Last Day of School!

Today is Emily's last day of Kindergarten! She will be an official 1st grader when school lets out. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. Here are some pictures before school. I will also post more after school with all the babysitting kids. Today is the last day here for Antonio and Lauren but I will be picking up 2 more after we get back from vacation.

Harrison, Emily & Antonio:

Harrison & Emily:

Emily & Twila the bus driver:

Wordless Wednesday

Anniversary plans...

This July, Delmar and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary. So, as I scanned the Clinton "free paper" from Saturday I noticed an advertisement for the Sunset Inn and Suites here in town-only about 2 blocks from our house. They have Fantasy Suites and I booked one today. Check this out!

http://www.sunsetinnandsuites.com/south.html

It was recommended by the lady who took my reservation that we order ElRey's to go (a local Mexican restaurant) and bring in margaritas...YUM! Perfect addition to the Southwestern feel of our fantasy suite don't ya think?

Happy Memorial Day!

Just catching up on my blogging. Quite a bit has gone on this week.

Bree graduated from Meridian High School on Friday.

L to R: Dennis, Bree's step-dad, Jill, her mom, Bree, Delmar & me.

Sam, Emily & Bree:

Sam & Emily:

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On Saturday, since we didn't get home until midnight Friday night, we did nothing. I thought Emily was going to take a nap but a friend from her bus called and wanted her to come over for a playdate and she was there for 5 HOURS!!! Delmar mowed and worked on the deck and I finished piecing in the carpet. Then he put together the jungle gym that we bought at Sam's back in February.

Delmar & Chris working on the jungle gym:

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Sunday was CRAZY. We had nursery duty at church, then ate lunch at CiCi's Pizza with Tori and Harrison, went to Graceland to put flowers on Lori's grave and bought 2 cemetary plots. Then we were off to Bryce's birthday party back at the church, to Elwin for a graduation party for our nephew Christopher, to Mt. Zion to drop off tables to my dad for a rummage sale and then to Walmart where we bought a dining table for our deck. We didn't get home until 8 PM.

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Today has been very relaxing. We put the table and chairs together and Delmar finished his part of the deck, so all construction is complete. I still, however, have staining to finish. Don't know if it will be done before vacation or not.

Delmar working on the table.

The completed deck!!!!

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Other misc. photos of the week:

Emily & Lauren making Caterpillar Stew. Didn't want to know if it was stew FOR caterpillars or stew MADE FROM caterpillars.

Emily must have gotten a hold of the camera. This is her best friend Lilly.

A wall hanging on our deck that I bought for Delmar a couple of years ago.

My pie safe from the dining room. Had I known how good it was going to look with a coat of Poly on it, I would have done it years ago!!!

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That's about it! This coming week includes the last day of school for the summer and the end of my babysitting for 2 of my kids. Antonio is moving to Bloomington and Lauren and her sister will be going to Y-Camp for the summer. Looks like the neighborhood will be quiet for the summer!

Off to have dinner with Chris, Tori & Harrison!

Recital Was Good!

Emily and her class did an awesome job at recital. During rehearsal, we just weren't sure how it was going to turn out.

It was such a long day. We had to be in Bloomington by 1 PM or so to have her hair done and costume on by 1:45 so I could go get a seat to watch the performance. After that was done (2 hours later), I went back to the dressing room-where Emily had been the entire time-got her changed and then we went to dinner with the Black's. We had to have the girls back to the school by 6:15 or so to get them redressed, makeup and hair touched up. Jenny and I were stage moms for the 2nd performance while Delmar and Daryn watched it all over again. Last year, after the 7 pm performance, we could pick up the kids and go home after their turn. But this year, they decided to have ALL the dancers in the finale so everyone stayed the whole time. Can you say LONG DAY!!!!!!

Here are some pics from the day:

Emily with daddy & mommy:

Emily & Grandma Dora:

Emily & Miss Megan (student teacher):
Emily with Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carole:

Emily with Grandpa Bob & Grammy:

Emily & Lilly:

Emily's Birthday

Last night I was up until 10 PM working on Emily's birthday party invitations. I was originally going to just go with a "generic" invite like we did last year which actually turned into a theme. But, Miss Em has decided that she wants a Hello Kitty birthday party this year. Here is the invitation I made.

