time is flying

Mostly because I am having fun. The trip to Arizona went very well, there are rumors of it being an annual occurrence. I haven't mentioned that to Mikey, I'll work up to it :) We were supposed to make our trek to welcome home Snatch Friday but they changed his flight date til next week. We are still going, Mikey told his boss that he was going to need so many days in between such and such date because we know how the military loves to change it's mind. I am getting super excited to go, days with no kids and just my hubby, it will be good for us to get away. We return just in time to have a fourth of July celebration. The next week Snatch will be up here so of course we will have a get together. The week after that our nephew and his long term girlfriend will be tying the knot. Our lot is definitely getting full use made of it this year. There is something going on all the time this summer.
We are meeting Chick's Grandma on the way so she can go for her summer visit. She wants to go visit her cousin in Arizona (which ironically, I was an hour away from) in July. I am not sure if she will get to go, apparently there is some logistics problems. I made her coordinate everyone this year to try to push responsibility. It sorta worked. She didn't start making the calls till she found out all the kids were going to my mothers while Mike and I are gone. Not that she doesn't love mom, it has more to do with being in close proximity to her siblings. She is used to being spoiled all summer (cuz that is the only time that side of the family sees her) and that is so much more fun then having to share.
Mr gets to go to summer school. He is not liking it at all. He didn't care for regular school so I probably could of guessed this reaction. He has 2 more days after today. If he would quit being so stubborn..... yeah, then he wouldn't be him.
The community is holding a benefit for Josh Hill this weekend, we will be unable to attend but I am sending our donations in tomorrow. I think it is really great how people are rallying to help one of their own.
Hadleigh is still in the hospital, she is feisty and that is a good sign. They had her sheduled to place a pacemaker but she got a staph infection. The baby girl is due for a break soon.

Ta da

The latest editions, Noodles (on Chick) and Biscuits (beside her).
















The latest quilt, all clipped and washed and fuzzied up.

















A close up of the flower. Now that it's done, I am not groovin on it. I ran out of the fabric I was using so I decided it would look ok with the patchwork look. I am wishing I hadn't done that but live and learn. And the tulips look like dinosaur footprints. I know I am being hyper critical but that is my job :)

I have to remember to breathe

SO I have less then 55 hours till RJ and I are in Shawna's hood. I am really looking forward to it. I think they might be just as excited to be reunited, but I could be mistaken ;)
Mikey had to go on a business trip to Texas for three days. His return and my departure might not overlap so chances are I won't see him till Friday night. He really missed me when I was gone for 4 days, we'll see how he handles 5 :) I need to publicly express my eternal gratitude to the fabulous Whimpy for easing my mind and taking my boys till there is an adult here again. My mother is taking 411 for her annual summer visit so that worked out nicely.
Miss Hadleigh had a great up turn, her heart was beating all on it's own. This morning, she has a fever and is relying on the pacemaker again. She is hanging in there though, and fighting hard. A cause has been started on Facebook called Praying for Miss Hadleigh (or something similar) and I am touched that so many of my friends that have never met her or anyone from this family for that matter have joined the cause. I knew they are good eggs. She needs all prayers and good juju she can get.
The local community is having a garage/bake sale benefit for Josh Hill the weekend of the 27th. All the proceeds are going to help pay for the massive medical bills the family is accruing. It is the town's annual celebration and there is usually a lot of extra people in town. Anyway, I must give a shout out to RJ for having the courage to face her storage unit and donate 4 moving boxes of items to the sale. Thanks so much. I am wondering around seeing if there is anything I can get rid of, I mean donate. Normally I would bake a bunch of stuff to help out but....
Snatch gets to come home early!! We will be taking a trip to meet his plane in a week and a half. I am really excited to be there. I am going to be a bawling fool, deployments and reunions are SOOOO emotional. OOHH I need to get his sheet painted!!
I promise to take alot of pictures of my various adventures. Boy, the rest of the summer is going to be boring.....

THe whole Fam Damily

Look, everyone is showered, in the same vicinity and wearing respectable clothes. That doesn't seem to happen very often around here so I had to share the documentation of this momentous event. It is hard to believe my camo dude is older then 411 by 18 months looking at them together.

new quilt

this is the back















this is the front, pre clipped

















this is a close up of the flowers since it's kinda hard to see...

So.....wow

Ok, things have gotten really unusual around here. I mean, usually, there is nothing going on worth talking about really. That doesn't stop me but you know what I am saying. So, this week, a couple of brothers from the local high school got into a car accident. Turns out both of them were on the Washington DC trip. The older one is "temporarily" paralyzed and the other one is home already.

Then my niece's baby girl, Hadleigh, took a turn for the worse. She was born with half a heart, one side quit working while she was still in the womb. There is a 3 surgery protocol for this health issue. She has had the first surgery and they were waiting till she was stronger/older to do the second stage. In the meantime, they discovered that she has pulmonary hypertension to add to her troubles. She is a year and a half and still has a feeding tube because she can't keep solids down. It was getting better but now, her levels are all off, her oxygen isn't looking good, they can't proceed with the second stage. The only option for Miss Hadleigh Ann is a heart transplant. Which, we have found out, they only do on infants in St. Louis and somewhere in Pennsylvania. Omaha Childrens hospital got on the phone with St. Louis and they refuse to put her on the waiting list for the transplant till her various numbers get to where they want them. The poor thing has had surgery and two procedures done in the last week. She is a fighter and we are all rooting for her to get where she needs to be to get a transplant.

So, last night, my sister in law had to take her husband down to the hospital because his gall bladder attacked him. what a week.

a few more

I loaded 342 of my pictures and over 100 of celeste's so I am picking through and trying to find the most interesting. I will share as I get a minute or two..


I have no idea what building this is but isn'[t it cool?































Here is the whole group on the first day. The yellow was a WONDERFUL thing through the airports and the more crowded tourist spots.



















One of the 3 pictures of me.

The inside of the dome in the capitol. Did you know that if you took the statue of liberty off her pedestal she would stand in dome from floor to peak and her torch would not touch? FYI....

the dome of the capitol

pictures

we got to see lots of really cool things....





















This is one of 19 statues in the korean war memorial





















this is in the library of congress, AMAZING ceilings

















I am not sure which building this is, it is a blur. I will try to got hrough and sort it out......






















one of the few pictures of Chick that I managed to get

The original Smithsonian castle.

A couple of things

My trip to DC went well, I enjoyed it alot. There was a few of the teen boys that made it less enjoyable but out of the 49 that went, they were only 6. I will post lots of pictures later, I promise. It might be a few days because I am dealing with a lot of heartache right now. As soon as I got off the plane last night my husband informed me that my grandmother had passed away while I was gone and my mother made him promise not to tell me til I returned. So I have to go to the funeral Wednesday. Then I found out that one of my oldest nephews is getting married, Saturday, and oh, by the way, his fiance had another baby a couple months ago. It kind of made me sad to find out in passing, by a third party, that I am out of the loop. Maybe it's just the timing; I am feeling melancholy. Just letting ya'll know what is new in my world.

And, by the way, Hadleigh will be having her heart cath surgery on Wednesday. Please keep good ju ju streaming her way.