A day with my favorite person

Thanks to my parents Dusty and I have a couple of days to ourselves. Dusty took today off work and we spent the day in Indy. We walked around the mall and even though I had a $25 gift card, I didn't find anything to spend it on. We ate lunch at The Spicy Pickle. (Think Panera Bread) Next stop: Lifeway, where I picked up a CD that I had been wanting - Fee! Then we walked around the Fashion Mall and ended up in Saks Fifth Avenue. Totally out of anything close to my price range!! Got some ice cream at Maggie Moo's and spent 2 hours just talking in the ice cream shop. Uninterrupted adult conversation with your spouse....I highly recommed it! We ended the day at a Pacer game downtown. Something we had yet to take in since we have lived here. Pacers won by 20 points. One would hope so - we were playing the Miami Heat, the worst team in the NBA.

At Conseco Fieldhouse - we were in the 3rd row of the balcony. We may have been up high, but we were center court. Not too bad seats

Just to prove that Dusty was there also. However this is what sometimes happens when you let other people use the camera. Focus issues!

Boomer the Pacer mascot. Before the game he was in the hallway outside our section signing autographs. I did what any self respecting 30 something adult would do and said, "This is for my kid!" :)

Pat Riley - coach of the Heat. He was the Laker coach when I would cheer for them as a kid! Mostly cheered for them because my Dad liked the Celtics and I would take the opposing side. Come to think of it, I cheered for the Cubs when my family were Cardinal fans. :)

Stupid city people!

How to draw a crowd of guys drinking Mountain Dew at a wedding reception in Illinois - get your Dodge stuck so it needs to be pulled out.

Instructions:

1. Park in a sparsely gravelled lot where there has been 10 inches of rain in the last week.


2. While going around the end of the row of cars to get out - swing out too wide


3. Ground is too wet and muddy; forward motion of car stops


4. Hubby hits the gas a little harder


5. No movement


6. Hubby floors the excelerator throwing mud, water, and grass everywhere


7. Wife yells, "STOP ALREADY!"


8. Hubby says, "I'm sorry, now what should we do?"


9. Wife says, "I don't want to answer questions; take care of it"


10. Hubby gets brother-in-law (who is in a tux) to pull car out with his big truck


11. Brother-in-law's truck (which is not 4 wheel drive) spins and spins throwing more dirt, mud, and muck on car.
12. Hubby has window down; gets hit with flying debris
13. Hubby states that wife may need to clean the inside of the door


14. Wife mutters under breath


15. Crowd of macho male party goers begins to assemble
16. Crowd now considers this unfortunate event a challenge to be conquered


17. One of them mercifully drives his huge, red, 4-wheel drive, dual wheeled truck around


18. Wife takes off shoes, gets out of car, and stands at a distance while shaking head


19. Men discuss where to hook the chain at


20. Wife considers disappearing until its over, but stays anyway


21. Men hook onto rear axel


22. Wife hopes car makes it out in one piece


23. Mr. 4-wheel drive carefully pulls out Dodge


24. Wife expresses thanks and hurriedly gets in car


25. Crowd of macho men laugh, slaps each other on the back, and disperses


26. Wife instructs Hubby he WILL be going to the car wash at 10 o'clock at night


27. Wife then clarifies that Hubby will be going alone


28. Hubby drops off wife at his parents


29. Wife snaps picture and laughs hysterically


30. Hubby drives off alone


31. Attendant at car wash is amused and confused

There you have it. How to give a free show at a wedding reception!

Prep work

Short post....

Must get laundry done before Spring Break....

Must stay off computer....

Bye!

Just like Mommy

She wants to wear my shoes. She likes a little dab of makeup. If I'm cleaning, she wants a dust rag too. I'm sure the day will come when she doesn't want to be just like Mommy. I'm going to hold onto it while I can.

Allison - Sneak Peeks

I had the fun task yesterday of taking Allison's 1-year photos. She always puts a smile on my face! She's a girl on the move though. We had to keep turning her around to face the camera. And the last photo should be Allison - the outtake! Everytime I use the petals the first thing the little ones do is to stick them in their mouth.

Happy Birthday Heather!

Happy birthday to one of the best friends a person could have! I won't give her age, but if you count the candles, they are correct! :) Happy birthday friend!

Happy Easter

We hope that you had a wonderful Easter! We enjoyed celebrating the Resurrection together with friends and family. Happy Easter!

Ahh....Spring!

It's FINALLY here! Even though today was colder, the first day of spring was gorgeous! We celebrated by running out into the great outdoors - without our shoes and socks. At least Rachel and I did. Mom, if you're reading this, I did go back into the house and get her shoes and socks right after I snapped the photo. Really, I did!

Dusty and his co-workers celebrated by balancing an egg on end. Who knew? I have a photo of it on his phone, but I can't get if off. I guess at the Spring and Fall equinox an egg will balance on end. Hey, we're just glad winter is over. Now if someone would please explain this to the weatherman who said that we have a chance of snow tomorrow, I would really appreciate it!

A momentous occasion in the life of...

