Last Christmas

I hate the sound of it, but they are trying to make the best of a rally, in how he feels right now, to decorate the house and prepare for saying goodbye. PLEASE, if you can donate ANYTHING to keep this family in their home when their daddy dies, please, do so!

I usually can't stand Fox 9's sucky local reports but this time, they did a good job profiling my friend Nicole and her family in my hometown. Watch it here.

Yo, Vinny, Yous a Catlick Now! (I Mean: "Vincent's Baptism")

Sorry, I can't ever help but think in mobster when I say Vincent's name.

Here's the view from the top of the steps of the back entrance to our church. I want Butch to make a patio similar to this in the back yard. Wouldn't that be sweet?


Here's Vinny's family of some sisters and girl cousins protecting him in his paganbaby state before Mass.


Here is what happens EVERY time we come in the back way...Tommy wants a drink and Matty helps him. It almost guarantees we'll have big water splotches on our shirts and children that have to pee five minutes into Mass. I think it's pretty awesome that Matty does the things he does for the little ones. I don't even have to ask (most times). He's a good son (said in the mobster voice in my head).


While the family waits for Mass to begin (They are sitting next to a scale model of the historic Church of St. Michael. It's really amazing if you ever get to visit our church, you won't want to miss it.), Tommy makes a break for the water fountain. Of course.


Usually, when there's a baptism during Mass (instead of the huge group baptism on a Sunday afternoon...this one was at a 5pm service on Sat. night), the parents, Godparents, and maybe some siblings and a grandparent or two go up to the baptismal hottub...I mean "font". I thought this picture was cool because it only shows about 1/4 of the family that was crowding around that thing! Vincent was so funny during his splash. He had a fun, happy look the whole time and never cried at all.


This is the ONLY, I repeat ONLY time I don't mind applause during Mass:


I took a quickie shot of the dome of the church to show again how pretty the iconography of our church is. You can't see the names of the apostles but I had to for sure give props to my patron, St. Thomas. I doubt that he's happy to be my self appointed patron (get it? get it?).


After Mass, Tommy hopped up on the table where baby Madeline was sleeping in her carrier. He wouldn't let anyone else kiss or touch her. He's pretty protective of the babies in the family...oh heck...he thinks ALL babies are HIS AND HIS ALONE and won't let anyone near the babies if he can help it. I think he'll be just fine around our new one in the spring. Oh, and baby Madeline will be unpaganized later this month (in a smaller church...hope we all fit!).

Insane Preggo Dream Number 942

I know where this one came from. I had just read a big write up about Mary Jo Copeland and how she cares for the street people that come into her Mary's Place in the cities (here in MN). Also, I caught a bit of Slumdog Millionaire yesterday while babysitting (in the morning, before the kids were awake, of course!). I had seen that movie before and it really was a good one but a little hard to take. It's hard to think about children suffering so much in the world, with no one to care for them and everyone around them just exploiting them.

In my dream, there is a little boy of about 6 or 7. He is staying at his uncle's house. I see him because Butch and I are visiting a friend who is in a tough spot. His wife is leaving him, his in-laws hate him and they are broke. The little boy is playing on a huge playset in their yard (he is the nephew of our friend's dad, who lives with them...but our friend doesn't really have responsibility for him). They are trying to get rid of the playset so we start taking it apart and find this little boy at the end of the slide.

He is very confused but not sad. He has on a saggy diaper and that's all. I think to myself that he could certainly use some clothes and he must be able to use the toilet so I take it upon myself to help him find something of Bocker's to use. I bring him home to care for him because nobody seems to mind. The rest of the dream, I'm training him to use the toilet, teaching him to speak properly, and giving him general instructions and love. He repeats everything I ask him and then adds a question mark at the end. For instance, If I tell him, "Now, you should probably have a sweatshirt because it's cold." he'd say, "I should have a sweatshirt, because it's cold?". He'd never directly ask "why?" but I sensed that no one had ever cared about him enough to direct him in what he should do. I know that his mother is a hippie who's drugged out and his father is absent or very very mean. The little boy doesn't seem to be permanently damaged, just a little behind in ability. I take him home with me, even though we are living in poverty at a relative's house ourselves and have lots of kids who sort of resent another mouth to feed. I try to teach them that we should love our brother, even if it's someone with whom we're not related.

