The Stork Cometh

Oh yes, the stork is coming and he is bringing us a gift! We are going to be grandparents again! Our son, Tuff and his girlfriend, K are expecting and their due date...a week before my birthday... :D

My heart is singing to meet this new little person!!!

Humor between siblings

My brother and I have some of the funniest text conversations I have ever had, and most likely ever will have, with anyone and, for this reason, I am wanting to note one of these conversations mainly for my own nostalgia but, if you manage to get a chuckle out of my brother and I...that is a good thing too.

I get random, bizzare messages from him and they usually snowball between the two of us. Here is the most recent example; I would also like to point out that this particular scenerio began at 8:01 am: (S represents him and M will represent me)
S: NOOOOOOORM
M: Cliff? Cliff Claven is that you??
S: Ouch
M Maybe it's Sam...I can't see from here
S: Diane
M: Shudder
M: Carla?
S: Random space filler sitting at back table pretending to talk
M: Some creep hitting on Carla and ending up face down on bar, witty banter...laugh track resounds...
S: Random legs walking past the upstairs window
M: Cliff deciding he knows who it is and telling everyone the history of how shoes were invented
S: Sam trying to get blond to go home with him getting shut down so resorts to trying for Diane
M: Diane, feeling like sloppy seconds, runs out of bar crying hysterically about not being appreciated...blah blah....camera pans left....Carla is seeing grinning like cheshire cat...end scene
S: Credits roll
M: Everyone goes to bed because it is a school night
S: with a flashlight to read comic
M: with head completely under blankets so parents don't see light...
S: yet they knoew and you get a crappy school lunch in the morning as punishment
M: Klik with cod liver oil pills and a prune juice juicebox
S: If you squeeze them {the cod liver oil capsules...note added by me for clarification} over the fridge you don't taste it {this is what we used to do because our dad got us to have cod liver oil capsules daily}
M: So I have heard...just don't give dad a reason to look up and find evidence
S: Then stop beating up your brother
M: It was the one who shall remain unnamed...it wasn't me...enter Shaggy to sing his song
S: Could have beat me on the counter. Wasn't me. Chipped my tooth on the fridge...wasn't me
M: LOL...you are funny
     Look at the other sister...it wasn't me...I'd have never hit ya...it wasn't me...

This is just a sample of our dialogue from that day...this part began at 8:01 am and ended at 9:13 am...it continued until 3:02 pm and just got more random and more bizzare. BigDaddy thinks we are strange but...I am so glad I have a brother I can be silly with still even at the ages of thirthysomethingnolongerchildren years old....

Ramblings of a married single-mom

I heard you..."say what!", you all say... what kind of oxymoronical mumbo jumbo is this girl spewing...?  I know; I know...but it is true...this past week and almost every second week for the last 3 1/2 years (once 7 weeks in a row) I was and will continue to be a married single-mom...in that I am married but am singular in the parenting...my husband goes to the end of the earth...ok, you got me, the end of our province...the top end...where internet is a concept and cell towers are tree tops...and communication is zilch...

Some people think it is difficult and, at first, it is...not having that extra set of hands but who am I kidding, he is never home even when he is here (he is, after all, an incredibly "important" person) and i  have gotten into a groove of sorts. Now I am "used" to his being gone (I enjoy the break) but find that the biggest hindrance for the kids and I is I need to be cloned...studying, basketball games, drum lessons, work, cleaning, cooking meals...I need a clone.....Ha ha ha

Thankfully, my children are old enough to help with throwing a load of laundry in and folding it...it may not be folded the way I would do it but it is folded and they have helped and that, my friends, is what is important to me. They are not limited to helping out with laundry...that was just an example that was in the forefront of my brain given that I have a mini mount laundruvious in the midst of activation in my basement as I type.

Having a meal plan has helped - only a lot...and I do admit to the Tuesday work until 4 pm, basketball game until 5 pm, drum lessons at 6:30 pm McDonalds run for supper...I am not ashamed...there is no 'S' on my chest...weeks that B.D. is gone we tend to eat a lot of things like grilled cheese, tomato soup, toads-in-a-hole...

But do you know what has really helped...not expecting as much...I have lowered my expectations...If we go to bed at night and there is still a growling mess in the kitchen I have learned to be ok with that...it will be cleaned when we get home the next day or in the morning before school/work...

