Independence Day

For everyone that lives in South Carolina and don't have plans for the 4th of July, let me suggest the Torchlight Tattoo at Fort Jackson. They put on quite a ceremony and definitely in keeping with the spirit of Independence Day. Tom and I went to it for our first 4th of July together and then we moved to Louisiana and now that we have moved back, it is our favorite thing to do for the 4th. Here is some information on it, in case you are interested:

Torchlight Tattoo 2006 Set

Fort Jackson, S.C. – Fort Jackson’s annual celebration of America’s independence, the “Torchlight Tattoo” is scheduled for Monday, July 3, 2006 at Hilton Field.
This years’ formal ceremony begins at 8:30 p.m. and features a cannon salute to each state and territory of the United States, music by the 282nd Army “Victory” Band, and a 30-minute fireworks display.

The tattoo is deeply rooted in military history and signifies the time of the musical call for civilian establishments to turn off the taps, and for soldiers to make their torch-lit walk back to their encampments to retire for the evening. In this usage, the word tattoo comes from the Dutch “doe den taptoe” meaning “to turn off the taps.”

Fort Jackson’s neighbors are invited to share in the evening’s festivities, and should plan to arrive early for the best seats and parking. Non-DOD registered vehicles should enter post through Gate 4 (Percival/Boyden Arbor Rd.) or
Gate 5 (Leesburg Rd.) and follow signs, directions and parking instructions given by traffic control personnel. Gate 1 and 2 access will be strictly limited to DOD-registered vehicles.

Food and drink concessions will be available at Hilton Field starting at 5 p.m. Pets, alcoholic beverages, and personal fireworks are not permitted. Guests can bring lawn chairs and blankets, but plenty of bleacher and main grandstand seating will be available this year.

The evening’s festivities will conclude at approximately 10:30 p.m. On leaving Hilton Field guests should pay close attention to departure directions as traffic routes to the various gates will be tightly controlled and once on a specific gate route there will be no means to take a different route. For more information call (803) 751-1742.

I think the photography talent runs in the family

Tom's daddy has a real talent for photography and we all know Jenny and Jessica do. Well it seems Brittanie is developing a flare for it also. She loves photography.

Brittanie took Katie outside to play and they were playing with bubbles and Brittanie saw it as a photo op. So she came in and grabbed my camera. Check out these pictures. The last one Brittanie thought would look good in black and white so she changed it to black and white and though I'm not at all a fan of black and white pictures, I have to say, it looks good.

Buyer beware!

A month and a half ago, our microwave that we had for 12 years died and we went to Wal-Mart and bought an Emerson 1.1 cubic foot 1100 watt microwave. Well this morning, it died. We were quite unhappy because we paid over $80 for that thing (with taxes) and it didn't even last two months. Katie saw that I was NOT happy and you know drama queens....they make a mountain out of a mole hill. She said "Oh we're never gonna eat again!" I told her of course we are going to eat again. We will just heat stuff another way until we get a new microwave. I also told her to PLEASE not tell anybody that we will never eat again because we don't have a microwave. That makes it sound like all I feed her is microwave junk! lol But the moral of this story....stay away from this microwave!! Unfortunately, we had thrown away the box and receipt so we couldn't even return it. Tom ran to Fred's this afternoon and bought a Sharp microwave that is 1.4 cubic foot and 1100 watts and it was $10 cheaper than the Emerson. Now we just pray this one lasts longer than the Emerson. But this time, we kept the box and receipt!

By the way, Katie isn't just a drama queen, she is a smart mouth too. Today, that smart mouth got her in trouble. She was screaming for no apparent reason and Tom told her to stop screaming and she said "Read my lips, poo poo head." Needless to say, that didn't go over well. lol Where does she come up with that stuff???

She's back at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few days because the election run off is Tuesday. Oh! By the way, that reminds me....Brittanie drove down to Hampton County with Joe Wilson's gang to pass out stickers at the Watermelon Festival parade. Unfortunately, that place was loaded with democrats so it wasn't the friendliest place to pass out stickers but she had a good time.....as good of a time as you can have walking 3.5 miles in 100 degree heat and then turning around and going back to your car that same 3.5 miles. But I'm proud of her for getting involved in the political process. I want her to realize the importance of electing good people and Joe Wilson is one of the best!! Anyway, everybody in South Carolina, don't forget to vote Tuesday in the runoff!!

Oops!

Tom started to trim his goatee this morning and didn't check the setting and shaved a couple of streaks to nothing before he realized it. So he ended up having to shave it all off. When Katie saw his face clean shaven she said "Daddy! You look like Grandpa!" LOL Here's the after picture.

Katie's got her daddy's rhythm

Katie LOVES the movie "Big Fat Liar." At the end of the movie, they play music and Katie likes to get up and dance to the music. Unfortunately, she has her daddy's sense of rhythm. It is so funny to watch her dance that today I grabbed the camera and took pictures of her dancing.

Tom is home!!

Tom's flight got in at 9:15 last night. I got there at 8:50 and was driving around until that time. I was running low on gas and decided to park and wait for him to call me. Well I forgot that Tom never learned my cell phone number. I called home at 9:30 and asked Brittanie if her dad had called because he wasn't in yet. Well I decided to go get gas so I could ride around some more. When I passed again, he still wasn't outside. Well evidently he had just went inside to call me. Needless to say, he was a little warm when I finally picked him up.....after waiting 40 minutes. Blame it on the Taliban because had they not bombed the towers, I would have been able to park against the airport and he would have seen me immediately. (Sounding like a democrat blaming everyone but myself. LOL) But he got over that soon enough and was thrilled to be home. We cooked jambalaya from scratch for him. He ate a little bit but his stomach was still on Ireland time so to him, he was eating at 3am....even though it was only 10pm. He unpacked our souvenirs and we gave him his Father's Day gift.....a Carolina Panthers steering wheel cover. He bought Brittanie a stuffed bear that said "Ireland" on it....Brittanie collects teddy bears. He bought Katie this cool sheep purse. He said he saw LOTS of sheep while in Ireland so he just had to get that for her. She loves it. He bought me a snow globe with sheep on it. I collect snow globes. It is so cute. He bought Randy a hat with "Ireland" on the front and an Irish flag on the side. And he bought Brittanie's best friend, Miranda, a shot glass that has Ireland on the front and then a clear circle above the word "Ireland" and you can see the Irish flag through the circle. Miranda collects shot glasses and I think she is going to love this one!!

