I am blessed.

I deleted the previous post for reasons of my own. I was moaning and groaning about being exhausted and because of that angry lately. I got two of the sweetest comments from Tara & Katy. I love my sisters-in-law.

On another side, I had a much better day today. I didn't feel as tired at work (no extra caffeine boost needed) and I kept my temper under control. We had a good evening at home too.

Through it all, I am trying to remember, I am blessed.

Mother's Day Weekend

We spent Mother's Day weekend at my grandmother's house. My parent's were there helping my Grandma out - taking her to appointments, cleaning up the land, etc. Before we left town my sweet hubby and one of my kiddos (Elena) took me to IHOP for breakfast.

We got there early enough for a barbeque lunch on Saturday and spent the day with family. My brother & his wife & their dogs came in later in the day. Laney had a blast running around my grandma's back "yard" (can you call it a yard when it's measure in acres?) with the dogs and playing with her bubble toy.

This morning we went to my Grandma's church. She got to show off her grandkids and great-grandkid to her friends and church and show us the new church building. It was a relatively quiet weekend and we had a very nice time.

And now, because it's been a while since I posted pictures, here are several of the pictures we had done of the girls for Mother's Day gifts.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my mother readers!

Stranded

We had some intense rain here yesterday. Rob told me he saw somewhere that we got close to 11 inches over night. The street in front of our house flooded again, water rose up the drive way and into the yard. The only other time I saw that was the storm we got after Ike.

Needless to say, when I saw that this morning, I called in late to work. Both girls school was canceled. I actually tried to leave for work at about 10:00 and it turns out that all my routes to the freeway were blocked by high water.

Kathryn is out of school one more day, for fear that the reservoir will flood again (more rain is possible). Here's hoping the major roads open up so that we can get to work in the morning.

Our little night owl

What are we gonna do with her?

Elena has a regular bed time at 8 PM. Usually, no problemo. Last night, Rob put her to bed. I walked by her room 45 minutes later and I could hear her jabbering. I went in, tucked her back in, and thought she went to sleep. A couple of hours pass and I hear . .

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

I go into her room expecting to find a bleary eyed, half asleep kiddo like I usually find when she wakes up in the night. Instead I find her bright eyed, bushy tailed and . . . wearing her shoes.

She had also added 4 blankets and about 8 wash cloths to her bed. And two books. Great googily moogily!

It wasn't funny then (when I was feeling sorry for her poor teachers) but it's freaking hillarious now.

Easter Pics

Mama Janie & Elena flower the cross

Kathryn in her Easter dress

The family after church

The girls

We had a lovely Easter morning rain storm, so the Easter bunny hid the eggs inside. Here's Laney showing off eggs she found.

Going through the loot.

A Good Friday at the Zoo

We spent our Good Friday at the zoo. On the ride over we realized it was the first time all four of had been together. We also took my parents along for the ride.

Here's one of my favorite animals - this is Smaug the Komodo Dragon. I love his Tolkeinesque name. He's kind of cool looking too.
And the flamingos - I was terrified of these when I was little.

On to the fam - here's the girlies with the elephants.

Laney & Daddy Ron checking out the zebras & other hooved animals.

My 14 year old twins

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, what are you people doing?

Proof of the fam at the zoo - even if Laney didn't want to sit for one more picture

Laney talked about going to the zoo for weeks before we went. Most important thing - riding the carousel. Here's my mom & Kat (behind the half naked kid)

And here's me & Laney on the elephant.

A little conversation from daycare:

Teacher: Where did you go this weekend Laney?

Laney: To the zoo

Teacher: What did you see?

Laney: The carousel. I rode a elephant

. . . Several minutes pass and we're walking out of the classroom . . .

Laney: Oh, and we saw Lion-Seals

Another one for the "Urmmmm...." file

I'm going to preface this with the fact that Kathryn was fully warned that if she made these hats, I would take pictures and I would post them on the blog. She made 'em anyway.

It all started when we heard a jet fly over. We live near a tiny little municiple airport and we hear Cessnas and small helicopters, even the occasional World War II Vintage aircraft, but never jets. We're discussing this over dinner and our teenager turns into a conspiracy theorist. And then decides she needs a tin foil hat. When I pointed out the lack of tin foil she went for the aluminum foil. I steered her off my non-stick and she went for the heavy duty. And she made this.

She also thoughtfully made one for her sister. After all we can't let "them" know how Elena feels about Mickey Mouse & macaroni and cheese.

Have I mentioned how much I love my kids?

Have a great week.