Yesteday when Emma woke up, I reminded her that it was Maddie's birthday. Her smile immdiatly turned to a frown and said, "No, it is my birthday too. I don't want a birthday in June." Go figure, when my birthday, Jay's birthday and Madeline's birthday are all in May she doesn't want to be different and have one in June - even though it is only a week later then the rest. There is no way that we could have another kid in, say, October. Gee, the poor kid would feel like it is REALLY the black sheep of the family.

So, since next Saturday on Emma's real birthday, she has a party for a friend to go to, we told her that we would be celebrating hers today as well. She seems satisfied with that. We enjoyed breakfast, a festival, a pizza dinner all in the name of both of their birthdays. Needless to say, Emma's gifts are waitin until next week. So we have had to play referree to the new toys.

Last night we ended with a smores cookout with birthday candles in Madeline's marshmellow. What an awesome day for an awesome little girl!!

At church today it was an awesome service. It was the last day for one of the pastors, so it was an extra special service. One with lots of tears and laughs. Followed by lunch, then a day of play and the girls riding bikes (Madz got one for her birthday!). It was nice to have Jay home to help with my shot tonight. I can certainly do it by myself, but I love having his (and Emma's help).

Spending as much time together since Jay is heading out of town again first thing tomorrow morning. He will probably be 1/2 way to MI about the time I am rekindling my ongoing quest to get a decent driveway.

Happy Birthday to my little baby, Madeline!! My little bean turned two today. We had a great day. So much fun and so many laughs!!

Daddy is home!! The girls and I couldn't be happier! Had a little belated birthday party tonight for him now gearing up for Madz birthday tomorrow.

We are both so tired. But since I was trying to get the house all spiffy for Jay when he got home, I threw the sheets in the wash - but, forgot to put them in the dryer! Ugh!

Got a slow start to the day. It is Jay's birthday. The first time in almost 15 years that we have ever been apart for one. I was sad to think about him spending the entire day stuck in a car wash in the middle of no where without anyone to acknowledge his birthday. Thank goodness that the sun was shining, it gave incentive to getting out the door and to the gym. Didn't have much oomph for it, but figured it had been a week since I had been there. My ass has been extra frumpy.

Spent about 25 minutes on the treadmill - don't want to overdo it! Then on to cash in an awesome gift card at the local flower nursery. The girls and I spent lots of time looking at and smelling all sorts of flowers. But, as with any place, our time came to a close when my little natives started getting restless. Made it home unscathed dispite the car that decided to abruptly stop in the middle of the highway.

We came home to find our driveway and curb looking like this. Apparently the yahoos - I mean, cement contractors - decided to take another stab at it. Hoping that the results will be a bit better this time. Guessing that I will have to babysit lots of grown men when they begin grading and sodding our lawn. We enjoyed an awesome picnic outside.

With nap time, came some laundry and TLC for my flowers. Attempting to get the house in decent shape for Jays return tomrrow.

All day today, as is on most gymnastics days, Madeline would walk around asking with serious inquisition "My 'nastics tonight? I excited!" or she would joke "Emma's 'nastics? No, my 'nastics on Thursday." It was a bit hectic without Jay there to keep Emma in the observation area. She was certianly a "big helper" tonight. They have fun together, but it is a little like herding wild cats with their love of gymnastics and so much to do.

Enjoyed some grillable foods from the stove, more playtime outside, quick bath and bedtime. I am determined to finish up this book tonight - I have to find out if he gets convicted... - Then a busy day for tomorrow!

The girls and I made lots of calls to Jay and I think everytime Emma sang the birthday song to him. Jay also received the birthday cards we sent to his hotel. I am glad that he knows that we didn't forget his big day!

This would have been the perfect night to have a necessary adult beverage. However, I did not. (This damn Australian strawberry licorice from Trader Joes should be outlawed).

With much pleading and coaxing, I asked Emma to be on good behavior and remember her manners today when we went to a friend of mines house. Generally when Emma is in good form Madz will follow so the conversation didn't have to be duplicated. We spent several hours today with my friend, 4 of her grandkids and some other relatives. We ate a little, chit chatted, etc. Generally avoiding the "elephant in the room" - my friend is riddled with lung cancer. She doesn't mind talking about it and she and I have a common "disease" bond. That is what you folks out there that do not have a disease cannot understand - and it is only when you, yourself have the disease can truly understand. But, she and I choose to spend time watching the little ones and enjoying life. It was fun AND, especially for having 6 kids under the age of 5 in the house playing, Emma and Madeline had good manners. (Super Mary, if you are reading this, I did escape unscathed....)