We slept until 11am this morning. It is so wonderful having him home. This morning he got up and told us some stories. He really likes the staff in Ireland. He said one of the engineers there, named Mark, kept them laughing and he really liked him. He was telling us the police there have no guns. Can you imagine??? That's like a security guard. They went to the dog track in Donegal and he brought back the program. There is an ad in the program that says "Lifford Greyhound Stadium. We don't mind children, we expect parents to!" I LOVE that!! I think I am going to make a sign like that for our house. That would offend liberal Americans who prefer to let their kids run wild and make us put up with it. I'm not a liberal American and thought it was great! He also told us about him getting an extra search in London. Guess they thought he looked like a Taliban or something. LOL But he carried that heavy laptop around so much yesterday that last night he had striped bruises on his shoulder from the strap.

But we love having him home!! We didn't tell Katie he was coming home last night. I went by myself to pick him up and when I got home, I came in first then he walked in. Katie was in the playroom and Tom stood at the door of her playroom, not saying anything, just looking at her. She turned around with arms full of toys, saw him and dropped everyone of them and ran up and hugged his leg. He stooped down to give her a hug and she said "Oh daddy I missed you!" It was soooooo sweet! She was stuck to him like glue the rest of the night and even today!

So that's our update. I have a tracker on my blog and noticed that I had loyal readers checking several times today waiting for an update so I thought I better get one done. Can't keep my fans waiting. hehehe

Tom comes home today....YAY!!!!

Well as I'm typing this, Tom is on plane headed for the US. We are so excited! He won't be home until almost 9pm tonight. I can't wait!

Katie is still sick. Monday night, I put her to bed at 8pm since she didn't have a nap that day and she woke up at 11pm and wouldn't go back to sleep. I was going to type all night but with her up and hyper all night, I gave up around 4am and made her get in bed with me and she finally went to sleep but was back up at 9am. So I took her to her pediatrician Tuesday afternoon and she gave her an antibiotic shot. She slept all the way home from Lexington and then for two hours after we got home. When she got up, she felt much better. When I put her to bed for the night, she went right to sleep. Hopefully she will be improved tremendously by the time Tom gets home. She has taken it harder than Brittanie and I that Tom isn't home. I didn't tell her he was coming home tonight....mainly because I don't want her asking me all day long when he is going to be here. But I also wanted him to surprise her.

Well that's the update today. Have a good day yall!

New addition to the family.

Brittanie has been wanting a hamster since she was 10. Well now she has her own money and bought one at the flea market this weekend. I have to admit, he is a cutie. I had two hamsters when I was in high school and loved them. Anyway, she named him “Randy” after her boyfriend. Now she has two pets upstairs…Randy and Little Eddie, which is her red eared slider turtle that she has had for two years. But she knows to keep it upstairs because Tom doesn’t like hamsters…or rodents of any kind. But here are a couple of pictures of Randy and Little Eddie.

More Ireland pictures!

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you....that's Tom wearing a jacket! It must be 40 below??? I thought that's the only temperature in which Tom would wear a jacket. In most of the pictures taken, Tom's eyes are closed. Brittanie has always done that. For her kindergarten graduation pictures, the photographer took 3 pictures and her eyes were closed in all of them. We went back and she took 30 pictures and all but one had her eyes closed. I think it is the vampire in them....they hate the light. hehehe But even though Tom has his eyes closed in this one, it is a good picture of Rod, so I wanted to post it.

Tom and Rod took more pictures this weekend and uploaded them. I am only going to put my favorites of Tom and Rod on here. The rest you can click the links to see the gallery.This looks like it was taken on a ferry/boat of some sort...but I could be wrong.Tom doesn't like water so he left the boat riding to Rod. I love boat riding. It looks like it was fun though!!

Remember, you can click on any of the pictures on this page to make them larger. Anyway, here are the links to the rest of the photos.

Link 1: Sightseeing

Link 2: These are pictures of Letterkenny, which is where they are staying

we are in the home stretch!!

3 days left and counting!! Can you tell we are anxious for Tom to come home. Katie is so pitiful. When I put her in bed at night, which is Tom's job because he does the airplane with her EVERY night, she says "momma, I miss daddy." I tell her I know, we all miss daddy but he will be home soon. She isn't feeling well either and that makes it worse because unlike Brittanie, who always wanted me...sick or healthy, Katie wants her daddy....even when she is sick. It hurt my feelings the first few times she was sick and I would be holding her when Tom got home from work and as soon as she saw him, she got off of me and went to him. But it is something I have come to accept....she just prefers him, just like Brittanie prefers me. They love us both but everybody has favorites.

Tom and Rod went sightseeing yesterday and took some pictures but as of this posting they aren't in the gallery yet. But as soon as Tom sends me the URL, I'll post it. I did get in trouble for warning the two pranksters in MIS about the mustard. You guys owe me because they seriously were going to get ya!

Brittanie took Katie to the doctor (which is not her regular pediatrician) for me Friday so I could type. I wrote out a whole sheet about her allergies and intolerances to certain medications, what meds she was taking, and what her symptoms were. I even requested that since Katie has such a hard time with oral antibiotics that he give her a shot of Rocephin and something for congestion. Evidently, he is stupid because he gave her one of the antibiotics I told him gives her severe GI problems and told Brittanie "hopefully she has grown out of it." What a moron. Both of my girls have a hard time with antibiotics messing up their stomach. Oh and by the way, he didn't give her anything for congestion. So basically, I could have kept her home and saved that $20 copay and had the same affect. Brittanie had dropped off the prescription at Walgreens before she told me what the moron gave her. So I called Walgreens and told them not to fill it. The pharmacist at Walgreens was so helpful!! I asked her to get Katie something for congestion. I didn't know what because she was already taking Triaminic and Dallergy and they weren't helping what she has now. She sent home Dimetapp and Robitussin and Katie is getting much better! She is still running a low grade temp of 99. If she is still running that by Monday, I will take her to her pediatrician myself and make sure she gets that shot. Good doctors are so hard to find! I wish my doctor saw kids because she would be going to him.

