A daughter and grandson anyone would be proud of...

Seth turns eight this weekend! He celebrated his birthday last night by having his first ever birthday sleepover! When school was out, I went up to chow down on some birthday cake and keep Becca company while she monitored the crazy boys that had invaded her house. Instead of presents, Becca and Seth came up with a wonderful alternative. Becca helped Seth adopted a single soldier in Iraq. Instead of gifts, Seth asked all of his friends to bring goodies to be put into a box to ship over to his adopted soldier. After cake, the boys boxed up the goodies and got them ready to mail overseas. Becca said all of the mothers were super supportive and sent tons of things to mail over. When Bec had told me about their plans, I asked her how Seth felt about not having presents to open. She said he was all for it on one condition; they had to make 2 boxes so he could send one to his Uncle Scott too. (Sniff, sniff. There's a lump in my throat and tears are falling.) Now, isn't that about the sweetest thing you've ever heard of?

Another funny story...

My TAG (Talented and Gifted) class is in the middle of a research unit on whales. As a culminating assignment, each student was asked to select a whale and prepare an oral presentation. Two of the presentation given today were on the Narwhal whale. After listening to one of the presentations, I noticed that one of my little ones was pushing a loose tooth in and out with her tongue. She caught me watching her, smiled her goofy, loose-toothed smile and then said to me, "Look Mrs. Searls! I'm a Narwhal!" Sure enough; her top tooth was sticking straight out!

Another reason to love Texas...

This was one of those perfect mornings for working in the yard. The weather was mild with a cool breeze to keep me from getting too hot. Also, it is a little cloudy so the sun didn't bake my brain. I managed to clean the old mulch and fall leaves out of the front flower bed, turn the soil and add some compost and fertilizer, and then planted some cold-tolerant spring flowers. The local nursery had a wonderful selection of snap dragons, pansies, and ornamental kale. I had a few left over so I put some pansies in the pots on the front porch. They look so much more welcoming that the dead leaves and cobwebs! I figured I could get the flowers in and then come spring break I will put out some veggies. I did get the supplies to start some bedding plants and will put them on the sun porch. Once the container garden is ready and the last freeze passes, they should be big enough to move. Nothing beats a Saturday morning working in the yard!

Ron is home!

Yesterday was a busy day. Actually, it started the night before. Leslie decided to come over and stay the night because G went to Mexico for the weekend. (Not really Mexico, but as close as you can get without getting your feet wet.) That night, Maggie was as sick as a dog, throwing up every 2 hours. So without much sleep, Saturday seemed very long. After sanitizing the house, I had a quilt in the machine that needed to be done. During my quilting, Ron called to say that he got on an earlier flight and would be in Killeen 4 hours earlier than expected. Unfortunately, just because he got on an earlier flight it didn't mean his bags did. So after grabbing some dinner and visiting family, we managed to pick up his suitcase and got home around 10:00. It is great to have him home again.

My friend Barbara

I have a friend named Barbara. I have known Barb for almost 11 years now. She and I worked together at 2 of the schools in the district and share a love for Apple computers and quilting. While Barbara goes for art form quilts and dying her own fabric, and I enjoy the more traditional forms of quilting; we have enjoyed many wonderful quilt shows together. We have even stumbled our way through some classes that yielded some very different looking quilts. Barbara is very opinionated, outspoken, and totally honest. Whenever I needed a level-headed listener, she was always there for me. I have missed her a lot since she retired and moved to AZ. (Thank goodness for email!) For the past year, Barbara has been an inspiration for me. She has been battling ovarian cancer, and for a short while, was joined in that battle by her mother. Sadly, Mom lost her battle and Barbara continues on in her memory. However, if anyone can beat this disease, it will be Barbara. Each time I get a message from Barbara or speak with her on the phone, I marvel at her positive attitude and her willingness to embrace each new form of treatment full of hope and determination. It saddens me that I am not closer to her and able to lend a helping hand when it is needed. So, I hope that in some small way this tribute to her will strengthen her. Barb, if you are reading this know that you are loved and in our prayers.

All four home at the same time!

The family is enjoying a rare treat: all 4 of the kids are home at one time! Scott came home on R&R last Sunday and will be home until the 4th of February. Grandma and Grandpa, Leslie and Maggie, and I met him at the airport. That is actually kind of a funny story in itself. Grandpa was standing at the large window in the upstairs lounge of the airport waiting to snap a picture of Scott as he got off the plane. Now you have to understand that Grandpa is used to seeing Scott in his civilian attire. So he snapped a shot of a tall, young man wearing a ball cap, gray T-shirt, and jeans whom he believed was Scott. He didn't realize that Scott has to travel in his uniform. So Grandpa has a really nice photo of a complete stranger. Wait, it gets better. When Scott walked into the terminal, I snapped the camera at my first sight of him. I ended up getting a really good shot of the guy in front of Scott with Scott grinning over his shoulder. It was nice of the man to at least smile for me. Luckily, I did get a good picture of Scott giving his Grandma a big hug. If you know Scott very well at all, you will know that hugs are NOT his thing so having that picture is extra special. He actually looks like his is enjoying it.
This weekend, Ryan managed to come down for a quick visit and I was able to get a picture of the 4 of them together. That is mostly for Ron because he is still in Maryland on business. Sadly, he will miss all of Scott's visit home. We do have August to look forward too. Hopefully, both Ed and Scott will be home then. Yahoo!

new floor in the sun room...

Ron and I are beat! We spent the last 2 evenings and most of today putting a new floor in the sun room. It started out with ugly, stained, gray indoor/outdoor carpet. We got some light oak laminate from Lowe's and put it down. The hardest part was getting the baseboards attached because one wall is brick. Now all I have to do is get some new blinds and put up a pretty valance and it will be a perfect place to sit and enjoy the view in our awesome backyard. Thank you Sugarbear!