This will be quick. Mark, Hope and I tried to catch the 2:00 matinee at the Falls Theater today (Shrek the Third), and it was sold out already by the time we got there. So Mark just went to pick up tickets and the lady said to be in line by 6:20. That's why this will be quick: I have to get supper ready for Hope.
Anyway...I'm done!! I have now completed the scrapbook that I've been working on for my first "client." It's about a week later than I would have liked, but they still have a couple of weeks until graduation. That should give them just enough time to do any journaling in the scrapbook that they might want to do. I have to say that my first experience "scrapping for others" was a good one. I really love doing this. The hardest part is getting started. Once I was in the groove it was great. I think future projects will be easier because I'll know more. At any rate, I'll hand the book off tomorrow and will pray that my client is OK with what I did. Nothing fancy, but she said she wanted it pretty simple. I'll take pictures of each page tonight and post some on line so you can check them out.
Confirmation is done. Sunday School is done. Senior Recognition Sunday is done. Scrapbook is done. Just one more thing to do and I can breath again: Andrew's graduation next weekend. I bawled twice already today just thinking about him growing up. I know what I'm doing (more or less) for his cake, so that's cool. I'm excited to see my family next weekend...and excited to watch them enjoy Hope. Who, by the way, went poopy TWICE in the potty chair on Friday!! What a big girl. Oh...and she did it once in the tub on Thursday night, too. Hehehehe.
More later...Shrek (and supper) is calling.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
So much to catch up on
So on Sunday, May 6, I wrote this post and hit the publish button. Instead of publishing what I had written, it chose to send the post into cyber space. So now it's just hanging out there somewhere...maybe in the same place the socks go when they disappear from the dryer, huh?
Here's a synopsis of what I wrote on the 6th. The title was "Babies Galore." Nope. We're not having any more babies. Hope is our one and only. Why try again when we already have perfection?? hehehe Anyway...the morning of the 6th I woke up and the first thing I saw was Mommy and Daddy Goose on our lawn down by the river with their 6 babies. So cute! We've seen them since and the babies are growing like crazy. Then when we got home from church Mark looked out our back deck windows and said that both Mommy and Daddy Cardinal were at the bird feeder. That had me a little concerned because Mommy Cardinal had, until that time, been diligently sitting on her nest with 3 eggs. The nest is located right outside our front door in the spruce tree. Well, I went out the front door to make sure the nest was still OK. Not only was the nest still OK, it had three baby cardinals in it!! YEAH!! You should see them now! They are getting so big there's almost not room in the nest for them. According to what I've read, they should be learning to fly any day now. The really cool thing about cardinals is that they never go very far from their birth home once they do learn to fly. That means we'll get to see these babies grow up. Oh...we did find one baby out of the nest on our lawn last Friday. Mark put gloves on and put it in the nest. Apparently Mommy Cardinal was OK with that because the baby is still in the nest. They are so cute! I took a picture that I'll post soon. The third bit of baby news that we got on May 6th is that Mark's Godson Brandon and his wife Natalie became parents on May 6th at 4:08am. Tyler Scott is a cute little guy. Hard to believe he's over a week old already. We're anxious to see him in person.
Now here's some other really good news. Our friends Beth and Ron leave for China to get their daughter Hope on May 29th. That's just TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!! We are so excited for them!! I wish I could be a little fly on the wall when I see them look into her beautiful face for the very first time. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about that moment for them. They bought her some red, white and blue dresses that they'll take to China with them. Isn't that a great idea?? I know it has taken forever for them to get to this point in their journey to Hope, but soon Hope will be here and it'll seem like she's always been here. Soon they won't be able to remember what life was like without her. I know I can't remember much about life before our Hope. If you want to keep updated on Beth and Ron's story, just check out their blog via the link on our blog. They're intending to update their blog as they can while they're in China. They're even hoping to do some geocaching while they're there. How fun would that be??
