Lots o' fun happening here!

At work, I've been working on a project for the past two years the finally came to fruition Friday. And I wasn't there :o) I took Friday off to stay with Graisi then went in Tuesday and have been off ever since....

Friday, Kerri and I took Graisi and Mallory to Alabama Adventure. The local theme/water park. And let me just tell you, we had a great time. There was even a little park for Alli Claire...which she thoroughly enjoyed. Graisi and Mallory spent most of the day on the giant slides. After the park, Alli Claire went to Uncle Chris and Aunt Stacy's while Martin and I took Graisi on a date to the movies. Narnia - Prince Caspian, was as good as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! I would recommend, but it was a bit longer than we'd anticipated. We ate junk food for supper and G loved it.

We did absolutely NOTHING Saturday... we were slugs. But we made up for it Sunday. Hunter and Blake were baptized Sunday morning and Riley was baptized the previous Sunday in the lake at Shocco (just like his Daddy :o). So we had a party for them like we had for Graisi back in August. So I don't even need to tell you about the great food and wonderful homemade ice-cream? Four flavors! After we ate, the kids went over to Wendy's (Riley's mom) clubhouse for a swim. After several injuries we landed at Wendy's house eating homemade salsa (I'll post the recipe later), pizza and the leftover ice-cream. It was pretty close to a perfect day as you could get. These are the days I hope our kids remember.

Monday, we were slugs again... Do you happen to see a pattern here? Busy day... slugs. Busy day... slugs. A day of rest never hurt anyone.

Oh yea, we have fuzzy, little baby birds. I'll post photos of them as well as soon as I pull them off of the camera. Graisi has really enjoyed watching the mama and daddy birds feeding and protecting them. They don't make much noise, but they are VERY messy!

Alli Claire is talking more and more everyday. Her vocabulary seems like it's doubling daily. Graisi is enjoying summer being out, but boy is she going to be busy for the next several weeks!!

Happy summer everyone!!

The miracle of a healed heart

Last night was baby Oliver's funeral. I was ok until I saw Sidney and her mom, Helen sobbing as their hearts broke. I stood there wishing I could do or say anything that would ease their pain but then remembered that there was nothing that could be done or said. So I hugged each of them and prayed as I stood there holding them and crying with them. It was then that I realized the Lord had healed my heart, gave me peace and honored me with the gift of true compassion for the others who go after me. Please pray for their family as the many days, weeks and months pass without their baby boy. A heart may heal, but there will always be a scar...

I left Sydney with a few tokens of remembrance like I received after Grant died. They weren't the exact ones, but I would encourage anyone to do this for a parent who's child has died. It meant and still means a great deal to me when I look at those items and remember the person who gave them and the love that was sent with them. I'm not sure why, by candle light has always comforted my heart... as if it were alive. I left Syd with a votive to sit beside her bed and light as often as she needs to in memory of Oliver's life. I gave her a heart prism to remember the moments in time that will always remain in her soul and a "Hope" token for her future. Like I said, it wasn't much, but sometimes the little things mean the most. When you don't have the words to express how you feel, sometime a token of love says it all.

Prayers please

My cousin, Sydney's baby died yesterday morning. Oliver was 4 months old and was unresponsive when everyone awoke. They Life Flighted him to Montgomery but died on the way or shortly after arriving at the hospital. Sydney is very young and lives with her parents. She will be returning to school in the fall. Please keep her and our family family in your prayers and pray Satan's grasp on this family is covered by the blood of Christ. Pray for comfort and peace. Also, please keep me in your prayers and and the Lord gives me the words that they need to hear. I haven't been to a baby's funeral since Grant died 9 years ago and I'm not sure what to expect...

In God's Hands,
Shelli

Congratulations Shane!!

Saturday my brother, Shane, graduated from nursing school. Yea Shane!

We are all so proud of you!!

Mother's Day afternoon pictures

Here are a few pictures from yesterday afternoon :o)

Out and about
Charlie Brown ain't got nothin' on her!

100% Graisi
Just plain adorable
I was able to introduce Graisi to her first honeysuckle yesterday! To say she liked it would be a slight understatement....

The best Mother's Day ever and GS Camp

(The following post was composed on 5/11/08 - there was supposed to be more pics of Mother's Day afternoon, but I couldn't get them downloaded at home. I'll post them in the next blog.)