I woke up and whispered this prayer: Dear Lord, be with all of the abandoned children in the world. Lead them to safe adults who will love them and care for them. Keep them safe from harm and protected by their angels.

It occurred to me that we don't have any "street children" around here. They wouldn't last a week in the cold. That's the hard reality of life here in Minnesota. I know that children are neglected and abandoned all of the time, but they would be picked up by social services or cared for by a neighbor (I hope) or die from exposure very quickly. I've never seen a child huddled under a bridge or picking from a waste dump. I've never seen a child, in rags, begging on the street.

I am very disturbed by this dream. I think I fear losing my home, my own children, my husband, my way of life. I think, even worse, I fear that the world doesn't care anymore about children...or anything. I must fear that my own children might lose the ability to care about others, or become selfish, or become like everyone in the world seems to be right now. I am all about self preservation, but not at the cost of losing one's soul or ability to reach out and find enough love for someone who has none.

The Talleys

"Today the nurse was out from hospice. She changed the dose Michael could receive from his PCA pump due to his increase of pain through the weekend. He state's honey, its hurting all over. My neck, shoulders, back, and the swelling in my lower extremities is awful. Last night we tried using the Oxycontin in between dosages of the Morphine. It helped some but not enough. We also, tried some Ativan to help relax him before bedtime. He sleeps well but becomes very disorientated and has bad dreams. He even got up once and I found him sleeping standing up at the bathroom sink with the water running. I guess that drug doesn't agree well with him. I told the nurse maybe we should try something else. I don't need him falling or something. I have just stood bye all these months while Michael took care of his own treatments and medications but now it will be my job to make sure he is getting the right dose and care that he needs. The nurse feels the confusion at times will become more evident and she would prefer that I take over these areas. I have been so proud over the last year, Michael able to care and do for himself. I feel it's important to keep independence as long as you can. As his wife, I will take over and provide the best care ever. For he deserves the very best.
Michael states" you Nicole are the only one I trust to care and love me completely, you are my angel!
"Ooh! Honey I feel the same about you as well.
The nurse sent pressure stockings as well to try and pull the edema out of his feet and into the upper body. It may work or it may not. For his swelling is different then the normal swelling you or I would get from our vessels. Her concerns are dehydration for Michael is not getting the fluids anymore it's being stored in his body instead. Their is nothing we can do about this. She placed him on a water pill but we can't go to high due to his low blood pressures. Lately they have been 80/44 which is very low. It has been hard sleeping next to him the last couple of nights. I hear his breathing slowing down. I think will he take that next breath. Then I pray, pray and pray!!! The nurse said today I think Michael was given the strength these last few weeks to see you through and now he will be able to relax knowing everything's all right again. I thought, okay! I can stay sick for a long time. I can keep him taking care of me, if that means I could keep him longer. Then she just hugged me tight. She said, " Nicole you are a strong women I can tell and you will get through this. Then my tears came like a water fall, I just don't want to be strong anymore, I just want my husband physically here with me forever! God please give me strength.
As for Nathan he is finally turning the corner, he should return to school on Wednesday. His cough may persist for few more days.
God Bless to all!!
Love Nicole & Michael"

Lately (part 2)

Maybe I should title it "Much Late-er-ly". I don't know who even reads blogs anymore...I think, maybe the people who aren't on facebook? Heh heh.