It's been busy, busy, busy here for us. I'm winding down everything for the school year at church and I'll be glad when it's all done. Time for a break. Hope continues to be a bundle of energy. Ya never know what she's going to say, either! On Friday we had two embarassing moments come out of her mouth. For the sake of time, I'll only tell you about one. We were in the grocery store and this young woman (I'd say in her early 20s) saw Hope, came over to our cart and said, "Wow! Is she a cutie!" Hope looked at her, pointed to her chest (which was large) and said, "Booboos. Booboos." I turned bright red!! I could do nothing but apologize. Of course the woman laughed and was a very good sport about it. Oh sheesh!! I'm told this is the first of MANY! She keeps us laughing,that's for sure. Hope now knows what city she lives in (it's so cute to hear her say River Falls) and what town Grammy and Papa live in. Today we went to find Mark at the library on campus (he's working there since we're home this week and it's noisy here). I have no idea where the library is on campus,but Mark has taken Hope there many times. So when we got on campus I asked Hope which building was the library. She pointed to a building and guess what?? It WAS the library. She even pointed me in the direction of the front doors!! She is so smart. We signed her up for swimming lessons this summer. She'll take two weeks of lessons. The last day is on her birthday! It's a parent/child class so I guess we'll take turns going with her, which will be fun. I'm debating whether or not to sign her up for dance lessons this fall. And I've been thinking that a year from now we'll already have her signed up for pre-school!! This is happening WAY too quickly for me. Where did my little baby go?
OK...I should wind this up before you get too bored. Plus, I have to finish the scrapbook I've been working on. And get things ready for Kids Club tomorrow. And do some more planning for Senior Recognition Sunday which is this Sunday. And get details nailed down for a youth event after church this Sunday. And start making my list of things I need to take to Stevens Point with me for Memorial Day weekend. I guess that can wait until next week.
Thanks for reading!
Melody
PS...I almost forgot to update you on the car thing. We've been driving the Touareg for about 3 weeks now and LOVE it!! Looks like we'll be getting rid of the Avalanche this week. Our dealer finally found the exact car we want. It's not in the first choice of color, but it'll be nice anyway. We're getting a Chevy HHR. The color is Majestic Amathyst Metallic. The best part about this deal is that we got more for the trade in of the Avalanche than the car costs so not only will we NOT have a car payment on the HHR, we're getting money back from the dealership. Nice, huh?
Here's a synopsis of what I wrote on the 6th. The title was "Babies Galore." Nope. We're not having any more babies. Hope is our one and only. Why try again when we already have perfection?? hehehe Anyway...the morning of the 6th I woke up and the first thing I saw was Mommy and Daddy Goose on our lawn down by the river with their 6 babies. So cute! We've seen them since and the babies are growing like crazy. Then when we got home from church Mark looked out our back deck windows and said that both Mommy and Daddy Cardinal were at the bird feeder. That had me a little concerned because Mommy Cardinal had, until that time, been diligently sitting on her nest with 3 eggs. The nest is located right outside our front door in the spruce tree. Well, I went out the front door to make sure the nest was still OK. Not only was the nest still OK, it had three baby cardinals in it!! YEAH!! You should see them now! They are getting so big there's almost not room in the nest for them. According to what I've read, they should be learning to fly any day now. The really cool thing about cardinals is that they never go very far from their birth home once they do learn to fly. That means we'll get to see these babies grow up. Oh...we did find one baby out of the nest on our lawn last Friday. Mark put gloves on and put it in the nest. Apparently Mommy Cardinal was OK with that because the baby is still in the nest. They are so cute! I took a picture that I'll post soon. The third bit of baby news that we got on May 6th is that Mark's Godson Brandon and his wife Natalie became parents on May 6th at 4:08am. Tyler Scott is a cute little guy. Hard to believe he's over a week old already. We're anxious to see him in person.
