Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed in the motherhood department. I had wonderful role models in both my mother, Shirley and my mother-in-law, Marie. They loved and cared for their families and demonstrated this in many different ways. As my motherhood role expanded in the last two years to include being a mother-in-law, I have often thought about what must have been going on in their heads and hearts as Jack and I married and started our life together. They both were able to let us do our thing with little to no interference. I think about that every time I start to give unsolicited advice to Wayne and Julie or Matt and Sally. It doesn't always stop me from butting in, but I do think twice. :)

We miss them both and their presence is still felt in our lives every day.
This was the first Mother's Day in 32 years that we haven't spent time with Jack's side of the family.
And our first Mother's Day without Susie, who mothered all of us with such love.
Sigh.
I am thisclosetowritingaveryheavypost, but I won't tonight.

Jake, Lisa, Kjell, Jenny and Charley

We celebrated Mother's Day at Kjell and Lisa's today. They had an open house brunch which was such a great idea! Come anytime after 11am, bring your own beverage and grab a plate and enjoy some food and good company. It was delightful! Julie was in Philadelphia for a girls weekend and Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina weren't able to come. We missed them!! A lot. 

There was lots of cuddle time with Charley and great conversations and it was nice to be together. After most of the guests left, Charley's big brother Jake entertained us with some dance moves and wrestling conversations, both of which Wayne was happy to join in on. 

change of pace

Yesterday felt a bit like a vacation day. The weather was unseasonably warm (85 degrees!) and sunny and I was out of my classroom most of the day. It felt like a cross between playing hooky and leaving the kids with a babysitter. In the morning I attended a training on the new web-based IEP reporting system that we are switching to at work and in the afternoon, I attended a three year re-evaluation for one of my students who is in kindergarten. His district scheduled the meeting and it involved a pretty big team, so I needed to miss class time. That doesn't happen very often because usually my meetings are before or after school hours. It was a bit rejuvenating!

It was Teacher Appreciation week and for the first time in 14 years, my class is housed in an actual school. Though I am not really a teacher, I am an educator and I was able to be part of the fun. The parent teacher organization spoiled the staff rotten. They provided a fruit/granola/yogurt bar on Monday, all kinds of different pop corns on Tuesday, incredible cupcakes on Wednesday and from what I was told, a salad bar on Thursday. The principal also cooked breakfast for the staff on Wednesday morning. Some of our students brought Caileen and me gifts too... Fannie May , 

Flowers, a fun assortment of office supplies, an Olive Garden gift card. So sweet! 

flowers from students

nice spread!

I ended up the week with my Friday Friends, as I like to refer to the amazing coworkers who work with kids with behavioral/emotional issues. It can be such a tough job and they handle it 5 days a week. I only work in that program on Fridays and some weeks I come home absolutely drained. Today was one of those days. Tonight I am picking up Jack from the airport and we are going to go hang out with Sally, Matt and Matt's family. Good thing I had my after work nap! 

May is here already

I am pretty darn pleased about May's arrival. It is one of my favorite months. I think that's partly because of the nice weather, a refreshing change from the brutal winter and partly because it means that end of another school year is right around the corner. Things are busy at work, but that is pretty much true most of the year. It's always something! The wonderful thing is that when I leave school at 5 or 5:30, it is still light out and that is such a great boost, psychologically.

love the magnolias and the sunshine!

We started May off right with dining alfresco with Cathy and Mark on Friday night. We had not seen them for quite some time and it was awesome to catch up. It was delightful to sit outside on one of the first really nice nights of this year. We always have interesting conversations with Cath and Mark and the time flies. They invited Christy and Steve as well, but poor Christy was under the weather with a sinus infection and bronchitis. It's been a bad year for that.

selfie stick pic 

I spent a lot of time this weekend reading my book on Conscious Discipline. I am going to teach a continuing education class on Conscious Discipline next month and I cannot wait. I find it so helpful in all phases of my life. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but am learning more about it everyday. There are helpful resources available as well.

Sally and Otto came over on Saturday to hang out for a while. Jack and I ended up taking a walk with them and we went by the kids' old grade school. Such nostalgia! It's funny how a place can be such a HUGE part of your life for several years, then after that, not at all! Our family formed some incredible friendships during those years at The Lane, including Mark, Cath, Christy and Steve.

old stomping grounds    

Happy May!

