Old Pics

Caden at 4 months: Makes me giggle just looking at him :)

This is one of my favorite pics of Caden . . . chocolate ice cream all around his kisser :)

Awww . . .

Another Year Older . . .

1) It's not as easy to eat whatever you want and still fit in your jeans. . . I've gained 8 pounds since Thanksgiving. . . Day 1 back on weight watchers is almost done and I'm starving!!!

2) You don't recover from a night drinking with friends as quickly . . . stayed in bed most of Sunday - I need my sleep and have a hard time pulling the 2am bedtime.

3) I'm "that" shopper in Hollister and Abercrombie that wants the music turned down and the lights turned up - oh! and can you stop talking to your buddy long enough to give me some customer service?!?

4) I'm a whole lot more comfortable in my own skin . . . What you see is what you get. I'm so blessed to have so many things in my life to be thankful for.

Just a couple of things on my mind and thought that I would share. We had a great weekend and the homemade birthday cards from the kids were the best :)

A Tribute . . .

At the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, there is a family from town that lost their two children. When both children were born, they discovered that they had severe mental and physical disabilites. The little town of Corning, IA rallied around the parents and helped to provide round the clock care. The grateful parents of the children have constructed this memorial in the cemetary. It is an absolutely beautiful angel looking down on the two plots and I wanted to share it with you. Not to be morbid, but it's such a beautiful tribute.

Pics From Iowa . . .

My Grandparents . . . Grandma is 89 and Grandpa is 92!!



The February Birthdays . . . My grandpa . . . My Dad . . . My Aunt Darlene . . . and Me :) FYI - I am sitting on the arm of the couch -

Long Weekend . . .

I realized this weekend that being a single parent would not be fun. Chris went to Daytona with my dad, two of my brothers, and one of my brother's friend. They had a lot of fun . . .too much fun from some of the forgotten phone conversations that I had to repeat :) One of Chris's new hobbies is photography. He took about 600 pictures this weekend. I'd say about 99% of them are really good. I'll post some of them for you to see, but I can't find the card to the camera. He must have taken it to work - I'll post them next. . .along with the pictures I took in Iowa, but I can't find my camera either. hmmm . . .

Hit the ground running . . .

This week has been crazy!! Let me back up and tell you about my trip last weekend. We landed in Kansas City, MO. and drove 2 1/2 hours to Omaha, NE to have lunch with my uncle Charlie, my Aunt Joan and her husband, Fred. We had a great time just chatting and hanging out. They were talking about my Aunt Donna's clothes and my mom was wondering how much my uncle had left. My Aunt was a shopaholic and had A LOT Of clothes!! He still had two fur coats left that he didn't really know what to do with so he told me to try them on. I am now the proud owner of a silver fox fur coat. It's really pretty and it makes me feel like I have a bit of my aunt with me. After our visit we drove to my grandparents house in Casey, IA. It was about an hour and 1/2 away. It's always such a nostalgic feeling going up their driveway. It just reminds me of being a kid and driving for hours upon hours to get there. Here I am almost 34 years old (not for a few more weeks - ha!) and I still felt like a kid on that drive. How often as an adult do you get to sit in the backseat and be chauffeured by your parents? How about carrying on a conversation without being interrupted by the kids? My grandma is doing great. She's 89 years old and going strong. My grandpa is another story. We found out from my grandma that he's fallen 6 times since Christmas. Luckily no broken bones, but he's unsteady on his feet. He rarely leaves the house, and his recent little strokes have caused a lot of memory loss. Grandma told us that a few weeks ago he just went and sat on the bed and started crying. He told her that it just wasn't funny - he knows that his memory is going. Grandma cried too and told him that they will get through it. That's what 72 years of marriage does for you. Amazing!! The weather was freezing the whole time we were there. When we left on Monday morning the car said 0 degrees. The wind just went right through you so we mostly stayed in the house. We did make a trip to Walmart. The closest one is 30 minutes away. My grandparents really do live out in the country! We celebrated the February birthdays on Sunday and my aunt and uncle came to my grandparents house. We played cards all afternoon - it was a lot of fun just hanging out. When we left on Monday we drove through Corning to get back to Kansas City. It was the first time that I had been back since Grandma Talty died. I have tears streaming down my face now as I am writing this and thinking about it. We didn't go by her house - too many memories and just not ready for that. We did stop by the cemetery so that I could say a quick prayer. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and I was the only one to get out of the car. It makes me sad that chapter in my life is closed and that all of the memories I have of that little town are just that - memories.

Glad to be home and back to all the craziness of my life. Caden had a little girl with lice in her hair in his class, Grace had about 3 projects for school this week, I presented the inservice at school on Wednesday, Memrie was sick and we happily shuffled Caden around this week . . .Chris left for Daytona today to see the race with my dad and 2 of my brothers. Wouldn't trade it for the world :)

Going to Iowa . . .brrr . . . shiver . . .

I am getting on a plane tomorrow morning with my parents to go see my Grandma and Grandpa Williams in Iowa. I will have no kids or husband with me :) It's going to be really cold and I am not looking forward to that! My grandfather turned 92 on Feb. 1st and my dad turns 72 tomorrow. My parents go up there around this time every year to celebrate, but I decided to tag along. I haven't been back to Iowa since my Grandma Talty's funeral in December 2006. This is going to be a hard trip. Hard to see someone else living in my grandmother's house . . . hard to see people that we love dearly slipping in health. We're also going to see my Uncle Charlie (was married to my Aunt Donna) and my mom's other sister, Joan. We're going to meet for lunch tomorrow. I come back on Monday afternoon, so I'll update you when I get back. Chris has the kids to himself this weekend. I'm sad that I'm going to miss seeing them all dressed up for the Father/Daughter dance on Saturday night. Grace is really looking forward to it.

That's my girl!

Grace is such a special little girl. Not only is she cute as a button, but she's just that little girl who wants to be the peacemaker and be friends with everyone. Here are some funny little tidbits about her recently:

1. She has started talking like Miley Cyrus when she is playing Hannah Montana. It's this cross between an East Texas drawl and Valley girl. It's funny.
2. Yesterday when we were in the car she was being silly about seeing a John Deere tractor. She went into a whole monologue with the punch line being not a real deer, but a John Deere. It was very clever.
3. She too smart for her own good. Always questioning me about decisions that I make. She loves to prove me wrong . . . that doesn't happen very often :)
4. Today at the boys' football game she was the ring leader. She had the kids all sitting in a circle with a hat in her hand. I walked over to the kids to see what they were doing and she had the kids taking turns talking and telling each other where they thought the hat came from and what the person looked like that was wearing it. It was very sweet.
5. She's the child who lines all of her stuffed animals up and reads the big books to them holding the book facing them just like her teachers do at school. She wants to be a teacher, but I keep telling her that she's going to need to make more money to take care of me when I get old - ha!
6. She has her own opinions about fashion and she isn't afraid to tell me about it.

That's all I can think about for now - just wanted to brag on my girl. I don't do it nearly enough :)