The long play time lead to a short nap so that we could get to Emma's gymnastics. Waking the kids up after a nap like that is pretty scary and I was reminded why. Maddie is pretty mellow all around, but Em was a piece of work.

My attempt at grilling burgers and brats and Emma's request failed when I couldn't initally get the grill going and on second attempt the propane went out. With intensly hungry and crabby kids I threw dinner on the stove. It came out pretty well.

We played outside for a while, came in for bedtime routine and a call to daddy - which will be part of the bedtime routine for a while - then negotiating with Emma why she cannot sleep on the living room floor and off to bed.

Throughout the day there are so many funny little things that happen or the girls say. I make a mental note to remember them to write here for your pleasure and for perhaps my pleasure of re-reading these one day. But of course, non-MS related, I cannot remember just how they went. Just that they brought smiles to my face.

Will have to make sure to indulge in an adult beverage in honor of Jay tomorrow night. This is the first time in 15 years that we haven't been togehter on his birthday...so sad.

Here it is 10pm and for all intents and purposes I am ready for bed. Jay is not home and the girls are sound asleep and I am headed for bed. Although I probably won't be counting sheep for quite some time. I am reading a great book and am having a hard time putting it down. I will write this, do a shot (which I like much better when Jay does it), then hit the sack.

Story time at the library was lots of un. With a new gal there who has worked with kids, it is a nice time for kids to become more acquianted with books.

Durig nap time the door bell rang - Ugh! I should think about putting up my sign again "Do not knock or ring doorbell, babies sleeping". I previously had that up when the visits from the Harry Krishnas (sp?), the magazine sales people and the political people was out of hand. However today, the bell ringing was from a gentleman from the city coming to talk with me directly about the issues (yes, still continuing) that we are having with the new curb that has already cracked and some other things wrong with the driveway. Amongst clearing up my expectations with him about these things, he turned to me and said, "I wanted to tell you something on a personal basis. Last time I was at your house you mentioned that you were diagnoses with MS." I do remember telling him that ecause fr some reason it came out in conversation and I remember thinking to myself, "Why the hell did I just say that to him". He went on to say that his wifes grandma - Grandma B - had MS. She was diagnosed when she was 27, and she just passed away recently at the age of 93. Only in the last 10 years did she use a walker. So nice to hear someting like that.

I appreciate the honesty that people have when they talk to me about MS. However, so few people have much experience with it that the first thing that comes to mind are the bad. So I hear a lot about people dying and not walking and being bed ridden. But, as anyone could agree, it is really great to hear people talking about the positives. Especially since Grandma B would not have had access to any of the current drugs that are supposed to provde further help.

Anyway, my city guy wrapped up our conversation by saying to salways keep my head up and stay active and positive and if I ever need a pick me up to call him and he will tell me the story again of Grandma B - oh, and my driveway should be FIXED and done soon.

The girls have had a heavy dose of playing and working things out. Actually it is more like Emma is tryin to push the limits so very far. And Madz fights back. But, on the flip side, their play is so very awesome. They will play and talk and joke.

One day down, couple more to go before Jay gets home!

Finishing the weekend

This morning, Jay ran to the store for all of the fixins for a nice big breakfast. Since Emma's breakfast plans had changed we all sat down together to enjoy.

After a run to the local flower nursery, we met Grandpa Jim and Grandma Cheryl and their other grandchild for lunch and a romp at the park. Jay also brought a kite since the winds were reaching gale force again, it was good flying.

We came home for a nice nap and on to Grandma Kim and Grandpa Don's for our final sworay of the weekend. A nice relaxing BBQ. The girls ran around and played with all of their toys and we did some relaxing.

Then home for bedtime. Jay is off tomorrow for Michigan for his first week there. He will be home on Friday for the weekend. This is going to be a long couple of months. The girls are going to miss him as will I.

I have been feeling great. Not much has changed, just a clarity. I think, especially after talking with the other MS people, that particularly in the beginning there are ebs and flows to your feelings. I feel great!

Wow, it has been a long time...

This weekend has been so very busy that at the end of the evening, I am just too pooped to write. Here is the synopsis of my weekend so far:

Friday was Jay's and my anniversary - 10 years! And they said that it wouldn't last. Well, no one said that (at least not to our faces), but we are still here and going strong! We also learned on Friday that Jay will have to be spending the next 4 weeks out of town - alternating in between Michigan and Iowa. We are very disappointed and he is less then happy about spending the next four weeks or more out of town. Not to mention his birthday is next Thursday and he won't even be with his little family here to celebrate!

