Thursday, June 12, 2008

Miss Olivia's Preschool Graduation

Proud Parents with a proud little sweetheart!

Miss Courtney, her favorite teacher and one of my friends:)
very proud
getting her diploma
thirteen years from now we'll see the same gaze:)
her best buddy- Luke

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Deagan

I forgot to mention, since we've been so incredibly busy over the last three weeks....
DEAGAN IS POTTY TRAINED. FINALLY!!!!
The week before Memorial Day Weekend we ran out of pull-ups. It just happened. By mommy brain accident. And it was perfect. It was just what we needed to catapult him to the next level.
He woke up..there were no more pull-ups in the drawer so I told him, well buddy looks like you're in underwear full time now. And he said, "OK." And that was it. He was off and running. He had been totally horrible at it for so long and just like that POOF, he was potty trained.
And we've only had three Deagan accidents in three weeks. (and two mommy/mimaw forgot to put a pull-up on you for your nap the day you decide to sleep for a magical THREE hours accident).
The little dude just took right to it! And he LOVES it. And it's so magical to watch because he gets so proud of himself:) And he jumps for joy each and every time. It might have something to do with the jelly beans- but hey I'll take it;)

Ron

Jeff's Dad, Ron, did very well with his surgery today and has started the recovery process. Jeff said he did great and the nurses were positive about status. Now he just needs plenty of time to rest and begin the new journey of recovery.
They ended up having to do five bypasses- whew! Strong man. Long surgery.
But all is going well:)

Monday, June 09, 2008

Ron

Please say a prayer for Jeff's dad Ron...he goes in at 5am for emergent quadruple bypass surgery. I wish I could be there- I'm glad Jeff is. We will be thinking about you all day and pray it goes well. LOVE YOU!!!!

On a lighter note

So my plane to Tucson was all messed up and long story short- the plane coming to get me was delayed which made me miss my connection- which then made me get re-routed to a different airport entirely and arrive 4 and a half hours LATE.
The airline did nothing for me as far as a credit or a voucher or anything, besides sit in THE terminal (see lower post) from 7 am until noon.
The flight attendant felt so 'bad' for me that they upgraded me to first class. I have never flown a REAL first class before. Just Airtran's business class that is essentially just bigger seats. Well this was serious first class.
We sat down and it was like we had a personal attendant/waiter for the whole trip. He was very, very attentive. They brought us juice, while the others were still loading. We got a bowl of WARM nuts served to us when the plane was first in flight. Followed by another drink (unlimited alcohol, which I did NOT partake in or I would vomit). Then they gave us warm wet towels for washing the nut salt off of our hands. Then the guy made an announcement that the cabin would be getting drinks, but they had to pay $3 for a snack if they wanted one. No free nuts or pretzels- you now have to pay. (woah!) Well before they even started serving drinks to the regular folk, we had a full three course meal. First a salad with bottled ice water, then a croissant sandwich with a bree cheese wedge and crackers. Then I knew I could smell it, I knew I wasn't going crazy....he brought us WARM FRESH FROM THE OVEN chocolate chip cookies. Seriously! It was like my dreams were answered and he knew exactly what I needed to make my day! It was great. Even the seats were better- softer, made of that memory foam.
I know I may sound silly, but it was great. It really was. It was different and odd. Don't get me wrong, I would never pay for it. But it was a nice little upgrade:)

Moments

So I've had a few of those "take your breath away" moments lately. Those ones where you are out and about and just stopped dead in your tracks (no pun intended). Maybe it's because the anniversary of his death is next week and it's just like a nasty cloud that looms over. You dread the day. Dread the emotion that is involved with reliving it all. But I swear I see my brother everywhere.
One day it's in Kroger shopping for food and I turn down an aisle and WHAM there he is carrying a basket (not pushing a cart because he's too cool). And I stop and have to remind myself- no that can't happen he's gone.
I few weeks ago I was asked to edit some of a friend's wedding photos for her and I found myself hopelessly weeping at my computer. Because she married one of his best friends. And there were all of his friends lined up in suits...but he wasn't there.
Or this week I did newborn photos for one of my other friends, who also happened to marry one of Nick's best friends. Well again I was editing the photos and the manner in which I took them- some of them- look just like it was him. They looked alot alike.
Then the icing on the cake was Saturday morning when I flew out to Tucson to see Lindsey and Peter, I was flying out of the old terminal in Detroit...which I hadn't done in a very long time. And there was the parking lot where I switched up my bag. And I flew out of the SAME EXACT GATE where I hung out with him for the very last time before leaving for Australia (back when your family could actually escort you to the gate). With that last big squeezy hug. Right there, right before my eyes. And the damn terminal is set up on a ramp, where you don't even realize where you are walking or what you are coming up on until you get there. And when I got there, it took my breath away- big time, stopped me right in my tracks. I'm sure I looked like a big idiot It's one of those situations where you have to have a serious conversation with yourself and convince yourself that you're in a public place and this is not the time to have an emotional flare-up... so you must suck it up and deal with the pain internally. (or just mentally blog and then pour your heart out at a later date...free therapy, thanks for listening).
Anyway, the point is, that I see him everywhere. All the time. And it sucks! But at the same time it's so real, and god do I wish it were real. I wish I could just wake up one day and have him come home and tell us it was all a big hoax.
But then reality sets in...

Monday, June 02, 2008

Daddy's Little Runners


This weekend when we went to pick up Jeff's race packet, they had a kids race. The kids were so excited, we waited around an hour for it to start. They both one their races and were sporting their medals with pride:)

Olivia's Kid Race






She sprinted with all her might! She is soooo competitive it's amazing! And she won first girl:)


Deagan's kid race- he came in first too!

Weekend @ GiGi's Beach




For Memorial Day weekend we went up to Jeff's parent's house in Omena. It's just above Traverse City. We had a nice long relaxing weekend on their beach. The kids even donned their swimsuits for the first time this year and splashed in the water!

For a Memorial Day Celebration, we had a lobster boil.




first time fishing!






A rope and a stick?