It's Campfire Time Again

We decided to have a campfire on Saturday night and Josh and Heather's families came over to grill out and enjoy time together. Actually, Steve and I had gone to Josh's the night before and they had a small campfire which fired (pun intended) the desire to start having them again.

Josh's family and Steve and I had hamburgers to grill. Heather's family had other ideas: Brats and steak soft tacos. Man, I wish I'd known that, I'd have loved having one of their tacos. Yum! Pato is a Master Griller, seriously. Josh is really good, too. If I'd known Pato was coming, I'd have thawed the chicken legs I'd bought with hopes that Pato would cook them some day.

Having the grandkids out, too, is always wonderful. Christiano is getting less shy and actually put his arms up to me tow different times and I held him for a short while each time, then he'd slide down and walk around more or go to his Mom.

Heather brought stuff for S'mores, the marshmallows were huge. I had one huge marshmallow, that was enough for me. S'mores are great, but also a real mess to deal with. The kids and grandkids love them, so they're worth it.

Some day I'm going to have a large three-season porch to sit in when the insects come out to spoil your fun. It would have one of those Casablanca ceiling fans for nights when there is no breeze so we'd still be comfortable.

I've been wanting an enclosed place to sit in outside so I can read or just relax for so long. There's so many things we need to get done on this place though, the porch is not the top priority.

What are your desires? Did you have a great weekend? Be sure to let me know! Halfmoon

Spending the Day at Heather's

Heather and Pato are on their way with the kids to Ohio! I'm kind of excited for the kids because Pato's Mom will be their and she hasn't seen Jordan since he was three, I think. She's never seen the other three.

I know they will all be shy, especially Alyce and Christiano. Alyce and Kat are both my little snugglers. They come up and hug, hug, hug. I love it. Usually Kat goes off to play then but sometimes Alyce stays by my side, especially if we are in public or at someone's house whom she doesn't know.

Anyway, today I am at Heather's apartment. Management is supposed to come by and Heather doesn't want them to come in when no one is here. I don't blame her. I wouldn't like anyone having the opportunity to sneak around in my things.

Steve will be here soon to pick me up to go get a nerve block done on my back and maybe on my neck, also. The pain is getting worse all the time. After that, we'll come back here to see if they've looked at the apartment yet. When that is done, we will once again be homebound.

Heather's family will be back Sunday. That will give them only 2 days to visit with his family. What a fast trip. Are you planning any trips this summer? Let me know about them.

Josh Came Over

Josh had the day off yesterday so after lunch he brought Cambria with him to visit. Shelley had taken Taylor and Carter to the Iowa State Fair with Angie and Jadah. Josh didn't want to be in the heat all day and that wouldn't have been good for Cambria either.

Steve was on the computer for the first half of the visit. Josh and I sat on the living room floor with Cambria and played with toys with her. Man, can she move fast. I've never seen anyone crawl that quick in my life. Once, I rolled a car toward her. She didn't know it was coming and the next thing I saw was her standing at the couch. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I don't know if the sound scared her, or if she just decided that's where she wanted to be. What a hoot!

Josh showed us a few houses that the Realtor sent him. They so want to move to their own home. I don't blame them, I can remember what it was like to rent. Pretty soon, Cambria started getting a little cranky so I made a pallet on the floor and Josh layed down with her and gave her a bottle.

All the guys in my family love to fish, Josh included. However, he doesn't have as much time to do it as the others. I know Josh loves to have fish frys at his house. We have a few fish in our freezer waiting for the next one. I wonder if the guys still smoke cigars while they fish like they used to.

I keep telling Steve I'll go with him the next time he goes fishing so I can see if I can sit that long. I'd like to get a license and fish with them.

Back to yesterday, Josh called Shelley at least three times to see if she was going in to work that evening. If so, he needed to be at home before she left. Since he received no response, he loaded Cambria up and drove home. Turned out, Shelley wasn't working so he could have stayed longer. Shelley said she told him before she left that she wasn't going to work. Oh, well, there'll be another time to visit soon. We usually see him and Heather's family pretty often.

