we should be 60

Last week, my dad Eric pretty much surprised me and told me to go to Bowling Green! Yay!! He is on break for a week or so, and knew how much I have been missing Gretchen. So, Saturday, I packed a bag and headed to good ol' KY!!

You wouldn't believe the warm reception I received!!!
Paul was so excited to see me!!! Ha! So, we started out with what we do best...a self portrait...

and some SHOPPING! Gretchen had a few things on the agenda. Look for a cardigan for Easter, go to Victoria's Secret, and of course, we had to eat. We stopped in New York & Co and met our new BFF. I don't know what her name was...oops...but she was hi-larious!

She was bluntly honest with Gretchen on what looked good, and what didn't! We were cracking up!!

Okay, so there's something you need to know about Gretchen. She has NO CLUE where she is at any given time. She is very directionally challenged! {Love you!!} Victoria's Secret was holding something for her and we had to make our way back there. She swore that it was next to Macy's. I know I have only been to the BG mall TWICE, but I thought it was next to Penney's. She pretty much told me I was wrong and she was positive it was by Macy's.

Don't ever take her word for it! Proof positive. ;)

We did more shopping, tried on cute hats & sunglasses, and then wanted to go back and "rest" before dinner. Yes, we are in our 60's.

So, we got back to the homestead and did what any two bestie's do. Checked our Draw Something games.

And, thing #2 you should know about G. Drawing isn't a strong point for her. If you get a picture like this, she probably didn't do it! Ha! She handed the Ipad to Paul a lot and said, "Draw this..." Love them! :)

Oh, and we also got a twirling show from Hopie. ;)

Before we went to dinner, we asked Paul to take a good pic of us. Pshaw. Men are useless.

FINALLY.

Headed out for a fave....Mexican! Mmmmm. Oh, did I mention we went to dinner at 4:30? Yes, reason #2 that we should be in our 60's. (In my defense, it was 5:30 my time!)

After dinner, we settled in to watch the game. I really wanted U of L to win, but it was a great game!!! Gretchen was good to me. I wasn't feeling the greatest, so she loaded me up on cough drops and some hot chocolate. We ended up going to bed at 9:30. Reason #3....blah! ;)

We got up and went to church and then ate at RYAN'S after church. ROCK ON! I love me some Ryan's!!!

Then it was time for me to head back home. Sniff, sniff. One more good pic for the road! Thanks Paul for not complaining! ;)

Thanks, G, for a fun 24 hours! I love it that we can hang out, do a little of this and a little of that and still have a blast!

six pack

Friday night, we got together with some friends and the next morning, I had jaw pain. You know...the kind of pain you get when you laugh so much, it hurts! And, not just the normal "oh that was funny!" laugh, but the kind of laugh where you throw your head back, open your mouth but no sounds come out so you start slapping the table! Good times! :)))

This is Matt & Melanie. One third of the group we affectionately refer to as the six pack.
In college, and right after college {before kiddos!}, there were six of us who were pretty tight and spent most of our waking hours together. That's back when you could stay up till three a.m. and sleep all day. ;)

This is Josh & Janna. Hilarious peeps! I was trying to get a good "couple" pic of each of us. But, Josh doesn't know how to be serious. Insert Exhibit A photo.

We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse and it was sooo yummy!! I'm pretty sure there were people asking NOT to be seated near us because we were so loud and crazy from our "Remember the time..." stories! Insert Exhibit B photo of Josh not being serious...

Okay, so all my blog readers would loved to have been a fly on the wall because I'm pretty sure most of my embarrassing moments were retold...again. Yes, even the time I pooped my pants at Kings Island. Sigh...

After dinner, we headed back to Josh & Janna's for some dessert and M.O.R.E. story telling.

These guys told every story in their memory all night long!

And we were in stitches!!!

Then, it was time. Time for the beloved Hoosiers to play ball!!! We all retired to the couch and waited patiently for the game to start. Melanie had to sit outside on the porch because she is a UK fan. ;) Seriously, though, what a GREAT game! So proud of IU and the way they hung in there till the end! Shew! Good game.

We did end up leaving earlier than expected because Levi was having a rough night with the storms. Poor guy. He is still petrified of rain, clouds that look weird or dark, and of course, thunder and lightning. I'm praying for better days ahead for him, and lots of other kiddos! :) But, what a great evening with great friends! Until the next time... :)

some things i want to remember

There are several things that have happened this week that I definitely want to remember!

I was sitting in choir on Thursday and get this picture via text.

Yes, that is Eric and he made the news in Bowling Green!! Too funny! Gretchen said she and Paul kept pausing and rewinding the tv to see if it was really him. She saw him hug one of the teachers and tell Levi something. I told her that he will be signing autographs next time she is in town. :)

There have been so many kind people such wonderful things for the kids at HES! Really they are getting kind of spoiled!! ;) Kidding! I mentioned before that a church donated all new backpacks & school supplies for them. Someone else gave each child a Hornet stuffed animal with an H on it. The first day back to school, the staff of GBC blew bubbles for them as they stepped off the buses. And, yesterday, kids from another school delivered cookies with these little cards attached.I've been blown away at the kindness surrounding us!

A Henryville teacher dropped this by our house after school yesterday for Levi. He found it in the hallway at the old school.I was very proud of myself and did not break out in the ugly cry in front of him!! Oh how I wanted to! I told him how much we appreciated it and when I politely shut the door, I ran to the bathroom for a tissue and cried for the 8,294th time. Oy. Such the sap!

The last thing is this little Mickey Mouse.