Recuperating...from having so much fun

It's a beautiful sunny but cool Spring Sunday and I am a wee bit tired from my very active social life. I think everyone is coming out of hibernation. In addition to a busy work week, I have been out three nights in a row. Look at me! So social! Never mind that in the last three months I have probably gone out a total of three times.

On Thursday, Teri and Kathy hosted a birthday dinner for Christy and Sheila. It was the first time we had all been together in months and there was lots to catch up on. Dinner was delicious, too, prepared by my goddaughter Grace.  

Christy and thebbq potato chips

Sheila and her cherry pie

selfie stick pic, just missing Mary K

Friday morning, Deanna texted to see if we were available for a casual dinner at Standard Market. There is a little cafe there and they have a well rounded menu. It was a great idea! Easy, relatively inexpensive and a comfortable place to sit, relax and enjoy a meal with friends. Jack and I met Brad and Deanna there at 7 and had a fun time catching up. I did not take any pictures. Sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking!

Yesterday we had our former next door neighbors Joe and Michele over for dinner. I had suggested they come here because I knew that would make us clean our house! Having people over is the best (lately the only) motivation for me to clean. Jack and I worked on deep cleaning and tossing out stuff all day and it felt awesome. And the reward for that was a fun night with Joe and Michele! We had so many great discussions about a wide variety of topics. We love these two. They are half a generation younger than we are and it makes for a interesting and fun chemistry. We are glad they didn't move too far away, just about 2 miles down the road. 

Michele and Joe listen to Jack's explanation of "The Tray"

me and Michele

Joe and Jack

Today we had a quick visit from Sally and Otto. Sally is 18 weeks pregnant now and looking good!! She is feeling the baby move. That was one of my favorite things about being pregnant. It's such a miracle!

Sally and Otto

Fun weekend so far! Now I have to get motivated to do some schoolwork. Just 6.5 weeks left of this school year! 

Guess who is having a baby?

It's a pretty exciting time around here.
It's spring and time for new life.
Have I mentioned that Sally and Matt are going to have a baby???
Which means I am going to be a grandmother!!!!
You can only imagine how beyond thrilled we all are. So so excited at the prospect of a new member of our family.
Sally and Matt came to our house on January 23rd for a Friday night dinner. Or so they said. When Matt came up the walk with his little cooler in hand, I wasn't suspicious. They often bring us a cold bottle of something delicious. They had been in our house for less than 5 minutes when Sally opened the cooler, pulled out a bottle of  champagne and handed it to us, saying "Congratulations! You are going to be grandparents!"
I just stood there and cried.
It was so early in the pregnancy that Sally and Matt wanted to keep it quiet but wanted us to know. I am so glad because that meant I could begin praying for my grandchild. I pray everyday for this baby. It is still hard to believe that my baby is having a baby! Sally is now 17 weeks pregnant. The baby is due on September 24th. Another September birthday!! We currently have: Susie 9/10, Lauren 9/15, Jack and Downtown Sue 9/19, Tommy 9/25, Grandma 9/30. And Matt on 10/2.
And we are so excited to grandparent with Bob and Mary, Matt's parents. They are awesome and as everyone has said, how lucky that this baby will be so loved. It is also quite nice that Bob is a pediatrician. That will come in verrrrry handy for us all, especially Sally :)
Thank You, God for this very special miracle!

this pic taken with my selfie stick the night we found out 1/23

9 week ultrasound... look at the sweet baby!

