Elizabeth's High School Graduation

Libby and I have had a busy few days! On Thursday night we went to her school for the Evening with the Arts in which she participated in the music portion of the evening by playing her recorder (Hot Cross Buns never sounded so sweet!), she had a painting displayed and a piece of pottery displayed. After the reception we went home because we still had lots to do to get ready for our trip to Clarksville, Tennessee early the next morning.

We left our house Friday morning by 6:30am and drove and drove and drove. Traffic wasn't bad at all until we got to Marietta, GA where we had a slow down that didn't last too long. Then it flowed nicely again until we hit Nashville, TN at 3:30pm. Traffic was at a standstill for a while (apprently 3:30 on a Friday afternoon is rush hour traffic in Nashville!) and we finally made it out of that and made it to Clarksville 34 minutes later. We got checked into our hotel room and started getting settled in while my brother came by to greet us and make sure we had everything that we needed. My nieces were both in a performance at the Roxy Theater that night so they were already at the theater and couldn't come with my brother to greet us. Libby and I quickly got ready and drove over to the Roxy where my nieces had left two tickets at the window for us in some really great seats so that we could watch their performance. After the performance we got to finally hug them and start chatting and catching up and we all headed out to meet my brother, his wife, and his mother-in-law at the restaurant for dinner. After dinner everyone came by our hotel room and I had a little table made up decorated in yellow and green (Elizabeth's high school colors) and had some green and yellow different candies, paper goods, etc, and Libby and I gave Elizabeth her graduation cards and present since Saturday would be such a busy day.

Saturday morning at 2:30am Libby woke up sick. Her stomach was really hurting her and she finally ended up laying down on the floor because that was the only place she could be even remotely comfortable. By 6:00am it was obvious she wasn't going to start feeling better so we headed to Wal-Mart (which was nearby) to get her some medicine. I hated dragging her out of the room and through Walmart to get her medicine but I didn't have any other choice. We got her some medicine and less than five minutes later she threw it up. But she started feeling better almost immediately. I had her lay down on the bed to take it easy for a a little while (and to try and get some sleep since she didn't get much sleep the night before since she was up with an aching stomach) while I got ready for Elizabeth's graduation. After I got ready I went downstairs to get something that Libby could eat that would be soothing and I brought her up some biscuts and that did the trick. After I woke her up and she at the biscuts she felt golden and she got up and got ready for the graduation.

We went over to my brother's house so that we could all ride to graduation together (Elizabeth was already at graduation by this time since she had to get there early). We got to the ceremony and got our seats and then watched as our girl graduated from high school! It was a nice ceremony and Elizabeth (as the Student Government President) started off the ceremony by leading everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. I was beaming with pride throughout the entire ceremony. My niece makes me one very proud aunt!! After the ceremony we found her outside in the sea of graduates for pictures and I followed her around like I was the papparazzi taking pictures of her with some of her friends.

We then left and went out for lunch to celebrate Elizabeth's day and after lunch Elizabeth (who was also up sick the night before) went home to nap and my brother and his mother-in-law went back home while my sister-in-law, my niece Della, Libby, and I all went shopping. Unfortunately, we never changed from our graduation clothes so we shopped for seven hours in heels! Whew, my feet were hurting by the end of the night! We went back to my brother's to get my car and my nieces followed Libby and I back to our hotel room and they spent the night with us.

Sunday morning we were up early and we all got ready and met up with the rest of the family for breakfast. Luckily the girls and I got to the restaurant when we did and got a table for us because by the time the rest of my family arrived there was a wait to get a table. After breakfast we took my younger niece Della to her school to meet up with a friend of hers because they were going to Nashville for the week for a school activity. After saying bye to Della Elizabeth, Libby and I went to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2 (where I promptly feel asleep for about 20 minutes!) and then we shopped at the mall for a bit, and then we went to a very nice nature trail and walked around for a while until it was time to head out to meet my sister-in-law at a restaurant for dinner. After dinner Elizabeth, Libby, Arlene and I went and shopped some more (Arlene is a shopper in case you haven't figured that out!) and at about 9:00pm Elizabeth, Libby, and I went back to our hotel room. Elizabeth stayed until about 11:30pm and then I went to bed (Libby had fallen asleep long before that). Libby and I got up Monday morning and had breakfast and checked out of our room by 7:30am and drove home.

The drive home Monday wasn't bad at all until we got south of Macon, GA where we hit a traffic jam that was just horrible. It took us one hour to go exactly 7 miles! Ugh. Once we finally got past that, though, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home and we got home at 7:00pm.

