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9/25/2006 What a marvelous weekend!This past weekend was so fun!
Karina called me on Friday when I was ready to leave from work, and asked if there was any way I could still come to babysit Keegan (the plans for Friday night had been previously changed). It seems that after the rehearsal dinner (Karina and Frank were both in the wedding), the guys were going to one place and the girls to another. Since they both wanted to participate of course I said yes, and drove out to St Charles to spend the evening. When I got to the park to pick up the little guy, the bride and groom invited me to stay for the dinner. Dinner was out in the pavilion, and we had pork steaks that were so very tender, cheesy potatoes, salad, brown beans, homemade yeast rolls, and for dessert gooey butter cake and brownies. All was delicious. Karina, Keegan and I wandered over to the nearby playground and had fun for a little bit there, then wandered back. It rained a bit afterward but we were under the pavilion at the time.
After dinner, I went to Karina's to babysit, and Keegan and I had such a great time. We played with all sorts of toys, read books, and he had a bubble bath - he absolutely loves bubbles!!! Both K and F had a great time at their respective parties as well.
Saturday, John and I came out to their house again and spent the day until time for the wedding. It was a great day even though the clouds came around at times threatening to give us a drenching as the weatherman had predicted. But no - it stayed away from the park where we all sat among the grass, flowers and trees. The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch. I took photos, and will put some on later. We had a great time at the reception as well, but left early as the little guy got a bit heavy eyed. I guess we had worn him out!
He got to stay overnight with us, and we brought him back around 4:30 pm on Sunday. He is so well behaved, it makes me smile like crazy. He asks for bananas now and it really sounds like banana with a couple extra nanana's. giggle. He also points to his photos and says 'gatkeegan" which is 'that's Keegan" as that is what we say to him when we look at the same pictures. John was told by Keegan that he needed to be changed when Keegan actually went and got a diaper!!! He is only 16 months, so we think that is fabulous! He knows which button turns off the TV on the remote (while we were watching a movie, lol), and has picked up a lot more words since last week. To us it is amazing - I guess you can tell we are grandparents, lol.
We ate dinner and visited awhile at Karina and Frank's house as well.
All in all, it was a really relaxing and fantastic weekend.
John's back is improving but he is still in much pain with the pulled muscles and all. Frank gave him some Icy Hot to put on it for today, and I hope it helps. Marty is over at our house at the moment cutting the grass so John does not feel so badly about it. I am glad he is cutting it, as it really does weigh heavily on John's mind if that grass is not cut.
Hope all of you have had a great weekend as well. Hugs! 9/22/2006 The latest little and not so little things in life...Let's see... what news can I give you this time?
John hurt his back - pulled some muscles - and so has been home most of the week recuperating. He went to work today and I hope he is not too exhausted from it by tonight.
Allergy symptoms are rampant everywhere I go it seems. Mold count is WAY up there as is ragweed and a few others, so suffering is the norm for a bit. Most of the people in my department have at least one or two symptoms, the family is feeling it, and no matter where I am someone is either sneezing, sniffling, or coughing. I love fall but not the fun crud it brings with it. Ah well!
My dear friend Hazel Arnett has just had her book published! Converso is the title, published by Authorhouse. It is on their website and also on Borders so far. To see the book, use one of these links:
I attended a spa party the other night at my sister JoAnn's house (given by Amy), and it was wonderful! We had a great time, relaxed, tried some products out on our feet, hands and faces, and felt pampered by the end of the 1 1/2 hours. I liked it so much that I am having one myself (something I normally do NOT do). Hopefully it will be as fun for my guests as it was for me!
Other than that, I have been working a lot, babysitting (I absolutely love that part of my life!!), working on stuff at home - like putting a dent in cleaning a spare room... just things like that.
Have a great weekend if I am not on here for a bit (babysitting as Karina and Frank are in a wedding, and other committments). Hugs! 9/15/2006 Odds and Ends for the week!First of all, congratulations to Melissa and Rich, who just had their second baby (and to big sister Ruth as well). The new little angel's name is Rosa Louise and she is a cutie! I will have to download the pics from the email, and put them in here for you to see.