Easter 2015

Happy Easter to all!
It is one of the quietest Easters at our house and that is not a bad thing at all. It's just different!
We have spent most of the last 32 Easters with Jack's family. When the kids were little, Jack's folks treated us to dinner at the Union League Club, complete with the Easter Bunny and a petting zoo. As the kids got older, we started to go to places in the suburbs and more recently, to restaurants in Jack's folks' neighborhood. This year, Jack's dad decided to stay in Florida a while longer. It is only the second Easter in 32 years that we haven't seen him!!! We miss Bucky a ton and we miss our Friday night dates at Ken's. We are ready for him to come back whenever he is ready!
It's also our first Easter without Sue. When my folks were alive, we always managed to either spend Easter Saturday night with them or would stop by their house on Easter Sunday for an egg hunt. Those are great memories, too. Sue loved Easter and all that it meant. I think it was her favorite holiday and she always had lots of goodies for the kids and then for Abbie and Nina. Last spring, about a month before Easter, Sue sent me a text that said, "My heart's desire is to have .you, Jack and anyone else interested in church with me on Easter Sunday one of these years. I know it is a busy day for u guys but I would love it". Oh my gosh, how thrilled am I that she let me know that and that we could make that happen for what was to be her last Easter on earth. If you click here, you can read the post and see the cute video of us at church (btw I think you may have to go back to the post directly and not from this link in order to see the video. also you can't see the video on phones or tablets). Super special day in so many ways.
Today, on this beautiful Easter Sunday, Jack and I have had a super quiet and relaxing day. No plans at all. Wayne and Julie flew straight from Phoenix to Cleveland to spend the weekend with her family and Matt and Sally had plans to spend the day with Matt's family. I think that is more than fair since we just got to spend 5 glorious days with them!! There had been some talk about getting together with Jack's side of the family or mine, but it just didn't work out this year. Knowing we had a choice in how our Easter was celebrated (there are many things we could have planned if we had wanted to), I have to say that a quiet, relaxing Easter Sunday once in a great while is just fine.

A recap of SB15

One of the best parts of any vacation is the beginning. It's the closing up shop at home, getting on the road and arriving at the destination. A week ago, Jack, Matt, Sally and I left our house around 10am. It was smooth sailing, including all of us being TSA prechecked (but don't tell anyone that I left a water bottle in my purse! the TSA agent was funny and sweet about it). We had a drink in the Admirals Club and got lunch to carry on board.

Jack and Sally at the airport

Conversations with Jack in the Admirals Club

The flight was great. During the flight, I watched the movie "Theory of Everything" which I found fascinating and I sort of obsessed about it for the first few days of our trip. (I think Stephen Hawking is way beyond interesting). When we arrived in Phoenix, Matt's name was on the Hertz Gold board for rentals instead of Jack's. It's a changing of the guard! Wow. Jack, Matt, Sally and I ended up going out to lunner (late lunch/early dinner) at Four Peaks Microbrewery. The Arizona-Wisconsin game was on the TVs and we sat outside on a covered patio. Total vacation feel!! 

lunch al fresco at Four Peaks

We left there to check into the house that the kids had rented for our vacation. Wayne and Julie met us there with bags full of groceries and beverages. Such a wonderful feeling, full of anticipation for the week to come.

guacamole by Wayne

Another great part of our vacation was spending time in the pool. Wayne and Sally both said that they wanted to recreate the feel of our family Dallas trips back in the 90s. Those were incredible family times, spending time in the pool at Tom's house and just hanging out together for hours at a time. Not everyone in our family enjoys pooltime  (#jack), so we had a nice shady spot for that person.

Jack in the shade on his throne

pool time!

We also enjoyed some fabulous food. Julie made chicken tortilla soup, we had a big bacon, sausage and egg breakfast one morning, Jack got us In and Out burgers for lunch one day and we ordered pizza the last night. We had an amazing dinner at Marcellino, an Italian restaurant on Monday night. Jack had been to this restaurant when it was in its previous location in a strip mall. Now it is in Oldtown Scottsdale, a romantic and beautiful neighborhood. On Tuesday, we went to an early dinner at The Mission, a popular restaurant serving southwestern cuisine. We had to go at 3pm because that was the only time we could get in! Our other outstanding meal was at a little bbq place called "Little Miss BBQ". It was Matt's suggestion, based on a college football blog that he read. Oh my goodness, this place was incredible!!!! It was in an industrial neighborhood by the airport, a little brick building with a line snaking around it by 11:30 am. It is only open 11 am to 4pm (or until they run out). The meal was an experience, including the line, the ordering, the owner who made the food and also bussed the tables.

me and my honey at Marcellino

Little Miss BBQ- the owner-chef carving us up some brisket

By far the best part of the vacation was just being together as family. That is something that I never take for granted.

you can see the shadow of the selfie stick! 

Thanks to Wayne, Julie, Matt and Sally for an incredible spring break!!!!! So blessed.