The tree farm we went to visit when we brought the kids to see Anna and her house was absolutely wonderful. It was a pretty hot day, which got to be kind of frustrating for the kids (you can kind of see their hot faces in the pictures) when everything around us was fall themed. The bigger kids went through the corn maze (which wasn't really a "maze" at all, just a path through the corn, with a bridge in the middle, just for fun). They had a pumpkin/apple cannon that was super cool and HUGE (and LOUD!). They had two jumping castles, a petting zoo, haunted house (not really scary, just cool), picnic area, haunted path through the woods, a boardwalk surrounding a sandbox with lots of bikes and scooters for racing around, a panning-for-gold, spray painted rocks-trough (fakey, but fun), a teepee with dress-up clothes inside it, a huge hay bale climbing pile, and an awesome hayride through some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.

We are going to Anna's for Thanksgiving and will, most likely, go to this tree farm then to pick up our tree when we are there. Anna said that they have bonfires and hot chocolate for the you-cut-your-own-tree people. That would be an amazing event for the family. That would be lots of fun (don't know how the tree would travel on top of the van for the two hour drive home?).




This boat was in a neat spot. It really looked like a fishing boat on a pond, with a dock and everything. There were fishing rods with magnets on them and the "fish" had paperclips attached so you could "catch" them. No Weazys were drowned in the taking of this picture.

This is one of Tommy's 930 funny expressions. It's the one saved for when you don't want the hayride to end and your mom says, "Come off the wagon, Tommy!".




Matty will NOT let me take a picture of him unless he is in sunglasses, disguise, or I am covert in my photo-taking. He was bored in this picture because he was too hot and way too cool to jump in the jumping castles with the little kids. I told him today that it stinks that he's all angle-y, awkward, gawky, and not my cute, squishy, chubby, little Matty anymore. He acted offended, for some reason. He did give me a huggy and a kissy, though.

I thought it was so sweet when these two were sharing food together on the teeny picnic table. She kept handing Tommy food and he kept saying, "Dank Ooo" automatically. He's so polite.



There were lots of landscape pictures but it was really one of those "you had to be there" kind of places to really take in the beauty and scope of the surroundings.

If you don't mind being a temporary Cheesehead, head on over/down/up to Pleasant Valley Tree Farm in Wisconsin (I did not receive any compensation for this endorsement, I just really liked the place!). If you want, you can tell them Laura The Crazy Mama sent ya. I won't get anything out of the deal, except maybe bragging rights.

Next installment: Vincent's baptism

Lately (part 1)

My sister, Trine and I loaded up the kids into the van and rolled on over to Menomonie, WI to visit Anna. She is living at the home she will share with her hubs-to-be when they get married (in January). It's his house, but he is off to sea until right before the wedding. We miss him a lot but we had fun taking over his house for the weekend. I doubt that old house had that many little people in it since...well, maybe EVER! There were kids everywhere! We were completely freaked out by all of the steps but the kids were fairly careful the entire time. At the very end, I am the one who fell down the stairs (don't worry, I'm all better)! Anna worked very hard to paint and re-decorate the once-bachelor infested pad to a very beautiful, elegant house. It's probably over 100 years old and had been moved to it's current location. She did a LOT of work, all by herself and it turned out so nice.






Ignore my surly, apple-eating, oldest son and our mess we brought with us. I wish I had good pictures of the loft/office. It's just so perfect and cute.

That picture of the sailboat, above the mantel is actually a real picture of Matt! It's so cool how nautical themes are everywhere in the house (but not overwhelming or tacky). Anna even found some old Navy manuals (from Matt's grandpa, I think) that we had so much fun reading, out loud to each other. The "rules" of proper behavior for a Navy man were old fashioned sounding and classic.

Next, I'll post about our trip to the tree farm. I have so many awesome pictures, I wanted to save them all for their own post!

I also have pictures from our first trip of the year to the apple orchard, and of Vincent's baptism....to be continued...

Just A Reminder

I know there are a million, other things to think about right now. But this stood out for me when I caught the link from Antonia's blog:

(Excerpt:)

"In his letter, the bishop reaffirmed that priests from outside the parish cannot give conferences or lead retreats at the parish without written permission from his office and that no one can use parish facilities to promote the alleged apparitions or messages. The bishop specified that the pastor should ensure that Father Perutina stop offering comments on the messages Pavlovic claims to receive on the 25th of each month.