The biggest thing though is the kids and I work together...we will routinely have mini meetings to say "ok, this is what needs done and by when and how are we breaking this up?". We also make sure that we make time to just have snuggle time with each other. I know it is hard on my kids when their dad is gone...extra snuggle time eases that burden for them ever so slightly...

Anyway, these are simply the ramblings of a married single-mom for today...

Train Whistles Blowing Create a Long, Lonely Sound

I have, over time and circumstances, allowed wedges to be driven between me and my children. I have had expectations put on me and if I don't meet them, I find myself in the midst of hours long lectures and drug into meeting after meeting at "the church" to modify my behaviour. Being continually beat down like that caused me to put up walls with everyone, including my kids, and I held them close but at just enough of a distance that they weren't pulled in as close as they could have been. (I'm just being transparent here). As a mom, there have been hurts and I think I just shoved them down and smiled like all was well...all while holding my children close enough that they knew how much I love them but not close enough that I could be hurt by them to the most possible depths. (not entirely logical is it?)

I know I need to soften those walls. I need my babies as much as they need me...I'm just completely afraid of facing the rejection again...

Tonight, I lay down on the top of Bug's blankets as he struggled to sleep and began to rub his forehead. The instant I began to rub his forehead, I began to sing some of the songs my children loved to hear when I would tuck them in. I cried as I struggled to remember the words to one of those songs, as I thought of lost moments...

The thing with revelation is you have a choice...stay where you have been or move to where you should be. I choose to move to where I should be...to lessen the gap that I have put between my children and I.

Do you know how I started?

"Train whistles blowing
Make a sleepy noise
Underneath their blankets,
Go all the girls and boys
Rocking, roling, riding
Out along the bay
All bound for morning town
Many miles away
Somewhere there is sunshine
Somewhere there is day
Somewhere there's a morning town
Many miles away
Jellybean's at the engine
Rush rings the bell
Bug swings the lantern
To show that all is well
Somewhere there is sunshine
Somewhere there is day
Somewhere there's a morning town
Many miles away"

We made the song ours by inserting our names...and tonight, I made it ours again...somewhere there is sunshine and I found that place the moment I let the son shine on that darkness and fill it with transcendent light!

Today's fond memory

brought to you in part by Scrabble and Pictionary...

My husband despises board games...loathes them even and so, it is an extremely rare event that we happen to play one as a family - very rare indeed.

As a child, I played Scrabble with my granny as often as I could. She would pull out her worn and well utilized Scrabble board, a worn down pencil (usually sharpened with a paring knife), a piece of looseleaf, neatly folded and a dictionary for challenges and we would play and laugh and snack. We both won. Granny with points and me, well, I won because I loved the time I was able to have spent with her, looking into her sparkling blue eyes full of love and mercy.

Fast forward several years to a life of children of my own and I think to some of the rare moments P.B., Jay and I convinced B.D. to play a rousing game of Pictionary with us.  The giggles, the tears from laughing so incredibly hard at our drawng or lack thereof and our guessing and lack thereof...

Simple acts. Great memories with my kiddos...

(This post is not endorsed by Scrabble nor Pictionary as they don't know me from Adam; these are simply the games my memories are associated with. That is all. GRIN)

I'd like to kiss

Yeppers, you heard me. I'd like to k.i..s.s... keep it simple silly...

I've thought a lot about simple living...

not in the trendy sort of way...just simple.

Typing this, I am looking at my bedroom and I see clutter on my dresser, on my night stand, on B.D.'s dresser and nightstand and a whole heap of clothes on my side of the floor that are screaming to be folded and put away. I have not had time... I am certain there are clothes in that heap that I would probably never remember I had should they disappear. I am also certain that in the midst of the dresser clutter are items I have forgotten we have.

What does this mean? Well, a few things. It means
1. I have too many clothes.
2. If I don't know I have it and I need it I will probably go buy another and waste money purchasing something I all ready own.
3. I have not made it an importance to care for these items
4. My children have too many clothes (thankful for hand-me-downs but I could always donate the excess)
5. I am wasting time doing laundry on clothes that may or may not have been worn or simply because of the volume of clothing period.

What does this mean?
1. I need to sort through our belongs, organizing as I go.
2. I need to have an idea of what my children, myself, and B.D. need to keep for clothes (let's say a list as to what our ideal wardrobes would be) to know what needs to be donated, tossed, folded/hung up or purchased.

What would it feel/look like when this happens?
Nirvana? Euphoric? Perhaps.

