Happy Birthday, Laurel! April First

Today (April 1st) is Laurel's 19th birthday. Hard to believe, but true.
Below are some pictures of when she was a sweet little thang.

Sleepover on a Tuesday!

Maddison is on spring break this week. She tells everyone she can't go to school for NINE whole days. Doesn't sound like she's really happy about spring break, does it?

I had Sara bring them to me at work when I was just about finished and told her to bring clothes for an overnight.

Brent, Laurel, Maddison, Mackenzee and I went to Crazy Pinz. Tuesday is Family Day there. They have a big ball room, games, and a miniature golf course. The three girls had a BLAST. Maddison and Mackenzee also got free dinners with the purchase of ours.

We got home around 9:30. Right now, the girls are camped out in the "playroom" coloring, watching a movie and eating popcorn.


How fun!

"Don't it make your eyes BLUE?"

Okay, so I learned something very interesting yesterday while Maddison and Mackenzee were with me. We were in the car and I heard the two discussing the color of Mackenzee's eyes. And I heard one of them say, they're blue now because Grandma got soap in them. I asked them what they were talking about and Mackenzee proceeded to tell me that "a long, long time ago" I got soap in her eyes and it turned them blue. I asked her what color they were before that and she told me they were PEACH.


First of all, I don't remember ever getting soap in her eyes. Secondly, I just didn't get where they thought that could change eye color. Mackenzee said she thought maybe because the soap was BLUE!

Man, if only I had had my video on at that moment. I did get my camera out and hit record, but because I was driving, I had no idea if I was capturing the girls or not. I did get them to discuss this on video, and most of it only shows Mackenzee or her forehead.

But here's how it went:

WOW! She was talking about the circles UNDER her eyes!! How funny is that? And to top it off, they BOTH truly believe that I am responsible for them!

Absolutely hilarious! They are so literal. In talking with their Aunt Ashley and Uncle Ricky a little while later, they mentioned that they'd like to go with them to New York. Ashley played along. Maddison and Mackenzee left the room for a while and we all continued with our conversations. Next thing you know, the girls come in, arms loaded with their worldly belongings, coats and shoes on and told Ashley they were ready. The serious look on their faces was priceless! They really, truly were ready to move to New York. Ashley asked them "What about your Mom? Do you really want to leave your Mom, or Dad or your dog, Mason?" They both nodded their heads. "Well, what about Grandma and Papa?" THEY NODDED THEIR HEADS!

Wow! There was no talking them out of this one! Finally after a few tears, they agreed to stay here for now if they get to go visit Uncle Ricky and Aunt Ashley in New York sometime.

Whew!

Moving day for Mr. and Mrs. Nelson

Ricky flew in this morning to collect his wife and their household goods, finally. He took possession of their apartment on Monday and he moved his few things he has with him over there this week. It's a two bedroom with a garage on base.


Ashley picked him up at the airport and they came straight to my work. Brent was there waiting too so we could all go to lunch.

Husband and wife together again after more than a month!

I think Ringo was trying to tell Ricky to take him with him to New York!

Brent, Laurel and I all went over to Ashley's to help load up all her stuff. Her mom made a wonderful dinner and we finally got everything loaded. Tomorrow they will come get the 30 some boxes of Ricky's stuff, go get their washer and dryer and kitchen table and chairs then they'll be all set.

They will be leaving very early Sunday morning so they get home by Sunday night. Ricky has Monday off so they can get the truck unloaded (they're hoping to invite a bunch of Ricky's buddies over for pizza and beer and hope they'll help unload the big stuff!).

We plan on going to visit them as often as we can for long weekends. And they have an extra room for us!

Grandparents Rollerskate!!

Gees...I had one more picture to add and it goes to the top. This is Maddison playing one of the games at the rollerink.

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Brent heard Sara talk about taking the girls skating this morning, so we got up early to go to the 10-12 session. The girls were surprised...especially at me. The asked me "Are you really going to rollerskate, Grandma?" !!!

Well......This blurry, but distinct picture was really the last time I've been rollerskating until today! I've tried rollerblading since then (not successfully, though!). This was on Sara's eighth birthday. Ricky was a teeny little guy. Yup....a really long, long time ago. I expected to get out there today and fall down immediately.

Sara was more amazed than anyone that I could still skate. I started out very slow and worked my way up. I was breezing right along!

Mackenzee was having a ball!

Maddison really was flying. She's getting good at it.

Me, Mackenzee and a friend.

Maddison hanging on to her Papa's pockets and skating behind him.

Here we are doing the Hokey Pokey!

I only fell once the whole time. I was really feeling good, was able to fly and was showing off. I skated past Sara and Brent when my wheel stuck and I flounderd for a few seconds and was determined not to fall backwards (I didn't want to be like the actress who was skiing and died from hitting her head). I fell forward and skinned my knee pretty good.

Oh well.....it was a BLAST!!

Miss Mackenzee!!!!!!!