He also asked Father Vlasic to remove from the parish Web site all references to the parish and its church buildings as a shrine or sanctuary and to ban prayers allegedly dictated by Mary or suggested by her alleged messages from liturgies and prayer services inside the church, including public recitations of the rosary."

Sad News

Please, if you have time, visit my friend's site and give them a message of love and encouragement? They have stopped treatment and are leaving Michael's care in God's hands. He is in a lot of pain and they don't know how much time he has. They are trying to find some peace in their decision, but they don't want to lose their daddy/husband/brother/son. Please, pray for them today.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaeltalley

Someday

We'll go back to Guatemala. I was thinking about the hotel where our friend got married and looked it up.

Casa Santo Domingo

It had been an old cathedral and convent until there was a terrible earthquake (and flooding...due to a large amount of water in a crater lake in the nearby volcano) in the old Guatemala and the city got relocated to the current location. Antigua (old city) was inhabited for some time, then people started to filter back in. The old grounds of that place were a debris dump for several generations until a commercial enterprise decided to excavate and turn it into a hotel. At the same time, the antiquities department of the government worked with them to also do some work to restore/turn it into a museum. It was absolutely beautiful.

The only thing remaining of the cathedral was the big wall behind the altar, and partial side walls. We got to celebrate Mass there! The wedding Mass was "in" the old Cathedral where, instead of a roof, they had a sort of permanent tent thing above our heads, lots of flowing, white fabric draped far above our heads and around us, wrought iron candles high above on the ruins of the cathedral walls were lit up, too. You could see, on the floor, where the original pillars once stood. The altar pedestal (looks like a stone table, which is still there, in it's original spot, being used as a modern altar) had a small painting of the Virgin, still standing after the destruction of the cathedral. Go to this site and check out the history of the excavation and look at some of the pictures of the museum. It was amazing to see in real life. I can't believe I was actually there. I hope, someday, I can go again with my family.

Here's an excerpt:

"The city was founded as Santiago de Guatemala (Saint James of Guatemala) and was one of the most important Spanish cities of the New World. As seat of the Captaincy General of Guatemala between the years 1543 and 1773, it was the political, religious, economic and cultural center of the region comprised between Chiapas and Costa Rica. Because of the destructive 1773 earthquakes and the Royal Decrees of the same year, the capital was transferred to the Valle de la Ermita (Valley of the Hermitage) and was founded as La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción (The New Guatemala of the Assumption) and that is why the abandoned city was called “La Antigua Guatemala” (the Old Guatemala)."

Do You Sense A Theme?

These are all snaps of pictures Mom has on her walls. I didn't even go DOWNSTAIRS to see if there were more down there! There has always been a recurring theme of joy for life around Mom and Dad's house and it looks like it's a continuing theme with the next generation! My second younger brother, Pete and his wife, Nellie (Janel) had their 4th child, Vincent (or, as Tommy calls him "Sinsint") last month. One month later (exactly four weeks!), my youngest brother, Rudy and his girlfriend, Jess had their first (I say "first" for a reason, I'll elaborate more later) baby girl Madeline. She's only four days old today! We saw them all late yesterday at Mom and Dad's. Here are some pics of the first time we all got together after the babies came:

"Sinsint SO Big!"

Sr. B holding Vincent and Jess nursing Madeline


Mari, Weazy, Tommy ogling Madeline


Auntie Anna taking a snooze with Vincent


Papa and Madeline

Jess is a wonder of a new mom. I've never met anyone quite like her. She's joyous, lighthearted, giddy, tolerant, non-controversial, sensible, well-read, lovable and SMART!
I've really never met anyone who could, at the same time, be kind of scatterbrained and have all her ducks in a row? How could that be? I have NO IDEA, but she pulls it off with such grace, it has to be a God-given gift!