Now here's some other really good news. Our friends Beth and Ron leave for China to get their daughter Hope on May 29th. That's just TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!! We are so excited for them!! I wish I could be a little fly on the wall when I see them look into her beautiful face for the very first time. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about that moment for them. They bought her some red, white and blue dresses that they'll take to China with them. Isn't that a great idea?? I know it has taken forever for them to get to this point in their journey to Hope, but soon Hope will be here and it'll seem like she's always been here. Soon they won't be able to remember what life was like without her. I know I can't remember much about life before our Hope. If you want to keep updated on Beth and Ron's story, just check out their blog via the link on our blog. They're intending to update their blog as they can while they're in China. They're even hoping to do some geocaching while they're there. How fun would that be??
It's been busy, busy, busy here for us. I'm winding down everything for the school year at church and I'll be glad when it's all done. Time for a break. Hope continues to be a bundle of energy. Ya never know what she's going to say, either! On Friday we had two embarassing moments come out of her mouth. For the sake of time, I'll only tell you about one. We were in the grocery store and this young woman (I'd say in her early 20s) saw Hope, came over to our cart and said, "Wow! Is she a cutie!" Hope looked at her, pointed to her chest (which was large) and said, "Booboos. Booboos." I turned bright red!! I could do nothing but apologize. Of course the woman laughed and was a very good sport about it. Oh sheesh!! I'm told this is the first of MANY! She keeps us laughing,that's for sure. Hope now knows what city she lives in (it's so cute to hear her say River Falls) and what town Grammy and Papa live in. Today we went to find Mark at the library on campus (he's working there since we're home this week and it's noisy here). I have no idea where the library is on campus,but Mark has taken Hope there many times. So when we got on campus I asked Hope which building was the library. She pointed to a building and guess what?? It WAS the library. She even pointed me in the direction of the front doors!! She is so smart. We signed her up for swimming lessons this summer. She'll take two weeks of lessons. The last day is on her birthday! It's a parent/child class so I guess we'll take turns going with her, which will be fun. I'm debating whether or not to sign her up for dance lessons this fall. And I've been thinking that a year from now we'll already have her signed up for pre-school!! This is happening WAY too quickly for me. Where did my little baby go?
OK...I should wind this up before you get too bored. Plus, I have to finish the scrapbook I've been working on. And get things ready for Kids Club tomorrow. And do some more planning for Senior Recognition Sunday which is this Sunday. And get details nailed down for a youth event after church this Sunday. And start making my list of things I need to take to Stevens Point with me for Memorial Day weekend. I guess that can wait until next week.
Thanks for reading!
Melody
PS...I almost forgot to update you on the car thing. We've been driving the Touareg for about 3 weeks now and LOVE it!! Looks like we'll be getting rid of the Avalanche this week. Our dealer finally found the exact car we want. It's not in the first choice of color, but it'll be nice anyway. We're getting a Chevy HHR. The color is Majestic Amathyst Metallic. The best part about this deal is that we got more for the trade in of the Avalanche than the car costs so not only will we NOT have a car payment on the HHR, we're getting money back from the dealership. Nice, huh?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Big news for a Big girl!
I'm sitting here with tears of joy in my eyes. I know this seems silly, but it's a great milestone for us. I just got off the phone with Mark's Mom. Hope went potty in the potty chair just now. YEAH HOPIE!!! What a big girl!! We've had the potty chair out (both at our house and at Mark's Mom and Dad's house) for months now, just to get her used to it. She loves sitting on it, but she won't use it for what it's supposed to be used for. Well, today she did. I can't believe I wasn't there for her first time on the potty. I'm feeling a little guilty about that. Now we'll see if we can continue with the potty training. What a big girl we have. It makes me happy and sad all at the same time. I have to say that even though I'm mostly OK with just having Hope, I kinda feel empty about only having one child. I'm sure once Hope is out of diapers I'll be OK with not going back to diapers again though:)
One last note: Our niece Bethany turns 10 today. She's an amazing young lady. So fun to be with. Such a joy. And such a miracle! On December 30th or 31st (I don't remember the exact date), 2006, she and her brother were playing on the zip line they had in their back yard. For some reason, Bethany went faster than normal (we're still not sure how that happened) and she ended up plowing into the tree at the end of the zip line. It totally knocked her out. She is truly a walking miracle. She should have died that day. She suffered a skull fracture and also had a broken cheek. Doctors told Mark's sister (Cheryl) and her husband (Mark)that most kids that come to the ER with those kinds of injuries leave the hospital on a gurnee...headed to the morgue. Well, not only did she live through the whole thing (she only spent one night in the hospital), she didn't need any recontructive surgery!! The last thing I heard, though, was that her last MRI indicated there was blood pooling in the nasal cavity. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but hopefully it's something that can be corrected easily. At any rate, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETHANY!! I'll post a picture of Bethany sometime in the next few days so you can see how beautiful she is!
