Surprise Mom!!

In my last post, I was bemoaning the fact that this would be the first mother's day without all my children present. Little did I know that sweet Crystal had lied to me all week!

Friday evening after 10:00, I was sitting quietly, watching TV with Ray when Micki runs in carrying a dog! She says, "Look what we found running around up the road!" Now keep in mind how tired I am. I had cooked dinner for everyone, cleaned up the kitchen, kept Noah all day plus laundry, housework, etc. So I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that if Baci was here, Crystal was too. All I could think of was "What the hell is going on? What's happened to Crystal?" I looked past Micki to ask Johnny what was going on and there stood Crystal laughing. Surprise MOM!

What a wonderful surprise! She had planned to ride in with Rose and lied to me all week. I'll forgive you this time honey! I would have known the sound of Crystal's car as soon as it slowed down on Coal River Road. When I heard Micki's van, I didn't think anything about it. She lives beside me! Micki and Johnny met Rose and Crystal in Charleston and brought her home. And Rose picked her up on Sunday to head back to Baltimore.

In the meantime, I enjoyed having Crystal here the last few minutes of her birthday. Cindy had made a cake to surprise her with and it seems the BBQ I had spent the day making was for Crystal's birthday dinner but since she was late, we ate and Micki put up leftovers so Crystal could have her dinner when she got in. I thought I was making BBQ because Chris wanted it. They got me good this time.

We had a wonderful time at Cindy and Chris's annual Mother's Day cookout, usually held for Chris's mom and myself but Judy decided not to attend this year. Hopefully she'll attend the next function we have together as extended family stuff. Chris did a superb job with the cookout and serving lunch. The gifts were nice but the best part was having all my girls there with me.

Thank you for another wonderful Mother's Day to my three wonderful daughters and my almost as wonderful son-in-laws. I love you!

Hard Time!

Some of the hardest times in our lives are when our loved ones can't be with us for whatever reason. Death is the most obvious one. But in another town or another state on special days isn't easy.

Today is Crystal's birthday and even though we celebrated it two weeks ago when she was home, today is the actual day and I miss her. I have phoned her, at work, to wish her a wonderful day. She's going out with friends from work tonight and I hope she has a great and safe evening.

Crystal was due 29 years ago on Mother's Day which was May 8th that year. Mother's day is May 14th this year and she'll be Baltimore. Why, other than the fact that she lives there now? The biggest reason is the gas prices are so high that she can't afford to make the trip home more often. She plans to be here on Memorial weekend but that's not the same as her birthday and Mother's Day.

I think this will be the first Mother's Day I'll celebrate with one of my children not with me. It'll be different and a little lonely although Cindy and Micki will be wish me with their families. Cindy is hosting her traditional Mother's Day cookout for me and for Chris' mom. That's always a wonderful day. Cindy and Chris are such wonderul host and hostess and make sure we all have a good time at their house. Micki will be with us for part of the day and is helping Cindy and Chris. Then she'll spent time Johnny's mom and her family. Busy day for them, just like all hollidays. Extended families are great! Never a dull moment or special day. We're so blessed that the girls married into good families that all enjoy spending time with every one.

I know there are lots of hard times in life but most of our center around Ray's job and if anything goes wrong with our girls and their families and that includes not being with them for special occassions. I guess now you know where my heart lies. With my husband, girls, son-in-laws, and grandchildren. There are lots and lots of other people I love but these are my "special loves"

Not a holliday but=====

We're having turkey and all the fixings and it's not even a holliday! Our family loves turkey any time but mainly they love to get together and have meals as a group. The occassion today, Chris and Cindy got hungry, I guess. I don't mind though. I enjoy having them all come to eat, just the noise sometimes (usually) gets to me.

I kept Izzy and Sophia this morning while Cindy went to Curves. We had such a good time. I helped them with breakfast and then we wrestled and tickled until Cindy got back. She caught us in the middle of giggles. Wonder what she thought? Mom doesn't get the giggles often, just when one of the grandchildren get them. Hmmm maybe that's more often than I thought it was. All four of these grandchildren have such a contageous laugh or giggle that you have to laugh with them. They're such happy kids!!!

I haven't felt like playing with them very much for a couple weeks but felt better this morning. Whoever said getting old is the golden years in full of it!!! I sure didn't have aches and pains like this when I was younger and I'm not even old yet, just getting there.

Well enough for now. Guess I'll finish cooking dinner and try to have it ready just after five. That will leave everyone time to do their evening activites while I clean the kitchen and keep Maddie and Noah for a while. Have a good evening, everyone!!!

Parties Parties Parties!

Ok I guess you can say the partying started with Easter dinner at Cindy's. The whole family was there plus Chris's family. All had a great time. The food was great. Thanks to everyone who brought a dish plus the chefs who fixed the fantastic turkey and ham (Cindy and Chris). We always have a good time when celebrating anything with Chris's family. Whether just a BBQ, birthday or holliday.

The next weekend was full of birthday parties. First was Sophia's first birthday party which would have been tons of fun but the poor baby was so sick she could hardly hold her head up. At one point, she fell face first into a couple of gift bags and just laid there! She did put her little hands in her cake and took a bite but she didn't enjoy it.

That evening was the second party which was Crystal's surprise birthday party at Maggie Moo's. Now her birthday is in May but she won't be home again until Memorial Day weekend so Cindy and Micki came up with the idea because Crystal collects cows. After this party, she is rethinking what she would like to collect. It was a total success as a surprise. She had no idea that Tricia was taking her to a party, not just to get ice cream. The look on her face when she spied us was priceless. But the best priceless expression was when the eight foot cow brought her cake out. Her eyes were enormous, her mouth open in an O of pure surprise and shock. She said "Oh my God" and then the cow made her hug him for pictures. Her humiliation was complete although this wasn't her sisters idea, I don't think???? Maybe it was? Anyway we all had a lot of fun there. Micki got a great video of the whole thing. Cindy and I didn't have our cameras working. Shame on us!!!

Then came Sunday when we had planned an early birthday party for Micki and Granny who celebrate their special day on the same day. We stayed home from church so we could have lunch and the cake and gifts before Crystal had to leave to go back to Baltimore. That also turned out to be lots of fun. Ray had worked out a pig theme for Micki since she collects-----you guessed it----pigs! He made a trough with Piggley Petes engraved in it. This was for Micki to eat her hot dogs out of. He also had signs depicting pig stuff around the kitchen. He used styrofoam cups and made pig snouts for all of us to wear while singing Happy Birthday. Micki was a good sport and ate from the trough and wore the snout while blowing out her candles. We got some great pictures. And yes, she's still collecting pigs!

Granny had a great time at all the parties and we all throughly enjoyed having her visit with us for nine days. She usually stays with Nancy but she decided to stay here this visit. We hated having to take her home. She sits by herself for days on end without seeing another living person. We all worry about her but she says she's happy being alone. What can we do?

I wonder what's being planned for Chris's birthday in July and mine in August? Cindy and Chris are planning Isaac's third birthday in June and it'll be a kid theme. He's so excited about having his party. I sure hope no one is sick for his party, especially Isaac!

Well I'm partied out for now so I'll close this blog until next time.