Saturday, August 25, 2007

Walk with God, Uncle Rick

Yesterday was Uncle Rick's memorial service and the family celebration of life. Some might find it difficult to celebrate the life of one who was so addicted to alcohol that even his closest family members felt distant. But, Uncle Rick was a happy soul with a loving heart and a smile that wouldn't quit. We had a wonderful day with family and friends sharing stories of Rick and things we remember best. I chose not to share my story of Shayna and Jessie barking their little fool heads off at him and the eventual bite Shayna blessed his hand with, but it was nice to hear other stories.
I think the best part of the day was when we hooked up with Dave's brother Wes over the internet with the webcam. He is stationed in Korea and couldn't make it out for the funeral. He was overjoyed to see us all together and shared with us the one thing he remembers best about Uncle Rick. They used to play their guitars and sing together. The craziest song ever....it's about a bird and his pecker....and his broken pecker....don't know the song? Me either really, but it was a favorite of Uncle Rick's and he used to play it any time he pulled out his guitar. So, anyway, Wes pulls out his guitar and finally (after much cajoling) agrees to sing it for Rick's daughters Sonya and Kristie. Well, EVERYONE gathered around for this performance and only AFTER Wes sang for us, did anyone tell him that the room was PACKED! Poor Wes...pretty sure he was embarrassed by the shear number of people listening to him. But, he was a good sport about it.

Toast to you, Uncle Rick! You are loved and missed by family and friends. May your soul rest peacefully in a place happier than you were on earth.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

So much happening...

and yet surprisingly little to say.

Dave is getting used to his new car. I can't say he is particularly excited about it. Perhaps it's the timing (he wasn't ready), or maybe the outrageous sum of money that we can't afford, or I suppose it could be that he really loved his truck; but, in any case, he is not nearly as excited as one should be when they purchase their very first brand new car. Honestly, I think I am more excited about it than he is.

Jayden is challenging me daily. I need to hunt up a book on 4-yr-old behaviour so I can figure out what makes his little head tick. I am not good with the little ones...I hope when they are teenagers I will have a better handle on how to deal with them.

Eliana is an angel. She is such a happy child it makes me smile to just think of her. Which is good because I am going to start school next week and I will miss them both terribly while we all adjust to new schedules! Plus, I am going to be gone to LA next week for a couple of days while I record my songs on CD. I am pretty excited and nervous all at the same time! It's a whole new world for me...the music biz! More info on that next week.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Thank you ...

to everyone who was able to join us in our big birthday celebration today. Jayden and Eliana have been bouncing off the walls all afternoon from the excitement of having so many friends visit and spend the day with us. The pirate cake, decor, and treasure chests only added to their excitement. And spending the day in the pool with friends was too much fun for words. Ellie sat with my mom in the rocking chair at bedtime talking non-stop about the rocket ship that they launched up on the roof. Ok...so you can actually see the little plastic toy rocket sitting on the awning from the bedroom window, but still, she talked about swimming with everyone and all the fun they had. Jayden talked about all the fun he had swimming with his friends in the pool and about his pirate birthday. He must have said "Thank you for my really great Pirate Birthday party that I shared with Ellie" to Dave and me a hundred times since everyone left today.

We played three of the games that Jayden got for his birthday today. He wasn't crazy about Crocodile dentist because he didn't want to get bit and apparently he lost one of the bean bags from his Tic-Tac-Toe bean bag game already. I will have to hunt that up before the trash goes out. But, he LOVED the Diego numbers matching game that he got. He is even learning to be a little graceful about not winning. I hope he learns that soon!

All in all, it has been a very exciting day. Not all of the excitement was for the kids though. Dave and I left the kids with my parents for a couple of hours while we went car shopping. Yes, I said cars. Dave's truck broke-down AGAIN! He thinks he blew a head gasket. If that's the case, he is not getting it fixed! Plus, as I said in a previous post, I am not fixing that POS again! I was rather hoping it would wait until the house was done to announce its demise, though. In any case, Dave was hoping for a used Prius with carpool stickers. Since those are so rare these days and outrageously pricey for the ones you can find, we looked at the new Prius' today. I really liked what I saw! I think what we save in gas money from his 4Runner will pay most of the payment on the Prius. We didn't buy anything today, but it gave us a great place to start seriously thinking about what to do. We are still torn between a used Prius at a lesser cost, a new Prius for just a few thousand more (really a difference of only 2K-3K), or a cheap used something else until we can really afford a new car.

UPDATE: We bought a 2007 Prius today. It took FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!! I have never purchased a new car before. I didn't know it was an ALL DAY adventure. We are glad to be home with our new baby. :P

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Playmates

Jayden has made friends with the boy next door. Shocking, I know! My open-hearted, friendly, happy, out-going little boy made a friend. ;)

Yesterday, he wanted to go play with his little friend so badly, he asked every 20 seconds if he could go play. Finally, it got to the point where I forgot why I was telling him no and said he needed to put his pants on (he doesn't like to wear pants) and shoes. Then he could go ask if his friend can play for a half-hour outside. Well, I'll tell you! No one has ever seen a little boy move so fast! He got dressed, shoes on, opened the front door and ran next door before I could blink!

Not one minute later, he was running back to our house. I met him on the step and he had a funny look. "What....", I started to ask. "He's not home!", Jayden wailed. And, no sooner did the words fall out of his mouth than did the tears start pouring out of his little eyes. He was absolutely devastated that he couldn't play with his friend. We went inside and the sobbing continued for another 10 minutes before he could finally get a hold of himself. I forgot that Jayden's buddy has swim lessons on Wednesdays. I knew I was saying no for a reason, but I forgot what it was. That was it.

I took the kids out to dinner at Red Robin as planned and after a good meal of grilled cheese, french fries and chocolate shake, Jayden was a happy kid again. When Daddy brought them home, Jayden's neighbor friend was standing outside the truck before Jayden could even get his buckles off. They had a great time playing for a little while before the sun went down and they had to get to bed. All in all, it wasn't a bad evening. I suffered a terrible broken heart for my baby though. Playdate rejection is difficult for us at all ages, but to see your children suffer heartache causes much more damage, I think.