Aside from school, working on achieving what I stated in my last post about legacies and all the other things I do need to do in life...this is one of the things I will be whittling away at...bit by bit...it will be a process but, every step forward is a step forward, right?

I think I shall begin with the clothes situation...and then, perhaps, toys...I wish for our home to be a place of serenity and peace for us and those that happen to cross the threshold into our lives. I see the chaotic state of our lives in just about every area of our home (closets, cupboards, pantries, even our fridge). It is time to K.I.S.S it goodbye!

I'll leave a legacy

I have been thinking a lot about legacies lately, since Wednesday to be exact, and about how we will all leave one when we die. (Why the heavy thought process? My dear uncle, who has been battling with cancer, passed away at 5:20 pm on Wed April 4 and the legacy he left...well, I will get into that later.)

It doesn't matter what we do, good or bad, we will leave a legacy behind. Dictionary.com defines legacy, in part, as "anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor".

What will my legacy be? How will I live my life that my character, actions, courage, heart, or lack there of will be the memory, the character that my children, grandchildren know me as?

My grandfather has a legacy, as does my grandmother, of nobel character, strong work uethic and immense love...a legacy my children, who have never met them, have heard and learned through stories and memories from numerous family members.  My uncle, who just passed away, has left a legacy, to me, and I am certain others, of a man who, inspite of terrible odds, inspite of a death sentence being placed on his shoulders, never stopped fighting, never gave up his will to live and, while he still had the strength to do so, never quit working. He did not outwardly mope about his fate but grabbed hold of moments. He didn't say "I only have so long to live"; he simply grabbed hold of his family and lived1 - fishing, golfing, laughing, hugging, enjoying...

We live in a day and age where technology and self-importance takes precident over quality time, over relationships. We feel wo important hearing a notification come in that someone has responded to our senseless or silly facebook status, or alarming us to an email or text to the point where I see fathers and mothers interupt hugs or family dinners to check, with baited breath, that they are needed, important or noticed - all while dismissing the one on their lap, at their side, or their dinner table who thinks they are all those things and more.

Will my children remember me as someone who made them feel important or as someone who got a lot of texts or spent a lot of time on my computer? Will they remember me as I do my grandparents, as I think of my father or other key people in my life (especially my childhood)? (Ironic that I empty my thought process about this on my laptop. don't you think?)

Technology, while great in aspects, is robbing us of relationship, of ability to communicate with those that are closest to us. Yes, it has given us the ability to correspond so much easier with people we love who aren't so near (in my case, to keep in touch with my dear cousins in Norway or Italy and to keep up with the incredible tales my cousin writes here or. personally, here. It also helps me to keep in touch with you all and make new and dear friends but, should it take priority over snuggling with a child wrapped in a fuzzy blanket learning all about giant squids or sharing a playground story or classroom antics or even something as simple as a walk along the river, watching the ice break up and sharing a peanut butter sandwich - uniterrupted by the buzzes, dings, song alerts and chirps our phones, bluetooths (teeth ? grin) make - reminding us of our importance to the world.

Odd that my ramblings would sway this way when I began on the thoughts of legacy but, perhaps, it is because I long for my children to remember me (moments, laughter, connections) and not a mom whose connections where wireless or wired-in and I certainly don't wish for them to remember me with fondness of words like, "Ah, Mom, yeah, remember how she was always on her phone or computer? Remember how quick she was to respond to texts or to stop doing what she was to run and check her email? Yeah, those were the days.". 

 Instead, I want to be remembered in ways I remember those people special to me: sitting in the warmth of the sun beside my granny, tipping and tailing beans talking about everything and nothing but just being, uninterrupted, beside her; going for walks with my grandpa and being so tired he had to carry me home; sitting as a pre-teen in the same chair as my dad and having it tip over, us stranded, legs swinging in the air attempting to resuce ourselves while laughing too hard to succeed...lazy days in the summer heat, laying on a blanket, a border collie cross laying across my back watching lady bugs scurry and birds fly listening to the sounds of my hard-working father and grandfather in the field, checking the time every so often so I knew when the moment was right to get my horse to take lunch and drinks out to them and sit between them basking in the love I have for them and they for me as they smelled like sweat, dust, gas, wheat and tractor...

My cell phone and my computers (yes, computers) all have power buttons, silence options and I have the ability to ignore. I know I do, I opted to use that option far too often with my dad when I was a teenager. I opt to use those options again. Yes, the world has changed since my childhood and some of those memories are not probable for my children to have of  theirs but they can be similar inspite of their differences...the feelings, the security, the warmth, the love...