Also on Friday the girls and I made it down to the U for a follow up appointment with my funny neurologist for the research study that I am participating in. I gave Emma the short and sweet speech about please being quiet and sitting patiently for the short time in the office. She maust have heard the opposite of what I said because th girls were crazy!! Madeline was herself, but magniied by Emma acting out. It was a very challenging half an hour to say the least. I was so angry with Emma, that when we got the jewlery store to pick up Jay's anniversary gift I told her in no uncertain terms to sit in the chair and don't move until I was done. She actually listened!

Anyway, that afternoon I dropped the girls off at Grandma Kim and Grandpa Don's for an evening of fun and a slumber party. Jay and I were off to a dinner at a restaurant called Heidi's. It was fantastic. The food tasted terrific and looked even better. We had a great, long dinner able to do A LOT of talking and A LOT of reminiscing about the past (almost) 15 years. We made a couple of other stops before heading home. I think that I had about 2 drinks too many but we are NEVER without the kids for time alone so we weren't about to go hoome and sit around. We tok advantage of our time and had one of the best times out together that we had in years.

Saturday morning we got up, putzed around and went to pick up the girls. Then we were off to our next stop for a birthday gift and on to a birthday party for a little friend of ours. It was a great time. But, by the time naps rolled around, we were certainly all ready! And nice long naps we took indeed.

Playing, dinner and time together occupied the rest of the night. Although on this evening, in talking with my mom, I found out about a tragic "accident" that happened to a good friend of the families. His demons have finally found him and are now making him fight for his life. Very sad time and one that makes us hug our kids longer and harder. Lots of prayers have been said and will be said until his body can decide where it needs to be.

Sunday came and we were off to church, then to McD's. When leaving the parking lot we spotted a group of ducklings without their mother trying to cross a busy road. So of course, we hopped out, ran around like crazy people saving ducklings. Oh, they were so, so cute! Tiny beaks and pathetic little wings. Sadly we had to leave before one was found. Hoping and praying that he made his way back to his little family.

Came home and did some hard playing, spent some time with neighbors, worked lots in the garden and went for a walk. The girls napped and we did little things around the house. Then out to dinner to celebrate all 4 of our birthdays and our anniversary with grandpa Al, Grandma Nicki, Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dar. Afganistan might not get lots of things right, but one thing that they do get right is thir food. It was awesome!

It is late and another full day of playing ahead. Must take advantage of our last day together before Jay is off on his long treks around the upper midwest perfecting the business of car washes!

I am still working off of Emma's little camera. The photos are ok, and I was taking lots of photos today with my film camera. Hoping to get those back soon.

Sweet sadness in this day. It was the last day of school for EMma's first year of preschool. It has been soooo much fun. She has loved it! It has been a great way to see her grow. She has learned lots of scholastic things - spanish, math, patterns, writing, etc, but also many social things - sharing, kindness, manners. So Madz and I wisked Em off to her last day of school and needed to do more running to finsh all of the items needed for the secret picnic in an hour.

With sweat dripping down my pits, my hair blowing wildly behind me and Madz's head spinning from running to 4 different places in a matter of an hour then brought back to school to get things ready for the picnic. We got everything set up just in time!

Emma and the kids were so excited to see us seretly waiting for them at the picnic tables with the party ready to go. It was a lot of fun. Food and fun for the kiddos. I had brought T-shirts and paint for the kids to do hand prints for the teachers (forgot to take a picture). Poor Madeline was left to her own devices for a while. But, she quickly found a way to entertain everyone. She, at one point, had ALL of the kids in Emma's class shouting in some sort of "right of passage" and following her around the pavillion. It was hilarious. Before we went home we swung into Emma's classroom to claim the classroom frogs/tadpoles that we said we would take at the end of school. We knew that our waterfall would provide a nice home for them. They were introduced to their new home and seem to love the flowing water and rocks.

When the kids went down for naps, I took full advantage. I potted all of my flowers. Just awesome! A decent day, much less wind and peace and quiet. One of those times that my MS is completly forgotten about (that doesn't happen all too often). But, it is funny, because all of a sudden I will remember that I forgot to remember it. A wonderful way to feel how life was for me back before October.