By the way, I saw a guy on the Today show doing some funny dancing and they mentioned a video clip of him on the internet that was the most downloaded clip to date. Well today, I came across the video and it is too funny!! You have to see it! The 80's dances in it really made me laugh because that's my generation but I didn't think we looked that silly at the time. lol Evolution of Dance

I LOVED the Cotton eyed Joe dance at the end. That the ringer on my cell phone. I love the song but the dance is too funny!!

Katie's sick

Katie has come down with whatever Grandma and Grandpa had. She started running fever last night so we are taking her to the doctor today. Normally when a child is sick, it is miserable for everyone in the house. Not with Katie. She is the sweetest little thing when she has fever. She is so calm....not hyper like usual. So other than jumping up with tissues everytime she sneezes, it is not bad at all having her home sick.

Tom didn't call me yesterday. He was having trouble getting in touch with the Gaston plant today so he called me to see if the phone lines in Gaston were down or something and told me that he had a migraine last night and went back to the hotel at 6:30pm and didn't wake up until 7am. I hate it when he has headaches like that. He has medicine he can take to prevent them but he doesn't take it. Men are so stubborn!!! Anyway, we are counting down the days. He will be home Wednesday night and we are so excited!! This morning, Katie was laying in the bed with me and told me that Daddy is taking too long to come home and he needs to come home NOW. I know women that would love to get rid of their husbands for a couple of weeks. I'm definitely not one of them. I feel like part of me is missing when he isn't here. 5 more days!! I can't wait!!

Update on Tom

I haven't updated in a couple of days because of the election. I'm a poll manager for Gaston District #2 so Monday I had to get the machines and Tuesday was a LONG day. I was only able to talk to Tom for a short while Monday because he was exhausted and Tuesday they were having problems getting calls through to the US....plus I was at the polls until 8pm.....which is 1am in Ireland. But I talked to him today and he said he and Rod worked really late yesterday and because of that all of the restaurants were closed when they left work. So they went by a store and got sandwich stuff. They bought a tube of English Mustard because it was small and inexpensive and that's all they really needed. When they got back to the hotel, they made their sandwiches and Rod took a bite of his first. Tom said he made a face like a little kid would make when they ate spinach for the first time. Tom thought he was exaggerating so he bit into his and he quickly realized Rod wasn't exaggerating with the face he was making. He said the mustard tasted like gasoline or turpentine. He said it made like fumes up your nose. hahaha He said there are things that he won't eat but he can understand other people liking....like sweet potatoes. But he said he can't imagine ANYONE wanting to eat that mustard. I can't wait till he gets home with it so we can check it out. (By the way, let that be a warning to the two pranksters in MIS....he's bringing it home!!)

Tom's parents kept Katie for me so I could do my election stuff and they had her from Sunday afternoon until tonight (Wednesday). She came back with a new shirt (Grandma loves buying clothes for her granddaughters....always has!) and telling me what a great time she had. That's nothing new because she LOVES going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I really appreciated them keeping for me. It made it so much easier for me to get all of my election stuff done without having to worry about what she was getting into when I wasn't looking. They take her to Chuck E. Cheese's just about everytime they have her because they know how much she LOVES it! This time was no exception. She had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese's. She also enjoyed herself at their house, riding the golf cart, petting the dogs next door, and just spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. My girls are lucky to have grandparents who love them so much!!

Tom in Ireland.....day 7

Tom worked some today and did a little bit of sight seeing but forgot the camera. I'm a little fuzzy on the time frames but he and Rod did have a meal with the other Ireland guy that was in Orangeburg training but are now home. His name is Dermott (I believe that is how you spell it?) . When they were down here, Tom mentioned how much he liked Dermott because he was so talkative and outgoing. John and Dermott and their wives have really opened their homes to Tom and Rod and made them feel welcome in Ireland. These ladies obviously are good cooks too because he has told me how delicious their food was. But just like John, Dermott has a beautiful baby girl. Dermott's baby is about a year and a half old and reportedly doesn't like men....other than her daddy. Well she warmed up to Tom. They were quite surprised that she took such a liking to Tom. That doesn't surprise me. Children always love Tom. Tom is a wonderful father. He gets that from his dad. My father-in-law is a wonderful father, grandfather, and father-in-law. My girls have always adored my father-in-law from day one. I can't tell you how many children over the years have become attached to Tom. For you guys that work with Tom and are reading this, bet you didn't know that about him, huh? He seems so gruff and "matter of fact" but there is definitely another side to him and that's the side that he shows us at home and kids also get to see.

Anyway, I'm hoping he gets recipes from John and Dermott's wife so I can cook that stuff. He loved it and it sounds delicious! The funniest thing he said today was that everyone drinks either coffee or hot tea after meals. Well Tom doesn't like coffee. He kinda wanted to try the hot tea but he was afraid of looking "girly" because you know in America, drinking hot tea is a woman thang. Well when Dermott's wife offered them coffee or tea after their meal and Dermott said he would like tea, Tom accepted tea too. He figured if Dermott drinks it, it isn't girly. hehehe But I still had to pick at him about it.....wondering if he lifted his pinky. hehehe I miss giving him a hard time!

They are planning on going back to the same place they went today and will take pictures then. I'll post more pictures as I get them!

By the way, you Zeus guys....if I'm spelling Dermott's name wrong, please let me know so I can correct it. Just email me at MrsTallTomm@tuxyturvy.com.

Tom in Ireland....day 6

Here is Tom and Rod in front of a beautiful lighthouse. Is that a beautiful backdrop for this picture or what???

