There's no place like home

We came home to -

• licks from Molly
• clean house
• all of our toys
• laundry
• sick daughter
• 50 degrees in the house
• wind
• happy kitty
• empty fridge
• own bed
• bills
• unpacking
• familiar sounds, smells and activities of home
  

Good times

We drove to Nebraska for Thanksgiving. When we left our house on Tuesday morning, we thought we would never make it out of town. I think we hit every red light from our house to the Sealander's house. They were so kind to take care of 3 of our furry family members. (Molly and the hamsters spent Thanksgiving with them.) After we dropped them off, we headed for the interstate and hit every red light on the way. I think it took us an hour to finally get "on the road". Our first stop was Sierra Trading post in Cheyenne, where Patrick found a great new coat and the kids played in a couple of canoes that happened to be sitting on the floor. They loved rocking in the boats. I don't know what the employees thought... After that we made our way up to Sidney and spent the evening with Patrick's aunt and uncle and cousin. We had a very nice dinner together at Pizza Hut and then went over to Jim and Judy's house for some coffee and visiting. The kids liked playing with Ashlynn with Aunt Judy's toys. They also really like the aquarium that Judy has with some interesting fish in it. We stayed at the same Holiday Inn that we stayed at in September when we were in Sidney for Eric and Kaylee's wedding. Both of the kids remembered the hotel when we drove up. Following our visit with Patrick's family, we spent time in the hot tub and swimming pool. It was a very enjoyable night. In the morning, we continued our journey east to my sister Lisa's house. Michael has been asking every day for a month when we were going to see Ash-u-lee (cousin Ashley). (He is smitten with her and she is such a good sport to give in to all of his two-year-old demands.) Lisa's house is very warm and cozy (and CLEAN!!) and being there is such a treat. She is an amazing cook, a wonderful homemaker, and I love being a guest in her house. She thinks of everything, and I always come home inspired about ways to make my own home more organized, better kept, and more inviting. Later in the evening, Grandma and Pop-pop arrived. That was fun for my kids to see them in a different environment other than our house. On the way I told Michael that he would see Pop-pop at Ashley's house and he just couldn't figure that one out. The time that we spent at Lisa and Lonnie's was so wonderful. Great laughs, awesome food, some stress, good card games, wonderful music, hugs, kisses, little sleep, Wii, monster trucks, gun fire, cheap wine, birthday celebration, expensive wine, "WNTW", and best of all time with our great family. The only hard part was the absence of Marky, Maddie, Renee, Monty , Adam and Clara. We missed them all so much, and thought of them often. All in all, our Thanksgiving holiday was the best. I have much to be thankful for.

Making pies

I made some pies for Thanksgiving, and Meredith helped me put them together. She asked me if she could help me put the ingredients in the mixer. She used the word ingredients. How does she know that word or what it means?? Sigh.... she's TOO smart for this mama!!

Giving Thanks

I am looking back over the past month, when all of the planning began for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have spent so many moments with conflicting emotions. I've been worried, stressed, sad, excited, overwhelmed and happy. Now that the Thanksgiving holiday has passed, I wonder if I could have handled everything differently. If only I had prayed more, trusted more, backed off more, given in sooner, relaxed. But here I am on the other side of plans made and of events that have occurred, and I am grateful. I missed my older daughters so much over the past week, but in the midst of it all, I had so much to be thankful for. I found my thoughts resting with them so often, and yet my fears and worries were drowned out by my trust in God, that He knew where they were and what they were doing, even if we were apart from each other. I was able to enjoy Michael and Meredith in spite of some sadness in my heart. Patrick truly helped me get through the week with his encouragement and the plans that he made to keep us busy. Being with my extended family provided distraction, joy, so much laughter and many great memories. It's hard to believe that this week I have been dreading for a month is over. I am so grateful for that - not just that it is over and in the past, but that it was well spent and taught me great lessons.

A precious moment

This afternoon I got to hold Michael for about 15 minutes while he watched "Bob the Builder". Michael's favorite person these days is Daddy, not Mama. He usually asks to have a snuggle with Daddy, have Daddy carry him, buckle him, etc. However, today I got to be the one to hold him!! I loved rocking him and holding him. He hasn't felt very good today, so he just relaxed in my arms with his blankies. He's going to be 3 in January, and day by day he is seeming to lose a little bit of his "babyness". The time that he has left of being my baby is slipping by, although he will truly always be my baby. It was such a precious moment to just enjoy him today, making the moment count in my heart.

zoom zoom zoom

Over the weekend, Daddy and Michael created a new toy together. It's the coolest thing!! He has spent a lot of time in the last few days playing with it. His sisters think it's pretty cool too!!!