Here is my wonderful niece Elizabeth at graduation:

Elizabeth and her best friend Emily:
And here are my two amazing nieces Elizabeth and Della:

Lunch

Libby is notorious for coming home after school with things that I packed for her lunch still in her lunch bag...like carrots, grapes, yogurt, and sometimes even her sandwich, but somehow the little piece of chocolate I include in her lunch is eaten every single day without fail. It turns out that Libby's friends love to share their chips, cookies, brownies, etc, with Libby and so she eats that and she tells me that she doesn't "have enough time" to eat the healthy things that I pack for her. I've had to start getting stern with her about eating what I pack for her at lunchtime and not the junk her friends bring to school. Yesterday we got home and she dropped her lunch bag off in the kitchen. I opened it to clean it out and her entire lunch (minus the strawberries that I sent with her) was all still in her bag!! I called her into the kitchen ready to start dishing out some punishment. However, it turns out that yesterday she got to go have lunch in the library for being a Sunshine State Young Reader! Each year a new set of book titles are chosen and if you read three or more of those books you qualify as a Sunshine State Young Reader and at her school if you qualify as a SSYR at the end of the year you have a special lunch. They served them pizza, popcorn, cake and all sorts of other goodies. Luckily, Libby's best friend also qualified this year so they went to the lunch together and got to sit by each other. Only about 25 students in Libby's entire school qualified for the lunch yesterday so I'm pretty proud of her! :-)

On Thursday night we'll be heading to her school at 6:30pm for an Evening with the Arts. She will be included in the music program where she'll play her recorder and she will also have some art displayed in the art portion of the evening! My little girl is something else!!

Long hair

You know your hair is too long when you have NINE inches cut off and no one notices! :-)

Yesterday Libby woke up at 5:00am sick. :-( I kept her home from school and she slept off and on for most of the day. She finally got out of bed at 4:00pm when she started feeling better. Soon after she was up she started working on something that she didn't want me to see. A little later she called me into her room where she presented me with this trophy that she had made for me...I'm the "Best Mom Ever" and I'm #1 according to Libby (and her opinion is all that matters to me)!! :-)
Apparently she was very thankful for all the good care I gave to her yesterday while she was sick. As soon as she was up and told me that she was feeling better (but before I got the trophy) I felt so bad for her because of how sick she felt all day long that I made her a bowl of chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and whipped cream (those are all at the top of her "favorite things" list!) :-) That bowl of ice cream may just have been what made her decide to make the trophy for me. :-)

Wow, without even noticing it another two weeks have gone by since I last posted. I need more excitement in my life! :-)

Let's see...last weekend was Mother's Day weekend and it was a little busy. On Saturday Libby, Debs, and I went to Lakeland for a memorial service for a woman who Debs and I went to church with when we were younger. In October we were in Lakeland for her husband's memorial service and then a little over six months later we were back for her service. It was a very nice service and definitely fit her personality which was very nice.

Sunday was Mother's Day and we went to church and then out for lunch with Ryan's parents and then back home for a relaxing Sunday before getting back into the work week.

Last week on Thursday I had my monthly doctor's appointment and everything is still going wonderfully...I'm 20 weeks now - half way there! Wow, I can't believe that in just a few months our little baby will make her arrival!

This past weekend on Saturday Karen and I went to Jacksonville to meet up with Debs and Jan for some shopping and lunch. We also went to the hosptial to see Debbie's mother-in-law who had just had knee surgery. Here's a picture of me and my currently ever-expanding belly! :-)

I had to head back home after a few hours of visiting with the girls and Ryan and I got ready to meet up with some friends from his work and we had dinner with them and after dinner his friends wanted to go bowling and that's one thing that can actually keep Ryan out of the house (he's such a homebody!) :-) so we joined them until the wee hours of the morning. I just watched the rest of them while they bowled...I didn't think it was the best idea for me to be heaving a 12 pound ball down a lane in my "delicate state". ;-)

Yesterday was a very relaxing day...I did a little cleaning, a little clothes shopping (I found the dress I'll wear in two weeks at my niece's high school graduation when I go visit her in Tennessee over Memorial Day weekend!!) and then Libby and I did some grocery shopping and went home and had a nice evening at home.

My goodness! Another three weeks have passed without any updates from me! Well, let's see what I can remember of the last three weeks.

Ryan's mom's birthday was Aoril 17th and we wen to church with them and then out to lunch where we finally let them in on the news...that our little bundle of joy that is due to arrive in October is going to be a girl! I had them just as convinced as I had everyone else that I was having a boy so it was a shock to them to pull out a tiny pink jacket as the clothing that they'll be putting on their granchild in a few months!

Ryan's birthday followed a few days later on April 22nd. We started the morning off with Libby hanging up some banners that she made for him the night before, and we took him a donut in bed with a candle and sang Happy Birthday to him as he woke up and he got to open his gifts.

We had a nice Easter and Libby enjoyed hunting eggs multiple times. :-) It was hard for me (with my absent brain these days) to keep up with where I hid the eggs! :-)

This past weekend a friend (we've been friends since we were five years old!) came into Gainesville from Texas to visit her family and so that we could have her baby shower - she's due July 19th. I spent Saturday with her and we visited some of her family, went shopping, and ate (a few times). :-) Sunday was her shower so I went over early to help her mom get ready and thank goodness I did...she was running way behind but we got all of the food ready and Machelle's family showed up, we ate, and she got to the business at hand of opening her presents. :-)

Last night Ryan had planned a "bowling date" with Libby, one of Ryan's friends, and his friend's 9 year old daughter. I met up with them there after work. The girls had fun bowling and while the guys finished up the third game of bowling I took the girls over to the arcade area and they played lots of games...well, Grace played lots of games and Libby just played lots of Skee-ball. :-) I can't blame her, though, that was always my favorite game, too. Well, that and Pole Position! Once they ran out of tokens they took their tickets over and exchanged them for prizes and you would have thought that it was Christmas morning by the way Libby acted after picking out her little prizes. :-)

And that brings us up to today! I need to get my laptop at home fixed so that I'll be more inclined to post more than once every three weeks! :-)