Hold on, cuz here we go.
Camp was so much fun (exhausting, but fun)! We got there in time to unload the car and eat supper. After supper we had a hayless hay ride (due to allergies) and off to the gym for songs and games. After that we made barges (made from tree bark and birthday candles) and we took a nice little hike in the dark (with flashlights of course). We made a wish and let the barges go to float down the river. There's a story and song behind the barges, but in the end if you make a wish and it floats down the river and around the bend without going out, your wish will come true. Then off to the bonfire. It was so neat! We also had the "happening" hut, because the "box" was only supposed to hold four campers, but we squeezed EIGHT in there! The girls giggled until way after midnight. If it wasn't the rain that kept waking me up it was the horse coughing and sneezing at 3:45AM. Graisi rock climbed, horseback rode, creek stomped and all sorts of other activities. We had fun, but by the time 5:30pm rolled around it was time to go home. It was real and it was fun....

Breakfast at camp

Graisi and Emilee off to an adventure

WOW! That's high

Aspen was a really large horse...
Look how close the arrow is to the bullseye!

And then there was the best Mother's Day EVER!!! Of course we got up late and were in a rush to get ready for church. As I was ironing, Martin and Graisi called me to the dining room table. I knew I was going to get my gift, but I had no idea what was coming. Graisi gave me her beautiful, hand painted, polka dotted flower pot. (She knows I like polka dots :o) I opened my cards and then I opened Martin's gift. Now let me give you a background before I start. Tuesday night I told him that I'd had my eye on a pearl necklace with a silver locket that held four pictures (one picture for each of my loves :o) for the past 18 months. I found it in a catalog at work and have had it on my mind ever since. I knew he wouldn't have time to get it, so I sent him an email Wednesday with the web address for it for future reference.... maybe for next year. I didn't think a thing about it after that....until this morning when I opened the red, bow-tied box that held my beautiful pearl necklace with the silver locket that holds 4 pictures!!! I couldn't believe it and I have no idea how he got it here so quickly.


After church, we ate Mexican (YUM!!). I haven't eaten Mexican in months and it was delicious!
We came home, changed clothes and off to the park we went. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE TODAY!! We walked and talked and sat in silence while the wind blew through the trees. We played football, kickball and laughed until we cried. Well, it wasn't silent long... we had both kids with us. I can't imagine a more perfect day than the day today. I was with the people I love and they love me. I just wish it didn't have to end....

Off to camp

As of yesterday, we don't have any baby birdlets... Martin nor I know how long it takes to hatch babies, so we'll just wait and see what happens in the next few days. I'll post pictures.

Wednesday was Grant's date. I told Graisi when she got off the school bus what the date was and that her brother died at 11:33pm 9 years ago. She quickly informed me that she would be in the bed asleep when 11:33 rolled around... Ah... the tender feelings of an 8 year old! I've been ok but I can't figure out where 9 years have gone.

Today, Graisi and I head to Camp "C" and hang out with her Girl Scout troop for 24 hours. She is so excited and I guess I am too, but I'm not looking forward to hauling all of the stuff up there and back and then have to unpack it again once we get home tomorrow night. Alli Claire is staying with her Daddy. She has removed her affection from him and quickly says "NO" when he asks for a hug or kiss. Because it's all about the Mommy... Hopefully, the time they spend together this afternoon and tomorrow will put him back into her good graces.... I hope. They have a big time planned for tomorrow and will watch thousands of yellow rubber ducks fall over the dam at our local park to help raise money for something or another. It's the annual duck race and me and Graisi won't be there... I'm sad! It's always good family fun.

Wish us well and safety and I'll see you back here later. Happy weekend everyone!

We have a repair man! A good one!!

I finally found a great, reasonable, reliable, hard working, takes pride in his work handy-man!! So if you need a repairman ....look in the Yellow Pages cause this one is mine! I would like to say I'm kidding, but that would just be plain lying and I'm not supposed to do that. So go find your own. (Brian, we'll talk later about a finders fee :o)

Graisi has started swimming lessons and this is my second week a the gym! And can I just say how much in love I am with the treadmill! Really. No kids to worry about. Graisi is in the pool with 2-3 lifeguards so she's safe. Alli Claire is still at school with her teacher who would take her home if I'd let them. And I'm on the treadmill all by myself with my iPod and 7 televisions in front of me (just in case I was interested in cable news or say Charmed...?) Anyway, I'm loving it. It's not much, but yesterday I walked two miles. I'm making progress and I've got to start somewhere, right?