It is still going to be a simple party. Just cake & ice cream. We are having it at the park up the street so the kids can play on the playground equipment for the entertainment. Hopefully, the weather will be nicer than it was last year for her party. I think I will try to make the cake again like I did with her Barbie one but this one will be much simpler. Emily wants cupcake and I will do that too if I can find some kind of Hello Kitty topper for them at the party store tonight.

Feelin' Like A Yo-Yo

In another blog that I frequent, the lady said that she feels like a yo-yo. One day she is up and the next she is down. While I pray that I never experience her type of yo-yo (her daughter drowned in a swimming accident last July-see "Life With Hannah and Lily" blog on the right), I can still relate to the up and down thing. Last night and this morning we are on a yo going up.

These next two days are ALL thing recital. Last night we practiced the hair. Emily sat perfectly still while I rolled her hair on these really cool spongy type rollers that look nothing like a roller at all. Thought I'd take a picture and show you:

Here is her hair "on rollers":

She started out sleeping on her tummy, saying the rollers hurt her head. But, by the time I went to bed she was comfortably laying on her back.

I thought this picture turned out cool. I didn't use a flash and it was actually completely dark when I downloaded it onto the computer. I went into my photo editing software and fixed the levels and contrast and came up with this....kinda cool I think!

As I usually do on the eve of important events, I had a dream. This one was about the hair. In this dream, we took the rollers out and her hair was still stick straight.

This morning she got up about 3o min. early wondering when we were going to see her curly hair. So here is the end result.

I sprayed it with hair spray 3 times and we shall see how it looks for dress rehearsal tonight. Tomorrow, I'll wait until we are just ready to leave to take it down and hopefully it will last for the two shows at 2 & 7 PM.

Also today, I must fix her costume. I have been procrastinating for over a week. All I have to do is tack the tassel to the costume in two spots. The way I've been putting it off, you would think I was having to make the whole silly costume!

One of THOSE mornings

What a difference a couple of days make. Saturday, Emily and I had such a great morning and this morning was totally opposite. There are days when I wonder why God thought I was fit to be a mother. I wanted a child so badly and now I don't know what to do with her. This was not the way it was "supposed" to be. In my mind I was going to be the perfect mother. You know the one-playing games, taking her to the park, fingerpainting, reading EVERY night before bed.... But who am I now-the angry, some days can't stand to be around her, saying things that I can't take back mom. I'm crying as I write this, who have I become? I know there are others out there like me, angry. My friends just say it is normal, they all lose their tempers with their kids. I don't think they understand the feelings I have. I don't think it is normal-the things I say and do sure don't feel NORMAL!

I'm reading a book right now entitled "She's Gonna Blow-Real Help For Moms Dealing With Anger" ......hoping to find the answer. Can't read it fast enough, need help today.

Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE my daughter with all of my heart and would give up my life for her but there is something there, something missing between her and I, some missing link....

A Great Mother's Day Weekend

Emily and I had a great Saturday morning and have decided that we will do the same thing every Saturday that Delmar has to work at the bank. First we ran all of our errands (postoffice, bank, Walmart) and then we went to the Farmer's Market on the square. We bought 2 yummy breads, some cookies and a cinnamon roll. We also took our first trip to the public library and checked out books using Emily's very own library card.

Saturday afternoon, my mom took me out for a Mother's Day luncheon at La Tea Da. It is a tea room here in Clinton. It was so neat! We started out with Strawberry soup and a Sweet Cream Scone with vanilla custard-delicious! Then we moved on to Salad Greens with plum-peary passion dressing. The main course was a bunch of little sandwiches and nibbles-Cherub's chicken salad on a croissant, Ginger peach salsa bites, Praline turkey tea sandwich, Cucumber tea sandwich, Prosciutto mozzarella roll-up and a chicken puff that was out of this world!!!! We ended with desserts-Carrot cake, Chocolate raspberry bar, Fresh fruit bar and Snickerdoodle truffle cookie-cake.

