Happy Mother's Day!

Mark and I took my Mom to Lombardo's for dinner on Mother's Day. The food was delicious. We had a wonderful time laughing and talking. Mark and Mom get along best when they are making fun of me. Nothing is better than being with the two people you love most and laughing at the same time.

Oh...Pandy and Sarah Belle had Mom buy a Mother's Day gift for me. They bought me a pink and white geranium and a beautiful card. Those two kids are so thoughtful. I have raised them well.

Vera Bradley Madness

Kim, Kim's mom-Sandy, and I survived our first "Vera Bradley Outlet Sale." We took off for Fort Wayne, Indiana this weekend. On Friday, we arrived at the venue in Fort Wayne. The line was out the door and around the side of the building. We waited about a half an hour outside and then another 30-45 minutes inside before we could get in to shop.

Inside, it was pure mayhem. Women and Vera Bradley purses, wallets, backpacks, towels, etc. filled the auditorium. At first look, it was overwhelming. We just looked at each other like, "Oh my!"

We decided to take it like women and we went in for the kill. We found so many awesome buys. Many things were half off or more. We found things for ourselves and early Christmas gifts for our friends and family.

After shopping for awhile, we decided to get in line to check out. That is where it got ugly. As you can tell by the second picture above, we had quite the wait to buy our "finds." It took us over two hours to stand in the line to check out. It was ridiculous, but we did it.

Once we left, we went and ate dinner at TGIF's and then headed back to our hotel. We stayed at a very nice hotel called Staybridge. I had never heard of it before, but it was comfortable and clean. When we got back to the hotel, we took inventory of our loot.

We headed back today. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed myself for the past two days. Kim and Sandy were great to travel with making me feel comfortable. I'm glad we went.

Next year when we go (yes, we are doing it again), we will no longer be rookies and we'll know what to expect. It was definitely an adventure I will never forget.

One weekend closer to summer vacation!

On Friday evening, we went and picked up Allie since she was going to spend the night. Her Young Author Conference was the next morning, so it was easier to have her stay over. Anyway, we went and ate at Red Lobster for dinner. Then we went to Aunt Audrey and Uncle Jack's with their groceries. We came home and Allie decided she wanted to do a craft. She ended up making a double page layout of herself and Sarah (at her request). We had such a wonderful time making those pages together. Allie is a very creative and artistic little girl taking her time with every little detail.

On Saturday morning, Lynn (Sarah's mom) and Brenda (Mark's step-mom) came over to go to the conference with us. After we registered Allie, we took her to the classroom where she was going to be with her group. Then we went to the auditorium for storytelling and presentation of awards. Each child had the title of their story read and received a certificate from the Regional Superintendent of Schools. After that, the kids went for a snack and then back to their classroom for an activity. Allie's teachers had them share their stories and make paint a flowerpot with marigolds. It turned out very cute. We left and Allie decided we would have lunch at McDonald's.

That evening, Mark and I went to a Chinese restaurant in Edwardsville which was really good and we ran to Michaels. Mark needed more scrapbooking stuff. Geesh! How much scrapbooking stuff can one guy have?

Today, I went and met Toni and Mindy (girlfriends from high school) at 54th in Edwardsville for lunch. Mindy is close to delivery and looks really good. Toni is busy running around chasing her boys. Once that was over, I went to St. Louis to eat dinner with Mary. We went to Pi in The Loop for pizza. It was rather yummy. I am so glad that we have reconnected because she is a sweetheart. We have so much in common as far as our old neighborhood, teaching, values, etc.

I'm looking forward to a four day week and a personal day on Friday. Only 19 more school days until break. Yeah!

Easter

On Sunday, we had Larry, Brenda, Jeff, Theresa, and my Mom over for lunch. We sat and talked and exchanged Easter treats. Mom gave me some tulips which are beautiful. She gave Mark a pirate hat with candy. There's a long story behind that. Don't ask. Dad and Brenda gave me a hydrangea which is gorgeous. It meant a lot to me that they remembered that I loved hydrangeas.

I had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard for the girls. Sarah Belle got the hang of it rather quickly. She would go from egg to egg playing with them. Pandy was no dummy either. She'd hunt an egg and Mark or Mom would crack them open for her.

Overall, Easter was very nice. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Macenzie and Allie had been there with us. Unfortunately, they were out-of-town in Louisiana with Maw Maw seeing family.