We were playing downstairs this week and Maggie wandered into the other room. She was quiet for a long time and then she walked out with this Mickey. I had never seen it. Come to find out, she found Levi's backpack which had been untouched since the day of the tornadoes. I didn't even realize that we had never gone through his backpack! He told me he had gotten Mickey out of the Magic Apple that day for Maggie because he knew how much she liked him. What a sweet child! I've gotten so many things lately that I want to just wrap up and store away in a treasure box. So thankful! :-)

good, good day !!

I tried to keep busy yesterday picking up, nappingcleaning, and doing laundry while Levi was back in school. I was really excited to hear how his day went. When he got off the bus, I asked how his new school was and he said, "Mom, it was awesome!" JOY.JOY.JOY. I knew that he would be fine. I wasn't worried that he would not like it, but when you hear that they are truly HaPpY, it is just a joy that overwhelms a momma! Bonus, they didn't have to partake in the state wide tornado drill. Shew!!! A little huggie time after school...
Levi talked all afternoon and evening about his friends, his teachers, their classroom, and more. It is like his whole day was bottled up and he just exploded. :-)

After dinner, Jami and the boys came over to hang out.

I think both of her boys got injured at my house. Oy.

Levi & Cooper tried the teeter totter and when Levi sat down, Cooper went flying! :(

Then, Cameron fell on the concrete and scraped his knee. Call CPS now.

But, it was a beautiful evening and really fun to hang with our friends! :-)

And, you know what makes boo boo's all better??? ICE CREAM!

Lots of ice cream!

Especially chocolate ice cream!!! Mmmmm

Oh, and some goldfish. :-)

Such a fun evening!! Here's to many more nights of playing outside. Yay! Loving this weather! Today, this momma is just really thankful. Thankful for friends, thankful for our community and everything they have done for our children, and thankful for my babies! ;)

nervous momma

This morning, we had to wake up to the alarm clock again! Levi jumped right up and said, "I've got to get up early today!" He took a shower and was very excited to get back to school. I know I have said it before, but I love it that he loves school. :-)

Last night, when I checked on Levi, I saw this beside the bed. It isn't written very dark, but it is precious. It says "I love my cousins by Levi". So sweet!!

So, here we are....bright and early and ready for school! I am frigging a little nervous this morning because today is a STATE WIDE TORNADO DRILL. Yes, there will be two times that all the sirens will go off. Oy. My Dad told me last week that it was planned for today, which happens to be their first day back to school. Poor kids and teachers! Several areas got the okay to be exempt from the drill but since the kids will actually be in a different county, they will still have the drill.

Yesterday was an open house at our church, which is where Levi will be going to school until their school is rebuilt. They passed out brand new backpacks for each child that contained a notebook, a pencil box full of new supplies and a stuffed animal. How sweet is that???!!! Levi was excited because "someone knew he liked green" {that's what color his notebook is}.

I will be anxiously waiting for 3 o'clock to get here so I can hear all about his first day...tornado drill and all! :/

Oh, and just because she is so honkin' cute! Mags and her chocolate milkshake.

first day of school...again!

I feel like the past week has been a blur! I'm not used to having Eric home with us {sad, right?!! ha!} and he was home all weekend long. It was really great, but I kind of forgot about capturing everything on the ol' camera. Bad blogger. We did a LOT of playing outside. It was really great!

I did manage to get this shot...
We were at my parent's house Friday night and my dad broke out the riding toys. Oh my stars. He put Maggie on one and I started to protest "She's too little!", but I just let him do his thing and she had a B.L.A.S.T. I say "she" had a blast because I was too busy trying to keep her from going down the hill. She had no clue how to steer it in the right direction...too funny!

Last night, I went to a community meeting where they were giving us some information about Levi's school. I did find out that he officially starts school Wednesday! YAY!! He has really missed his friends and teachers. I am very excited for him to get back into the swing of things. We are still hopeful that he won't have to make these days up this summer. The superintendent said that as soon as the high school is back in session, he would apply for the waiver. We shall see...!! :) For now, we are SUPER excited about the first day of school...again! Tomorrow I will be nervous and excited, counting the minutes until he is home again!

sammy the seal

Sunday night, I was getting ready to lay my head on the pillow. It was about 11:30. I heard a cry and thought, "Uh oh...!" {Maggie has had a nasty little cold since Friday.} I went in to check on her and she had a fever and wasn't a happy camper! Thank goodness for Ibuprofen. She slept all night but was super fussy the next morning. The mom in me knew it was her ears. :( Eric took her to the doctor for me and sure enough, she had an ear infection! But, on top of that, she was wheezing and they put her on breathing treatments. Insert picture of Sammy the Seal.
How cute is that??! Her little breathing machine is a seal. She calls it a dog, but, whatever makes her happy. Ha!

She has done so well with her treatments! I just adore her. Levi sits right beside her and "helps" keep her calm. She is feeling much better and we were able to retire Sammy tonight. Yay!

Speaking of tonight...how gorgeous is this weather?! We played outside and my nose got sunburned!!! That is crazy! I do have a funny little story to share about Levi. After we played outside, he had a nose bleed. He got pretty upset about it and I tried to assure him that it was something that happened to other kids, too. After he calmed down and his nose stopped bleeding, he said, "Mom, I have to tell you something." He told me that he was pretty sure he knows why his nose started bleeding. I asked him why and he said that when we were outside and he dropped some Skittles, he ate a red one off the ground after I had told him not to. Silly boy!!! He cracks me up! :-)