Spring Break

We are counting down the moments to departure -- we leave for St. Augustine on Saturday morning to stay with Cousin Denise and visit friends and family. I lived in St. Augustine from 1978 to 1988 and sometimes I feel like a local, but my buddies who still live there sometimes unknowingly remind me I've been gone for over 20 years! I was a mere 22 when I left home for Boston and I LOVE St. Augustine now (when it's not stifling hot). I love seeing the old girlfriends and spending time with my sister in her bead shop, eating at the best seafood restaurant in the world, Schooners and watching my crazy girls run around my Dad's backyard, feeding the ducks in the pond. I asked Frannie about going to St. Augustine the other day and she said "We love Papa (my Dad), he loves me soooo much! AND he likes Ariel too" He put The Little Mermaid on his tv once for her and she never forgot that.


Grace is in heaven with her favorite teacher, Miss Stephanie.

We can't wait to meet my friend's new daughter, Elise. Isn't she just gorgeous! They are still in China, working on paperwork and bonding. We are praying for you Donna!

Here's His Mug Shot

Here's the guilty culprit to the vandalism charges. Looks like a hooligan, doesn't he?

I've Got to Go With my Gut

My WISE friend Lisa told me to always go with my gut and that is what I had to do this week. Grace has been suffering from continual strep infections and very high fevers so juggling that and work has not been easy for either one of us. The teacher at Grace's school who has been preparing the kids for Pre-K (like a Nazi if you ask me) gave us a bit of grief about how much school Grace has missed (yes, folks, she is 3 and a half and not really in school yet) so after some deliberation, Kevin and I both agreed that Grace needs to be with the one who truly loves her and to heck with Pre-K prep, we held her "back" and asked for her to be moved back to the baby class with her (and my) favorite, Miss Stephanie! Pictures to come. She hugs Grace all day long and looks out for our little Peanut like a Mom would. Clancy is working off his repair job by taking a job at a rock and gravel plant. He has to repay the drywall and the labor and owes us $267.64. Plus he had to buy a hard hat. Anyone see the Youtube movie with the guilty dog Denver? Priceless

Five Kids?

My buddy Donna (seen here on left) is leaving tomorrow for China for child #5 (lucky number 5), can you believe it?@^&@ She's getting Elise, who will join her family while her two brothers wait here with Grandma. Doesn't it make you want to go get a baby from China?? (I've prayed about it and I'm pretty sure God told me FINISHED!) The girls are outside watering the new azaleas with Kevin, enjoying the gorgeous weather while I count the days to spring break.
Wish I had taken a picture of this, but the strangest thing happened last night. Frannie told me something like "Clancy wrecked the wall" and I had no idea what that meant, but she showed me a corner of her room where a hole had been made right through the drywall into our unfinished space! Shreds and chunks and insulation were everywhere. Nearest we could figure, the dog must have heard a squirrel and was trying to dig to get him, either that or there is a secret treasure back there that is emitting a sound only a dog can hear....

Yesterday was my 11th anniversary

Only by the GRACE OF GOD was I able to quit smoking, 11 years ago yesterday. I prayed and prayed and asked all my friends and every saint that ever lived to pray for me so I could kick this evil habit and it worked. Thanks God for showing mercy on me to help me do it. If I still smoked, I think I'd be paying $5? Is that right? For a pack per day? Wow, that's incredible. We used to drive 20 miles to Idaho from Spokane to pay something like $15 for a carton of generics.

Some days, like during this week in particular, the hardest thing you will do is to stop yourself from hitting your child. Seems like we have had a particularly rough week and on more than one occasion I have had to put the girls in their room and walk away for fear of my temper. Just walk away and pray. It's only nail polish on the carpet, it's not the end of the world. My Mom said to me once, which truly has helped me (when referring to Casey at 3 years old), "She is far more important to me than anything she can wreck in my house." Wow, Mom, that was pretty wise. The girls flooding the bathroom this week or stubborn Grace telling me NO! three hundred times or shampoo being intentionally dumped is not really that important. Is it attention they are after? I'm too stubborn a Mom to give into THAT ole trick. I know the ABCs of behaviorism. Let their memories of this week please be the Gators winning the SEC championship and not their Mom loudly screaming things like "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRAZY?!!!!!!" The Lord is my shephard....

Frannie's First Formal

Frannie's teacher, Miss Alexia, is so creative with the kids. They had a Valentine's dance with formal dancing and some line dancing too. Her dancing lessons are paying off BIG TIME :)