The entire luncheon was awesome and we met some lovely ladies from Bloomington, Lincoln and Champaign. After lunch, mom treated me to a movie and we saw "Made of Honor" with Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy. It was a cute movie.

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Sunday morning we woke and went to first service at church so we could get home to fix lunch for mom & Bob. But before we went, Emily brought me my cards and gifts. She got me a $50 giftcard to Hallmark so I can buy another piece to my Willow nativity. I can't wait to go shopping! Also, she made me this awesome butterfly with her hands and it has the best poem on it that really made me stop and think...

The poem reads:

Sometime I'm like a butterfly, I flutter to and fro. I just can't seem to be content, I'm always on the go. I can't stay still in my cocoon, I'm struggling to be free. I want to please you every day, But I can't hide from me. I guess I have a lot to learn, Just need to try my wings. And as I flutter all about, I'm learning many things. This time I have a purpose, I'm fluttering your way. I want to wish to you, A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

WOW!!! I have decided to frame it and hang it in my bedroom to read every day and remember how special my little girl is.

Emily funny-

This morning, Emily was lying on the swing with her princess pillow and blanket. After realizing I hadn't really heard a peep out of her for about 30 minutes, I wondered if she had fallen back to sleep. As I walked thru the kitchen, I realized that she was still on the deck and playing with the tools that Delmar had left out.

Mommy: "Please don't play with daddy's tools."

Emily: "But I'm playing HANDY MANNY, there is Stretch (points to the tape measure), here is Squeeze (holds up a pair of pliers). I only need a few more.

Mommy: "Well, Pat (the hammer) is over there on the ledge."

By the time she was done, she had Felipe and Turner too-both screwdrivers. She was just missing Rusty (the pipe wrench) and Dusty (the saw)-I'm sure that was for the best.

Casual School Picture

It still slays me that they now have pictures taken twice each year. Oh well, it's cute anyway!

God's Promise to Noah

As we were heading home from dance last night (only 1 more class to go before recital, yea!) Emily & I were lucky enough to see not one, but TWO rainbows! We were also able to see one of them complete, from end to end. Still blazing strong as I pulled into the drive I had to get pictures. This is one of them...

Couldn't get a good enough angle to get the complete one and by the time I got home, the second one was fading and you couldn't really make it out in the picture.

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Also, as most of you know yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. We had our own little party on our partially completed deck. Chris said it was also Cindo de Roof is Done!

Me and Tori enjoying our Margaritas!

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Most recent progress on the deck photos.

The railing goes up...

Delmar & Chris working on the shingles. The roof is now complete.

Won't be long now and it will be complete. Still waiting on a call from the pool guy.

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Last week on garbage day I was sitting on my couch unable to do my weekly purge because of my eye patches so, I have spent a good portion of this morning cleaning out the garage from all of the construction leftovers and just plain trash. Tuesday is my cleansing day which also happens to be garbage day around here. I LOVE garbage day and always feel so good after purging the house, refrigerator, etc. of all things trash. It is usually also my day to go thru Emily's room and find all those bits of paper she just couldn't bear to part with :)

My sister, Lori and I used to talk after our weekly purge and compare notes on who thru away more that week. How I miss those talks.

Off now to work on the HUGE pile of leaves that are stuck between our shed and the house.

As I type...

it rains and rains and rains.....

But yesterday was nice and Emily got to wear her Sketchers outfit (awesome hand me down from our neighbor across the street). She looked so cute I had to take pictures. These were taken as she and Harrison were waiting for the bus.



For those of you who don't know, Harrison is Emily's future husband according to her. The other day, he was going in for the night and Emily was riding her bike home and she yelled over her shoulder, "Goodnight husband!"

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On another note, the deck is still progressing. The wood is down for the roof and we hope to get it shingled tomorrow...if it isn't still raining! The pool should be going in sometime next week. If only it were warm enough to swim.

Below: (1)Sal, Daryn and Amy's dad-Jack. Delmar was off buying more lumber...again!
(2)Delmar & Dan.

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I go back to the eye doctor this afternoon to do a recheck on my injury. Hopefully I can stop putting the medicine in. It is most annoying!

TGIF!!!!!!!!