Wednesday

A few photos from last weekend.  We are still working on helping Madison so she can take  her bus driving test.   She is doing really well.  Sunday, we went over to use Grandma’s driveway for learning to back up.  We have a little more work to do, and a different co-worker is going to work with her on the pre-trip inspection part of the test.   I am proud of her for working so hard.  She seems to be liking driving the vo-tech van, and spending her days with this sweet little baby girl!  

When we got back from practicing, Wrenley was hungry!  She was patiently waiting, but was working that thumb over pretty good!  She is such a sweet, easy going little thing!  

This week has been incredible weather-wise.  Highs in the 70's!  It is amazing!  I have been loving every minute of it!  The city also took advantage of the nice days, and put up the town Christmas decorations.  The man from Evergy donates his time, and it makes the job so much easier!  Preston's friend Chayt (in dark blue) was helping, so I took this picture to send to Preston.  Evie had a great time sitting on the bench in front of my office watching them.  At one point,  I went to the bathroom, only to come out and find her sitting there with my board treasurer, eating M&M's, and heckling the workers.  She sure does have this entire town wrapped around her little finger!  

Since I had board people coming by, Madison brought Evie over to me, rather than me meeting her.  That is good news because it meant I got to play with Wrenley for a few extra minutes.  When they were getting ready to leave, Evie wanted to hug Wrenley goodbye.  I was amused by the look of "help me" on that baby!  She is truly the child with a million faces!  

For about the last 20 years, we have been going to Religion Ed on Wednesday nights.  The kids are now done with their RE classes, and I retired at the end of last year, so our Wednesday nights look vastly different than they used to!  I have always sort of hated Wednesday nights, not because I hated RE, but because the classes started at 6 in a neighboring town, and it was a fiasco trying to get everyone home, fed, ready, and driven over there.  Now, my youngest girls are a month away from making their confirmation, and we have been doing their classes from home.  It is sort of weird after so many years, to have the evenings at home.  Last night, we picked up a load of meat that my parents gave us for a Christmas gift (the very best, amazing Christmas gift).  As a result, I had a lot of bloody boxes.  Jim had a pile of things that needed to be burned, so I just decided to take care of that for him, and get rid of the boxes.  It might have been a mistake, as the fire got a little bigger, and a lot hotter than what I had envisioned, but we got it done!  Jim came home when I was almost finished and added a couple more things to the fire and I didn't ask, but I think he might have been a little sad that we burned things without him, as he is my number 1 pyro!  I will say that I enjoyed having to stand out there and watch the fire, as the girls were helping me.  I had quite a conversation with Quincy and Harper.....let's just say I will never cross those two girls - they are terrifying.  :)  

This week, I have been doing a lot of reflecting for some reason.  I think this time of year just brings that out of me.  Or maybe, the fact that my husband spit out 'this is our last year of having a kid who is younger than a teenager,' or maybe it is just the way the brain works when you don't need it to.  I have never wanted to do a lot in my life, never had really lofty goals, never wanted to generate enormous wealth, never wanted a mcmansion, or had any interest in driving fancy cars.  I have always found happiness in the barn, or in sharing a meal with my family or friends.  I have no desire to take elaborate vacations, and I am happiest when I am at home.  The only thing I ever wanted to do with any burning desire was to be a mom.  And I love being a mom.  I take great pleasure in seeing my kids grow up, and I am so proud of the way they have grown, embraced life, conquered fears, gotten educations and careers going, and learned to share their lives with people who I have adopted as my own, because I truly believe the more the merrier.  That being said, I never knew how fast things would fly by.  I never knew that from the day I brought the first little, tiny, fragile babies into our house, until the time I would be staring down the throat of having them all out of the house would feel like about 10 minutes.  I may have even shed a few tears about it this week, as sometimes I struggle, like everyone does from time to time.  Jim, on occasion, doesn't' know who he will be coming home to!  One thing though, Jim is always loyal to the person that he knows is under the crazy.  I couldn't ask for a better person to do life with.  It might be crazy, or passionate, or heavily invested, or maybe it is hormonal, who really knows?  Poor ol Jim.  One thing about the kids growing up that is the most amazing blessings came from it!  My granddaughters bring me immense joy!  They are beautiful, amazing, smart, funny, little blessings who I am completely obsessed with!  Life is good, and even if I have an occasional reflective, tear filled, chaotic, emotional day once in a while, I know what my blessings are.