What a week!!!

So, as many of you know, my sister (one of the strongest people in the entire world--this was confirmed a few days ago) and her family suffered a tragedy that I just shiver to think about. My greatest fear in the entire world is fire. Their house caught on fire. Apparently lightning hit the roof and BAM--that was that. They are SAFE and have found friendships that they might never have found, but for this incident. The garage is gone as well as a few other important rooms. Most of the rest of the house (theirs for TWO weeks now) was, obviously smoke and water-damaged.
Fortunately for them, they have good insurance and no one was hurt. Unfortunately for them, they will have to find a place to live for maybe six months while their Texas castle is being rebuilt. Man, that just SUCKS.

My sister is an amazing person. She has weathered LOTS of things in her life and just keeps going on. I know her faith and her family are huge sources of strength for her, but man, there's got to be more than that. I truly admire what she has done for her family in the last 10 years (moving and moving and moving), but mostly because she has had to do it by herself. Just putting this out there, but if anyone EVER needs moving or packing advice--call this girl!!! But it is SO much more than the moving and logistics and such. She is one of the friendliest people you will ever know and there is no place she has ever been that she didn't find SOMETHING to be involved in or a group of people to hang out with. I just want everyone to know that even though I am the "big" sister, I definitely look up to that woman every day.

OK, enough about her--now about ME!!! This is a pretty busy weekend for us. Tomorrow I am co-hosting a wedding shower for my sister-in-law to be. It should be really fun (and educational)! Because the guest of honor is from Germany, where wedding showers don't exist, this is all new to her. Her mom is here, too, so that should make it doubly exciting!!! We've got games and food and fun and presents, so I think we're ready to rock and roll.


Sunday we're hosting Shannen's family reunion. All week the weather has been predicting sun and warmish (80s) temperatures. Now we're looking at rain and coolish temps... UGH. I certainly don't mind everyone in the house, but it is so much better to be able to sit and eat and have fun OUTSIDE!!!! We'll see. These weather guys aren't good (winter storm=MAYBE one inch of snow OR twelve inches...), so I guess we'll just see what happens Sunday afternoon.

Sunday night I will be hosting the annual board members retreat for Natalie's preschool, Willowcreek. This is the LEAST of my worries, although I don't think that will be the case come Sunday afternoon. We have lots of planning to do and many "strong" personalities on the board. This makes for fun meetings.... Seriously, if I can make it through a family reunion where I know like 5 other people, this should be cake.

OK. I'm off to clean. At least the house looks good. As far as the LONG grass in the backyard, that's another story. Not my job.
Take care, all. Look for all the details next week!

We're still here...

You might have thought we fell off the face of the earth. Couldn't be farther from the truth. The kids and I have been cleaning and planning for our big weekend o' gatherings. OK. This is now going to be short--guess who just woke up??? UGGHH.
Anyway, we've been busy planning and I hope I don't forget anything before Saturday afternoon.

We'll try this again some other time.
Have a good one, people!

You know, I'm not surprised at all....

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Just a day

I'm sitting here with the windows open and the birds singing and the wind making a soft sound as it goes through the trees. It is currently 71 and I have no complaints right now. My children are taking naps, my dog and cat are sleeping and my house is pretty quiet except for those birds!

Shannen is in Savannah for his final week (we think) of training. He is in District Manager meetings from 7am-9pm. Seriously, I would rather be in a meeting all day in Savannah than most places in this world. He gets home late Friday night and then does a few job fair things next week and then maybe, just maybe, gets to really start his job!!!

Natalie got to go to a movie this morning. Now, most people would say, Uh, OK, the kid got to go to a movie. But the big deal is this--she's NEVER been inside a movie theater! Personally, to me, that's no big thing, but I guess to most normal people, it is kinda weird. She went with her little friend from school (the one with the broken arm who can't have very much fun this summer) to see Arctic Tale. The mom said Natalie was really good for the first hour and after that started fidgiting a bit and asking "how much longer" and "when is this going to be over???" Oh well... she made it through.

Landry and I got to go try and purchase a new water filter for our ice machine/water dispenser in the refrigerator. Problem was, the filters were delivered but not off the truck yet, as the nice gentleman at Sears told us. I wanted to tell HIM to go find a filter on the truck and bring it to me, as it was NOT busy and what else was he going to do on a Tuesday morning at 10am? But I didn't.

No big plans for the rest of the day here. We're gearing up for a great end of the week, though. Natalie's friend will be coming over on Thursday morning for some quality playtime and then Natalie starts gymnastics Thursday night! Friday is pick up dad at the airport day, and Saturday is Christ the King Festival night!!!! Shannen and I will be selling drink/food tickets late and (LUCKY) Sarah M will be watching the kiddos.

