Spring

Hollis and I began this beautiful Spring day at my favorite gardening store in Avon.
I let her pick out the pansies

Finally a choice was made.

She saw these little critters before we left and begged to have one

Tempting. But no.

(Why doesn't she EVER spend her own money. She has more than I do!)

The best part about the garden store?

FREE POPCORN. I was pretty happy about it.

Clearly she wasn't.

It looks like I am making her eat chicken liver, doesn't it?

And then, we were off to our favorite park...

 

FOR SOME

Log walkin'

Stone Throwin'

Pic-nicin'

Flower Pickin'

(Do you like Hollis' hairdo?She said she wanted it to look just like mine. Maybe I need to find a new hairdo.)

Hill Runnin'

House Playin'

(We played 'Little House on the Prairie with a Maid', for those who are curious)

I've looked forward to a day like this with you for a long time,

thanks for sharing it with me, Doodlebug.

The Visit

I love the looks on Hollis' face in these pictures...

Doesn't she look like she hit a BIG Jackpot?

She did. My parents came to visit this weekend.

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary super-duper special.
Because when you live 10 hours away from your parents, every minute you spend with them is  super duper special.
Even if it's just going to Trader Joe's on a Sat. or Panera  Bread after church.
Thanks for coming to visit, Mom and Dad.
I know it is not an easy trip.Nor fun.
I wish I could tell you that I don't get a big ole ugly lump in my throat when you leave, but I would be lying.
I hate watching your car turn off our road to where I can no longer see you.
Your hands out the windows waving goodbye.
It still makes me feel lost, even at 35 years old.
But I know we will be together again soon.
Thank you for such a super duper special visit.

Yum.

If Hollis and I ruled the world....

Everyone would start their day by licking the brownie bowl.

May your Friday be full of many sweet surprises.

Happy Burf-Day Hollis

We took Hollis away for her birthday. She wanted a "trip" birthday instead of a "friend" birthday this year.
I'll give you one guess how old she is now.

We went to Madison Indiana and stayed at Clifty Inn State Park.

Madison is a charming little town on the Ohio River. It is sprinkled with "grand old ladies" like this

and this

We ate lunch at Hinkles-they serve one mean hamburger

We went antiquing and didn't break anything.

Hollis wanted to tour the Lanier Mansion. She thought she might see some ghosts.Our tour guide gave her the golden key to open the mansion.

She was hot stuff.

I was kinda jealous he gave her the key.

But it was her birthday.

There is supposed to be a Lady in Red that haunts the mansion. She wasn't haunting when we were there.Thank you Sweet Jesus.

We ate A LOT of this stuff...

Our hotel had a pool.

One of us was really happy to be in it.

And one of us was really not.

He kept saying,"Why are all these people in the pool?Where did they all come from?"

"Shouldn't they be eating dinner?"

     "I don't know if we can all fit in here."

And then he would shoot me the Evil Eye(as I sat and read InStyle in a chair).

The greatroom of the inn was filled with all sorts of family games

                                     And a roaring fireplace where we read bedtime stories.

We were up with the sun opening presents.

And then off to hike

And feel the warm sun on our faces.

Happy 5th Birthday, Sweet Hollis.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for you.

Thank you for being ours because you could've easily been someone else's.

We love to watch you SHINE.

11 years

Hi "Joe".
Happy Anniversary.
Do you remember this picture?
My dad couldn't stop laughing when he saw it. The tears rollin down your checks kinda laugh.
And you still tease me about it.
I know. What was I thinking??
Why are my hands around my neck like that?
I think I was telling you I was going to be a big pain in your neck. For a long time.

You are the first person I call when something really good happens in my day.
You are the first person I call when something really rotten happens in my day.
(Maybe I call you too much?)
Everyone needs to have a soft place to land when they fall, and you are mine.
And after 11 years of marriage, you still make me SWOON.

DIVA

This is the outfit Hollis deemed appropriate for playing in the park today.
I think the feather plume was an especially nice touch.

Heaven help us all.

Grateful

Take good care of today;
it's the tomorrow you wished for yesterday

.
It's an amazing day here in good ole Z-Ville.
Wrigley and I took a long long walk this am.
I saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk circling above and a sweet little robin just chirping away on her nest.
I was just filled with a sense of thankfulness.
Thank you Lord, for giving me another day on this beautiful earth.
It is, indeed, a great day to be alive.

Happy St. Pats!

HOW FUNNY IS THIS?

And one more of our leprechan..

See Ya'll Later

Leslie and the kids left this morning.
And I'm as sad as I thought I would be.
The "ugly cry" erupted when she left. It was not pretty.
Leslie and I met 3 years ago at the library.
They had just moved here from Saint Louis and she was homesick.
Come to find out, the Hedenbergs lived in our same neighborhood.
I didn't realize how lucky I was.
She asked me to be in her bookclub and I asked her over for playdate. And that's how it began.
We laugh and joke about Hollis and Luke ending up together later in life(Don't tell her, but I'm not joking).
I bet you've never seen two kids more happy to be together. They explode with joy.
The Hedenberg children are kind, happy,innocently sweet tenderhearted souls.
 Everything good this world needs a little more of.
 I considered Leslie my family away from family.
When my heart was shattered into a million pieces last March, she was one of the first ones over here with a warm meal and tears in her eyes.
"No one cries alone if I'm around" and she cried with me.
I don't forget things like that.
And Ben? He is funny. I mean really funny.I AM CONSTANTLY LAUGHING WHEN HE IS IN THE ROOM.
And he loves his family.

So, you can tell I am going to miss my friends very very much.I feel abundantly blessed by their friendship. If you ever met them, you would love them as much as I do.

Promise.

Star of the Week

Hollis was Star of the Week at school this week.
This simply means she gets to make a poster all about herself and the things she loves and present them to her class. (Buster and Gwen, if you are reading this, you were meant to be on this poster too. My printer broke halfway through! Sue, you are on there, the curious boy's arm is covering your mugshot)

She was large and in charge with that pointer thing.

She was also able to bring in her favorite snack- Rice Krispie treats.

I was  asked to make a guest appearance.

The kids could've cared less that  I was there.Seriously.

They kept rolling on the ground and wrestling and telling me  a "leprechan"  turned their water green(??),messed up their kitchen area, and played tricks on them all day.

Now tell me, how was I supposed to compete with that?