Melody's Shower

Last weekend, Grace and I were blessed to make a quick trip to TX. You see, my cousin, Melody, is expecting her first baby. She and Leo are already blessed with Kaela and Christian, and now they'll have one together, Mitchell. Months ago, Katie organized a family shower, with all of Melody's first cousins and an aunt as hostesses. Our daughters were also in on the planning. Because I knew I couldn't come to this even in TX without Grace, I resigned myself that I would not be able to attend because, although Jasen makes good money, it's not good enough for a $500+ weekend trip to TX for his girls! So my job for the shower was invites/RSVPs because I could do that from Charleston.

I got my part of the job done relatively early and then added a little input here and there. As the time got closer, I got depressed because Grace and I were not going to be there. Enter our "benefactor." Someone near and dear to our hearts offered to pay for Grace's ticket which solved the economic problem for the Graham girls. Two and a half weeks before the shower, we made our plane reservations and prepared to be in attendance at the shower. Thank you, sweet benefactor!

The weekend of the shower, the Graham family got up early to deliver the girls to the airport about 6 a.m. Grace then talked all the way to DFW, sleeping for 5 minutes (so she says), so excited we both nearly jumped out of our skin. One of us (I'll let you guess which!) from sheer exhaustion from listening to all the questions and comments. When we arrived in Dallas, my mom picked us up then we proceeded to drive all around north Lewisville looking for somewhere to get coffee. I took us darn near to Denton then realized that we should have been turning south at all those exits! Hey, I never actually lived in Lewisville and it's been a LONG time since I lived in Dallas!!

We had lunch and dinner with Katie and Clancey, then spent the night with them. The next day, it was GO-GO-GO until shower time. In the time before the shower we: got coffee/tea, went to the grocery store, got gas, drove to Weatherford (site of the shower), ate lunch with my dad/sisters/niece, visited with Emily, and decorated a HORRIBLE looking office room for the shower.

The youngest hostesses welcomed the guests.
That's my aunt, Pattie, who looked so pretty in that color of blue/green.
Melody and her hostesses. Front: Melody's Aunt Karen, Regan, Grace, Melody, and her cousin, Taylor. Back: Amy, me, Angie, Lindsay (Melody's cousin), Angela (Melody's sister-in-law) and Katie.
The prettiest hostess...

Finally, the shower began and it was so nice. Melody got a lot of good stuff and that evening, I went to her house to help her go through it all. Melody has been a great "extra" mom to Kaela and Christian. She's going to be a GREAT mom to Mitchell. Her nursery is precious!

That night, Grace and I stayed at Tommy and Pattie's house. I can't say enough about how calm/relaxed I feel at their house. And I love how their family of four (Tommy, Pattie, Melody and Jeremy) is so connected. I pray for that in our family of four. Anyway, we got to visit with them and my dad's cousin, Brenda. The next day, we tried to go to lunch with everyone, but I ended up with what I think was my first migraine. Not pretty and it ruined my last few hours in TX. But that's okay. The previous hours had been so good, I couldn't complain. The pain/nausea subsided before we got to the airport so that was convenient!

All in all, we had a great weekend. When Grace and I were on the way home, she looked at me and said, in all sincerity, "Our girl's weekend was great mom. We have great girls in our family." I couldn't agree more! Stay tuned for more on that!

Long Overdue

It seems like most of my posts lately are titled like this one. Sorry I've been so lax at updating!

Let's see, what has happened lately? There have been some fun things and lots of routine things. Of course, I spend a lot of time chauffeuring our young 'uns to school and back. Grace and Davis are still loving school. Jasen is busy at work, with a job change within The Citadel ROTC department looming. He finished his first graduate class and really enjoyed it.

Last week, Grace came home from school sick. For a day or so, I was concerned she had one of the dreaded versions of flu. She had a high fever, sore throat, and vomited, too. Yuck. So I got her into the doctor. Her tonsils were so swollen by then, I wondered if it wasn't strep throat. Surprise, surprise, it was! We got her some antibiotics and, within a day or two, she was feeling much, much better.

