My Birthday

My sister posted this picture on her blog and wished me a happy Birthday. I love this picture. It has so many memories in it. I am holding my great great grandmother's hand and my favorite baby doll Sarah. She is 101 years old years old in this picture. My little sister, Natalie is also in this picture (I think we were 3 and 5 at the time). Thank you Natalie for this picture and for a glimpse into the past.

My Birthday Updated....

Ok, I do have to start with the night before my Birthday. I was sitting at the computer and John was asking me if anyone had mentioned doing anything for my Birthday. At first I tried to act all tough and said no, I am sure everyone is just busy and forgot about it. And then the tears came and the Pitty Party was in full swing and out came the "no body cares about me any more and I can't believe everyone forgot about my Birthday". Now keep that in mind as I talk about the events that unfolded on my Birthday. When I woke up I recieved a nice Email from my friend Beth and a phone call from my friend Tessa. My grandmother called and I had an enjoyable talk with her and she said to let her know when we were going to celebrate my Birthday. I then began crying again after I got off the phone and started cleaning my house. At this point I am upset because my house is dirty, no one cares about my Birthday, I have to clean my house, I miss my grandmother that passed away...and I am getting angry at God because it is all his fault that she is not here on my Birthday (I am turning 30 not 3 remember) and I am having an all out pitty party for myself. Then things started to change.....

My sister Alisann called me and asked what I was doing for my Birthday and I said very cheerfully "oh nothing just cleaning my house" we talked for a long time and I was so touched that she took that much time out of her day to chat with me on the phone. Then my mom called and wanted to know what I was doing on my Birthday and I said "oh just cleaning my house" and she said well what would you like to do today? Well, I said what would you like to do today? It took forever to finally decide (we both do not like to make decisions) to go to noon mass at Holy Trinity and then come to my house for lunch. I met my sister Alisann and my parents for mass at Holy Trinity at 12:00. My brother John called from Xavier to tell me happy birthday and I was so impressed that as a college kid with so many things to do that he remembered. My mom and Alisann came back to my house for lunch and I was so excited and I felt so special that they wanted to spend time with me. But that wasn't the only surprise...Natalie came to my house after work for lunch too and she brought me the prettiest flower arrangement that she and my sister made for me and she also brogught me a cake from Maxine's (Very good!!!). I loved it!!! I was so touched that they did so much for me and that they were so thoughtful. I truly have such a wanderful family!!! After our wanderful lunch that I enjoyed so much I suggested that my mom come and pray the rosary with us at church. By this time my pitty party was way over and I was embracing the day with a lot more happiness about turning 30. I get home and there is the sweetest message from my little sister (Mary) on the answering machine wishing me a happy birthday and telling what a great big sister I am.

So then John comes home and he is taking me out to dinner at one of my favorite resturaunts...Bone Fish Grill. I am all in a hury trying to get dinner for the kids and their baths and their PJs on and myself ready. So the babysitter gets their and out the door we go and by this time I think that we are running late for our reservations so I am questioning John about "why are you going the long way there?" we don't have time to go this way tonight. And he just smiles and says it will be fine. So we get to the resturaunt and the first person I saw was my mother and then I saw my dad .... and then the tears came. Emma and Anne were there...they were just at home in their pjs minutes ago. Alisann, Justin, Natalie, Jason, Tommy, my grandparents, Martha were all there. Needless to say I was completely shocked!!! I just wanted that moment to last forever seeing my family there like that made me so happy and I appreciated them so much! It was one of those moments that you could never describe how you felt, but you would want to remember exactly how everyone looked, what you talked about, how your food tasted, and how all of their hugs felt forever. I don't think I could ever tell anyone how truly thankful I was for all of them. And guess who was behind the whole thing? John. I couldn't believe it!

Learning how to Crochet...

Today we (my sisters and I) went to my parent's house for lunch. My grandmother came over and taught us how to crochet and I was horrible. She has always been so good about crocheting and knitting and I was really excited to learn how to do it. I admit I made a mess! I appreciate everything that she has ever made for me so much now. I remember when I was 21 she asked me what I wanted for my Birthday and I told her that I wanted her to make me something that would help me get through the rest of my life. So she crocheted a picture that said Let Go Let God on it and it is beautiful. How true that is for me too in my life... I have a really hard time letting go and letting anyone do anything for me. I like to do things myself and I can't handle when things don't go as planned. It is just funny how she knew exactly what I needed to hear to remind me how I should live my life.

