all kinds of vacay

Andrew has some sort of a work conference in Vegas.  He took Madison along for funsies.  Jim and I are on grandchild duty.  And so far, with a little help from Aunt Bubba, Aunt Saige and aunt Mall, we are rocking it.  Or winging it.  Whatever.  

I mean we successfully raised 6/8 kids, and the other 2 are pretty close to raised.  They are all normal, mostly functional, contributing members of society.  Right?  Right?  

Truth be told, I love having these little girls here with us.  They are sweet, funny, and helpful.  And chaotic—-  in a good way, but one we have not had in our evening in a long time.  Grammy and Poppy - getting back in the swing of things.  

It is NOT a violation of child labor laws if they want to help.  :)  

And since she spilled it, she felt like she should clean her mess.  Pretty good idea really!  

Poppy did have to man the ship alone for a bit this morning.  I had a work issue to resolve.  I had about 3 minutes to run home after I dropped off the bus kids, use the restroom and get into a car.  As I was leaving, Maude started chasing her car down the driveway.  I didn’t have time to deal with her, but I did stop and yell at her to go home.  She turned around but the moment I started going again, she started running after me again. Then she made a Break for it and was running down the road.  Deciding she could sit in the car, and not having time to turn around, I just hauled her to my meeting - an outdoor meeting.  She whined the entire time I was outside the car but it worked out ok.  She did know she was in trouble and laid there looking very sorry the entire trip up.  The way back, she knew she was forgiven!   

Cameron decided to take a short vacation. He looked at where he could get the cheapest airline ticket and went there.  Under those parameters, Miami won!  Now I am happy for anyone getting away, but I love Florida and I am a little jealous of this one!  

Jealous of the sunshine and warm temperatures.  Not jealous that he swallowed some sea water and then got sea sick on the boat when he went on a snorkeling excursion trip.  :)  

He is actually on his way home now.  Vacation is over - back to work my adult boy!  :) 

Spencer texted me this cute photo to tell me that my little buddy was released from the urologist.  Way to go Easton!  Seriously, look at him smiling!  Such a happy little guy!

Story time - this girl is a true crack up.  She was a little bit whiney when it was time to go to bed.  She refused to lay down and was keeping Evelyn awake.  So I took her to the living room and was rocking her.  She was chatting away.  I was starting to get concerned that it was getting sort of late, and I know how early we have to get moving in the mornings, so I said to her 'tomorrow, you have to ride the bus with grammy'  she said yes!  I then told her she has to go to my office and she can play with my toys there.  She sat right up and was like "TOYS!"  I said yes, but you are going to be too tired if you don't go to sleep!  She is yelling out TOYS!  TOYS!   I said yes, and I have to get fuel in the bus, so if you go to sleep right now we can stop at Casey's and get a donut.  She snapped her eyes shut and I never heard another peep out of her until I woke her up at 5:30 this morning!  Hilarious what kind of motivation Caseys is!  In all of my years of raising kids, I never saw one who could instantly sleep for a donut! The rest of this week is about to get real expensive!    

 

That one time my girls turned 30...

My little babies are 30.  I never knew how fast 30 years could fly by!  It is hard for me to believe that we are at this place already.  These girls are hardworking, amazing and awesome.  I am so blessed to be their mom.  

Mallory finds happiness in teaching, her dogs, projects, and being an aunt.  She doesn't spend too much time without having some thing she is running off to, and it usually involves one of her siblings.  She is an amazing teacher and a great help to anyone who needs it.  I am proud of the woman she grew up to be. 

Madison finds happiness in baking for people, raising her girls, and taking care of everyone.  She is a great mom and a great wife.  She works hard every single day to make sure all the things are done.  I am proud of the woman she grew up to be as well!

These girls made parenting easy, and as we age, they are tremendously helpful, and involved in our lives.  I couldn't imagine having sweeter, or better people in our family.  We are very blessed!

We had a little birthday dinner/super bowl party for them last night at our house.  Madison threw Mallory a surprise party on Saturday night.  It was a full weekend of parties and fun.  

I did bake each of them their own cake as I have always done (because I felt like they had to share so much, they didn't' have to share a cake too).  Mallory got her red velvet as is tradition....but for Madison - a Dubai chocolate cake.  YUMMM!  :)  

Wrenley loves Maude.  The feeling is mutual, but I did notice that when the party was over, and Wrenley went home, Maude crashed hard on the floor!   :)  

Saige had to take some photos of us watching the football game at the Bad Bunny concert!

Little buddy is feeling better.  I love his super bowl outfit!  I am very relieved that he is recovering from his surgery and doing good!  Love me some Easton! (Seriously he is soo cute!).  

Who remembers when Mr. Mackey constantly got stuck in the fence so we had to tape a broom to his horns?  Well....now we have Armpit who is constantly sticking his head where it doesn't belong.  He is the awesome recipient of the stick of shame.  Seriously though, I do NOT have time in the morning to pry a goat's head out of the fence when I need to be leaving for work, and I am bruised up from him fighting me when I have to pry his dumb head out of the fence.  Harper had to hold him while I taped.  We both stunk when we got done.  Armpit smells terrible! (like all billy goats do).  

Wren was exceptionally happy that she got new slippers! 

I didn't do a very good job taking photos during the surprise party - it was just too crowded/crazy.  But as the crowd dwindled down, I did take a few, and the girls shared a few that they took.  Madison did a good job planning everything and making cakes.  It was a really fun evening.  

Happy 30th girls  - we love you!

Not birthday related, but story time.  I had to run to the bank on Saturday morning.  Jim hopped in with me, hoping we could go to the bakery and get breakfast.  I told him that was fine, but I needed to run a couple of other errands.  I went to the antique store to see if the owner could keep her eye out for some Corelle dishes that match mine since my pattern was discontinued, and I have broken a few plates.  She of course, agreed to helping me, but you cannot go in there and not look around.  (I mean Jim might be able to, but I can't).  Look at this cute little cow statue I got.  And it was $4- nobody can be mad at that price and I took it right out the door!  I got in the car to leave, happy because I got this cute cow, and a breakfast burrito - I mean how can a day get better?  I put the car in reverse at the same time as the person who was next to me.  I stopped and pulled back forward and that is when I noticed the passenger of the car was rolling the window down.  So I rolled my window down as well and I literally apologized for not paying enough attention.  She flipped me off!  And I was so happy already, that I literally started laughing and told her "Oh honey, I hope your day gets better!" at which time she double pumped me!  I am sorry, but I found it hilarious.  In another time, younger Hope probably would have gotten out of the car and said a few choice things.  But old Hope is more mellow and finds humor in places that are strangely not funny.  Plus, I was having a nice conversation with my amazing husband, and I had a new cow and a breakfast burrito - you'd have a hard time making me upset on a day like that! I am still laughing about it.  I hope flipping me off means that she felt better and saved someone else from her anger and crazy behavior.  

Oh and the cow stack looks awesome in the bathroom next to my barn wax warmer!

This was a good weekend after a pretty rough week.  I am thankful for it.  For the girls on their birthday.  For the husband who continues to pick me up when I need him to.  For the life that I have been able to build with a truly amazing family.