Tom went sightseeing Saturday in northern Ireland. They took pictures and uploaded them to Tom's gallery. There are 124 pictures. So instead of putting all of them on here, which would take forever, I'm just going to give you guys the link so you can check it out. Here is the link.

If you click on the first thumbnail, it will get bigger and then you can scroll through the rest as bigger pictures. I love his gallery feature. He is going to have to set one up for me. By the way, if you are looking for a digital camera and you like these pictures, it was taken by Rod's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. He liked his camera so at Christmas time I bought one too and I LOVE mine.

They went to a McIlhenny Castle. Anyone recognize that name? I'll give you a hint.....That's right! It's the same family. If I'm not mistaken, I think Tom told me the the McIlhenny son left the castle and went to Louisiana and created Tabasco! Is that cool or what? I can't imagine growing up without Tabasco. It is like a religion in Louisiana. (By the way, this picture wasn't taken in Ireland. Brittanie took this picture when they toured the Tabasco plant over spring break this year. That bottle is a computer. That's Tom next to it. To give you a perspective on how tall it is....Tom is 6ft 2in.)

He said one of the guys from Ireland that came here to train, John, took them sightseeing with his wife and 4-month-old daughter. Tom had told me before he left that John was a nice guy. He has met his wife now and thinks the same of her. He couldn't get over how adorable their baby was. We love babies. It is when they grow up that they get annoying. lol

He and Rod are really struggling with the lack of cold...even the refrigerators are barely cold. I think the first thing he is going to do when he lands in America is get an ice cold Mountain Dew (They can't seem to find any Pepsi products there. Sounds like my kinda country!)

By the way, Rod gave me permission to post the story that I found so funny. I guess I found it funny because I say things all the time without thinking it through. Anyway, Rod and Tom were talking to the guys in Ireland that they are working with and I don't know what they were talking about but Rod said "treated like a redheaded step child." I found that hilarious because Ireland is known for their redheads (although Tom said there aren't really an over abundance of redheads as is the perception). The guys from Ireland just looked at them and said "Is that an American expression?" LOL

Tom has been working so much that he really hasn't had time to think about missing us. Well he wasn't working yesterday and when he called, I could hear it in his voice that he is homesick. I had mentioned that we had never been apart this long. He reminded me that when my dad died, I stayed with my mom in Louisiana for 3 weeks. I had forgotten about that because I was in autopilot mode doing what I had to do to settle dad's business and taking care of my mom. But I do remember the last week I was there was the worst because things were all done and the homesickness hit me hard. In my case, I called Tom and he came and picked me up. Unfortunately, he can't do that. I feel for him. But hopefully they will get everything done and never have to go back and now he can say he has been to Ireland. That's so cool!!

Tom in Ireland......day 5

Tom called me tonight and he is feeling much better. They have made alot of progress but will still have to stay in Ireland nine days longer than originally thought. I really hate that but it is better than having him come home on time and then going back a week later. The guys from Ireland that were in Orangeburg training are back in Ireland now and Tom and Rod were happy to see them. They are going to be taking Tom and Rod to a Gaelic football game this weekend. He really hasn't had time to miss us this week because he and Rod have been working so much. He is sure this weekend it will hit him how much he misses us. It hit us the day he left. Knowing I won't see him for another two weeks is rough. But hopefully they will never have to go back there again.

I asked him what the hardest thing to get used to was....besides the obvious aversion to anything cool/cold. He told me they are still having trouble ordering food. They are learning but it is so different. He told me that the best meal he's had so far was at a place called "The Yellow Pepper." (That's an odd name for a restaurant but not down right weird like Lizard's Thicket.) Anyway, he had beef medallions on mashed potatoes and corn and he said it was delicious....actually the best meal he's had since he's been there. He said the portions in Ireland are smaller than what you get in America so he and Rod had room for dessert. Rod had something with hot fudge that sounded delicious but Tom gets an instant migraine from chocolate so he ordered a dessert that had ice cream, caramel, toffee, and a biscuit (which is what they call cookies) for the crust. I can't remember what he called it but it sounds sooooo good! He said the restaurant experience is so different there. In America, waiters just about hover over you waiting to refill your drink the minute you finishing taking a sip. Not in Ireland. I guess Americans not only eat more, they drink more too. He said the Coke is not fizzy enough. He said it is almost like it wants to taste flat because there isn't enough carbonation. I thought it may be because it isn't cold enough. But he thinks it is just more syrupy there. He and Rod found the ice machine in the hotel and were going to just cool their Cokes off by adding ice. Well the aversion to cold is even evident in the ice. Now I thought ice is ice. Apparently not. Seems they freeze it just long enough to call it ice. So basically when you pour the warm Coke over it, the ice is immediately gone. In America, we freeze it hard so that it lasts a long time to keep our drink cold longer. But we like coldness in America. hehehe He seems to really be enjoying learning about the differences in culture.

At first he couldn't understand why he and Rod were having a little trouble understanding what people were saying because of the accents but yet the locals never had trouble understanding them. Then he figured it out. They have American TV shows there so they are used to the way we talk. The other night when he called me Desperate Housewives was on. I guess I never thought about our shows being broadcast to other countries. There is a story he told me that would go in this paragraph but he has to ask the person it is about before I blog it. It is so funny and I hope he gives me permission to blog it because I know you guys will enjoy it. If I do get permission, I will blog it as soon as I get off the phone!

That's the update of the day. Tom is better and they will do some sight seeing this weekend so hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon.

By the way, to all of my readers who live in South Carolina, please don't forget to go vote Tuesday. The primaries are every bit as important as the general elections. If we don't nominate the right person, it really messes up the general election. I don't care who you vote for....just vote on June 13th!

Tom in Ireland.....day 4

Tom didn't call last night. I assumed he must have felt really bad and crashed when he got home. I guess I was right. Here is the e-mail I got this morning:

I'm sorry I didn't call last night, I meant to, but we got in very late after a long day and I guess I was more tired than I realized.  I layed down on the bed just to relax a few minutes and actually fell asleep almost immediatedly.  The good thing is that I actually got a good nights sleep for the first time since being here.  I slept almost the entire night with only one or two very quick interruptions.