...my car! So the Dodge's odometer clicked to 100,000 miles today. I'm told back in the day this was a major accomplishment when your car got to this point. My car is 6 1/2 years old and I'm just glad it's paid off! But still, I had to document this important event. Now my friend Sarah looked at me as if I had lost my mind when I told her that I had my camera in the car several days ago so I'd be ready when the event occured. However I know that some of my friends will understand the need for the photo. (You know who you are!) I think the whole issue with the odometer is hereditary. After all my mom has a video of her odometer rolling to 200000! She took it herself...while driving down the highway...at 55 mph. Unfortunately I have deleted it from my computer and can not share the exciting footage with you. I can even tell you where I was when my 1st car went to 100000: on the Pennyrile Parkway in Kentucky headed north; coming home from a visit to my relatives in Tennessee. I know; I have issues.

So here it is!


Wait for it......



Wait for it.......



SHAZAM!!!

**Notice I'm only driving 35 mph while taking a photo!



Me in a car with exactly 100000 miles on the odometer. Talking to my mom on the phone. (Hey we have to share these momentous occasions.) By the way, at the moment my camera went off my water bottle had fallen out of the drink holder and was pouring cold water down my leg! But don't you like my teeth! Had them cleaned this morning. :) And before you get totally freaked out by how many things I'm doing here besides driving - I was at a stop sign.



Party over.

Just like Mom

I had some blood drawn today for a little lab work. Rachel went with me, sat up in the chair next to me, and watched the whole thing. The woman that took my blood was so nice to Rachel. Talking about how it didn't hurt. So that wasn't 100% true, but we move on. After bandaging my arm she asked Rachel if she wanted one too. Well of course! She was very proud of it and made sure the cashier at Wal-mart seen it. The cashier was like, "Oh honey what happened to you?" Then I explained it was a sympathy bandage. I better check after Rachel gets up from her nap; she may still have the silly thing on her arm. :)

Aaron on Stage

Last night was Aaron's Spring program at school. The 4th grade did a program of 50's songs. A different group of students was featured during each song. Aaron's song was "Get a Job" The boys in his group all had hats and sunglasses. After the program Aaron said, "Hey Mom, did you notice my hat. I put it on sort of sideways; just like Rocky!" Um....yeah, we have a slight Rocky fixation in our home. All Dusty's fault of course. :) Anyway, Aaron did a great job!

Lessons learned this weekend...

• If you are going to take over 200 photos for the soccer league and you have to kneel down on the floor for every one...your knees will be sore and your quads screaming at you the next morning.
• Costco makes a really good greek pasta salad
• If there is a 30 minute break between band practice and the start of church keep 50 cents in your purse for the Coke machine
• A cup of java from Beanzie's makes almost any situation bearable - Thanks Heather!
• I really need to stick to decaf!
• Eating at McDonalds is much better when done with friends!

Shout out to....

...my friend Lisa. She's studying for her RN and recently passed a hard exam. So in her honor I will repost the Whoo Hoo picture! Way to go Lisa!

Girly Girl

Before we had Rachel I thought that if we were blessed with another child I wouldn't mind if it was a boy. Two boys would do just fine. After all we had the boy toys, boy clothes, and we knew what to expect with a boy. I also was never much on pink. After the ultrasound that revealed we were having a girl, I was almost immediately sucked into the world of pink, lace, and frills. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Here's Rachel in her girly glory: Barbie nightgown, long curly hair, and a crown - courtesy of McDonald's.

Wild Wednesdays!

Sneak Peek - David

I took David's 3-year photos last night. He did such a great job. Becky had him dressed up in his train gear. I even managed to get quite a few shots off before he would come running to see his picture on the back of the camera. Great Job David!

What I did today!

I'm putting myself out on a limb showing you this. You will either feel really good about yourself because you're house doesn't look like this, or you will feel good about yourself because you've been right where I was this morning and now you know you're not the only one. Either way...you win! Really, who are we kidding, I know you've all been here. Just admit it and we'll move forward together. However, please ignore Aaron's room in this video. There's not much of a difference, but at least the bed got made. So here it is for your viewing enjoyment!

Roller Skating

Tonight we had a Sunday school class fellowship and took the kids roller skating. It was the 1st time skating for both of the kids, and I'm sure it had been at least 15 years since I had been roller skating. We had a lot of fun. I fell once but didn't injure myself. And Rachel threw the mother of all fits when it was time to leave. Oh well, you can't always have it all. :)

Whoo Hoo!!!

If you heard a giant sigh of relief followed by cheering today around 12:15 PM...that was me. Dusty took the 1st of 3 tests for a Microsoft certification for work. It was a monster. It was the hardest test he said he's ever had. And he has worked hard. Dusty has been studying non-stop for this thing and has probably logged a couple hundred hours preparing for it. Even with all that he was uncertain about it. So he did all that he could do to prepare and scheduled it for today. I want to say thanks to everyone who was praying today. Especially all the great gals in the Mom's group!

I've made him promise to take a little time off before he starts studying for the 2nd test so we will be celebrating this weekend!

By the way...NO, the people in the above photo are not us...YES, I wish they were. Sun...sand...warmth!

Mwajuma

We received the information packet about our sponsored child last week. This is Mwajuma, and she lives in Tanzania. Rachel loves carrying around the photo and will say "That's 'Juma!" We also received a scrapbook from Compassion that we can keep our letters and photos in. I'm looking forward to getting to know this little girl from halfway around the world.

Happy Birthday Allison!

One of my favorite little girls turned one yesterday. Happy Birthday Allison! We have quite a few sweet little girls at our church and Allison is one who is just a ray of sunshine. She surprised us by making her grand entrance into the world 2 months early, but she has been lighting up our lives ever since. She's one very special girl with a very special family. Happy Birthday little one!