Love

I love my husband. He drives me to absolute distraction sometimes and I want to choke him but I love him. We laughed tonight. I mean truly laughed about something and it felt so good. No one knows me like he does. I appreciate the fact that he doesn't always agree with me but he will always support me to others. I love that he knows what I am going to order in a restaurant and in his Southern gentleman way will do it for me. I love that we share the same likes in movies and books. I love the way he though to buy me a soccer jersey to wear for Maddie's games. I love that he let me have dinner with a friend tonight and fed the girls and did homework and got them ready for bed. I love the way he is spending hours to get my new phone all set up so all I have to do is use it. He was and always will be my best friend.

Day with the girls

I am beginning to cherish days with the girls I think more than I did when they were little (which I always thought was my favorite age). Now I love the conversations and the times that we hang out. Monday was one of those day's.

The girls were out for President's Day and I decided to take the day off and spend it with them. We had to have our minivan worked on so we dropped it off at the dealership, picked up a rental car and headed to the zoo. We met Maddie's babysitter and her kids which made it twice as much fun (or twice as much work depending on how you look at it). We wandered around and watched the elephants and giraffe's, the apes and their babies and even got a glimpse of the new baby panda. We found a nice sunny spot to sit and eat our packed lunch since it was a bit breezy and cool. We ended up the day at the zoo's playground and the girl's talked me into a train ride and a turn on the rock climbing wall. All in all a great day with great girls!!

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Our Valentine's Day was not a particularly exciting one unless you count one child waking you up at 7:00 am to ask if she can watch T.V and not being able to go back to sleep, being told at the library that you owe 54.00 dollars in fines that you know that you don't owe or trying to get children out of the YMCA pool this afternoon.  Bud and I already agreed on no gifts.  We don't need anything really.  I also didn't want to have to go out and try to find something for him which is virtually impossible because he is a techie and I can't afford any of the things he would like.  He did offer to cook me a nice dinner though which is always greatly appreciated and was absolutely delicious (shrimp scampi and steak).  

Abby, on the other hand, had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  She scored a nice handmade t-shirt from mom with rhinestones on it and a silver initial bracelet.  She got to hang out at the library today which she loves and go swimming at the YMCA.  The day was capped off when  we arrived home and there was a heart-shaped box of candy with a small teddy bear propped on our front door handle.  It was from a little boy at school who had his parents drive him over to our house to drop it off.  She had the biggest grin on her face because she really likes Jessie but at the same time was embarrassed when her sister's teased her about it.  She called him, thanked him for the gift, told him how much she liked it and said goodbye in about 30 seconds.  I hope the poor kid even understood what she was saying because she was talking so fast.  I realized later that she had a way better Valentine's Day than I did.  How is that possible, she is eight and I am thirty-something shouldn't it be the other way around?

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

The Happy Valentine's Day Card that the girls did for the grandparents

The girl's in the Valentine's Day shirts that I made for them.

Try, Try Again

If at first you don't succeed try, try again.  In first grade Abby was tested for her school's Target program (gifted program) and she didn't make it.  This year she tested again and passed in all of the areas except in the area of motivation.  Her teacher scored her high in a survey so she had to put together a portfolio and submit it to the gifted teachers.  This time she passed in the area of motivation so she begins tomorrow.  She is very excited and so are we.  She puts so much pressure on herself and we knew that had she not made it that she would have been so disappointed.  When she thought that she hadn't made it in the fall, she cried and cried and cried. Now we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Transparency

I appear to be transparent.  I think that most of the people that know me would say that I say what I think and that I don't hold much back.  I will share freely, the good and the bad.  The truth is that I hold a lot back.  Most of what I feel doesn't get shared with anyone other than God and occasionally a friend that I would trust with my life because she has always been there for me.  I don't like to admit failure and when things don't work out the way I think they should in my life, it's a failure and therefore I don't share.  It's hard to be an island though.