Spring Break Part 1

Well, spring break started off kind of rough. I left work at lunch on Wednesday for a doctor appointment. I had been coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose continually. So, I got in to the doctor and found out I had a sinus infection. They gave me some meds and they slowly but surely started to work.

On Thursday, I pretty much stayed in bed all day. Then Friday, I ventured out of the house. Mark was off work too, so he helped me to go to the grocery store and run various other errands for Easter Sunday. That evening, we went and met Larry (Mark's dad), Brenda (step-mom), Jeff, and Theresa for a "congratulations on your wedding" dinner. I still wasn't feeling up to par, so I just ate a salad and tried not to cough on everyone. Ha!

On Saturday, I took Mark to the Cardinal game for a belated birthday gift. It was AWESOME. We saw Albert Pujols hit a GRAND SLAM! It was very exciting. Neither one of us had ever seen a grand slam before, so it was quite memorable. Despite the cold, we still laughed a lot (Mark kept asking in the first inning if this was a playoff game for the World Series. He said it quite loudly so almost anybody could hear. LOL!).

What a great weekend!

I had a really nice weekend!

On Friday night, I met Mrs. Weber at the CK Scrapbook Convention in Collinsville immediately after school. We had a wonderful time finding all kinds of good "stuff." We found some real bargains too. We stayed at the convention until about 5:30 and then I took Mrs. Weber to dinner for her birthday (a little early). We went to Bandana's Barbecue and I gave her the present I had bought for her. I made her a basket with a cookbook inside of some of her favorite dishes. Then I bought all the ingredients for one of the dishes. She seemed to like it quite a bit. It made me feel good. I always have such a marvelous time with her. People like Mrs. Weber do not walk into your life everyday, so I value her friendship a lot.

On Saturday, I took the girls to get their hair done at a new groomer in Wood River. Their hair turned out really cute. It's a bit short, but it looks nice on them. Pandy will love the short cut for summer.

Then we had Maddox's fourth birthday party at Bounce. Maddox and his friends loved bouncing around in all the fun houses and playing. It almost made me wish I was a kid again, so I could play too. We bought him a tent (which I found out later that he and Teddy loved in the basement), Spiderman pack of goodies, and his three year old scrapbook. The scrapbook was more for Sherry than Maddox. Hopefully he'll appreciate them one day.

After the birthday party, we went to St. Louis to do a little shopping/errand running. We had dinner at P.F. Chang's near Chesterfield Mall. Mark was quite talkative and we had a sweet waitress, so we had a nice dinner. We talked and smiled pretty much throughout dinner. Being with Mark is unlike being with anyone else. He makes me feel so good no matter what. I am SO lucky that we became what we are. We are not only best friends, but we are in a relationship. I have never had that before. How lucky am I?

Today, went and saw Aunt Alicia for her birthday. I admire Aunt Alicia so much. She's 86 years old and she's as young today as she was years ago. Aunt Alicia has such a positive outlook on EVERYTHING. After giving her her presents, we had lunch that we picked up from Ravanelli's. It was quite yummy.

We made plans for me to come down and spend the night in May right after school lets out. I am looking forward to that. Spending time with Aunt Alicia is invaluable.

Well, I'm off to bed. It's a three day week. We have off this Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday for spring break. Thank goodness! I need some time away from work. I'm happy to have some much needed time off.

Family Birthday Party

We had the family birthday party this weekend for Pandy, Sarah Belle, and Mark. We had the friend party last weekend, so it was time for the family this weekend. Sherry and Maddox came too because she got sick last weekend and couldn't attend. Maddox was not a happy camper so she tried to make it up to him.

The Chestney's, Lang's, and Sebold's all came. My mom also came which was nice. It went really well. The food was fantastic and everyone seemed satisfied.

I liked watching Mom with Aunt Audrey and Uncle Jack. They all sat in the dining room and talked. The only part missing was Dad. It seemed as if he should have been sitting there with them. He would have thought a dog party was ridiculous yet he would have loved being with family.

Mark got many nice gifts from bike parts to a bike clock to gift cards to monogrammed towels. Yes, my cousin, Sue, is a floozie and will do anything to get to Mark. Monogrammed towels for goodness sakes! The extent that some people will go to is just ridiculous.