correction

I must have inadvertently deleted a line in the previous post.. it was the whole reason for the post in the first place. sorry if you were confused.. it's now corrected.

Bittersweet

Today was my baby's birthday. Elizabeth turned four years old. It was a fun day for her. She got a big-girl bicycle. Her PawPaw came over and gave her an Ariel doll and some princess dress-up things. And we went to Carreta's, our favorite Mexican restaurant with Mike's brother, Steve, and his family, Rachel, Hunter and Reece, and Mike's oldest brother, Jay.
It's hard to believe my baby is FOUR years old already! It really seems like yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with her. She's brought so much joy to our lives. I'm so thankful for her. And even though it's hard to watch your children grow up so fast, it's so exciting to see them mature into independent little "people". Elizabeth was so happy today and excited about everything that was going on. It was her request to go to Carreta's for dinner, which of course, we were thrilled with. We love that place. And to even add more fun to the night, they had the "band" playing and singing..very festive. Everyone was having a good time.. talking, laughing, the kids were playing and dancing in front of the band. Then right in the midst of it all, Elizabeth turned to me and said "I wish Gram could be here to see this." Just like that...right in the middle of so much joy and happiness, my world just stopped as my eyes welled with tears... the thought of my four year old child thinking of her Gram during a happy moment in her day..her birthday dinner. Some of you know, and some may not, that my mother-in-law passed away a few weeks ago. It's been hard for Elizabeth to deal with her death. She talks about her often. And asks a lot of questions. I'm not sure that she fully understands exactly what has happened. All she knows is that her Gram isn't here anymore. And that she can't see her anymore. She misses her so much. So do I. So does everyone. She was such a wonderful, happy, funny, charismatic woman. Everyone who met her instantly liked her and she was loved by many. Our days just aren't the same without her in them. I will miss her humor, her great cooking, her quick wit, her sarcasm, our shopping trips.. that woman loved to shop more than anyone. And she couldn't wait to make Elizabeth a mall rat. She was the anchor for our family and there will always be a void in our family gatherings and holidays. She just brought so much life to the party and we will miss her so. I love you, Dee. And I miss you.. we all do.

I'm sorry to make such a solemn post. It didn't really go in the direction that I intended. But it was just weighing heavy on my heart. Hope you don't mind. I guess this is what blogging is really about anyway, right?
Elizabeth's birthday party will be this Saturday. So the next few days will be pretty busy with the last of the party plans, but I will post pictures from tonight and of the birthday party next week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

You're NOT going to believe happened to me....

Okay.. so I was in Michael's buying some things to make for Elizabeth's party. I was just moseying around.. up and down the ailes. Then I pass this guy. I just happened to look down at the right angle, and his "you-know-what" was HANGING out of his pants!!!! I thought.. "okay. maybe this guy is trying to play a prank." Because it DID look fake. My mind was racing.."Oh my gosh. Did I really just see that?" So went straight to the first Michael's employee that I could find and told her what I thought I saw. I mean, how disgusting and inappropriate, to say the least! What if someone's little girl saw that?? So I stayed in that area so I could see what was gonna happen. I saw a man in a black shirt say something to him and then they both walked out the door. Then the guy in the black shirt walked back in. I said, "Did I really see what I thought I saw?" And he confirmed. He said he told the guy he needed to leave and then he just disappeared down an alley between the buildings. What DRAMA!! I certainly didn't expect THAT on my casual trip to the craft store! I guess he thought there'd be nothing but women in there to whom he could expose himself. How GROSS! Of course, after I checked out and was sitting in my car, replaying the prior events, I thought of all kind of things I could've/should've done.. Like say, "Oh, my! Is that real?? Can we go get one of my girlfriends?" And then take him to the front of the store and make some announcement over the loud speaker.. something to really embarrass him. Or just knee him square between the legs. I don't know.. some people are just sick.

Tell me what you think...