Really, it makes me cry to think about how God knew how much we needed Jess in our family right now. I love all of my sibs and their spouses, but (no pressure, Jess!) she is the shot of loveliness and grace this family has needed for months now. What could have been a polarizing, stressful time (the news of an unexpected pregnancy) has been a wonderful gift of love and togetherness that I was absolutely smacked across the face with (in a good way!). Never mind that their baby is gorgeous and wonderful, and healthy in every way and was wanted and loved from the moment of her creation...The fact that Rudy found Jess and that Jess decided to put up with HIM (hahaha) and become part of our family (even after meeting us?! GO FIGURE!?) by adding a new member and including us in every aspect of the baby's development has been such a refreshing shot of love to a family that was suffering a pretty sad loss, financial worries, and tension...
For a girl with no siblings, she has slipped her way, effortlessly into our very TIGHT KNIT family, and become part of our frenzied, crazy quilt pattern as though she's been here for years, or maybe had a place marked out for, and held for her from the beginning.
All I can say about all of that is that God is good and He's been watching out for us.
A new baby will do that to you, you know? A new baby (anybody's baby, but especially one that belongs to you in a special way) will show you the heart of God in their face and bring you closer to Him...in expected, and UNexpected ways.

We now have 20 cousins in the family (my sibs and I...with one more of mine on the way)

I'm so happy!

All Aboard

This time, it was a dream about a train. I've never considered the hobo life, but apparently, it's somewhere in my subconscious.

My sisters and I are just getting done with a huge train ride. We are in our old bedroom in the basement of my parent's house, discussing our adventures. We all agree that it was a mistake to ride on TOP of the train cars because of low bridges and rain. We laugh when we remember how we went on this clover leaf thing and how we got separated when we were playing "leap from car to car" that one time. My sisters are much more experienced train riders than I am and I am in doubt that I'll ever get as "into it" as they are. We start discussing family issues and I disagree with how they are handling a certain issue.

I have a lot of anger about something but my sisters are at peace. They had brought a person along on the train ride with whom I am super angry. They get all lovey-dovey and say good bye to that person but I am holding on to my rage. I want to call and chew that person out. I want to punch them in the face. With every nasty name I call that person, with every fault and sin I point out, my sisters laugh and say they are "over it and why can't you be?" I get angrier and louder. I know it won't do any good, but the anger is so that it's making my voice hoarse and my blood pressure rise. The most infuriating part is that my sisters are so calm.

I wake up with a dry throat and nausea.

I don't know if the nausea is because of the pregnancy, the thought of riding on trains, or the deeply sick feeling I get when I think about the person that is causing so much anger in the family.



On a totally unrelated note:

P.S. PLEASE pray for my long suffering friends. They just keep getting blow after blow and they need tons of prayers right now: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaeltalley

Jolly Trolls

...the nights of uncomfortable sleep, the crazy dreams, the waking to go fifty billion (okay, at least twice) times a night, the extreme fatigue then extreme wakefulness and anxiety...
of pregnancy.

If you didn't already hear, I'm all knocked up...again. Yup, it's my 9th pregnancy (two didn't make it the whole, nine months, but I think they do count so I'll include them here). Wowie, that sounds strange.

I don't know the due date yet but I DO know that I am only just a few weeks pregs so it's veryveryvery early and prayers are appreciated, always.

(Don't continue reading if hearing about other people's dreams bores you to death)

So, I woke up at 1:30 this morning (note the posting time). I completely crashed out around 10 pm, which is HIGHLY unusual for me. I vaguely remember telling Butch, as I gave in to the waves of sleepiness, "Crud, I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night and won't be able to sle..." then I started snoring.

I fully intended to just shut my eyes for a minute and then head downstairs to clean up and take care of business...of course, now that I'm WIDE AWAKE, I can't remember what that "business" is!