My legacy will not be of one tied to an outside world as though it were my lifeline. My legacy will be one of family and love and mercy and relationships as though they were my lifelines because they truly are...I will use technology as my tool not as though I am ruled by it. Exercise is good for you and so, I encourage you to exercise your right to power off your technology or to excerise your ignore option in order to create unwavering bonds with the ones who are right in front of you...technology has its place, let's remember to keep it there as a tool for us to use as we need it...

Joy, joy, unspeakable joy...

My kids....




....that is all.

Where'd my little girls go?

****WARNING****   *****WARNING**** TOO MUCH INFO ALERT ****WARNING****

The following post contains girly information that some may find embarassing, offensive or too much information... You have been warned.


Today I lost my little girl. She threw a ginormous grin at me as she jumped out of the car this morning, hobbling her sprained ankled self into the school, ready to spend the day at the ski lodge gliding down the hill watching her friends roll down the hill as she stayed safe and warm in the lodge mending a bad sprain from yesterday's Pirate Tag...

Pirate Tag... yesterday, a young girl, carefree...between Barbies and ponies and nail polish and hairdo's.

She asked me, last night, if she could sleep in my bed with me - a heartbroken little girl who needed her mama to snuggle her through the disappointment of not getting to participate in, what would have been, her first ski trip ever.  So, we snuggled...she slept in the bed with much comfort and room and I slept with a size 7 foot nestled, ever so lovingly, against my cheek... {Grin}...my baby girl...

Upon picking the kids up from their friends' house (I had no idea I was suddenly in the presence of a young woman), a quiet, somewhat embarassed voice (because her little brother was in the car with us) whispered  "Mom, I think I got my thing..."

A quiet metamorphasis transpired in the blink of an eye. My baby girl, on the edge of awkward teenagehood, became a young lady on the edge of girlhood...a beautiful, rare, genuine, passionate, kind, awkward with an inner grace, merciful, compassionate, intense, loving young lady.

Where has time gone? In the blink of an eye, Jellybean has gone from a pudgy-cheeked baby to a ladybug loving toddler to a gangly pre-teen with a heart of gold and a desire and zest for a life full of life and hope...a toddler who, due to verbal apraxia, could speak only a handful of awkward (sometimes made up words) to a young lady who can captivate an audience or a hard-hearted gang member with her words and electrifying personality.

I don't put this out on the "interweb" to one day embarass Jellybean but to, one, mark time; two, share with other moms that open discussion with your girls (even boys) about the facts of life, of what to expect in life/from life and they will come to you with their questions, their concerns instead of going to their friends and other sources to get their information. Create moments and opportunities to build trust and foundations with your children that you become their go to person, that they know you will be open, upfront and honest with them in, of course, age appropriate ways.

I have spoken, in some manner or another, to each and every one of my children with open-ended conversations about every aspect of life and growing up. If they have a question, I will never dismiss it; I will answer it as best as I can  in the most age-appropriate manner I can.  There have been times I have said something along the lines of there being more to it but, that at their age, that is all that needed to know for right now until they were a little older or more mature and they honor that...

Because of that, Jellybean feels that she is able to come to me as she discovers things that shock her about growing up - people she knows turning "emo", cutting, friends with eating disorders and I talk to her about my experiences, share with her honestly, don't dismiss her...if she doesn't have the knowledge, hear the experiences, hear the truth as I see it and discuss with me the topics as she formulates her opinions of what she wants for her life based on  these topics, she gets lead, blindly by her peers. Do I really want her peers formulating her morals, her ideaology of what is right and wrong, her theology...?

Talk with your children...not to them...not at them...talk with them. Communicate. Interact. Engage. Make and take time for...

So far away

On Christmas Day my cell phone rang and my heart leapt to see that it was my dear cousin, Svein, calling. It was this time last year that he became a real part of my life...not just a name and picture of a small boy with his two brothers. He became someone I have come to love very dearly and to hear his voice on Christmas Day was a lovely sound to my ears (and to my heart).

On a sidenote: how long does this scraggly, mop-head phase last on boys...I liked when we "had" to get his hair cut every 3 weeks...he is still cute and all but a little scruffy, no?