Madeline and Emma had their typical fake fight that they do on Wednesdays and Thursdays. "My 'nastics?" one of them will ask the other "No, my 'nastics", then it will morph into "Daddy's 'nastics"? This generally goes on all day long. It is really cute. Maddie added in "My "nastics night. I'm excited." She is a very good talker - and did very well tonght at HER 'nastics. The coach commented at how much she has changed and advanced from when she started.

Some more play, dinner then shot night. Things are going just fine with the shots and I feel like a normal person. I have an appointment with my MS dr tomorrow for a follow up visit for the study that I volunteered for. It should be a quick appointment. Hoping that the girls will cooperate.

Gald today is done. The picnic was a blast, some terrific memories and an overall great day. But, it is nice to mark one "big" thing off my to do list. Things will start to settle down next week because Jay will be gone all next week and probably the several following weeks as well....

The past couple of day have been crazy. Will give a better update tomorrow after we get done with the end of the year picnic for Emma....

Time away

This 5:45am thing that Maddie has going desn't seem to faze her in the least. Thankfully, I haven't been fazed too much either. I am sure that if it was winter and cold in the morning it would be a different story. I just wish that she would remember how nice it is to sleep in a bit.

We got going this morning and were actually early for school. Then Madz and I were off to do some power shopping. I had to gather a bunch of stuff for the end of the year party and some other unsuccessful stops in effort to put together my flower pots. I don't think that my requests are too difficult, but obviously Menards, Home Depot and Ace Hardware disagree. Raced back to pick up Em.

We decided that this day was far too beautiful to waste, so we packed up lunch and headed to a park. No one else was there. Home for naps.

By the time the girls rolled out of bed, Jay was home and I was getting ready to go out for dinner - without the kids - with my friend. She rolled up in a fancy little convertible and we rolled in style to dinner.

The meal was great and conversation was better. Nothing can rejuvinate you like some much needed alone time with a good friend. Three hours later I was dropped off. A couple of excited little girls greeted me. Jay had gone grocery shopping and given the girls a bath. Very awesome!

Off to buy some flowers tomorrow! Yipee!!

Finally, Minnesota pulls out a truly warm and lovely day! We took advantage by having some friends over and walking to the park for a picnic. By chance, some other friends were at the same park. It was a lot of fun. We settled in for a picnic, then got back to the job at hand - playing.

All of us, even me, was pretty amazed by Madeline and her total "no fear" attitude. There isn't much, if anything, that she is bothered or scared by. She will jump to, from and off anything and try it all. At one point she fell from a ladder just as I was stepping in to grab her. Thankfully she didn't smack her mouth on the metal bar like I felt like I could see happening. Nope, she just hit the ground, I stepped back to figure out which reaction I should take, she got up wiped off her hands and looked at me with a smile and said, "I went boomers". Then ran away.

We eventually walked back to our house. Super Mary and I had lots of catching up to do, so we probably could have walked several more miles. But, we at least got the important stuff out of the way. At home, Madz went straight into her bed for a nap and after negotiating with an overly tired 4 year old, Emma was in bed.

I neglected to say that this morning, before breakfast I was watching, with an eagle eye, the construction crew work on our driveway. Of course they did't follow through as planned, so I used this time to place a few calls.

Jay got home, he crossly surveyed the work on our driveway, then the rest of the night was outside playing. Right before dinner we were able to track down a late working foreman of the construction crew. We had a conversation with him to straighten things out. My confidence level is not high.

Emma was a trying little kid this afternoon. I think that there is another grown spirt coming on which usually means hard days for mom and tough nihts for mom and dad. Part of growing up. Among all of the whining, arguing and snottyness is a beautiful little girl and we are so lucky and at this point, we have been thankfully blessed twice.

Birthday weekend

A nice weekend, especially when the weather finally cooperated on Sunday to wrap up a great day.

Saturday morning Jay took the girls out to run errands, and I headed off to a "support group for people who are mildly effected by MS. It was an interesting place to be. A small group of 6 in a church room. Each filled me in on their "story". Some great, some not as great. It was hard to tell how if effected some of them on a daily basis because for the most part they have been living with it for many years - from 6 to 23 years of diagnosis. I gave my "story" and they were all very supportive. Everything that I said each and every one of them could give examples of when that happened to them. It was very comforting to be in a room of "normal looking" people and to know that in certain ways they are just like you. An unspoken know-how of life comes along with that.

That evening Grandma Kim anad Grandpa Don came over for an early birthday dinner. Jay made a terrific (as always) dinner. We stuffed ourselves and then stuffed ourslves again with dessert.

