Abigail's First Communion

Yesterday was Abigail's First Communion. For those of you that don't know, second grade is when children in the Catholic Church receive their First Communion. The girls wear white dresses and veils. It was a very big deal for Abigail. Didn't she look beautiful?


We picked out her dress together about a month ago. The veil she wore was the same one that Mary and I wore when we did our First Communions 23 and 25 years ago, respectively.


I made sure I was able to be in a few pictures during the day...

We were very lucky that all the grandparents could be there for Abigail's special day!

I had a hard time deciding what to give Abigail as a gift for this day. Yesterday morning, I finally came with an idea. When I had my First Communion in second grade, my Grandma Dolly gave me her original engagement ring. The diamond had fallen out long ago so she had my birthstone (aquamarine) put in it before she gave it to me. I've had this ring all these years and I wore it on our wedding day as my "something blue." I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake for Abigail. I will hold onto it for a few years until she's a little older. Hopefully she can pass it on to her daughter someday...

Cute!

Do you know who this is?

My cousin Alison just sent me several pictures that she had.... Thanks Alison!

Mothers Day Tea

Today we went to the annual Mothers Day Tea at J.T.'s preschool. He was pretty excited to be there. Here's Grandma Pam, J.T., Grandma Becky (Ma), and Evan. Yep, Evan was there too since I watched him this morning. He tried to pull the tablecloth off the table and eat a paper plate. I forget how careful you have to be with a little guy at the table. It was fun though.

If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see J.T. holding my Mothers Day gift: a tile with a flower made with J.T.'s fingerprints for the petals. He was very proud of it!

Happy Birthday Pam!

We celebrated Pam's (Andy's mom) birthday last Sunday evening. I thought I had already put this on here, but apparently not... I guess I am losing it! Anyway, the kids had fun helping Grandma Pam blow out her candles...

J.T.'s had some major attitude lately... can you tell?

You don't see this everyday....

This is not a sight you see everyday... Andy wearing a suit, let alone leading his horse at the same time.... shhh, don't tell him this is here!

Storing phone numbers

I never thought about this.... very interesting.

A lady has changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... etc... was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says "I've just received your text asking about our PIN number and I've replied a little while ago."

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text "hubby" in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account. (I'm not sure you can withdraw all the money, but you can lose a chunk of change.)

Moral of the story: Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc... (only use real names). And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back. Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet "family and friends" who text you.

Good lesson here!

Just because...

I am having a bad day, I wanted to post this for myself and a couple friends that are having a tough time...

...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NIV

and also I think my all-time favorite...

Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace. Philippians 4:6

Ramblings about this weekend

It's been a good, but quiet, weekend. We needed that after this past week. I finally started to feel human on Saturday. Andy was gone from early Saturday morning through this evening. He went out to the hills to a friend's branding. The kids and I were here, and we didn't have one thing planned. That is a pretty rare occurrence on a weekend, these days. It was so nice.

On Friday night, I had a hard time going to sleep. My body has been a little off schedule from being sick, taking naps, and trying to get back on track. I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. watching several episodes of TLC's "What Not to Wear." Anyone else watch that show? I just love that show. Andy... well not so much. I took the opportunity to watch it since he was already asleep. For those of you that don't know, the show brings on one person (usually a woman) who is in desperate need of a fashion makeover (clothing, hair, makeup, etc). They make you bring in all your out-of-style clothing and throw it away. Then you get $5,000 to spend on new clothes that are age, size, and style appropriate for the person's body, job, etc. It's a great show because you can see such a transformation in the person's self-confidence once they have a new look.

Okay back to my weekend.... It really is amazing how much one can accomplish at home on a weekend. Yesterday, I got all caught up on the laundry, got all the toys cleaned up throughout the house (well that lasted for about 5 minutes), cleaned out some cupboards, got caught up in the office, watched the Nascar race, and a few other things.

Today, I took the kids to CCD (Sunday school), went grocery shopping, mowed the front lawn, did a little sewing (bet you didn't know I could do that), made a lasagna for tonight's family dinner, made the kids' lunches for tomorrow, put all the dishes away, and enjoyed the peace and quiet while the kids were at the grandparents (thank you sooo much Pam and Charlie!). I actually feel refreshed to start the week and I can't tell you how good that feels!

Hope you all had a good weekend too!

Prayers requested

My friend Shelley is requesting prayers for her dad who just found out his cancer came back... Here's a little more information from Shelley...

"The doctors are saying that it is inoperable this time, and to "not be optimistic," so the best thing we have going for us at this point is prayer.

Please add my dad to any prayer lists/chains/church bulletins that you are aware of. His name is Robert Reaves. He is a husband of 40 years, a father to two, and a grandpa to three. He is a huge part of my life, and my kids' lives, and I would greatly appreciate the prayer warriors out there to jump in and pray hard."



I appreciate your prayers for Shelley, her dad, and their family. Thanks.

Tough week

Sorry I haven't been around to post much. Not only did we have two memorial services this week, Andy and I were sicker than we've ever been. We think it was food poisoning because it came on so fast. I can't ever remember being that sick. I am feeling better but not at 100% yet. Andy seems to be feeling better too. Now I just need to catch up on stuff....