Anyway, we have another long day ahead of us today so I better get to it.  I just wanted to drop you a note and say that I love you.  I'll be sure and give you a call tonight at approximately the same time as the last few nights.

I'm glad he got some sleep.  That's the best medicine he could get right now.  I will blog more after I talk to him tonight.

On the home front, a member of Tom's family has passed away.  She would have been 99 in a couple of months.  In addition to that, Brittanie's boyfriend, Randy, called yesterday morning to tell her that his grandmother had a heart attack and died yesterday morning.  It was his mom's mom and they were very close.  So he is heartbroken, as you can expect.  Brittanie ran out and got a couple of outfits to wear to the wake and funeral.  The wake is tonight and the funeral is tomorrow (Saturday).    Instinctually, I got a sympathy card and put some money in it for her to give to them.  Then I thought about it and realized that may be just a Louisiana custom.  So I called Tom's cousin, Jenny, to ask her if that is done down here.  She said normally you just donate to the charity of their choice in lieu of flowers.  She said she had never heard of anyone giving money to the family.  I don't want to insult them but I know when my dad died, there were tons of expenses, even though the funeral was prepaid.  She still had to buy a shirt and pay for the tomb to be opened and sealed.....plus the family arrangement of flowers.  My nephew and I split the family arrangement and it was $300 total.   I guess that's why in Louisiana people give money directly to the family.....to help out with those expenses.  My mom received about $500 when dad died.  It was just enough to pay for the tomb to be opened and sealed.  Anyway, I'm glad I checked.  Jenny suggested I put a note explaining that I wanted to give them a little something so they can use it where they see fit.  That way if they need the money, they use it.  If not, they can give it to the charity themselves.  Anyway, please keep these families in your prayers.  Randy's mom is my age.  I know how hard it was to lose my dad.  I am sure it is much worse to lose a mom.

Tom in Ireland.....day 3

Tom is sick. I guess from the temperature change that he isn't at all used to, he has caught a cold....complete with fever. He and Rod went to the pharmacy to get some Tylenol for his fever. Guess what....no Tylenol in Ireland. The pharmacist didn't even know what Acetaminophen was. There was tons of aspirin but he can't take that because of his stomach. He asked the pharmacist what they take for fever and he said aspirin and Tom explained he can't handle that. So he gave him Paracetamol, which he looked up when he got back to the hotel and it is the Irish version of Tylenol. They also gave him something like Zyrtec for his congestion.

He just can't get over how expensive things are there. He and Rod ate at McDonald's today and their Quarter Pounder combo cost them $8 (US). The places they went to eat at night are like Ruby Tuesdays and Applebees. Normally two people can eat at Applebees for like $40. There, it was like $85 (US).

But he had a rough day because of him being sick. Otherwise things are fine.

Katie is having a hard time dealing with Tom not being here. Our alarm beeps when the door is opened. Today she was taking a nap and Brittanie's boyfriend came over and Katie heard to beep and came running out of her bedroom screaming "Daddy's home!" I feel so bad for her. She just can't understand no matter how much we explain it to her. She is miserable without Tom and she is acting out. Tonight Brittanie told her something and she told Brittanie to shut up. Brittanie said "What did you say?" Katie's answer?....."Did I stutter?" She is a mouthy one!

Congratulations Will!!

Our friends, Lynn and Frank, came over to celebrate my birthday with us on May 20th. Well just 6 days later, their son, Will graduated from Dutch Fork High School. Lynn sent me a picture of the three of them together and it was such a great picture that I just had to blog it.

Tom used to work with Frank at Network and he and his wife were the first friends we made when we moved back to South Carolina. They are wonderful. We just love them!! I had to laugh when I saw the face Frank is making. What is up with computer guys not wanting to smile? Or is that just men in general? Tom does the same thing....only Tom looks mean because of his goatee, dark eyebrows and eyelashes, and especially his piercing green eyes. I don't think it is possible for Frank to look mean. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. I guess that's why he and his wife are such a perfect couple because she is one of the nicest women you will ever meet as well.

I know they are very proud of Will. He is a great guy and has a bright future ahead of him!!

Tom in Ireland....day 2

Tom called me around 5pm (which is 10pm in Ireland) and told me he had a pretty good day. Things are just so different there. It seems that Irish people have an aversion to the cold. There are no air conditioners.....not in the restaurants they have been to and not in their hotel. They even bring your drinks to you in the restaurants with no ice. Last night a man at the table next to them ordered ice and the waitress brought him 4 cubes and he put 2 in his glass and 2 in his wife's glass. He said the Irish people think they are having a heat wave because it was in the upper 70's today. LOL (They should come to South Carolina in August. THAT is a heat wave!) He can't believe they wear long sleeves when the temperature is in the 60's and low 70's. He is also amazed at how expensive everything is. He saw a 2006 Honda Civic, like we bought Brittanie, at a dealership and it was 20,000 euros, which is like $27K here in the US. Their minimum wage is a little over $10 an hours (US money). The hotel TV only has 20 channels and really nothing that interests him. That's a fixable problem....thanks to our Slingbox. So as I'm typing this, he is connected to our Slingbox and probably watching Star Trek.

But I think the worst thing is the lack of air conditioning. Tom is a REAL hot natured person. His office is right by the computer room and is kept REAL cold....like in the 60's but it feels like 50's to me. When he comes home from work, he turns our AC down to 68 and that's how we sleep. So he feels like he is suffocating in his hotel room. He opens the window but the temperature doesn't get down to where he is comfortable until the sun goes down....which is well after 10pm but then it comes back up at 4:30, which starts warming things up once again. But he is making the best of it. He wasn't grouchy about it as he is trying hard to adapt. But it does make him homesick. I don't know what he misses more....his family or his air conditioner. hehehe

So that's the update of the day!