One last note: Our niece Bethany turns 10 today. She's an amazing young lady. So fun to be with. Such a joy. And such a miracle! On December 30th or 31st (I don't remember the exact date), 2006, she and her brother were playing on the zip line they had in their back yard. For some reason, Bethany went faster than normal (we're still not sure how that happened) and she ended up plowing into the tree at the end of the zip line. It totally knocked her out. She is truly a walking miracle. She should have died that day. She suffered a skull fracture and also had a broken cheek. Doctors told Mark's sister (Cheryl) and her husband (Mark)that most kids that come to the ER with those kinds of injuries leave the hospital on a gurnee...headed to the morgue. Well, not only did she live through the whole thing (she only spent one night in the hospital), she didn't need any recontructive surgery!! The last thing I heard, though, was that her last MRI indicated there was blood pooling in the nasal cavity. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but hopefully it's something that can be corrected easily. At any rate, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETHANY!! I'll post a picture of Bethany sometime in the next few days so you can see how beautiful she is!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Family is so important...
OK...so it's 2am (oopppsss...2:30am) and I'm up. I can't sleep. Mark is out of town tonight and I don't sleep well if he's not here. I guess I feel more safe when he's here. The same thing happened last week when he was in Eau Claire for training and let Thrivent put him up in a hotel for one night. So tomorrow night he'll be home and I'll be able to sleep. In the meantime, this will be short because I have a Dr. appt. at 8:10 in the morning. That means, if I'm lucky, I'll get just under 4 hours of sleep. I'M EXHAUSTED...
but since I'm up, I want to tell you some more about my family. Of course you know how wonderful my husband and my daughter are. They are my world. But ranking pretty closely to them are my Mom who is an incredible woman of God...always so patient with me. She and my Dad should have kicked me out of the house a number of times while I was a teenager. Unconditional love at it's best human example. My Dad died in 2000. That was hard. He had been really sick for a really long time though, so he's been healthy and whole, living in heaven for just over 7 years already. My sister Jo (married to Mike and Mom to Barry and Shane) is the best big sister one could have. She's so kind and loving and caring and quiet....things I'm not. Then there's my big brother Geno (married to Tammy and the Daddy to two Golden Retrievers...Wrigley and Katie). Let's just say that while we were growing up we didn't get along the best (thank God for protective big sisters), but now we're tight. He's so loving and kind and sweet. Man I miss him!! I haven't seen him for a really long time. And then there's Ali Rae (married to John and Mom to Andrew, Sophie and Jack)...my baby sister. She's an incredibley gifted hair dresser (a talent I definitely DON'T have) and has been through a lot in her life. She's a really strong woman and I'm proud of her. I'm proud of ALL my siblings...and my Mom and Dad, too. I'm way too tired to get ALL their pictures on this site tonight, but since I have already put a picture of Jack (my youngest nephew...just 3 months younger than Hope) on this site, I thought I'd work my way up to my next youngest niece/nephew. Sophie is almost 6 already and is almost done with Kindergarten. She's something else. Very dramatic and funny...and really bright. Her music teacher loves how she sings in her opera voice. Andrew (I always call him my baby because I was in the delivery room with my sister when he was born and spent a lot of time with him the summer he was born) is almost 18 and will graduate from high school in just under a month. I'm going to cry my eyes out when I see him graduate. I'm so very proud of him. He's such a great kid and so talented. He took after his Aunt Mel and was the Student Body president of his high school his senior year. Pretty cool, huh?? He's got tons of friends, was on prom court last year, is an AWESOME baseball player, is smart and very handsome. Andrew goes into the Air Force on Sept 11 (symbolic??) and I'm very proud of the decision he's made. Yeh, I'm scared as hell to think that he might someday be sent to Iraq. Hopefully this mess will be done by that time.