Do you have any fish stories or stories about your grandkids? Let me know!

Time With Mikayla

Wednesday I went with Abby and Mikayla to Abby's doctor appointment. I stayed in the lobby with Mikalya while Abby did her thing. They had a neat little corner for kids, a little table and chairs, a TV with kids shows and an aquarium with lots of cool fish swimming around.

Mikayla calls me Momma and Steve Papa. She calls Abby Mommy. Abby's tried to get her to call me Grandma, MiMi, and a few other names but Mikayla refuses to call me anything but Momma. How cute is that? Justin told Abby to let Kayla call me whatever she wants, it's OK.

When we were waiting for Abby to go in for her appointment, I walked over to the drinking fountain to get a cup of water. As I was walking back, Mikayla came running to me and yelled "Momma!" What few people were in the lobby, looked at me and I'm sure wondered how I could have a child that young :)

After the appointment, I sat in the car as Abby stopped to run into HyVee. I played a game with Mikayla having her repeat words I said as I pointed to the objects. Finally, I said, "Say Mommy," she replied correctly. "Say Daddy," again she said it right. "Say Grandpa," she replies "Papa", you know what's coming next right? "Say Grandma," and she said "Momma". I said, "Mikayla, can't you say Grandma?" Mikayla's response was "Nope". What a sweetheart!

They are only little for so long. Before I know it she and her cousins will be visiting Grandma's with ipods on their laps and they'll be listening to their favorite songs. I know how fast it goes having raised four kids.

I remember when Abby moved out, I really thought it wouldn't bother me. Wrong. It was one of the hardest things I've gone through, other than Heather, my oldest, getting married. Seems like those are turning points in my life. I hope it won't be as hard when my grandkids get married!

Here's a pic of Mikayla at a story time. Shelley's also in the pic with Carter and Cambria (in the car seat). Wish I could have been there. We never did that type of thing when our kids were young. Oh, well, I never had time for it, anyway. Hope you have plans for a great weekend.

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Shopping With Sue and Steve

The day of the reunion we spent time with Sue and Walt. Before we arrived, Sue and I were talking on the phone when I realized we both needed to go shopping, so we decided to do that shortly after our arrival. Steve normally doesn't like shopping but he wanted to exchange a pair of jeans so he jumped in the car, too.

We found a lot of what we needed at Walmart, including the food Sue needed to go with our supper. After that she stopped to get pies for dessert. Since we had cold food, we made a pit stop at Sues to get things in the refrigerator. Then, Sue and I went to Penneys where I found a pair of jeans I needed.

Sue wanted to get some pillows and they were buy 1 get 1 free, even on the two packs. I told her I needed new pillows, too so we should go together on the pillows . Steve was surprised when I brought them home because we have a lot of pillows, but none of them are comfortable for me and a good night's sleep is so important, right?

Sue and Walt's friends, Terry and Karen and their daughter, arrived and shortly thereafter we had a really scrumptious dinner (roast, potatoes, carrots, homemade gravy, the works). Then it was time for us to go to my reunion so we missed the pie, darn! Have a great weekend!

After the Fact

This is me sitting at the registration table. I tried to grab my glasses before the pic was taken, didn't work.

Remember how I dreaded seeing certain people at the reunion? Boy, did I have a case of nerves for nothing. I will say the first half of the night was a little boring. The main problem is, no one had name tags on, thus, I didn't know many faces. I think there were four girls that still looked like they did when they were young so I recognized them. Same went for the guys.


Steve and I sat with Connie Powell (maiden name), Patty Brown, and another girl whose name was Jewel Tomlinson (I think), plus Patty and Jewel's husbands. At one point Steve turned to me and said Patty and her husband live in Montgomery, AL. That's the next city to Prattville where my sister and brother-in-law live. Small world.