Tom is in Ireland

Tom boarded the plane for Ireland at 2pm (Columbia time) on Sunday and called me at 10am Monday morning to tell me he made it to the hotel. I felt so bad for him and Rod having to travel so long. By the time they got to the hotel, they were exhausted and starving. They are 5 hours ahead of us so they were going to grab something to eat, head to the plant to check things out, then go back to the hotel early and sleep. I got this e-mail from him this morning (I deleted the personal stuff....yall don't need to read that. hehehe)

Good morning from Ireland!! I'm about to head out to the office but I just wanted to drop you a little note. It feels weird here. The sun doesn't even set until about 10PM and it's not really dark until almost midnight, then the sun is back up at 4:30AM.
Hope you and the girls are doing OK.

I can't imagine having only 5 hours of darkness. We sleep ALOT. That would definitely put a crimp in our sleeping. We are really missing him....especially Katie. We knew she would take it harder than the rest of us because she doesn't understand what is going on and she is VERY much attached to Tom. Last night she went outside to feed Belle and came running back in screaming "Daddy's truck is outside!!" So for the 100th time that day, I explained to her that daddy is in Ireland working and that is VERY far away and he won't be home for two weeks. She will hold her two fingers us and say "this many." But she is only 3 so she doesn't understand how long that really is. After 17 years of marriage, it is hard sleeping alone. He may come home late alot but we look forward to that every night. Our family just isn't the same without him. Hopefully he won't have to go to Ireland very often after this trip. Hopefully it won't be as often as he goes to New Jersey.....and he rarely goes there...maybe once every couple of years or so.

Oh! I do have one more update! I called Bubba yesterday, who was my best friend in elementary school and high school, to tell him about Tim dying and we starting talking about his time in Iraq and he was actually in a shoot out and shot in the leg. He dug the bullet out with his knife and kept shooting. They wanted to send him to Germany for medical attention and he said he was fine and stayed and finished out his time in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart! He's like his daddy in that respect. Mr. Robert was one of the manliest men I had ever met and growing up, I thought he was the toughest man alive. I guess he's passed that down to Bubba. But I'm so proud that we have people like Bubba protecting us! (By the way, I think everyone is calling him Robert now that he is older but to me, he will always be Bubba!)

My ex-boyfriend died

My mom called me yesterday and told me that my ex-boyfriend, Tim, died. He and I dated for over a year when I was 12. We did more together than any guy I dated....not naughty stuff of course, but we went to horse shows together, I have a picture of the two of us on an elephant at the zoo, and he would come over just about every day because my brother was dating his mom. He even stayed over all night long a few times when my parents made sausage. They would smoke the sausage all night long so they needed to stay awake so they could check on it periodically throughout the night. We loved those nights because we would stay up and play games, watch TV and drink NUMEROUS mugs of mom's homemade hot chocolate. Our tongues had no feeling on the tip anymore after a night like that. And we still went to school the next day! We were pale and exhausted because we hadn't slept all night but we went and amazingly didn't fall asleep in class! We wrote letters to each other everyday and even had shirts made that had "Made for loving him" and "Made for loving her" on the front and our names on the back. We just thought we were hopelessly in love.....at 12 and 13! lol I haven't seen him since our 8th grade graduation. But he was still as handsome as I remembered. When I knew him, he was a wonderful guy and from his obituary, he was till the day he died.

According to the report my mom received, he was found dead in his apartment and they don't know what caused it. I am saddened by this because of the good memories. I know this is just the beginning though. The older I get, the more childhood friends are going to pass away. That's life but I sure don't like it.

Please say a prayer for his family! I know his mom is grieving, as are his brother and sister.

Here is the obituary:

Funeral services for Timothy Dupre will be Saturday June 3, 2006 at 10:30 a.m. in the St. Anthony Catholic Church in Krotz Springs. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Fr. Mark Ledoux will officiate the services.

Mr. Dupre, 38, died Tuesday May 30, 2006.

He was a native of Krotz Springs and resided in Spring Texas. He was a 1987 graduate of Port Barre High School. He held an Accounting Degree from Remington College. He graduated in May 2000 Magna Cum Laude from Viterbo Catholic College in La Crosse, Wisconsin with a Batchelor Degree in Registered Nursing. His passion in life was animals. He was a highly profiled and highly successful person in show dogs specializing in poodles. He has many champion poodles and clients from all over the country as well as the world. He is featured in several magazines as well as winning several shows on television. He was presently employed as the Executive Director of the Divita - Houston Kidney Center specializing in in home dialysis for patients. Tim touched the lives of everyone he came in contact with. His smile and kindness will be missed by family and all of his many friends.

Mr. Dupre is survived by his mother, LouElla Ardoin Hyatt of Krotz Springs, La.; step father, J. B. Hyatt of Krotz Springs, La.; sister, Cynthia Dupre Stelly and husband Mike Stelly of Krotz Springs, La.; brother, Travis Barker and wife Heather Barker of Krotz Springs, La; two nieces, Halie Stelly and Arielle Barker both of Krotz Springs, La.; 3 nephews, Cpl. Michael Stelly, USMC, Logan Stelly and Wyatt Barker all of Krotz Springs, La.; maternal grandfather, Neson Ardoin and maternal step grandmother, Nita Ardoin both of Pine Prairie, La.; maternal great aunt, Yvonne Fontenot of Opelousas, La.; uncle, Lawrence Ardoin and wife Enola Ardoin of Eunice, La.

Preceded in death by his maternal grandmother, Lou Ray Guillory Ardoin and maternal uncle James L. Ardoin, Sr.

Visitation will be Friday June 2, 2006 at 11 a.m. and will remain open all night.

A rosary will be recited Friday at 6:30pm.

Lafond-Ardoin Funeral Home of Krotz Springs is in charge of arrangements.