Anyway...here are some pics of Sophie and Andrew. In the very near future I'll post pics of my other nephews (Barry and Shane). After that I'll get to my sibs! Mark's family is after that. Everyone will get their "15 minutes of fame" on our blog.
Night night!
OK...so I don't know how long ago this was taken...maybe 3 years ago or so...but Andrew is pitching.
Is he cute or what?? This is one of his Sr. pics
Bathing beauties: Sophie and Hope (this was a while ago...Hope didn't have much hair then)
OK...so this picture is a little old (BH...before Hope), but it's one of my favorites of Andrew, Sophie and me. They were visiting us and this picture was taken at a German Restaurant. YUM!
but since I'm up, I want to tell you some more about my family. Of course you know how wonderful my husband and my daughter are. They are my world. But ranking pretty closely to them are my Mom who is an incredible woman of God...always so patient with me. She and my Dad should have kicked me out of the house a number of times while I was a teenager. Unconditional love at it's best human example. My Dad died in 2000. That was hard. He had been really sick for a really long time though, so he's been healthy and whole, living in heaven for just over 7 years already. My sister Jo (married to Mike and Mom to Barry and Shane) is the best big sister one could have. She's so kind and loving and caring and quiet....things I'm not. Then there's my big brother Geno (married to Tammy and the Daddy to two Golden Retrievers...Wrigley and Katie). Let's just say that while we were growing up we didn't get along the best (thank God for protective big sisters), but now we're tight. He's so loving and kind and sweet. Man I miss him!! I haven't seen him for a really long time. And then there's Ali Rae (married to John and Mom to Andrew, Sophie and Jack)...my baby sister. She's an incredibley gifted hair dresser (a talent I definitely DON'T have) and has been through a lot in her life. She's a really strong woman and I'm proud of her. I'm proud of ALL my siblings...and my Mom and Dad, too. I'm way too tired to get ALL their pictures on this site tonight, but since I have already put a picture of Jack (my youngest nephew...just 3 months younger than Hope) on this site, I thought I'd work my way up to my next youngest niece/nephew. Sophie is almost 6 already and is almost done with Kindergarten. She's something else. Very dramatic and funny...and really bright. Her music teacher loves how she sings in her opera voice. Andrew (I always call him my baby because I was in the delivery room with my sister when he was born and spent a lot of time with him the summer he was born) is almost 18 and will graduate from high school in just under a month. I'm going to cry my eyes out when I see him graduate. I'm so very proud of him. He's such a great kid and so talented. He took after his Aunt Mel and was the Student Body president of his high school his senior year. Pretty cool, huh?? He's got tons of friends, was on prom court last year, is an AWESOME baseball player, is smart and very handsome. Andrew goes into the Air Force on Sept 11 (symbolic??) and I'm very proud of the decision he's made. Yeh, I'm scared as hell to think that he might someday be sent to Iraq. Hopefully this mess will be done by that time.
Anyway...here are some pics of Sophie and Andrew. In the very near future I'll post pics of my other nephews (Barry and Shane). After that I'll get to my sibs! Mark's family is after that. Everyone will get their "15 minutes of fame" on our blog.
Night night!
OK...so I don't know how long ago this was taken...maybe 3 years ago or so...but Andrew is pitching.
Is he cute or what?? This is one of his Sr. pics
Bathing beauties: Sophie and Hope (this was a while ago...Hope didn't have much hair then)
OK...so this picture is a little old (BH...before Hope), but it's one of my favorites of Andrew, Sophie and me. They were visiting us and this picture was taken at a German Restaurant. YUM!
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