Turning 30

Ok I am not sure how I feel about this, but it is happening and well as my grandfather would say "it is better than the alternative". As I look back I kind of wander what have I done the past 30 years with my life? I just feel like it just flew by and I can't even tell you where it has gone. I feel like I spend most of my days running in circles around my house and trying to fight a loosing battle with laundry, toys, and junk. This Birthday will be different from any other Birthday mainly because this is the first one that I will not have all of my Grandparents there. I remember looking at them last year (they were all sitting on the couch) and thinking I really want to remember this moment forever because it may never happen again. My Grandmother passed away last June and I am still trying to move on. She was such a huge part of my life the past 30 years that I miss her dearly.

I guess I look at the next 30 years of my life and wander what will I accomplish? What are my goals and what will I be doing with my life? I started thinking and here are some of my goals...(kind of like a bucket list)
1. Pay off my house ( I am very Dave Ramseyish and this would be incredible to call into his show and scream "I'm DEBT FREE!" )
2. Make a difference in someone else's life
3. See something so beautiful that it takes your breath away and be smart enough to take a picture of it.
4. Watch my children succeed in anything and everything that they want
5. Have an incredible "God momment" that is so real that God himself could have talked to you and you would know it was Him

to be continued

My New Ride

So on Sunday (March 15th) my family got a little excited about what they got me for my Birthday and could not wait to give it to me. We ventured to my in-laws house were it was hidden and they surprised me with a new BIKE!!!! I was very excited and a little scared of it...I haven't ridden a bike in years and I am not sure if I can even ride one now. Thank God for grandparents because they offered to watch the kids so J and I could ride together and it was FUN!!!! I appreciated it even more when I was able to take M and L for a ride to their favorite store to pick out candy. They were all smiles during the whole trip. It was one of those days that are so beautiful that you want to remember it forever. I was so caught up in how nice it was outside that I decided to take all of them to the zoo when I picked up E and A. Everything was great and we were well into our zoo outing when M had to go to the bathroom. M is danicing around in panic because she has to go so bad so we hike it all the way back to the entance and we get out and she has to go again! So at this point I am wondering why I drove all the way to the zoo when we could have stayed at home and gone to the bathroom? So we finish our bathroom trips and venture back into the zoo and M and L fall down a hill they are both crying and I am trying to hold them both. I look up and A is on the edge of another hill inching very close to the lake...yikes!!! I was positive that at this point we were going to end up on the evening news. But, luckily everyone calmed down at the thought of seeing the giraffe and zebra and we luckily made it out in one piece.

Maggie's Doctor Visit

We went to Maggie's Dr.'s appointment yesturday and she is getting so big! It was her 3 year check up. She was 38 inches tall and weighed 34 pounds (70% in weight and 80% in height). It was funny because Dr. Voyles asked her what her name is and she said "Maggie" and he said what is your last name and she said "Maggie". I figured we should start working on her being able to say her last name so I kept asking her all the way home what her name was and she finally said mom it is my turn to ask the questions. Then she kept asking me what my name was. It was really cute! It hit me on the way out when I scheduled her next appointment and they said she will be 4 right? I can't believe that she is getting so big! One of her favorite things to do is watch/ play Dora. In the mornings she lays in my bed and says "mom come here and watch it wif me". It is really hard to turn that down no matter how many dishes and laundry I have to do.

Library Hour

This morning I took Maggie and Lily to the Library. We try to do this once a week and they look forward to it. Alisann and James were there too. Their favorite part is running up and sticking things on the felt board when the librarian calls their names. You can just see the excitement on their faces when their names are called they each one by one go up and stick their ducks on the board and everyone claps for them. Lily actually sat still today and waited for her name and then she ran back with a huge smile. I think Lily was a little upset that they didn't do ring around the rosey she loves that part too.

Emma's Basketball game

My sister A's # all through her soccer career (her whole life) was #9 and my daughter E was so excited that she got that number too!

This weekend Emma had 2 basketball games and she did awesome! On Saturday she scored her first basket with me there. She usually only scores when I can't make it to the games. I was so excited for her!!! On Sunday she said "mom I can feel it today I am going to score another basket" ...it was so cute. Even though she didn't score Sunday she did play her little heart out and did really well. Grandma and Grandpa Shetler came with Mary and Grandpa and Grandma Clark came with Maddy and Brad. It was so good to see everyone and we loved it that they were able to come.

Steeling Milk....

Friday night Anne burst out into uncontrolable sobbing. John kept trying to figure out what was wrong and she just kept crying harder and saying that she is so sorry and that she just knows that she is going down there and she pointed with her finger to the ground. John was really confused and asked her to just tell him what she did. She finally calmed down long enough to tell him that she stole 9 milks from school and that she was so sorry. Poor Anne was so confused about the schools electronic money system that she thought when the money ran out on her card that she was steeling. We explained to her that it was our fault for not having enough money on her card and that we would get it fixed. It was so sweet to see how much she cares about trying to do the right thing.