I just heard a door open. My free (QUIET) time is over. Peace out, people.

Blame it on the Rain (quoting Milli Vanilli....)

We have visitors at our home today--roofers. I'll blame it on the wind, actually. There are just enough shingles loose that we need to get some replaced/added on. There is a small leak in the kids' bathroom that, with 7 inches of rain or whatever we've had in the last month, was turning into a bigger leak. No big deal, really, except we had NO access to that area for the guy to check and see if it was a pipe or a venilation thing or the roof. SO, they spent this morning putting a hole in the ceiling of the guest room so they could check the roof. It is all nice and covered up, but it has kept us at home all day. They came back after lunch to work on the roof and re-do some siding that again, was victim to wind a few months back. Natalie was lucky enough to get an invite to the pool with the neighbors. Landry did, too, but I chose for him to nap, instead. No need to punish the kids next door with BOTH of my kids at the pool!!!

It is HOT (93) now and muggy. It is supposed to rain (AGAIN) and storm (AGAIN) tonight, just in time for Shannen's arrival from Savannah tomorrow. Oh well. By the way, while he is "working" at the corporate headquarters of his new job, he had a few minutes to steal away and take this picture. I feel SOOOO bad for him that he is cooped up in meetings for HOURS on end... Give me a freakin' break!!!!!!


No other exciting news, really. The van is blue and pretty and smells new. The coolest feature for me is the "tailgating" seats in the back row. You can pull some cords and flip some switches and the seats turn over and around and you can face backwards with your feet hanging out of the back of the van. NOW, this will never happen, as it is Shannen's work van and is for official business, but maybe I'll just sit in the driveway with the back hatch open and watch the kids ride bikes!!!

No big Father's Day plans as of yet. We did purchase an iPod Nano for Shannen. Stupid me registered it so I could start adding songs. Put it in his name, obviously. We'll guess who sent a "Welcome" email to Shannen on Tuesday??? Great. Thanks, Apple. Oh well. It's not like he has it yet or anything. Oh yeah, another cool feature of the van is that you can just plug the iPod into the radio--no tuner thing like I have in my car. I'm sure it is MUCH better sound. OK it is MUCH better sound, but since I haven't driven the van, I can only assume....

I'm out. Gonna enjoy the sound of pounding nails on the roof, the whirr of the air conditioning, and the quiet of Landry sleeping and Natalie way down the street at the pool. Take care.

Some guys have ALL the luck... (quoting Rod Stewart)

He left this morning for "corporate training" in Savannah, Georgia. Now, I can only imagine how much "work" he really has to do... come on, he's been in training for over 6 weeks and it's not like he's the next president of the company... (someday). I think it is a continuation of a plot by Cititrends to let Shannen have an expense paid SUMMER VACATION. I mean, Dallas for a month, Alabama, Mississippi for a week a piece, and Savannah two weeks in a row. If ONLY I could take one of those weeks. Oh well. Oh yeah, he gets his brand new company van tomorrow, too. A Dodge Caravan, I think. I'm hoping me and the kiddos can try it out before he comes home... probably against the rules, but you know me--a real rulebreaker!

Pretty uneventful week here, unless you count me getting up EARLY this morning to go to Maggiano's for my birthday dinner--mmmmm good. Sunday was church, the pool, and Natalie's favorite--CiCi's Pizza!!! Again... don't be jealous, people!

I guess that is it from here. When something exciting happens, I'll write again. Otherwise I'll just write again about unexciting things, like today. Take care, all.

It's a sunshine day!!!! (quoting the Brady Bunch)

What a great day. Got up, made a few important calls, and started preparing for the big trip to the pool. I now give MUCH more credit to my mom--how did you get four kids to the pool AND ALL THEIR STUFF and feed us, too???? Thank goodness, my pool friend/COUSIN Sarah was there to help. We had a nice morning of fun in the sun (except for the green baby pool--we skipped that today), followed by a great early afternoon of playing by the pool, in the pool, and near the pool with our fabulous neighbor-girls.

Landry, of course, came home and took a great nap. Natalie, not so much. She did have some "quiet time," however, which allowed me time to get a few things done around the house--like find a good ziti casserole recipe. We called Grandpa and he agreed to come over and help us try out the noodles, sauce, meat, and CHEESY recipe--he's such a good sport. It actually was VERY easy to make and equally tasty to eat. We topped off dinner with brownies and followed with a bath and life was pretty good.