Which was good because we had a weekend visitor. My aunt, Pattie, came from TX to visit. We had such a good time! Pattie is so much fun to spend time with. We took her to Charles Towne Landing, Angel Oak, and Magnolia Plantation. At Magnolia, we took the "Nature Boat Tour" and got an idea of just how many alligators live in the marsh less than five miles from our house. It was a little alarming, really! Jasen and I had a lot of long chats with Pattie and loved every minute of them. We are so glad she came to see us!

Aunt Pattie in front of the house at Magnolia Plantation.
The kids cheesing for the camera with Aunt Pattie at Angel Oak.

Can you see the huge alligator in the marsh grass??? Yes, this would be a huge one, about 10 feet long. I am not kidding.

As if there is such a thing...here is a "small" 4 foot alligator.

By the way, the day before we were on this boat tour of the marsh, a golfer near Hilton Head, lost half of his arm when he bent down to pick up his golf ball from a pond on the golf course and a 'gator attacked him. I was a nervous wreck on this tour, because neither of our kids were happy unless they were hanging onto the rail. I kept asking them if they WANTED to fall in!!

This past Wednesday was the Grandparent's Day celebration at Davis' school. As much as I love those things, I hate it when they come around. Usually, they are smack-dab in the middle of the week with little chance of my kid's grandparents being able to make it. I have to watch myself from sliding into self-pity. (Mama Marlene's warning to my friend, Renee, that self-pity is a sin is quite helpful!)

Anyway, since neither Grandmama nor Grandad would be able to make it (I didn't even ask), I invited Miss Kathy from St. Andrew's Family Fitness Plus to come as Davis' special guest. Miss Kathy is one of the childcare workers there and has kept the kids for us at home, too. She has no kids of her own, but is very close to her nephew here in Chuck-Town. When I asked her if she'd be interested in coming, she was delighted and even left work to come. I was proud to escort her around and glad Davis had someone to wave at in the crowd. I was asked to help usher Davis' class into the sanctuary and then got to crouch on the stage to help with any escapees, shirt-raisers, criers, etc. My knees are still cursing me.

Here is Davis performing "Dial 9-1-1" which his class did in their classroom.


Davis showing Miss Kathy around his classroom.


Kathy and I got so tickled at Davis when he picked up this mop. He went crazy pretending to mop the floor. We decided he was showing off for us because Mrs. Clendaniel (Davis' teacher) said he is never that hyper.

Yesterday (Friday), I accompanied Grace's class on a field trip to downtown Charleston. I forgot just how fun those bus rides with 40+ kids and chaperones can be. I told Grace I might have to start feigning motion sickness (hey, I've had it in the past!) to get out of having to ride the bus!

Once we got downtown, we had a great time. Our tour guide was awesome and I even learned a few new things about Charleston. The weather was overcast and a little cooler than it had been recently, which was nice. It drizzled on us a little, but waited to start pouring rain until the tour was over. YEA! We got on the crowded, stuffy bus and headed back to Drayton Hall, where we ate our lunch in the classroom, then I brought Grace home with me.

We picked Davis up at his friend, Sophia's house. I had asked Sophia's mom, Allison, to keep him after school for a couple of hours, while I finished up the field trip with Grace. I am so grateful for her help! I was slightly concerned about Davis going to Sophia's house because he's never been really fond of Sophia. I am pretty sure I know why: Sophia is kind of like I was as a kid, she plays with the boys and can be a little rough. You would think Davis would be used to that because that's how Grace is, but I think Davis has trouble reconciling a girl his size being bossy and rough! When I told Sophia that Davis was coming to her house to eat and play, she said "Davis doesn't really like to play with me." Uh-oh!

However, when I went to pick up our boy, Allison said they had a great time. Davis even admitted it! woo-hoo!

Here is a picture of our little Bam-Bam. Davis can't ever remember that, so he calls himself Boom-Boom or Bom-Bom. Too funny!

After that, the kids and I went downtown to the big library, then headed home with an armful of books and DVDs. Jasen is at Fort Jackson this weekend with cadets, so it's just me and the kids this weekend. We watched "Homeward Bound" last night and will try to go see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" today. That's IF the kids can drag me away from the t.u./OU game! :)