John and I went to the Cardinals baseball game on Monday night as Clayton's guests along with Marty and Chris. He won 5 tickets at school. It was really fun, and most of his class was there (which made me believe that the entire class was in on that prize!) Way to go Clayton and thank you so very much for including us. Grandpa and I had such a great time with you guys. Oh - and we won 7 - 0. Clayton and Chris really loved the fireworks that went off as we were heading out too.
I have been really busy working on the university web pages where I work. We are dumping the current site and the new one should be up at the end of the month as far as I know. There are about 7 of us handling different areas of the site. There are a few little things here and there that I will need to tweak, but for the most part all of my pages are completed. Whew...
Keegan is getting smarter all the time. He does the "bah" for a sheep (a very long and musical sounding bah), "moo" for the cow, tells me "bubbles" to turn on the bubble making machine I bought - well worth the clearance price of $5 - giggle, and my favorite is still "good dog". There are lots of other words and phrases, but those are my favorites. His feet have found the ground and he moves really fast now. It won't be long and he will be running all over the place, fascinated with everything he sees (well, he already is fascinated). And he absolutely loves airplanes and birds - anything that is flying. Maybe he will be a pilot some day.
It has been 4.5 months since my surgery, and my neck feels great. I am healing well. (It takes about 6 months for the fusion to be complete). For some reason the raspiness in my voice has stayed with me as my vocal cords were affected during surgery, but I was told that happens sometimes so I am hoping that my old voice comes back soon, or at least the new voice gets less scratchy and weak. I get tired of clearing my throat so that my voice comes back a bit for a little while. That is the only annoying thing about it. I am physically tired as well, but I know that it can take up to a year for a body to go back to energetic after surgery or illness, so I can be patient. Having tiredness and a scratchy voice is much better than the pain I had for a long time!
There is a balloon glow tonight. The balloons stay on the ground but they turn on the flames during the evening after the sun goes down so that there is a beautiful sight to see - 70 of them all lit up - best to see across the lake from where they are all gathered along the shore. Tomorrow they all go up for the annual Forest Park Balloon Race. In my photo albums to the right, there is one album that has shots of the same event during past years. Thanks Karina for coming with me on those balloon chases, and kudos for some great shots. I love photography as a hobby, but I hope she goes much further with it.
Well, I suppose that is it for now. Hugs and thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment if you can as well, I would love to hear from you.
9/10/2006 Labor Day weekend and the week we just hadLabor Day weekend went well. We went to our nephew's lake house that Sunday and had a great time. The guys and boys fished quite a bit, we all enjoyed a few times out on the pontoon boat (one time we dragged "big Bertha" a huge innertube around with several people on it). Photos will be added soon. The small bonfire was a great ending to the day, with s'mores and conversation as the flames danced and wood crackled. This week was frantically busy at work as we are building a new website for the university and there is a lot to enter and proof. I am just about done with my section of the project, only tweaking is left thank goodness. I am so thankful for a weekend to get away from it for a couple of days. Keegan was here today and that is the best stress reliever around. He is such a joy! More later, time for dinner! Hugs to all. 9/1/2006 My friend Rosemary in LouisianaRosemary's mom passed this morning from brain cancer. She was surrounded by good friends and family members the past days, and she slipped away while sleeping so she did not suffer. Rosemary said she still had her faculties until the end, which was a blessing, as she could still visit and share memories with loved ones. My thoughts and prayers go out to her at this time. If any of you has considered donating to cancer research but just have not gotten around to it, please give yourself that extra little push to do so. There are many reasons to do so - and cancer can strike anyone at anytime in any part of the body. Our little Chris was back in the hospital again this week from complications, several other family members and personal friends have passed just this year, another dear family member just told me yesterday that she has breast cancer and started radiation treatments today, and we are not the only family that cancer has visited or is currently affecting. Rosemary, my heart goes out to you and your family at this time as I know how you feel - to lose your parent is a horribly sad thing regardless of how ready they are to slip away from the devastation within. Search your heart for all the wonderful things that made your mom special, and remember them with a smile when you begin to feel the pain of loss. Our condolences. Love, Paula and John |
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