Sunday came early with Madz still insisting on waking up between 5:45 and 6:30. We cuddled for a while and layed low. Emma came up the stairs with a BIG "Happy Birthday Mommy!" in which Maddie followed up with the same. They are so sweet! We shuttled off to church then to McD's. The rest of the day was filled with work on the garden, play and more work on the garden. The weather was goergous and being outside was a must. We took full advantage. Jay and the girls gave me some herbs and veggies to grow and we got those going in pots.

A fun dinner of pizza with Auntie and an early night. I am ready for sleep - not just to go to bed, but to sleep. I am a tired old lady!

Oh yeah, my photos will be less then thrilling for a while. My camera broke and I have been using Emma's. Santa brought her a decent little digital camera, but it doesn't work quite the same.... The picture today is from Madeline packing up a suitcase with Emma's slippers on and saying that she was leaving. She is already running away!

Nothing accomplished

I had so many grandios plans of things that I was going to get done today. Not sure that I crossed even one of them off of my list.

This morning started out again with another impromptu meeting with the city engineers and the contractors working on our road. I quickly dressed and met the guys in our driveway. Thankfully they agreed with me and are going to replace more of the driveway then we had orginally thought. We got a quote for the rest of the driveway, but we cannot afford to have that done. At the end of the day, one of the contractors came up to me and said that he does cement work on the side so if we need it a bit cheaper. I am always up for helping the little people!

Quickly got Emma out the door to her playdate. The mom of the little boy, whose house she was going to, is very nice. She has some funny little quirks - more so then the rest of us, I think. One of the things that she does is have a playdate over for an hour and that is about it. However, I think that it is probably good for her son. He is highly intellegent and an only child, so when it is time to go he tells you to get your shoes on and go. While Emma was there I attempted to get some things done with Madz, but not much accomplished withint that hour.

Picked Emma up and headed out again to complete somethings on the list. After hitting Menards and Home Depot, I struck out and we hit lunch. Emma, in a very adult tone, said that she would like to go out to eat, just her and I sometime so that we could sit and talk together. Very sweet. She and Madeline, and me for that matter, are together ALL of the time. The girls play and interact together all day long. And we need to make a better effort of doing those things with them by themselves. Heck, Jay and I need to take some time together by ourselves - another topic for a different day.

Home for some play and naps. The girls got up about when Jay was pulling back into town from WI. On the way home we had a "discussion" that we had differeing view points on, so I didn't greet him with the biggest "welcome home" - but, the girls did and that is what matters.

Jay surveyed the damage, I mean, the progress on the driveway, talked with some neighbors, then his brother arrived for a chat. We had an agreeable discussion and talked about things that needed to be discussed. The girls made a mess out of the dining area - have to be noticed in a room full of adults who aren't focued on you, right? He left and we ate dinner and put the girls to bed.

Madeline was up at 5:45 this morning. The earliest that she has ever gotten up. Since Jay was gone I was on a bit more of a hightened awareness so getting up wasn't hard today. Just hoping that she will get a BIT more tomorrow!

I have been doing far too many things this evening and time has gotten away.

The girls and I had lots of laughs. Jay was gone in WI and will hopefully be back tomorrow night. During dinner the girls were having their own conversations with each other and just being so funny! A nice day all around.

This morning I was awoke by the phone ringing. I quickly surveyed the situation - the clock said 7:30am, the phone ringing - was Madeline awake? Wow, figured out it was the city calling me bright and early to check in on our driveway situation (yes, I will probably be "one of those" people during this job for them. Oh well!). I cleared my throat so that he wouldn't be able to tell that he woke me up. Got off the phone with him and realized that all was still quiet in the house. No kidding, Madz was not even up yet.

The house quickly came alive. We readied ourselves for the day and waiting for Grandpa Al to come to say hi. Played with Grandpa Al and enjoyed the mango and the crackers that he brought.

After he left we went to the library. I found a book for me - our small little library doesn't have the selection that others do, they have a decent kids section - and the girls found some as well. I remembered why we don't do the library very often unless it is for a program, at least until Madz gets a little older. The dewey decimal system and book organization takes sometime to recover after she leaves. The on to the gym for an ok workout.

On our way home, Jay called on his way back from WI and said that he was getting the rest of the day off, but the trade off was that he would have to be out of town again tomorrow night, then hopefully home. We will take what we can get!

