School and Stuff

Wow. Where did my baby go? Wow. Where did 3rd grade go? Bri is on the home stretch of 3rd grade. It is really crazy.

She looked so adorable for her spring and class photos a few weeks ago...

Aaaannnnddd, the recorder came home a few weeks ago. Not the most soothing instrument...

Bri was super excited when she was asked to a fun little school party in the library for completing a certain amount of book reports and for also completing a project. She said several kids from each class were asked to go. She got a cool hat, a free book and a poster...

Briana brought home her class stuffed mascot Captain Cook a few weeks ago and we turned in photos of our adventures. Bri and her friend ML made it onto the wall in the hallway outside her classroom (you can see her in the four corners of the pic)...

Gramma, Papa and I went to school to join Briana for lunch one day. We could also shop with her at the book fair.

Papa waiting for the kids to arrive for lunch...

 Bri loved spending time with Gramma and Papa...

Book fair! Bri got a few cool chapter books...

And Briana showed us that some of her artwork ended up on hallway walls once again. My girl loves art and I am so proud that her pictures are often chosen to be displayed...

She made the pizza tie...

She is still rocking the running club (she has a 5K on May 25)...

One day after school, Bri's friend Taylor came over to play some Minecraft. That seems to be one of the super popular games at school - along with one called Crossy Road...

And the 3rd grade went to the Science museum for their field trip a few days before spring break. They had a great time (blog post on that next)...

 So that is some of the school catch up. How am I going to have a daughter in 4th grade in just a few months? Makes me want to hyperventilate a bit!

And please say a little prayer for my sweet girl because the GA Milestones testing begins today (replacing the CRCT). This is the first year the test has been given and it won't actually count this year, but it is still going to be draining for Miss B over the next two weeks.

Another Farewell

Another sad farewell. I feel like we are saying goodbye to amazing people way too much lately. :(

 Bri's BFF Izzy and her family moved away to Florida a little over a week ago and we miss them so much already. Before they moved, we tried to get in as many play dates and get togethers as we could.

One afternoon, Izzy came over to play and the girls set up a whole "restaurant" in Bri's playroom...

Can you tell my kid loves Chinese food? Heh...

Doug, Bri and I met Izzy, her brother Christian and her mom Katie for bowling one Saturday afternoon...

The kids enjoyed the bowling, but I think they liked the air hockey and video games even better... 

Then we had Izzy over for a sleepover one weekend.

Pizza party picnic in the playroom...

The girls coming to "attack" me...

After hours of play and a late bedtime, the girls went right to sleep in the guest room...

Special sleepover breakfast ~ pancakes and fruit...

Katie and I even had a "girls night out sans kids" one evening. She took me to the shooting range - my very first time! I was quite nervous, but I did pretty dang good if I do say so myself. It was really fun...

And Bri was happy that Izzy made the school field trip (more on that in another blog post)...

 Then we had one last dinner with the crew a couple of nights before they headed out...

Cutest girls in the world...

 I know we will stay in touch with Izzy and her family via FB, e-mails and Facetime. And luckily they have family in town, so our paths will definitely cross again. But, we really miss them being right in the neighborhood.

Doug, Bri and I wish them all the best of luck in their new home in FL! It already sounds like they are settling in and enjoying their new surroundings!

Yeah - I Still Haven't Caught Up

Ugh - my poor blog. I have completely neglected it.

I was already falling behind with my blogging before the loss of my friend Carole, and then Carole's passing really made me not feel like blogging. So, I've fallen even more behind. It's hard to blog about fun, happy stuff when you aren't all that happy.

I did go away to Miami and Ft Lauderdale for spring break last week with Doug and Bri (just got home yesterday - Monday). It was a much needed happy boost for me. I showed Bri where I used to live and strolled down memory lane. I visited with friends and family. It was kind of therapeutic. It was an ambitious trip for us because we fit in a lot into just a few days. We are pretty pooped now. Back to reality for sure today.

And with the one billion photos I took on vacation (ok, I'm exaggerating - slightly), now I really really really have a lot to blog about. It's quite overwhelming actually.

I'm going to have to tackle this slowly. I will probably be blogging about things in May that I did in March. Whatareyougonnado?

And to top things off, the night between Carole's service (which was extremely difficult and sad but beautiful) and the start of our vacation, Briana slipped in the shower and badly sliced her finger. She always takes a shower in the large glass shower of my bathroom. I heard her fall and then her cry. And then she kept yelling "Help me mommy!" Some of the scariest words for a parent to hear. I'm still not sure why she slipped, but I think she may have used too much soap that night and made the floor slippery. I thought she might have busted her leg or her bottom. I didn't expect to see blood gushing from her middle finger. She said she sliced it on the metal door handle. I think she was trying to brace herself from falling and sliced her hand on the metal handle instead as she fell. It was really bad. The minute I looked, I knew it was deep and needed stitches.

I had to break that news to my cold, naked, wet and shivering 8 year old as I dressed her to go to urgent care. She cried and cried - from pain and being scared. She kept sobbing, "I don't want stitches. I don't want stitches." It tore my heart out.

She had to get two shots in her hand to numb it and she cried really hard during that. But, she never tried to get up, run away or hide her hand - she just did what she had to. She was really brave and I'm so proud of her. Once she was numb, she calmed and she got three stitches. She only started to cry again when the doctor told her no swimming (and she knew we were going to swim a lot on spring break). I privately told her we would make it work somehow and not to worry. Which we totally did - thanks to surgical gloves and keeping her hand out of the water as best as we could - heh.

 We finally got a huge smile from her when the nurse left for a minute and returned with a cute stuffed bear for her for being so brave...

She got on the plane for FL the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for vacation. What a trooper.

So things have been eventful around here to say the least.

I think I'll try to tackle another blog post tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Happy Easter/Passover & A Birthday Wish

This has been a super holiday weekend for our family. We celebrate Easter and Passover, and my mom's birthday has landed on Easter this year as well!

Completely full I tell you!

Briana and her cousins want to wish you all a very Happy Easter and Happy Passover!!

And a very Happy Birthday to my amazing mom!!! May all your birthday wishes come true!

Hope everyone is having a very special weekend!

And just so you know, the Easter Bunny did make it to our house last night!!

Trying To Accept It

I'm trying to find a new normal. I don't like it, but I have to try. Carole would not want me to sit around sulking all day. She would keep moving on and carrying on. She had a lot of loss in her life, and she carried on every time she lost someone. I witnessed her do it a number of times. I'll take her lead and try to do the same thing.

It's hard. Everything I have done over the past week from movies to dinners to errands ~ it keeps running through my head that she isn't here anymore. It's like a sad replay and I can't get it to stop.

I know time will heal my sadness a bit. Not completely, but a bit.

Carole's service is on Monday. I think I am ready for it, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. It's time to say that final goodbye.

She went away too young. She went too quickly. She had a lot she still wanted to do. It's hard not to be angry that she's not here anymore.

But for her, I will carry on. And I will keep praying for her family - they really need extra prayers right now.

I am going to try to catch up with my blogging now. I am so behind - weeks worth of things I want to write down. It's going to take a while to get it all posted. Over the next few days, I will be doing a lot of catch up.