Busy couple of weeks.....

Time just seems to fly anymore. I can't believe it's almost October. Our bowling league has started up again - every two weeks. Saturday was already our second week. My average is dropping again...oh well, we still have fun.

The week before last, I had an all day meeting for work in Kalamazoo. My mom went with me and I dropped her off at her friend's house in Vicksburg. She, Marge and Bill were out all day, shopping (well, I know my mom and Marge shopped...from what I hear, Bill waited in the car!) They were still out and about when my meeting got over so I went to my favorite place in Kalamazoo....Milham Park. So many memories of that place...going waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to when I was very little. It was a gorgeous day so I captured a few pictures. It was so peaceful there that day.

I had a surprise set up for my mom. When I picked her up, we went down the road in Vicksburg and met Karen and her friend, Rob for dinner. It was definitely a looooooong ride back!

This past Thursday, I finally made it out to see Maddison and Mackenzee play soccer. How cute they all are. Their coach is a saint! He is very patient with them and kind of goes with the flow. When you are working with that many four and five year olds, you pretty much have to!


First night of bowling.....my average is 111

Milham Park

I love how the trees are mirrored in the water.

It was such a gorgeous, peaceful day at the park.

Not much has changed here since I was little.

This stone bridge has got to be amost 70 years old.

Over the years, I've taken numerous pictures of these two old beauties. They are so tall, I couldn't get a picture of the tops and the trunks at the same time.

These are from Bill's pepper plants. When we visited in the spring, he had just picked up some little wilted pepper plants and stuck them in a pot. It was said that they'd never grow. Well, he had many, many peppers...a couple of different kinds. He was pretty proud of them and he sent a few home for Brent. I so want to have a garden next year.

Karen and Rob

Maddison, Teirnan, Coach, and Mackenzee

I can no longer hold both girls at the same time in the front, so we came up with this ingenious idea! They are just growing up way to fast.

I'm so glad I CAN still carry them sometimes. In the next couple of years, they'll be big enough to carry ME!



Still my baby girl!

Surprise, Maddison!

Brent is just the coolest Papa ever! He called Maddison's school today (without telling anyone) and let them know he was going to have lunch with his granddaughter. He showed up before her class came down and he said when she saw him she was so excited, he thought she was going to cry. He said she let EVERYONE know that her Papa had come to have lunch with her. All the teachers (one of them she told four different times), her principal, and all the kids!

He said that after lunch, they line up...one line for the girls and one line for the boys. Brent was standing with Maddison so he could go see her room and she told him "Papa, you have to go stand in the BOYS line!".

As of this posting, Sara and Mitchell don't even know yet. Brent stopped by and gave me these pictures. Maddison gets picked up in 45 min and I'm just waiting to see how long it takes for Maddison to tell her mom and Mackenzee (oh boy, someone will be in trouble then!).

"Hey, Papa! What are you doing here?"

"Oh My Gosh! My Papa is here at MY school!"

Apparently, Maddison's little friend, Tiernen has an assigned seat at the end of the table, but every day he comes down and squeezes in next to Maddison. I guess today he couldn't because her Papa was there.

"Cheese!"

"Papa, you are just two thumbs up!"

Here's the girls line. Maddi made Brent stand in the boys line!

Maddison in her classroom.

She was so proud that her Papa had come to visit!

Heart Rocked!

Sara and Mitchell each won tickets to see Cheap Trick, Heart, and Journey and gave them to Brent and I. We took friends, Kathy Foltz and Brea Seger. The ride down wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be. We stopped in Anderson and ate at Arby's since we all left work a little early and took off immediately.

The line from the highway going in was unbelievable. I thought we would be sitting there through the whole concert. In the end, it didn't really take that long. Then the line to get IN was really long, that did take a while. I took a bag with blankets and jackets, and the guy had to go through it. That's what was taking so long.

Cheap Trick had already started by the time we found a place on the lawn. I never could have told you what they sing, but I did know some of their songs....I guess I just never new it was Cheap Trick.

Then.....Heart came on. I could have listened to them all evening. Ann Wilson still has a fantastic voice. I knew all their songs....I sang all their songs right along with them (probably to the embarrasment of those around me!). They came back and did a couple of encore songs.

I have no clue, even now, who Journey is. I did know one song, but I hear the young guy singing isn't even the original singer....Steven Perry?? I laid on the bag of blankets for while, but Brent was getting tired too and he had the long drive back to Fort Wayne so we left.

The whole thing was way worth it just to see Heart!!

Thank you, Sara and Mitchell....again! Keep on winning those tickets!!!

Waiting in line!

Stopped by security to check our blanket bag.

We found a little spot in a perfect spot. Once we put Kathy's little blanket down, we sort of squeezed in then spread out!

Gees!

Here we are, Brent!

Kathy's daughter, Amanda was there also. She drove down with her friends.

The end!

A new addition to our household......and I said NO!