So home to have lunch with daddy and do some playing. Then naps for all of us! I thin kthat I needed that. Woke up for a bit more playing then Emma's gymnastics. I also made some calls the the MS Society about groups that meet for young people with MS. There are a lot of things that are different about what life brings for the younger people vs the older people. They are going to get me some information.

We spent some time down at the nieghbors house then home for bed. We washed Emma's sheets tonight and it took a while for them to dry and it seems that she couldn't wait. She fell asleep before we could even read books.

Got a bit more see this morning. Read Madz a few books then heard the rumble of the work trucks moving in. Promptly at 7:32 the work began. So I decided that it was good enough time to make my call to the city about road/driveway questions.

My call was returned a short time later. And, as often happens with things that I don't really know a whole lot about, I start asking questions and not really sure what to ask next. But, I did my best having been coached by Don and by our neighbor accross th street who works for another city. I THINK that I got my questions answered. Brought Emma into school.

Madz and I just putzed around while Emma was in school. Today was a pretty cool windy day, so one that is not good enough to play at the park and we cannot spend money, so we made our own fun. Went to pick Em from school and I sat down with her teacher for our first "conference".

The conference are generally just meetings to find out if your kid is meeting the necessary things needed for school next year. She said that Emma is doing very, very well with her communications, her understanding of direction, her scissor skills, etc. She said that Emma is a very sensitive girl. A couple of times she has been brought to tears over, seemingly, nothing. She is particular about things, very artful and a nice girl around the other kids. Emma has a couple of friends in class that she has been friens with for a couple of years and they are like the "three musketeers", but she and the other teacher have worked with them to branch out to paly with the other kids. She can tell that Emma has a lot of skills in the academics. (Is she sure that she is talking about my kid??)

Came home for lunch, a little play and naps. During nap time, Jay called and said that he was asked to go out of town for the night (I cannot remember the name of the town right now) to fix a car wash. Because he would be getting lots of overtime, he went for it. We are bummed because he has been working so much lately.

When the girls woke up Jay had come home to pack and was gone already. They watched Seasme Street because, frankly, it was just too cold for me to be outside and I am a bit shy to "play" with my kids while I watch from the window inside.

We played around for a while, then the girls were content (for the most part) playing with each other. I could hear them playing house then school. It is so much fun to listen to them interact. Madeline can say so many things and understand almost all that Emma says to her. Madeline's new saying that she has is "No mom, I'm fine." She uses it in the right context and everything. She is one smart little bean. I think a lot of this is second child syndrome, but she can count past 10 - depends on her mood how far she will go, she can count to 10 in spanish and do the alphabet (alphabet is only in english - ha, ha)! Awesome!

I gave the girls their choice of two gourmet meals for dinner - hamberger helper or peanut butter and jelly. After dinner the girls did more playing and I picked things up a bit. Grandpa Al is coming over tomorrow morning and I don't want the house a total crap-hole, although he doesn't care.

The girls had baths, talked to daddy on the phone, then off to bed for Madz. Emma was up for a bit helping me do a shot. She wants to help with all of it, which we try to let her do. But, since this is a sub-dermal shot (under the skin) there is a special way to hold the injection device to make sure it doesn't go any further. It is tough for an adult and a kid could never have control, but we try and she is happy to feel like she helped.

We had a crisis at bed time for Em. She has two special blankets that she sleeps with. We can only find one of them. We searched everywhere!! Wasn't sure that we would ever get her to bed, but only an hour and 15 minutes past her bedtime she was suscessfully off to dreamland.

Rise and shine - I do not do so much shining at 6:30am. Unfortunatly, I think that my body may be getting used to this and it isn't QUITE as hard to get up.

As I was making the girls breakfast this morning I noticed two men from the city milling around our driveway. Knowing that they were going to re-do our road and possibly look at the part of our driveway that was failing because of their curbs, I didn't think much about it.

Thankfully I took note of the situation a half hour later, because the big trucks had moved in and started tearing things up! This surprised me since I didn't think that they were starting for another week. Within a couple of minutes they had the bottom third of our driveway torn up. Luckily they were able to help us get out of the riveway and off to Great-grandma and grandpas house.

Spent some time there playing and having fun. Grandpa Al also came for lunch and some play.

Came home to find our road and riveway being worked on by lots of people. Amongst the excitement I was ablt o get the girls down for naps.

After naps we spent time watching all of the action, then made our way to the backyard for some relaxing time.

