Mother-Daughter Day

Friday started with me going to the walk-in clinic. Even though I'm feeling pretty good I've had this sore throat off and on for a couple weeks and wanted to figure out what was causing it. Tested negative for strep, and the doctor thinks it's just post nasal drip. So now I'm on nose spray, and drinking warm tea with honey. I pray this is the end of all this.

 

Our first stop was Michaels. I needed some paper for my greeting cards and she needed... can you guess? 😊 See them? They're already in the cart. She was looking at a Valentine's coloring book, but decided not to get it.

 

 Our next stop was Target but I didn't get any pictures. We bought some valentines things for my Sunday school class and a few other things that I don't quite remember.

 

Then we headed to Hobby Lobby. Oh we love that store! We bought some new decorations for Easter, one was the three crosses with white cloth draped over it, it's stunning. Beth spotted it and pointed it out to me. When I took it off the shelf and showed it to her she said her eyes were wet. "I get emotional when I see that." Her love for the Lord is so strong and genuine.

 

 I asked her where she wanted to have dinner and listed a few different places. She chose Chick-fil-a. We got the chicken nuggets with fries, I got sweet tea and she chose root beer. On the way out to the car we talked about how much fun we'd had that day!

 

 

You Have To Look Closely

We went up to Leavenworth Saturday night. We've wanted to do a little stargazing and heard Lake Wenatchee was a great place to view the Milky Way. So we stopped at Leavenworth to have dinner and do a little shopping.

 

The drive there is so beautiful. I love road trips! Even if they are only 2.5 hours long!

 

She knew I was taking her picture 😁

 

The Baren Haus. They have a variety of food but we wanted to have something authentic so Beth and I tried the Schnitzel, have you ever had it? We really liked it!

We walked around a little before heading to the lake. Leavenworth is so pretty at night!

We got lost on the way to the lake, made a u-turn on a residential street, then went into the wrong entrance to the park... finally found the turn off and drove through a campground to get to the water. It was about 10:30 by now and the sky was spectacular! It blows me away that we can see the Milky Way with the naked eye. This is the picture I took -

 

 

I think you can see 5 stars!! 😂 Peter got some great shots, the rest of us just kept looking up. I took a picture off the internet and this is pretty close to what we saw, except for us it was directly overhead.

It's spectacular! Took my breath away and reminded me of God's creative power. We serve such a great and mighty God!

Forty

August 14, 1982 we said "I do." 

 

It's crazy how much things have changed since that day. This was taken in 1986 -

 

 This was at Diana and Peter's wedding last year -

 

 Last night we had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was the first time we'd ever been there and it was delicious! After we ate we walked about a block to the Paramount Theater and got to see Hamilton! It was incredible to watch it live. Their voices were phenomenal; the costumes and sets were captivating ... the entire room was electric! As soon as the lights went down everyone began to clap and cheer! It was so much fun!

 

 Heading into the city

 

 

 

 Our seats were in the 12th row!

 

 

The view from our seats

 

 During the Intermission we went down front to see if one of the attendants could take a picture of us. At first he said no because then EVERYONE would want him to take their picture but after he saw us trying it ourselves, he had pity on us and very quickly took one. 😂

 

 We went back to our seats and tried again. I wanted to get a picture with the full stage behind us but we just couldn't make it happen. This was our second or third try -

 

 

While we were trying, Chuck got a Facebook notification. It was a friend who was also at the show! She had been watching us and sent us this:

 

 We hadn't seen her in years so we got to talk for a few minutes. It was so good to catch up. 

 

We had such a good night! We stayed up until 2:00am talking.

 

The Lord has poured His blessings on us the last 40+ years. We've been able to experience so many good things in this life. I hope it continues for another forty!   

"Oh Honey Buns!"

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. We've all been sick around here. I watched Allie a week or so ago when she was sick and even though I sprayed door knobs and couches, Chuck and I still got it. I guess it's really going around. For me it's been a toss between allergies and the flu. More allergies than flu but it's still no fun. Allie is much better but Chuck and I are still fighting it. Sharaya hasn't come down with it, thank goodness. And Beth has managed to avoid it too!

Beth and I were at the store the other day and she found a new nickname for Nick:

 

His family has been on vacation so I don't know if she's had a chance to call him that. We sure had a good laugh over it, but we don't know how much Nick will like it! 

We got to have dinner with some on-line friends last weekend. Stephanie from The Sumulong 3 and Leah from Our Cora Bean and our families all met at the Cutters Crab House in Seattle. It usually takes out of towners to introduce you to places you've never been before. :) We had a great time and it was so fun to meet these young moms and their kids. We loved watching Owen and Cora navigate through dinner (it brought back so many memories of when our kids were small!) and Cora's little sister, what a personality! She was a doll!