So, Friday morning around 11:00 a.m., I was at work deeply immersed in what I was doing. My cell phone rang and I could tell it was Sara by the ring. I answer and it wasn't Sara...it was Mackenzee! "Grandma!!?? Hey, Grandma??? MAY YOU PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE GROCERY STORE??? I really need to go, Grandma. PLEASE? PLEASE?

I wanted to make sure I understood her. It sounded urgent, important and full of drama (just like her mama!) I asked her if she needed a ride to the grocery store and she told me yes she did. I asked her what she needed to get and she asked me again to take her to the store. I asked HER again, "What do you need to get?" She said I don't know because I can't read this piece of paper. "Oh", I said, "you have a list?" "Yeah, Grandma, I have a list." I told her I'd be there at 12:30 and she said "Okay, I'll bring my list."

She was waiting at the front window when I pulled up.

And here is her list!! How cute is that. It's cutouts from the Meijer ad!!

Maddison is taking her lunch next week and she requested anything but peanut butter. Kenzee was quite worried about what she was going to take and needed me to take her to get some things for Maddi's lunch.

We got some good things like donut holes, lunchables, brownies.....all yummy stuff (yogurt too), but as we were checking out, Mackenzee was looking over her list and realized we forgot PRETZELS. Oh my gosh. I had to get back to work, so I told her she'd have to explain to Maddison that we forgot and I'd get her some for next week.

When I left, Mackenzee hugged me tight and thanked me for spending time with her.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! She is so sweet!

Long month and a half......

Time sure does fly. Has it really been a month and a half since the wedding? Wow.....I thought I would be bored after the busy months leading up to the big day! Not so....first off....I have been sick since February 1. It seems to come and go but last week did me in and I finally had to go to the doctor to get antibiotic. YUK! I so would prefer not to have had to go, but I have to go out of town for work next week and I would have been miserable.

Anyway, I have been extremely busy at work.....WE as a center haven't been....it's been dead, actually, but I have a whole lot admin. things changing at work and it's keeping me hopping.

I haven't really been able to spend much time with Maddison and Mackenzee either. They all went through a week of so with terrible colds, flu, etc.

I am SO glad Spring is almost here. It's been a LOOOOOOOOOOONG winter.

Sara won tickets (she wins stuff ALL the time) to go see Plain White Ts (I had NEVER heard of this band before) in Grand Rapids, MI and a night in a hotel was included. The concert is tonight, so they headed out this afternoon. They took Laurel with them. She's staying at the hotel with the girls...they can go swimming and just hang out. Sara called and said the room is beautiful.

Sara's sister, Brandy, lives near as does her cousin, Christopher. Christopher actually works at the club right across the street from the hotel. Brandy is going to the concert with Sara and Mitchell, and I believe they were going to try to stop in and see Christopher if he's working tonight.

All the girls knew was that they were going to MICHIGAN (said with excitement!) and that Aunt Laurel was going with them. They were very happy...they love staying in hotels...Mackenzee calls them "bacations"!

Aunt Laurel sqeezing in between the car seats for the three hour ride!

Mackenzee, happy to be going to MICHIGAN!

Maddison cheesin' for the camera!

Papa giving Mackenzee a kiss goodbye ~ it looks like Mackenzee was giving him the what for about something, though!

Sara and Mitchell looking forward to the three hour drive ~ NOT!

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On another note, Ricky will be heading back from Virginia to New York this week. He's tentatively planned on coming home the next week to collect his wife and ftheir urnishings. He found out last week that they do have on base housing for them. I know Ashley is anxious to be with her husband.

I looked up "married housing ~ Ft. Drum, NY" and this picture is posted at the top of the website for Fort Drum. Pretty cool looking...I can't wait to go see their new apartment. This picture, of course, in NOT where they will be staying....they don't even know where they will be staying yet.

Ricky had a little excitement last week in Virginia. He was eating breakfast and choked on some meat. He couldn't get it out and couldn't breathe. A Seargant nearby ran over a began performing the Heimlich Maneuver on him. He still couldn't clear it so he had to put his hand down his throat. They sent him to the hospital to get checked out, make sure his throat hadn't been damaged or anything. He was fine and went to work. Later that day a Colonel showed up and presented that Seargant with a Commendation Coin for saving Ricky's life!!!
When Ricky was telling me the story, he said "Yeah, I almost died and I'm not even at war yet."

They're pretty sure that his unit will be deployed in November. Not good news at all, but we all, including Ricky, knew it was inevitable. The only thing we can do is pray for his safety.

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On a much happier note, an exciting piece of news in the Day house....Brent and I are finally going to go on a 'HONEYMOON"!!! We are going to Buzios, Brazil . Everything is set, except for our passports and visas. We have the pictures done and the applications filled out...we just need to get our buns down to the Post Office and get the process going. Sometime soon we'll be relaxing on the beach in Brazil! Oh yeah........

This is a picture of the sun setting on the beach. The picture was actually taken by a guest at my friend's inn where we are staying. This is the view from one of the suites. Oh how exciting!!

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