The rest of the evening was spent mostly outside talking with the neighbors about the road and what is next to come. Funny how a little upheval in the area will bring out the conversationalist in everyone!

I need to get up early to make some phone calls to the city about how to deal with the driveway deal. There is no way we can afford a new driveway, so does the rest of it just stay in the horrible state that it is in? Ugh.....

These photos came from the other night when Jay was pretending to ride a motorcycle for the girls. They thought he was hilarious!

Mothers Day

Photos: Madeline was playing with Jay's air compressor that was outside and the other photo was taken by Emma when I was videotaping the girls.

It seems that no matter how late Maddie goes to bed, she always seems to know when 6:30am is. But, she always gets up in such a happy mood that it is hard not to share in some smiles.

We read some books and shortly after that Emma woke up. I told her that it was very early for her to get up and she said "But, it is Mothers Day, I wanted to tell you to have a good day!" Very sweet. Jay got up a little while later. We made our Mothers Day phone calls.

Jay gave me a very funny card then was off to his first call for work. The girls and I got ready for church and made it there on time.

After church Jay was home, but was anticipating more calls coming in so the girls and I ate a quick lunch then went to one of the grandma and grandpa's house to deliver the special gifts that the girls made. We wanted to make sure everyone got them today. But, we are going to have to continue the giving for a few more days until we can meet up with everyone. We spent some time visiting, then came home to nap.

I dozed off while watching golf - Tiger was fading fast in the standings anyway - only to be awoke by Jay standing over me saying that he was off to a call and would be back around 9pm. Ugh, day in the life of a car wash mechanic.

It made for a quiet mothers day evening, but we spent most of the night outside learning how to play nicely with each other, ate a fancy meal of turkey dogs, cauliflower and canteloupe, then for a small walk, and just as the girls were getting into the bath Jay came home.

Then off to bed. I am tired and secretly hoping Madz will sleep n a bit later tomorrow. But, I need to get back into a better workout routine. My ass tells me so.

The bedt quote of the day: Emma asked "How does Madeline know that I am her sister?" I explaned the obvious - You are kind to her, you have the same mommy and daddy, you live in the same house, etc. . . . Then Emma said, "no, in her brain, how does she REALLY know that we are sisters?" Humm, still trying to come up with the right answer for that.

Yesterday was a nice day. A rare one in that the girls and I did not leave the house. Let me rephrase, we did not go in the car anywhere. We spent the day working on our Mothers Day crafts, walking to the park and just playing around the house. It felt good.

Today Jay had to work, which always puts a hamper on plans to work around the house and yard, but that comes as part of the life of a car wash mechanic.

I dropped the girls off at Grandma Kim and Grandpa Don's this morning and I headed off to a jewlery party at a girlfriends house. The ewlery was beautiful, but it was at a freinds house who I haven't seen forever! She is so special and a dear friend from college. She has a big business - her own business - as a pediatric dentist so she is very busy and our schedules usually don't mesh. So this was a good excuse to see her. Thankfully the girls weren't with me. My girlfriend and one of her other friends have au pairs (nanny's) and they were in charge of the kiddos. My girls would not have had anything to do with hanging out with two foreign gals that they don't know!

Came back to get the girls and Grandma Kim took me shopping for a Mothers Day plant. We decided on a beautiful Jasmine plant. It smelled so nice in the car on the way home.

The girls took awesome naps. It allowed me time to sit down and do nothing besides watch golf. Lovely!

When Jay got home we packed up and headed to Maynards for an early Mothers Day dinner with Grandma Kim and Grandpa Don and Auntie. A wonderful time, lots of laughs (mostly provided by our girls), nice food and a fabulous exchange of Mothers Day gifts (I got a beautifully decorated plate from the girls to hang on the wall).

With our stuffed bellies we rolled home and made our way to bed. I am headed there now. However, knowing that Justin Timberlake is on Saturday Night Live tonight, I am sure that I won't be going to bed too early. He has the funniest bits on that show!

Optimists

As I write this I am giggling to myself as I listen to Jay walk around the house swearing to himself because he cannot find his work belt. Jay tends to leave things on the floor wherever he takes them off (in our house we don't have room for everything to have its own place). So when he cannot find something, I prefer to see the humor since it probably was the little people in the house that "relocated" it.

A nice day - literally. Madeline and I ran around while Emma did school (no more mommy time during school). Then outside only breaking for naps and Madeline's gymnastics. It was so ice out and tempting to want to skip gymnastics. But, knowing that she had been walking around all day talking about it and she just loves going there I couldn't have her miss it!