This is Buddha. He appeared at our house with Laurel this weekend. (Usually, it's some random person she brings home and they stay and stay and stay!) She said he belonged to Samantha who is moving and cannot keep him. I told her no way are we keeping him. She said she knew that....Christine is going to keep him. Okay, I told her, as long as she knows that we are NOT keeping him at this house. (All this going on while I am trying to steam clean carpets, and deep clean the rest of the house).

That evening, Laurel kept texting us, begging us to let her keep him. We both told her NO, NO, NO and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

The next morning comes, and I hear some yapping going on (it was definitely NOT Ringo or Silver). I ask Brent if he knew "that dog" stayed at our house. He said yes, that he saw him last night. And the thing is, he liked the dog. I told him, yeah, I did too, but I never wanted the animals we have and I do NOT want another one here.

Well, he's still here. Ringo loves him. He loves Ringo. Silver tolerates him. And he is a cute, spunky, loveable thing.

Mackenzee absolutely adores him. He even lets her carry (drag, more like) him around.

He is a "Toxirn" (Cairn Huahua). No, really... that's what he is. He is a hybrid breed (designer breed, if you will): a cross between a Cairn Terrier (Toto in the Wizard of Oz) and a Chihuahua.

Okay, so we have another mouth to feed in our household. I thought we were supposed to be whittling the numbers down now, not adding to the mix.

I WANT TO MOVE ONE DAY!!! I AM ALREADY SO TIED TO FORT WAYNE AS IT IS. AGAIN......I WANT TO M - O - V - E ......... I'm at my six month mark in my current position. My numbers are looking good at work (well, last quarter, anyway). If a DM position gets posted, I would like to apply for it. Even if it's not in NYC....I see one in Grapevine, TX and one in Denver, CO. Not really where I want to go right now, but when one does come up......I WANT TO MOVE.......................... gees, people. (Okay, I'm finished venting...it is what it is, I guess).

And to top off the injustice of it all, I just found out how really naive I am. I wanted to check the spelling of this dog's name so I Googled it. I was directed to this website: Urban Dictionary. Oh My Gosh!!! Now I'm really not happy.........Bhudda has another meaning with young people today. I certainly hope this dog was not named because of that. (Yeah, right).

The Holiday Weekend went OH SO FAST!

Brent and Sara getting their plates.

My niece came up from Purdue to see Ricky and to see her boyfriend, Casey, who came down from Kalamazoo with my sister, Karen.

Karen came from Kalamazoo to see Ricky and her daughter, Teresa.

Laurel getting her plate AND texting as USUAL.

Mom/Grandma/Grandma Great

Ashley and Maddison coloring

Mingling
Mackenzee and Maddison hangin' with their uncle.

Ricky and Ashley enjoying the weather.
.....and each other!

"Cheese!"

Time for good-byes......

The girls wouldn't stand still for Uncle Ricky to take a picture!

They both wanted their uncle to buckle them in.

It sort of looks like Ricky is telling Maddison "You had better NOT lick me!" (She does that sometimes!).

Wow! What a fast weekend. I had to take Ricky to Indi this morning bright and early (we left at 4am this morning) to catch his 8am flight, and I made it back late to work a full day. This past weekend was absolutely awesome. We finished it yesterday with a family cookout. It included Ashley, of course, as always. I had to go into work AGAIN last night so I have had a whole three hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. The drive was gruelling....thank goodness Ricky's grandma (my MOM!) offered her van and offered to go along with me to keep me company and to keep me awake. We stopped for a quick breakfast in Noblesville. He was on his way back to his post by 12:30 this afternoon.


Brent and I are so doggone proud of him. He has matured so much in the last few months.


It was such a pleasure to spend time with him and talk with him.




He and Brent played a game of golf yesterday morning and Laurel and I went shopping for an impromptu cookout yesterday late afternoon. She and I made a brocolli salad, a really yummy cake, a raspberry green tea punch, and other goodies we found in a magazine. Sara, Mitchell and the girls came after they spent the day at Shipshewana.




What an absolutely awesome family I have! I am so fortunate....so blessed!



Oh.....by the way folks.....Ashley's ROCK is CZ! She picked it out long ago and loved it. The bands are filled with real little diamonds, but that HUGE THING on top is not the real thing yet! Someday maybe....they are talking about some anniversary. But she loves it, so that's what counts.



Ashley was getting a little overwhelmed yesterday, I think, what with her two new sister-in-laws to be, her mother-in-law to be and her grandma-in-law to be talking about the wedding. She realized there is a whole lot of planning to a wedding! As of right now, they are talking about February, but no date has been set. Ricky said they can't until he gets out of AIT and gets a permanent duty station. He is really hoping for Germany! Oh my gosh, so are Brent and I!!! Brent and Laurel lived there for a long time and I want to visit.




Anyway, Ricky is back on base safe and sound...although he's not so happy about it!



There's only about two months left and both of them will be finished with school/training.






And I cannot believe it is already September. I am loving this super hot weather we have been having....brown grass and all. I know the heat will not last much longer, so I am sitting out on my patio as much as I can and soaking it all in.