Once people started dancing, everyone seemed to loosen up and enjoy the night more. I decided to introduce myself to those who I couldn't place. I ended up reconnecting with a lot of people I went to school with and received many hugs. It was great. They really should have had name tags, personalized basketballs, or something so we could recognize people.

Steve and I went to Ameristar afterwards for a short while, then made the long drive home.

40 Year Reunion

OK, that's telling my age, isn't it? This weekend is the 40th year reunion of my high school. Man, doesn't seem like that many years have gone by. But then again, I have a wonderful husband, 4 great kids, and 10 magnificent grandchildren!

Thursday night they had a bike ride to Mineola??? I guess that's south of Council Bluffs. Tonight is a meet and greet at a bar and grill. Tomorrow night is the big event at a hotel ballroom, DJ, kegs of beer, and finger food. Myself, I can't see spending $25 each for finger food and beer is really not my thing, but I bet the price is mainly for the place the event is being held. I could go for a campfire with outdoor pillows so you could just lay back and look at the stars, eat some snacks, or sit around and chat with your old friends.

Part of me (half) doesn't want to go. The other half wants to at least see the girls I hung out with in high school. When I think of having to see people who have their noses up in the air, I want to say, "Grow up, we're not in high school anymore!" Those are the ones I could care less about seeing.

Have you had a reunion lately? How'd it go? What do you say, "What have you been doing the last 40 years?" Oh brother. I'll be back in touch after the fact. Have a great weekend!

Beautiful Dobermans

Man, a family is moving out of the Des Moines area and cannot take their two dobermans with them. One is 5 years old (the dad), the son is one year old. The dad is black and the son is red and rust. We had a red doberman and she was so pretty. She was killed right before her first birthday. I swore I'd never get another dog because it hurt me so.

When I look at the pictures of them, the red one looks so much like Brandy. We don't have a fence so it's almost impossible to have them here. We have next door neighbors who have two dobermans inside an electric fence. That wouldn't stop our dogs from going inside their yard.

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This is a picture from Craig's List that shows both of them. Aren't they beautiful. And they are "gentle giants raised around our children" according to the ad. Man! I know I'm allergic to animals but I was always careful around Brandy and didn't get asthma from her.

On other notes, I'm sick of our car insurance. The ads on TV say they are the lowest company and you get a rental car free when your car is worked on. Baloney, unless they've changed their policies. And I don't believe they are the lowest. I'm going to ask Steve to check into carinsurancelist.com to see if we can get a better deal. Then, maybe, we could buy a fence on the money we save on insurance!

I'm Feeling Slightly Better

Friday night was a night of a lot of fun for the most part. Linda came over because she wasn't able to come on her normal night (Thursdays). Her mother-in-law died that morning and she still had to go to work because it was the end of the month and no one else knows how to run the reports she does.

Abby came over as Justin took Mikayla with his family camping. Abby had to work so since she'd be alone I invited her to spend the night. With Abby and Linda there we got out the decks of cards and convinced Steve to play Nertz (sp?) with us. It was really fun.

After the last game was over, a wave of nausea hit me bad. I asked Abby to see Linda to the door as I headed to bed. After a half hour of laying down clutching my nighttime pills (I was afraid to swallow them as I was sure they'd come back up) I ran to the bathroom. I won't go any further, no sense in making you sick, too. I was sick all night and just had nausea the next whole day. Yesterday I felt better, than as I was making supper, the nausea hit me hard again.

Today I woke up with a terrific headache and nausea. I had Steve cancel my dental appointment. Oh, well. Someday I'll get my crown on. I took two Tylenol and went back to bed. I feel slightly better now. I'm hoping it will go away completely today.

I really have been drinking a lot of water and am thankful that we have a filter on our refrigerator.  I use to add ice to my water and crunch on it, but lately I have just been craving the water.

I think if I keep drinking it to flush out my system, I'll get over this. Right?