Martin is upstairs reading Prince Caspian from the Narnia Chronicles to Graisi and Alli Claire is banging on some sort of drum thing down here. Guess where I'd rather be right now? Right where I am. Graisi asked me at dinner if I loved having children and being a mom. Absolutely!! I wouldn't trade it/them for anything in the world!

Alli Claire is trying to repeat everything we say right now. We knew when she started talking it would be all at once instead of gradually. And we were right. This morning when I kicked the stool in the bedroom, I had to catch myself and say a nice word instead of the one I thought :o)

Oh I forgot to tell you about my conversation with Graisi on the way home Friday afternoon.... Let's just say she knows the "b" word now. She said she doesn't remember where she heard it, but she wouldn't say it anymore after she told me. I was in shock but couldn't let her see it. I told her it wasn't a bad word, but people have taken a perfectly good word and made it bad. She said she's getting tired of it because now there are two words she can't say... the "b" word and the "a" word. To my knowledge, these are the only two true curse words she knows. I'll let you know if she tells me anymore...

Her first protest

Graisi participated in her first protest last weekend. As we prepared out home last Sunday for the Open House I declared the bird's nest on the front porch MUST come down. Over the previous week, Graisi and I had watched the little birdlets build their nest out of sticks, straw, mud and anything else they could find. But it HAD to come down upon the impending Open House. So I armed Martin with a garbage bag and a paint scraper and sent him out the front door to evict our new squatters. Just about the time Martin was to scrape the nest off of the ledge Graisi (with tears in her eyes) said, "Daddy... how would you like it if someone came and tore our house down? We wouldn't have anywhere to live either..." Martin walked into the house and declared he could NOT take the nest down and that Graisi was in tears on the front porch swing. So the birds got to keep their nest.... for now. And all of our worlds were happy again. Not to mention Martin was being dive-bombed by the perspective parents the whole time he was out there :o)

As of last weekend there were no eggs in there, but today, look what we found.... I had no idea they had lined the nest with soft feathers to keep the babies warm and off of the bottom.

As I sit on the sofa, I'm able to watch the birdies prepare to be a family of 6. (Actually, I can only see the top of Mama Birds head and her tail feathers, but none the less it's exciting! Where is Ed when you need him?? We need a Bird Cam.

Hodge Podge of AC Pics

Y'all already know I L.O.V.E bathtub pictures! Would you have expected anything less??

Alli Claire helped me put the silverware up one afternoon. Didn't she do a great job?!

pop..pop..pop....poP...pOP...POP.POP.POPPOPOPOPOPOPOP and all in Mommy's shoes

This was as close as she would get to the baby goat...

A nice fruit pop on a warm afternoon... AH the life!

Still here

I know. I know. I say I'm going to do better and then four days go by and nothing. All I can said is I'm sorry. Really.

Monday I went for my YMCA orientation and machine fitting. Literally. I had to be fitted for each weight machine and recorded. I had to be weighed and measured. Oh joy! So I didn't go back until Wednesday :o) But I did go back and I walked 1 1/3 mile on the treadmill yesterday. When I first got on it, I thought, "Hum... this isn't so bad. I bet I could run this" My brain said, "Heck...go for it". So, I thought I'd get jiggy with it and sped the darn thing up faster than my body was willing to go. I ended up running for a second before I had to step off the sides and slow it down. Thank goodness there wasn't anyone behind me on another machine. Because I'm sure they would have gotten as tickled as I did at myself. I just chalked it up to "pulling a Shelli".

And on top of my exciting week, guess who had a sinus infection and didn't know it?? Me! That's right. I didn't know it. My throat has been hurting for almost two weeks now but I had no other symptoms. Martin got tired of hearing me complain so he insisted I go to the doctor. I really thought I had some sort of weird strand of strep because I didn't have a fever. Come to find out my ears had pressure in them and with the drainage/sore throat thing, I was diagnosed with a sinus infection. Now I'm on an antibiotic for five days and out about $65. Really, the only reason I went to the doctor was because I was afraid I did have strep and if not treated I could develop rheumatic fever. Sounds reasonable, huh??

Guess who got a swimsuit today??? ME again!! Granted I'd have rather had a colonoscopy and a root canal at the same time without anesthesia, but I did it. And it's really cute! Graisi helped me pick it out. I had to have something to swim in or else I'm afraid Alli Claire will never get in the pool this summer. Hopefully, I can buy another smaller on next year :o)

So there ya have it. Not a whole lot going on, but enough to keep me busy. Tomorrow holds the gym again and maybe a dip in the pool afterwards... We'll see.