Since my last post

There has been a concussion, a change of schools (not due to the concussion), a "could have been broken" sprained ankle that is preventing Jellybean from participating in her volleyball team for about 3 weeks, oh a volleyball team acceptance, a new trumpet player added to the school band, a new drumming student added to Mr Dean's music students, 2 new children added to the Saturday morning swim lessons and a gigantic family potluck planned for when my cousin, Svein comes to visit us this weekend, from Italy.

We also have a real ugly leak in our main floor ceiling that is irritating me and yet, somehow not getting fixed. Me thinks we need to remind the maintenance people...

So speaking of Italy and Svein and family and eating...mmmm eating... {kidding}

In 1 1/2 days (that's two sleeps, people!) I am going to the airport to pick up my cousin and meet him face-to-face for the first time ever! Pretty freakin' stoked about it - pardon my strong wording. :D

We are having the afore mentioned family potluck, letting him drink Canadian beer (this is a special request), perhaps taking him to buy a cowboy hat, he will see my my grandparents homestead and their gravesites and learn as much Canadian culture as he can in 4 days...

Jam packed!

And that being said, I am on my way. Laundry needs done. Grey hairs need covering and a "could have been broken ankle" is needing iced and elevated because I have no way of knowing how to keep that energetic one still for long, duct tape may be needed. {grin}  Oh and a lovely sign to take to the airport saying "Welcome Svein. Yes, this is your crazy family" in Norwegian is needing to be made...

I promise pictures as soon as he leaves. We have 4 days and I am not going to spend any of that time on a computer.  I know you all understand! :D

Big sigh of relief

Yes, three weeks into school and the routine of things is getting back to being normal. There are new things on our routine. New school schedule, new work schedule, new schedule of being home/away for B.D., drum lessons, swim lessons, a pay schedule for Jellybean.

Yes, she is watching her brother for the hour between the end of the school day and the end of my work day.  I am not about to ask her to do it for nothing but, given that she is a part of the family and is helping the family out by doing it, she is getting paid cheaply but it is "a lot of money" for someone her age - according to her. 

I like routine and that is why Fall usually brings me comfort.  You can rely on your meal plan because the weather will, 99% of the time, cooperate with your meal plan.  You can rely on Tuesday evenings being drum lessons so a quick easy supper is needed and Saturdays being swim lessons right after lunch so an early, lighter lunch is required and a planned snack brought for the car ride home.

I love Summer, very much but, I find by the end of it I have lost all motivation for meal plans, cleaning schedules, and have all but lost control on the ins and outs of running a smooth household.

This year has brought new challenges with schooling,  New school. New school system. New dynamic of children and new mindsets of children at the school.  Jellybean is experiencing racism and I think, although not substantiated yet, that that is the root of the issue with Bug being beaten up 3 times (that I know of) since the beginning of the year.  The biggest challenge for this mama is to not run to the school and feed the guilty boy to his parents on a nice platter and to just keep in contact with teachers and principal and documenting EVERYTHING... Ev-ery-thing...even if it is miniscule by itself to take to principals and school boards, if needed.  I have pictures of bruises and cuts and scrapes at the ready should this become a pattern and not a simple growing pain of getting to know a new school, the new kid and a bunch of new students who all ready have a natural order to their friendships.

It is also hard doing it without B.D. because I am doing this all alone but I am learning to adapt.  He has been gone 4-5 weeks out of the last 6 and will be gone the next 2 on top of it. I'm used to it though....it doesn't bring any more help when he is here.

So, here I am BIG sigh of relief escaping my lips as I sit, realizing routine and normalcy is beginning to settle into the walls of this house again...although we are a bit on the excited side with a countdown going to the day my cousin, Svein, comes to visit from Italy!  The countdown is at 16 days!

A glimpse of a world outside her own

2 months and 19 days before she turns 11, Jellybean has experienced something I wish no one ever had to experience...ever. It is a hard lesson and not something easily processed but Jellybean has experienced her first bout of racism.  There is no such thing as prejudice in this house; I am a bunch of different nationalities and races. Some of our best friends are, we have been told, different races. Yes, it has been pointed out to us. I see people for their heart, that is what matters and that is the attitude we have taught to and marinated our children in.

Today, Jellybean's heart broke because a young friend of hers as decided that Jellybean is no longer her friend because Jellybean is white.  She doesn't understand, and I know nobody does, the mindset of racism.

I explained to her that she is always to remain nice to this young lady, to offer a smile and to pray for her. I also told her that she does not want to be friends with someone who judges anyone based on skin color.