I had this dream:
I'm walking through an old, huge, series of barns with lots of spiderwebs. I'm with a group of really old dudes (that kind of look like trolls) and we are searching for something. We see a whole bunch of hundreds-of-years-old, trolly and train cars. We have to sort them out. It's like an archaeological "dig" but these old guys are in some way connected to this rail line. They are maybe old workers that have come back to help identify certain train parts? I am the only young one among them and I think it's ridiculous that "they" have made these poor, old dudes come to sort out this huge, rusty mess. I spy a chunk of metal that looks interesting. I find out that my great grandfather or some distant ancestor has a great deal to do with the invention of some of these machines. I am given a list, a LONG list, of patents the relative is responsible for and I can't believe my eyes! I am told that, if I help sort this stuff, I could keep whatever was pertinent to his inventing and that it could be worth millions of dollars. I start to dig through the stuff and find a big grouping of little, tiny, trolley cars (almost small enough for very small children) and I start to unload them to sort them out. The old dudes, with big smiles on their faces, start helping me. They clean off the machines, throw out any nasty things that have been festering on those things for all those years (could have been thousands of years for all the dust and junk on them) for me, and generally keep the mood light. I am sort of sad that all of this stuff has been neglected for so long so I start to get depressed. My sister, Katrina (who is rarely, if EVER in my dreams) notices a figurine in another pile. We both get very excited and ask the dudes to go check it out. She directs them to carefully separate what turns out to be a huge grouping of little figurines (like wooden puppets...I just read Pinoccio to Mari, in real life) kind of like a train set for kids. They are all hooked together but are all shapes and sizes. It reminds me of The Jolly Troll. (Man, I haven't thought of that place in YEARS! It was this goofy, tacky, buffet restaurant somewhere in the city. Dad used to take the family there for a special treat but it always kind of creeped us out. It had a whole bunch of fake houses lined up along the walls...we would go look in the windows of them to see the figurines while we were waiting for our food. The animatronic trolls were working and doing various troll duties like cobbling, baking, house making, etc...anyway), this chain of wooden characters could be cleaned off and set up, once again so we set out to separate it and make it nice for future use. We were getting very excited at our find but very grossed out at how oldie and dirty everything was and how much it was going to take to clean it all and get it in working order.

That's when I woke up with a TERRIBLE headache. I don't really ever get headaches so I know something is not right. I don't want to take anything but if I did, it would probably be 3 XS Tylenol, that's how bad it is.

I think I'm tired again. Gotta go before I fall asleep on the keybolskjdklv xccccc'''''''''m

Alternate Use For A Treadmill

Besides being a clothes hanger, a treadmill (apparently) can be a comfortable resting place for a tired soul:


(This was a totally remarkable event. Tommy NEVER sleeps anywhere besides his bed. A day after this picture, he got really sick with a fever and terrible ear infection. He's better now.)

We tried running last week and this week but each run was a strain because of the air quality. We'll try again, today but I'm not really counting on it being a satisfying or fruitful run...except in that we are, at least, trying.

This summer has been a weird one. We had one of the coldest Julys on record and now the humidity is almost unbearable. Just when it's time to don some summer clothes, you got outside for 2 minutes and you're panting and gasping and running back into the air conditioning. I sure am thankful for air conditioning!

How about this "health care reform" crapola? I can't not say something about it. All the hubub and opinions are dominating the news. Here's my .02.

We already have "insurance" for the "poor" (it's called medicare/medicaid, right?). Why don't we have a system for health insurance (for people who don't need to live off of the government and want more choices in health care) just like car insurance? Competitive pricing, better coverage, portability, etc. and if you don't want or need health insurance, how about posting pricing for care (like pricing at McDonalds...right above the receptionist's heads). THAT would take care of about 80 percent of the problem, right there!

OH NO! That would be too simple! The reps in D.C. would have less justification for their existence and three figure salaries.

Some Days...

...Don't you feel like the weight of the world is on your back?

