Happy Birthday Pam!!

So, obviously it is a little past Pam's birthday. But, nonetheless, we are having a birthday dinner, in her honor. Friday, May 30th, 6:45, Carino's. Let me know if you will be able to make it. And to close, here a a few things I love about my Pam.

Pioneer
Artsy
Maternal
Excited
Lovable
Awesome Cook

Planner
Almost 40!!
Ravishing
Kind

What do you love about Pam?

Happy Birthday!!

Maddie is six weeks old today. It goes by so fast. I love her so much!!

I need a new shirt!

I need a new t-shirt that says this:

Yes, they are all mine! Yes, they are all girls!

Catch Up!!

For Paige's 11th birthday we had a sleepover at the Elegante Hotel. Paige invited five friends. Alexis is missing in this picture because she had a Girl Scouts thing. They had so much fun.

They went swimming!!

We made frappicino's and they went up and down the elevators!!

And, of course, they had a pillow fight!!

Moving on ... Bailey had a program for school. She was an elephant. At work that day Billy tweaked his back. After sitting still for the entire program when we got up to leave his back locked up. We had to get Trish, our resident RN, to come to Billy's aid. And during this time that Billy couldn't move, Blaise peed on the floor. So that was an eventful night. (BTW, Billy went to the chiropractor, he is fine.)

We sold the Suburban!! Hallelujah!!

My dad came into town because...

My beautiful, talented, genius, hardworking sister graduated from HSU with her Master's.

So Mom and Diane Horner threw her a party!!

And Maddie has started to smile...

and has really cute feet!!

Beautiful!!

Boys cleaning the kitchen. It is a beautiful sight!!

I'm Sorry!!

When I was about 13 I was in all-star cheerleading. We were training to go to Nationals in Dallas. Days spent doing standing backhandsprings and toe-touches to perfection left one in pretty good shape. I was 13 but looked about 16 or 17. Our uniforms were green, blue and white and we were the Cats. (A few years later Dustin Hawk cut the sides of that uniform to wear for Halloween but that is another story)

Looking back, I am not sure how my mother managed to pay for such an elite elective, but at the time I neither wondered not cared.

So I pack my bags, including the staple of hair ribbons and Asics, and we were off. The first night we got to Dallas we were taken to the Galleria for a evening of fun. We all split up and were told to meet back at ?:00. Me and a few friends walked around wishing we had money for clothes, laughing at the weirdies, and of course checking out any cute guys. And, of course, I found one. He was cute, with sandy brown hair that fell over his eyes and he was 17. We began to "talk", which meant I flirted and teased and he ate it up. I found I liked that feeling of power over the opposite sex. So, when it was time to go he asked where we were staying and what we would be doing tomorrow. I told him we were in town for Nationals and we would be cheering at ?:00. When I got back to the hotel he called our room. I began to find him a little annoying, already. So, we talked for a while and I made up some excuse about having to get some sleep for tomorrow and hung up. The next day, I began to hope he wouldn't find me among the huge throng of people. I was coming down an escalator and lo and behold right at the bottom looking up at me, there he was.

Shoot!!

So we cheered, he followed. Later, we found a place to sit and watch the other teams compete. He wanted to hold my hand, I wanted to escape. So, I did what every stupid 13 year old girl would do. I told him I had to go to the bathroom . . . and never went back. Can you believe that. How rude was I. Apparently during the 24 hours we knew each other I gave him my home address, because about three weeks later I received a letter. He was hurt by my escape and as he sped away from the arena he got a ticket for speeding, to add injury to insult. He wasn't sure what he did wrong and was hoping I would write back, which of course I didn't.

As I thought back to this story, I wondered how or if this experience shaped him. How long did he sit and wait before he realized I wasn't coming back? Did he feel rejected, embarrassed? Did this affect any future relationships?

What leads a girl to hurt someone like this? Stupidity!

So, to the guy I left in a dark arena over 16 years ago. Sorry!!

My sentiments exactly!!

I was reading Jenni's blog today. Jenni gave birth to her 12th child the week after I had Maddie. She wrote a beautiful post that expresses my feelings exactly. It is entitled:

Stupid is as stupid does!!
By: Jenni

I used to be a moron.

Not that I can now claim to have completely escaped from the tangled web of morony, but from at least one thread I have won my freedom.

This sticky, deceitful thread was the one entitled "newborns are boring".

In years long past, I would gaze upon the face of my infant child and sigh at their helplessness. I wanted them to DO something. When would they smile? When would they sit up? When would they crawl? I checked the books and chafed at the interminable time it would take before they would be entertaining.

Moron. Card-carrying. Certifiable.

When they would curl their bodies into tight little balls as they lay upon my chest, drawing their feet up and tucking in their arms, a chrysalis of humanity encapsulated between my collar bone and navel...I didn't find that particularly wondrous.

When their heads would lift off my chest, bobbing and weaving, eyes wide with unfocused wonder and mouths in tiny o's of surprise, struggling to study my features before burrowing back into my neck in exhaustion...I didn't think that was terribly interesting.

When they would twitch and squeak as they slept, eyes darting under delicate lashes as they sailed their ship of dreams, smiling suddenly, breath puffing out in the heh-heh-heh of a Lilliputian laugh as angels stood at the helm and told them of the adventures they would have together..I did not stand in amazement.

When they would wake in the night, nuzzling and searching for comfort, flailing and furious at the sensation of hunger, knowing somehow exactly how to be satisfied: nurse, swallow, breathe, repeat...I never saw the miracle before me.

But slowly, so slowly...I have learned. I have cut away the sticky demands, the tangle of impatience, the ignorant blinders that kept me from seeing all that my infants were.
They were fascinating. From the curl of their fists to their wrinkled soles, amazing. At two weeks (+!), my newborn has already changed monumentally from when I first laid eyes upon him. He does not smell like the breezes of heaven anymore, but of Burt's Bees Baby Wash. He does not wear the infintesimal speck of size NB any longer. The cord has shrivelled and gone. Every day, he grows (faster, I think, than any baby has before).

I sit and rock him, and stare. I do not want him to sleep so that I can "get something done". I do not hasten to lay him in his bed as soon as he is finished nursing. I do not wonder how long it will take him to smile at me in recognition. I kiss his wizened little old-man hand and do not want it to fill out into six-month plumpness. I am cherishing his tinyness. And I cry for the infancies that I wished away, in ignorance and impatience.

I wish I could have them back, just for an hour, to treasure them for all that they already were.

In this respect, at least, I am no longer a moron.