Simple gift

Animal mishaps

We have them all the time at our house. Fish die, cats eat birds, cats eat fish, cats disappear, dogs run away, hamsters get toyed with, etc. etc. The latest was that our cat, Miley, got shut in Marky's room for about 10 hours last night. I didn't find her, or the mess that she made, until about 3:00 this afternoon. Fortunately for me, there wasn't any poopy or potty accidents - that would have been the WORST - but what I did find wasn't that great. Miley had knocked both hamster cages over dumping all of the food and water and yuck everywhere - it almost looked like she threw the cages off of the dresser. The hamsters were still alive, but turned on their heads. It took me about an hour to clean it all up. Prior to this, last week, one of the hamsters had gotten "let out" of it's cage, and was MIA for about a day... Molly (dog) found him and brought him downstairs to us. The poor hamster was playing possum on it's back, legs straight up in the air, soggy from it's ride in Molly's mouth. We all thought it was dead, but Michael got real close and said "His tummy is moving." I don't know what I would have done if the hamster had died. Oh my goodness, I am SO done with animal mishaps!!! What is a mama to do??

Weekend recap... on Tuesday??

I thought I would take a minute and update my blog and share what the weekend brought us. From my last entry, you could tell that I was a lot disappointed about our night away being stolen from us by the vomit - monster. Meredith started getting sick on Thursday night (late) and continued through Friday morning. She tapered off and just laid around the rest of Friday. Our sweet babysitters Sarah and Jason came anyway and took care of the little ones while we went out to eat and to a movie. We went to a restaurant that we hadn't ever been to called "Mannos". We both had delicious food and sat near a large fireplace that was lit. Other than the 50 blaring televisions in the room, it was a very nice time. Then we went to a movie called "Firestorm". It was what my brother would call the ultimate "B" movie, but it had a great point to it. I didn't know what to expect, and I enjoy going to the movies, so it was alright with me! We were all pretty lazy on Saturday morning. It was very enjoyable to just hang out and do nothing. Saturday night, I went out with one of my long time girlfriends, Susan. We've been best buds for most of our lives. We had the best evening together. We went to an antique/thrift store and browsed for a couple of hours. Even the owner commented on how long we had been there! Then we went downtown and enjoyed the Christmas lights that are already hanging and we ate at a really nice place. We both tried a new spanish wine. Yummy. Sunday brought more resting for Meredith, playing with Michael's new car track that he and Daddy made, and waiting for the big girls to get home. I had a baby shower to go to, and then it was time to take everyone to church for kids choir. What a wonderful friend and family weekend it was.

Here today...gone...today

I woke up to a little bit of snow - our first one! Now it's gone...

I went to bed with anticipation of a night away... Meredith threw up... Now it's gone...

What a week!

This week has brought...

*Patrick home through Tuesday evening
*Maddie home from school sick - I don't think she ever got out of her jammies
*good talks with friends and family
*unexpected phone call from a long-time friend
*starting a new book
*having coffee with my mom at my kitchen table
*lots of laundry
*even more birthday
*memories
*monster fighting
*blood,sweat and tears
*IM with daughters - can't believe they can do that
*prayers
*great music
*laughter
*SO looking forward to the weekend

For my sisters

Sunday night celebration

The final celebration of Marky's birthday weekend was Sunday night. We had supper at Grandma and Poppop Oman's house. Marky had requested to have tacos and brownies to eat - Grandma makes very yummy tacos, and the brownies were even yummier! Both Marky AND Maddie were blessed with gifts Sunday night. They BOTH got new laptop computers!!! OH MY GOODNESS! Marky was surprised, but I think Maddie was even MORE surprised. Maddie was feeling SO rotten, but this gift certainly perked her up. Marky also opened amazing gifts from Aunt Lisa and Aunt Renee on Sunday night - She certainly was showered with love by everyone. The girls have been on their new computers ever since Sunday evening. The really special think is that Maddie has had Meredith sitting right next to her the whole time because Maddie has been home from school for 2 days. Maddie has been really gracious to let Meredith watch her play on her computer and share her new present with her little sister. This night was certainly the icing on the birthday cake!!!