Our little bully

Katie woke up in a bad mood yesterday and it didn't get better as the day went on. Well right before Tom got home from work, I was eating chicken wings and Katie always wants to give Belle (our dog) bones. Well I told her yesterday she had to wait till daddy got home because she has a bad habit of putting Belle's food and bones in her water. No matter how many times she has gotten in trouble for it, she still does it. Well yesterday Tom came in from work, grabbed the bones and took them out to Belle. Katie came in the room 5 minutes later wanting to know where the bones went. Tom told her he took them out. Katie got MAD! She told Tom "I'm mad at you! I wanted to give Belle the bones. I don't like you anymore. I don't want you to come home anymore!" Tom told her that was ugly and she is not allowed to talk to him like that and that she needs to apologize. She refused. But she tried to do what she does EVERY day....climb up on his lap. He wouldn't let her. She tried 5 or 6 times and finally got so mad she stomped off to her room saying "FINE! I'm going to my room and I'm NEVER coming back until you want me to!" That made us laugh. She is going to stay in there till she is 18? hahaha Well she came out....on her own....5 minutes later and tried AGAIN to climb up on Tom's lap. He refused to let her up there until she apologized. He looked at her, waiting for an apology. What he got was "You should have let ME give Belle the bones!" That was it for Tom. He said "Look little girl, I'M the boss...not you. I will give Belle anything I want to and I don't care what you think about it! Now you apologize or go back to your room." So she said "I apologize" in a very begrudging tone and climbed up on his lap. When she got up on his lap, she whispered "I'm the boss." HAVE MERCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She says this all the time. I don't argue with her. I tell her it doesn't matter what she says or what she thinks, mommy and daddy are the boss and that's final. I just couldn't believe after all that, she was still being defiant and declaring herself the boss! I can see it now....she is going to be the one that is always in the principal's office for her smart mouth and fighting.

Speaking of fighting, that reminds me...Katie's favorite thing to do nowadays is fight. She begs Tom and Brittanie to get down on the floor with her and fight. Tom did the play fighting with Brittanie too....still does from time to time....and it was more like wrestling. But Katie punches. She may be small and only 3, but she hits HARD. I had considered putting her in karate to teach her discipline. But she is so headstrong, I am afraid the discipline part will go in one ear and out the other and she will absorb how to hurt people instead.

She is definitely a challenge. I've never seen such a determined 3-year-old!

Biloxi Blues

Tom and I were talking about Hurricane Katrina and how devastating it was on Louisiana. Tom pointed out that Mississippi got it much worse than Katrina. You know Tom, he has to be right and just this one time, he was right. Though Katrina caused the levee to break and caused the biggest diaster in the history of Louisiana...mainly because they couldn't get all the people out in time....Biloxi and Gulfport (and other parts of Mississippi) actually got it much worse! He pulled up the Biloxi Sun Herald's website and they have a great page to show how bad things really are for them since the rest of the media seems to want to focus only on New Orleans. There are links of different places in south Mississippi and you click the link and it will show you the picture of the place before Katrina hit and then you click "View Change" and it will show you what it looks like now. These pictures are devastating. Seeing those beautiful plantation homes and Chimney restaurant turned into kindling is heartbreaking. We lost a part of our history when we lost those places. Growing up in Louisiana, everyone wanted to vacation in Biloxi. That was THE place to go. It is so sad that Biloxi is pretty much wiped out now. We need to keep them in our prayer. It has been months since Katrina hit and the coverage of the devastation has pretty much stopped. But the people most affected by Katrina are still dealing with it. Please join me in continuing to pray for them. If you need motivation, check out the before and after pictures. Click here for the Sun Herald page with the pictures.

Slave labor?

This morning, Katie spilled her cereal all over the floor and then decided to kick like a horse to try to grind it into the carpet. Well she got sent to her room and when she got out, we made her vacuum it up. Tom decided her using the hose was too slow so he taught her how to use the vacuum cleaner like grown ups do it. She is a strong little thing but she still struggled a bit but she got it done. It wore her out pushing that heavy thing. It was so cute that I had to take pictures. By the way, in case you are wondering what's playing on TV...that's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Katie LOVES that movie. The old one came on TV the other day and she said "Oh man this stinks. I want to turn the channel." She does have good taste because the old one does stink. hehehe She made us laugh this morning when Verucca Salt got thrown down the shute by the squirrels, Katie said "oh she's dead meat!" She's too funny. She's 3 going on 30.
By the way, the newest show Katie has become interested in is Star Trek. She loves it when Tom watches it and has even begun asking us to turn Star Trek on. Good thing Tom has a season pass set up on the TiVo to record all of the episodes. She can watch them whenever she wants now. So we have a new Trekkie in the family!

Daddy's girl

When Tom is home, Katie is stuck to him like glue. Well Tom has been getting annoyed at Katie's constant wiggling when she is sitting with him in his recliner. Today he finally had enough and told her that since she won't quit wiggling, she had to get down. Well she can't stand not being close to him so she grabbed the little chair from her desk and pulled it right up against Tom's recliner. I thought it was so cute that I had to get a picture of it.

Tom also got tired of her playing with the remote and took it from her. This was the result:

By the way, don't let his mean faces fool you. His bark is worse than his bite. hehehe

Leave it to Brittanie!

Today I turned 37 and leave it to Brittanie to make me feel even older than I already feel today! I LOVE e-cards. Here is the e-card she sent me.

She's grounded. LOL (not really)

It's official

Brittanie takes her last exam this morning and she is done with her sophomore year and officially a high school junior. I'm both proud and sad. Brittanie works hard to get good grades (top 5% of her class) and strives to always do the right thing. But the closer she gets to graduation, the sadder I get because I know it won't be long before she will be going to college and moving on with the next phase in her life. She has goals set and a plan to accomplish those goals....which is better than me at her age. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do (besides be a wife and mother) until I was 25. I know she is mature and responsible enough to handle college but I'm not mature and responsible enough to deal with her being so far away. She wants to go to either West Point in New York or Texas A&M.