Natalie has decided, recently, that there is NO reason to go to bed if you aren't tired. Or if it is still light out. So, since it is still light out NOW (9:15pm), she is lying on the couch watching some silly Boomerang cartoon... It's summer, for goodness sakes. She's no worse for it, and I don't have to keep going upstairs and telling her 'it's time to go to bed, Natalie!!!!'

No huge plans for tomorrow. It is supposed to be nice, so we'll hopefully make it to the pool for a bit. No chance the part for the baby pool chlorinator will be in, so we'll have to brave the (COLD) big pool. Maybe a trip to the library to return books, a trip to Mimi and Grandpa's to pick up Oberweis milk, and then home to await the return of DADDY from Mississippi (although it might be late-ish---he is scheduled to get in around midnight).

I guess that is it from here. Best wishes to Susan, Fred, Nic, and Will as they travel from Iowa to Missouri to Oklahoma to TEXAS. Hopefully they can dodge tornadoes and get to their new home with NO exciting stories, save for the ones that happen when they stop in Norman, OK tomorrow night...or is it Saturday? Anyway--good luck to them...Good luck, too, to my fabulous bro and future sister-in-law as they continue to plan for their big day in 6? short weeks. Hey, at least they have the dress, the rings, the church, the reception place, and the cupcakes!!!

Peace out, people. It should be a great weekend.

OK, that's about enough

So we come home from an enjoyable evening of ice cream, a trip to the "ponds," and the beginning of "Beauty and the Beast," and just as we pull into the garage... the skies open up. Thanks so much to weathergirl Sarah. All I have to say is DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOBS!!!! NEedless to say, there was an extended bedtime as one little girl wanted NOTHING to do with the thunder and lightning. By 11, the kids were asleep and I was waiting for round 2.

Round 2 started at 2am and lasted until, seriously, about 6am. There was NO stopping. Lightning (BRIGHT) and thunder (LOUD) and I could NOT get back to sleep. Natalie finally joined me at 5am and Landry decided he had had enough by about 6.... No damage, again, and no water inside our house. Our grass is green enough for a while, so I think we've had enough.


I'm ready for sun and fun. Maybe tomorrow we can get to the pool (it is supposed to be 90 and VERY VERY sunny).

We're off to Kroger to re-stock the lost contents of the refrigerator. You know, had we done this yesterday, we would have lost power last night--just thinking ahead!!!! Naps this afternoon and then the big cookout tonight. Ta ta for now. Have a super (DRY) day!

We sure are lucky...

The storms came on Friday night, fast and furious. We lost power, but figured it wasn't a big deal and we'd get it back in a while. WRONG. Fortunately the kids were sleeping and kept sleeping. It was a DOOOOOZY--we thought it was over, but it just kept coming and coming and coming. Shannen got up Saturday morning and checked the basement--dry as a desert. We had no electricity, still, Saturday morning. Seems a BIG tree decided to fall over near the entrance to our subdivision and take out a few power lines. As we packed up our things to go to Mimi and Papa's for the morning, we noticed LOTS of restoration/water removal trucks and vans in the neighborhood. After some discussion with neighbors, it was decided that we (7640) might have been one of a SMALL handfull of homes without water damage. We lost most of our refrigerator contents as well as our inside freezer, but I'll take that any day over a basement full of yuck. We also had no tree/yard damage. THere were a LOT of branches in with people's trash this week. Again, we were VERY lucky.

Shannen is off in Mississippi for the week and all is pretty calm here. Yesterday Natalie went to play at a classmate's house for the afternoon and Landry slept most of the time she was gone. I got three junk drawers cleaned!!!! Today I was blessed with sleeping children (9:30am wake up call by Natalie) and then we had MORE rain. Since the pool was not going to be an option, we decided we'd go to the Children's Museum with the rest of Indianapolis' toddler set. It stormed while we were there, but the kids didn't even notice, as they were having SOOOO much fun at Playscape. Thanks to Sarah Martin, it was easy to corral both kiddos, as each had their own idea of what to play with when. After a TOTAL MELTDOWN (I DON'T NEED A NAP, MOM!!!!!), we made it to the car and headed home. After just a mile or so, guess what--two sleeping kids all the way home.

Tomorrow we're going to my friend Anna's house for a cookout/Willowcreek board meeting. It will be nice to see some of Natalie's school friends (and not cook). Thursday is a pool day and Friday we'll get ready for Shannen to come home!!!

I guess that is it from here. Have a great middle of the week everyone and best wishes to Susan, Fred, Nic, and Will (and Pete) on their journey from Iowa to Texas.