Outside we took a picture of the moms with their Ds kiddos. To be honest, I don't have any friends who have children with Down Syndrome. Not ones that I get together with on a regular basis, so it was fun to meet these two! Thank you for inviting us!

Why I Haven't Written

We've been on vacation. Went to San Diego for a big family reunion, then spent a few days visiting friends and family.

Had a Lake Day; my sister lives at a lake, cleaning cabins in exchange for rent so we got to go on paddle boats, play in the splash park and just enjoy the view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some time at La Jolla Shores; took the girls to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor; went to Downtown Disney; (couldn't afford Disneyland so this gave us everything Disney without the price!) had dinner at the Rainforest Café... a full week of fun and relaxation! We're back home now, back to laundry and dishes and our own beds. :) 

 

 

My dad with 10 of his 11 great-grandkids

(Allison is the one with the floaties)

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the Lego Store in Downtown Disney

 

 

 

 

 

Figuring Out What She Is and Isn't Comfortable Doing

Beth works two days a week. Her DART bus picks her up at 3:00 and drops her back at home anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30 PM. Needless to say, she misses dinner. So for those two days, she eats for lunch, what we're having for dinner.

Beth has a microwave downstairs in her apartment and uses it all the time. But she's still nervous about using our stove upstairs. She likes to use it, don't get me wrong. It makes her feel SO grown up and independent, but it makes her nervous. So I only let her use it with supervision.

Last night for dinner we had turkey patties and macaroni & cheese. This afternoon I let her come up and fix her own.

She has trouble reading the print on the stove so I tell her, "Turn the front burner on 6". She'll study the knobs until she's sure it says 'front', then responds with, "Oh!" Like, 'I got this!'

She told me, "I'm gonna go get the rest of my food while I wait for this."

Awesome! Into the pantry she went and came out a few seconds later. I had to tell her it was time to flip the burger. Her coordination isn't the best and she has a hard time doing that, as you can see by the look on her face. But she did it!

 

 

After a few minutes, she turned the burger to look at the underside, but didn't say anything. I asked her if she thought it was done, "I think so."

 

"Yea, it looks done to me, too."

 

 

 

At first she turned the burner in the wrong direction but caught herself and turned it off. She put the burger on her plate and proudly took it downstairs. It's the little things. :) 

Then Tuesday

Sorry I haven't written in a week. The last 5 days have been the busiest I've had in months.

I babysat Allie on Friday and we shopped and finger painted and played and watched cartoons. She arrives at 7AM, and Ryan and Sharaya come for dinner so I usually put Allie in front of the TV around 5:00 so I can start cooking. I absolutely love having her and we have so much fun while she's here but I'm exhausted at the end of the day! My mom used to say the same thing when my kids were little and I'd think, 'Oh come on, they're not that much work.' Now that I'm the age she was, I know what she was talking about! It's not the kids at all, it's my body! All the aches and pains that I didn't realize I'd have at this age and the way they affect me.

 

 

 

 

Allie made a picture for Sharaya, then we wrapped it and took it with us on Sunday. Diana carried it into the restaurant so Sharaya would think it was for me and it worked! When we had Allie give it to her she asked, "This is for ME?" It was awesome!  

 

 

 

 

 

Grocery shopping

 

 

 

 

Shopping at Michaels

 

 

 

 

 

My Mother's Day gift was a trip to Charming Charlies. It's a jewelry store that sells thousands of pieces of jewelry, plus shoes and purses and other accessories to match. I absolutely love this store! Unfortunately there's not one close to us so we have to drive an hour or more to get to it. But the weather was nice, we went out to eat, I really had a good time. AND, Diana bought me a necklace!

 

 

 

 

Monday I walked to and from work (2 1/2 miles total). Came home, weed whacked the front yard then moved the lawn. Last night my calves were SO sore I could barely move!

 

Then Tuesday. Tuesday was May 13. The ninth anniversary of my moms death. I worked a long day, had two meetings, did a little grocery shopping before having to head out again, it was a very busy day. After Beth and I came home from the store and put away all the groceries, she went downstairs and I just happened to look at the clock. It was 4:42. I was on the phone with my sister when my mom took her last breath in 2005 and at that very moment it was 4:44. So I stopped right then yesterday and just began to talk to my mom. I told her how much I missed her. I told her I wished I could tell her that I get it. That I'm the age she was when I was in my 20's and I now realize everything she was trying to tell me! I've heard it said that you never get over losing your mother and I'm beginning to believe it. Yesterday was so busy I didn't really get much time to think about her, but having those few moments, and right at 4:44, blessed me so much. It was exactly what I needed.