Why I DO Do Facebook/Summer Fun

Heehee, I know, I know...I said I wasn't going to get involved in that thing. Sometimes, I just have to participate in a trend. I'll probably ditch it some day but for now, it's kind of fun and a nice way to stay in touch with the relatives. I don't accept everyone as a "friend" because I don't like the pressure of having people I barely know judging my every move...I have a BLOG for THAT hahahahaha!

I have been busy since the marathon getting things around here in order, doing a running program with Trina, going out with Butch to a wedding last Saturday, going out with the girls on Friday night, chatting with Regina on the phone and making her a super cool video that none of you other people will EVER see (I just wanted to prove to her that I do exist and I'm not some creepy, 70 year old perv or something, trying to draw her in with my friendly ways). We went to the zoo yesterday with my nieces and went shopping today for matching outfits too.

We have been working on things around the house, outside in the garden, and trying to find little, fun things to do locally. I try to visit with friends as often as I can but it's hard when everyone is on vacation.

Matty finished his baseball season with a great game where he played a lot as catcher and I was so proud of him. He's been having a good time making sniper stands and shooting off fireworks and his airsoft gun. He's kind of a pyro, but we still love him because he does the dishes.

Weazy and Matty get to go on vacation with Auntie Nina and Uncle Matt and fam in August and they are really looking forward to that!

Mari and Tommy like their rides in the bike trailer that our neighbors so generously gifted to us after their kids had outgrown it. I like the workout and they like the ride.

Butch has been working IN town almost this whole year! That will change this autumn though, I'm sure. You have to get work where you can find it, right? I'm kind of hoping he'll get some out of town work that is within MN so we can go on some mini-vacations with the kids. There is still a very big possibility that we'll be able to meet our friends in K.C. later this fall too!

We went to a parade on Sunday and I'd just like to say that I have never been so caught "in between" in my LIFE. The people to the right of us were super anal and we couldn't be good enough for them. It seemed we were in their way the ENTIRE TIME and the mothers kept shoving our kids out of their kid's ways until I was ready to punch them. The people on the LEFT of us were super obnoxious (like the ladies on the right thought WE were) and their kids were way too old to be running into the street in front of all of OUR special, way cuter kids. Ugh. It tried all of our patience and we just wanted to have a nice time at the parade with the kids. I am bringing a "parade kit" next time. Here's what it will contain:
1. A piece of chalk to mark out the 'safety zone' for our kids (which sucks but might eliminate any fussing from the righties out there)
2. Bags for candy and garbage.
3. Bandaids and wipeys for the scrapes they get diving for candy and scratched off mosquito bites.
4. A bullhorn for telling off the annoying people around us and getting the attention of the cops...just kidding.
5. A scissors for opening all of the freezies that people tossed at the kids. Those things are great on a hot day, but they are teeth wreckers, for sure.

Now for some PICTURES!

Mari, Weazy, Ani, Lexi in their funny, stripy pants


Trying to see the cool tractor through the lefties


Always fun to wave to the pretty princesses!






Love this poochy lipped, crazycurly haired alien!


The obligatory tribute to M.J....with more candy!




Perfect illustration of why we couldn't see anything! (LEFTIES! ARGGGGHH!)



(That last one there is just for Jordan!)



Perfect illustration of our perfect children being perfectly parade proper.


Butchie and I at the wedding. We will celebrate our 16 anniversary in a couple weeks!






Here is what Butch looked like before I went out with the girls (in the two pics above this one). I love that boy.


Here is a video I shot last month of the yard, I'll post a new picture of our garden now that it's HUGE with veggies and green goodness. We have fresh salad every day! You can hear the wind which is a daily issue. I love our yard. I love our house. We are very lucky to have it. I hope we can keep it for a good, long time. I'm going to try to freshen up the porch today with some new paint. I might paint the front door too...what color should I paint it? Right now it's a deep purple but I don't like that anymore. What do you think would look neat?


Latergaters, if you do facebook and want to be my friend, look for me "Laura Nielsen" and send a request. Sorry if I don't accept it but I'm pretty choosy and I need to really know you pretty well to put you on that list!