I need your help. I haven't calibrated the monitor on my new laptop yet. Can you tell me if the colors and brightness look right? I haven't calibrated the monitor on my new laptop yet. And I can't check it from Mike's computer because his screen is very bright and oversaturated. Just let me know how it looks on your end. Hopefully I'll get around to calibrating this one soon. Anyone have any suggestions of a good program to use for this? Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Fun with the Girls

Today, I could tell the girls had a little cabin fever. It's been raining on and off for several days..so not much outside time. So I decided to take them out for lunch. And where else do you go for lunch with kids?? Chick-fil-A! Good food, good service and a clean play area. What more could you ask for?? Once we got home, Elizabeth and Ava were wound tight from all the ice cream. We played "chase" around the house and tumbled on the bed. Just enough to wear them out before their nap! Here are some of the pictures...

Rare Moment

I dont see this very often.. so of course, when I saw the girls being soooo sweet to each other, I grabbed my camera as fast as I could.

It makes me so happy to see them getting along and loving (even LIKING) each other!

Uninvited Pool Guest

I typically don't mind this.. UNLESS, it's black, scaley and of the reptilian family. See below.....

We found this little guy in our pool this morning.. lovely, huh? Mike and another neighbor/friend of ours WRESTLED him out of the scimmer... and killed him. Which I actually kinda feel bad about now. After all, I think it's a speckled king snake, which is harmless..actually it (as an adult) eats rodents and such...which is a good thing. We shoulda just released him into the woods.. RIP little snake.

A Big 'Ol Messy Mess

A few days ago, I was knee deep in photo editing. Elizabeth was climbing onto the counter to dig in the pantry for a snack. She accidentally knocked something out of the pantry. She said, "Mom, I made a mess." Foolishly, without even looking to see what the "mess" was, I said, "Okay. Just leave it. I'm almost done. I'll clean it up." Fast forward about 5 minutes. This is what I find...

Once Elizabeth saw that I was taking pictures, I guess she decided that I wasn't too upset about the mess..so she joined in, too. (please ignore the fact that my almost four year old child still runs around in her underwear. She usually doesnt get dressed until after lunch!...bad mom...i know!)

Oops!

..forgot the link for the pictures. Here it is:
http://dell.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?UV=642428600044_123734103307&collid=12333666407.320244103307.1218083230196&page=1&sort_order=0&navfolderid=2008&folderid=0&ownerid=12333666407

let me know if there are any issues with the link.

Cruisin'

Mike and I just got back (a week ago)from a cruise with some friends. We had such a wonderful time. It was 5 days and 5 nights to Progresso and Cozumel. The cruise was sooo much fun. Cozumel was beautiful. I really would have like to have had more time to see it.. the water was gorgeous! I'll post a few of my favorite pics, then provide a link to kodak gallery if you want to see the rest of them. I'm really disappointed that I dont have MORE pictures..especially of me and mike. I was always the one with the camera..taking pics of everyone else. Oh well..lesson learned.

A friend of ours, Kevin Diggs, has a band-Five Finger Discount. They are the ones who headed up the cruise. There were about 50 or so people with our group. The band played twice on the ship and also had a karaoke contest. We spent the days on the ship just lying around by the pool, watching the fun activities on the deck..resting and relaxing. Then we'd get dressed for dinner, which was always fun, too. The wait staff was awesome. Everyone was so cheerful and it was such a fun atmosphere. Every night, the wait staff would sing and dance..we even did a conga line around the ballroom! AND..I had the same, amazing dessert EVERY night.. a chocolate melting cake. it was like dipping into WARM chocolate cake batter..delicous!

After dinner, we'd change clothes and then DANCE until the wee hours of the morning. Sleep late, have breakfast and start all over! I have to say, as much as I MISSED the kids terrible, I was a little depressed to be back in the real world again. Next year's cruise is already booked. And the ship is being completely remodeled for next summer. It's gonna be so nice! Anyone wanna go????