I am new at this and so, I am requesting your help, your advice...anything else I can tell her, anything else I can do when/if there are future events

My Head has been Spinning

I know a lot of times I come back from a blogging sabbatical by saying how life has just been busy, and it has, but this sabbatical has been more about shock and grief.  My dad began dating, and married, a lady 20-some years ago. The majority of my life.  A couple weeks ago she chose to walk out of my dad's, and our, life. 

There has been a lot of grieving over what was, over what we thought was, over what never was and what never will be.

My biological mom, emotionally left us when I was 8. I am not going to go into the details of how or why, because I will not speak ill of her; she just did. When I was 13 years old, she chose to leave our home for good and our relationship has never been a true mother/daughter relationship since.  I fell in love with my step-mom as a mother figure, knowing that there were things that weren't perfect in that, seeing that there were differences in relationship between her kids and "his kids". I turned blind eyes to it because in my heart I just really wanted a "mom".

There have been, as in every relationship, little things that added up to become a giant, out of control ball of rolling goop. I am not going to say it was heavy handed on one side or the other because it takes two to dance, right? That being said, I have now seen two moms walk out of my life.

You may say something like "that doesn't have to be" and that's what I said too but circumstances and her words/actions have dictated that, no, it does have to be.  A choice has been made.

In the last two weeks I have cried more than I care to admit. My whole life one of my biggest desires is to have a relationship with a mom; even as a woman in my 30s, I desire that relationship, to have "those talks", those lunches, those moments... I pray that will come.

Because I grew up on a farm that's why!

"Mom, why do you like to catch frogs like boys? Girls aren't supposed to like catchin' frogs..."

We had a lot of fun in the midst of watching/playing a soccer game the other day. We caught frogs and gave them Spanish names. I don't know why they had to be Spanish. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time...because it was funny and made the kids laugh.

I will follow on the path after you

A couple weeks ago we celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of my aunt and uncles! What an example of love and of what marriage should be! So thankful to have them in my life!

Top picture: Making sure he was cutting straight lines in the cake...humor is one of the keys to this dynamic marriage!

Bottom picture: smooching is another key...{grin}

Thank you, Auntie & Uncle for being so in love with each other and being such an excellent example to us of what love is and of what it looks like!  I love you!!!!

To capture a moment

We recently discovered that one of my uncles is very sick. He has just been diagnosed with aggressive stage 4 double lung cancer... Not good.  The good part is that he still has strength, right now, to enjoy his family.  A couple days ago he started his second round of chemo and has just now begun to lose his hair.

Knowing this, his children, who were all together for a rare moment this past couple weeks, decided that we should take a day and get some family pictures while Uncle still has enough strength to do so.

It was such an honor for me that they asked me to do the photographing.  It was a beautiful day, complete with being with my family and sharing time and a nice meal with them.

I loves me this boy!

Time sure flies

when you're having fun!

When I met this beautiful young lady she was just a baby; she would snuggle with me and giggle. She wrapped me around her tiny little finger. I have watched her grow from a squishy cheeked baby to an absolutely gorgeous young lady with an amazing sense of humor! I wish we could spend more time with you...know that we love you to pieces!

Crazy, fun-loving girl!

Happy 14th bday, BabyK!!!! (July 28th)

They say it's your birthday...

...ok, ok...I promise you I will not sing!  It's just...it's just that I {sniff} practiced and {sniffle} worked really hard and...nah, just kidding!

Anyway, back to the birthday thing.

Today just happens to be a very special day for my dear Rush. Today she turns 18 years old.  Holy guacamole, Batman! Did you say 18?!?! Yes, I sure did! 18 years old. She said on facebook "Well, it's official. I am old." Pardon me my dear but I am double your age so what does that make me... ha ha ha...

We had a wonderful birthday outdoor bbq for her on Monday (for my American friends, that means 'grill' not real bbq). What was on the menu for an 18 year old's meal of choice? Steaks - medium rare, stuffed potatoes, salad, multi-grain bread with asiago and artichoke spread and angel food cake with strawberries and strawberry icecream.  Yumalicious.

Once I got home I realized that I didn't get a single picture of me with my girl but I did get some shots...

My beautiful 18 year old girl! What a delight you are! I am so thankful our relationship is growing stronger and stronger, that you feel you can call me and talk, that we laugh and have fun again. My heart is full of so much joy. I love you baby!