mom, a package came for you in the mail today. What should I do with it?
Mom, do you know any great places to eat in Chicago?
Mom, the dogs are barking. What do they want?
Mom, what's the weather supposed to be like here tomorrow?
Mom, do we have the stuff here to make cheesy potatoes?
Mom, guess what? This train is really bumpy. Did you know trains were so bumpy?
Mom, can I have the fruit in the top of the fridge? 'Cause it looks really good.
Mom, remember that tv show with the guy who lived with the two girls and he pretended to be gay so he could live there? (Three's company) It was on like, before I was born I think. Remember that? We were wondering, was he really gay, or just pretending?

They have now been informed that I will no longer be answering my phone, even for them. If there is an emergency, they are to text me with the words "Emergency - call immediately" in the text. That, I will respond to. However, there had better be an actual emergency, or one will arise quickly.

We'll see how tomorrow goes.....

I loved It!

I had a great night last night. I got a "little girl" fix and I loved it! Chelsea was home and wanted Austin's girlfriend "K" to come over, but she was at home caring for her little sister "E". We, of course demanded, uh I mean requested, that she come over and bring E with her.

E is adorable! She is very tiny and petite and reminds me so much of my girls at that age. She has this tiny voice and the cutest giggle and her laugh is contagious...and I loved it!

Chelsea, K, & E played with the dogs and to say the noise level was high is an understatement. Between the barking, squealing, laughing and shouting, the noise level was deafening...and I loved it!

Then we got out the boxes of artsy craftsy stuff that I have. It includes construction paper, rubber stamps, markers, glue, and glitter. We all made pictures - even me....and I loved it!

E helped me with my picture, which was 3 goofy stick figures (that were to resemble my kids lol) and some rubber stamped pigs with a cut-out sun and a horrible drawing of what was supposed to be a pine tree. E said in her sweet tiny voice "I know how to draw birds. I could draw a bird for you." So I passed my picture over to her and she drew a cute purple and pink bird. It was larger than the pigs LOL....and I loved it!


After we were done with our pictures, I was so excited to have a little girl who loved doing crafts (like my girls used to) that I wanted to keep her forever. Since I knew that'd be slightly illegal, I decided to indulge her (and myself) and teach her the fine art of making a paper plate bird feeder. She kept saying "this is cool" or "Do you know other things to make?" And I loved it!



The funniest part of the evening was when K showed us her finished picture. She used rubber stamp alphabets to make it. In case you can't read it, it says "My boyfriend said I had to pick between him and golf. I better get my clubs." LOL The funniest part of that is the goofy attempt at a sad face Austin has in this picture. They both love to golf, so no worries on having to choose.

When they left for home, I asked E if she'd come back over again sometime and she said she would...and...you guessed it - I loved it!