During nap time, I spent the majority of the time on the phone talking to the local police department making sure that a friend had the best information possible for deciding how to deal with a potentially dangerous situation. Now, some of us need to work together in hopes that she might see how dangerous it could get for her and her kids.

More playing outside lead to very quick baths and bedtime all too late, but we were having too much fun together to cut it short.

Jay and I spent the evening watching a documntary show by Michael J. Fox. A pretty amazing guy with an amazing message. One that I think is valuable for everyone - a current optimist or not.

the hulk

Right now my camera is MIA - actually I think it is in my purse, but don't have the patience to hunt it down. So no photos today . . .

The girls and I headed to a meeting that I had this morning for an early childhood advocacy group that I am a part of. The girls had a great time plaing in the child care room and we adults got lots accomplished in the big peoples room. Had a discussion if I would help chair the group and I agreed. Should be an interesting and fullfilling experience.

Afterward I told the girls that we could go to the park efore we head home for a picnic (I had't thought ahead enough to pack lunch to bring to the park). Off we went to the park. Had a great time. Madeline is a monkey. No really, I think that she is half monkey - or at least part boy. That kid can and will crawl on everything! We were getting ready to leave and one of Emma's friends from school came. They had brought Wendy's to eat for lunch. That set off a firestorm with Emma. Screaming and hollering about how she hates all of the food at our house and she doesnt want to eat, etc. I calmly explained that I didn't have any money to stop anywhere and we had food at our house. That was no help. So I had to get the full body set up to go in for the take-down.

I picked Emma up and with almost all of my might, got her strapped into her car seat. She is screaming and kicking and hollering at the top of her lungs the whole time so this wasn't as easy as you would think. Yes, the kid does only weigh about 28lbs, but she can put up a fight! About a mile down the road she wanted a hug and a kiss (still out of control, but wanting some love) so I pulled the car over, got out and gave her some love and we carried on our way home. Eventually we got to have our damn picnic. She forgot how bad our food was by then.

Lots of play and an awesome gymnastics class for Emma. Then more play outside. In between rain showers we got out for a walk. Madz rode in the stroller and Emma insited on walking. It was nice beause we held hands and talked about lots of stuff.

To bed for us all! Before midnight? I doubt it.

nice days

Sometimes it is impossible to understand where someone is coming from, no matter how hard you try.

Enjoyed some nice time with true friends today after school. Talking about family, kids, dynamics of it all. A nice time to clear my head.

Another day of fresh air and fun to be had by all.

walk and other

Been awfully busy lately. Trying to fulfill some of my committments that I have made, along with some others that I have picked up along the way - not that I didn't have enough stuff to do. But, we certainly manage to throw in some fun along the way.

Saturday night I went out to dinner/drinks with some friends. For lack of babysitters, Jay had to stay at home. The evening was a lot of fun.

Sunday was the big MS walk. The day couldn't have been better, weather wise. It was goergous! Jay asked me how I was feeling as we walked down to the park where the walk was being held. I told him that I wasn't sure. Being the center of attention has never ben a problem for me - making speeches, no problem! Being on tv, no problem! Organizing a board meeting, no problem! But, this is not so much fun.

Probably one of the reasons that I still do not talk about it. For some reason word still travels "about me" and "what people have heard". Yes, that really bugs the hell out of me. But, I still only talk to whom I want to about it and that way I feel more comfortable. There is something about talking to people and knowing if they are asking "how are you?" beacause they really want to know or are they really just wanting to know how the disease is treating you. . . Anyway, I digress.

The walk was really neat. There were A LOT of people there and the people from my team that came were awesome. True friends and true family members came from near far and out of town to support me/the disease. I haven't added up the total amount that was raised by my team. But, with the help of my teammates asking neighbors, friends and co-workers for money, I believe that we are over the $3000 mark!!

After the walk, we went to Grandma Kim and Grandpa Don's for a party and lunch. Super food, good conversation and a wonderful day all around!

So great to have another day filled with sunshine today! Madeline had her last mommy and me class today, then after that we were outside virtually all day. Enjoyed a great dinner of shishkabobs and such, then more time outside. That felt just great!

So much about life is amazing and interesting. Watching kids grow and learn, people and realtionships, spiritual and the concrete. So much to make you go hummmmm.....

Walking!

We came, We saw, We walked - Awesome!

short and sweet

A day of running and playing, a little whining and lots of smiles, a day of reflection and introspection . . .