Everything is just changing so much all at once. She is driving now and has her own car so she doesn't need me chauffeuring her around anymore. She can't drive after 8 but in July, her boyfriend will be able to drive after 8 and then she really won't need me to take her anywhere ever. When she goes back to school in the fall, she will be ordering her class ring. I know I'm overanalyzing everything but every milestone is huge to me. I have always enjoyed every minute of Brittanie's life and though I'm enjoying watching her reach every new milestone in her life, it is also sad because I know I won't have her at home much longer. But I know God will get me through it. Afterall, He's the one who made Brittanie the fine young lady she has become and He will give me the grace to let go and let Him continue to lead her through the next stages in her life.

Tom is leaving on June 4th to go to Ireland for at least 10 days....maybe more. We have never been apart this long in our 17 years of marriage. I HATE the thought of this. But as I said in a previous post, Zeus has been a GREAT company to work for so he wouldn't refuse even if he could. We are just going to miss him sooooooooooo much. I think Katie will be the one with the biggest problem with him being gone. She is definitely a daddy's girl. She asks me 100 times a day when Tom is coming home. He works late ALOT and not that long ago, he didn't get home till 9:30pm. Katie said "Daddy's taking too long to come home!" As soon as he walks in the door, she runs to him, screaming "DADDY'S HOME!!" and hugs and kisses him. He takes the stuff out of his pockets, takes off his badge, and then sits in his recliner and she immediately jumps in his lap and that's where she stays till it is time for a bath and bed.

Ok that's our family stuff.

On a side note, the American Idol final was last night. I haven't watched AI since Chris Daughtry was eliminated. (Tom watched in FF...he said it was boring.) We watched the finale in FF too. I loved the three cowboys singing. That was adorable. I REALLY enjoyed seeing Chris perform with Live. I had never heard of Live before but Chris is incredible and can make any group look and sound GREAT! That man has big things ahead of him. He doesn't need to win AI to be a star....he already is one! We didn't care who won last night because we were all pulling for Chris. But we did prefer Katharine over Taylor. Taylor's constipated dancing and contorted faces when he sings is painful to watch. Katharine is a daddy's girl and you can see how much her daddy loves her just by looking at him. I wanted her to win for her daddy. But as everyone knows by now, Taylor won. I just can't see his albums selling anywhere near as well as past idols but I do wish him luck....he is going to need it. I hated his confident/smug face last night like he just knew he was going to win. Katharine was nervous and humble....made you root for her even more. Anyway, the season of AI is over and we really enjoyed having those hours every week where we turned off the phones and came in the living room and all watched it together. It was the topic of many conversations throughout the week. It made our family a little closer. We are going to miss it.

tough love

I gave Katie some popcorn as a snack when she got up from her nap and as is typical of Katie, she couldn't just eat it like a good little girl. She ate a few pieces and then started crumbling it all over the floor. Well the rule in our house has always been if you make a mess, you clean it up. Obviously she is too little to push a vacuum cleaner but she isn't too young to use the hose that goes with the crevice tool. She has always been afraid of the vacuum cleaner. So this was tough love. But she didn't cry. She vacuumed up every crumb.


By the way, I added a couple of pictures to the post below...the one about my birthday celebration. So check it out if you have a minute.

Early birthday celebration

Yesterday we celebrated my 29th birthday (for the 8th time). My birthday is actually May 26th but I wanted to celebrate with our friends, Frank and Lynn Eargle, and their kids and they weren't free next weekend and the weekend after my birthday, Tom is leaving for Ireland. So we did it yesterday. We had a big bar-b-que on my new grill. We were a little worried because the day started off VERY stormy (and actually ended that way too). But in the middle of the day it was beautiful and sunshining bright. We hadn't seen them since January of 2005.....even though they just live in Irmo. We sure did miss them. We were supposed to play Pictionary, which is my favorite game, but we enjoyed just talking to them so much that we just scrapped that plan. Lynn brought my favorite.....cheesecake! It was delicious. We had a great day!!

But I have to give credit where credit is due. Tom worked his tail off yesterday. He got up early and put the new grill together (took him about 2 1/2 hours). Then when the storm finished he cut the grass and did the weedeating. He came in, took a shower, went back out and started the bar-b-que, and while that was going, he moved my van out of the garage and started cleaning the garage. While he was taking stuff out of the garage, Randy (Brittanie's boyfriend) grabbed the broom and started sweeping. He even threw the football with the teenagers too. That's alot of work for Tom. He and I both hate doing stuff around the house. We would rather hire someone to do it for us. He was dog tired last night. But I am so proud of him. Everything looked great and the bar-b-que was delicious!

I had a GREAT birthday celebration!!! But we definitely have to plan more stuff with Frank and Lynn. They are the most normal and fun people we have met down here and we really enjoy their company. They really made my birthday special!

Here are some pictures we took that day:

This is Randy and William licking the side of Brittanie's face. She hates that and of course they are boys...they live to drive her crazy. hehehe

Here is William (who Katie says is her boyfriend) playing with Katie. She had a blast that day!

Brittanie got her license!!

Tom took Brittanie to take her driver's test this morning and she passed! She is officially legal to drive alone. Isn't that a scary thought? I still think of her as my baby and now my baby is driving and is just days away from becoming a high school junior. I wanted to cry this morning when she got back with her license because it all hit me at once how close she is to being all grown up. But I refrained because she thinks I'm a dork when I do that.

But we definitely are feeling the effects of having a teenaged driver. I called Allstate to add her to our policy. Now that we have added her and her car to our policy, our premiums have jumped from $187 a month to $450 a month!! She will be working at home until she turns 16 and can get a real job to help out with the insurance.

Everybody pray that she stays safe!!

Alex

I got an e-mail from Colleen (my cousin, Brian's, wife) tonight and she had attached a couple of pictures of her adorable little boy, Alex. Obviously it isn't what it looks like but it was too funny not to share it. Alex had played so hard at a party they went to that he ended up falling asleep on the table. I wish Katie would do that. She is wide open 24/7. But here are the pictures. Isn't he precious?

Here I go...real time blogging again!

Today just keeps getting better and better! It is 11:37pm and I thought my day was done and then I was treated to a phone call.....from Jonathan!!! I was so excited. I'm sooooooooo glad I was up when he called. I would have been so disappointed if I had missed his call. Anyway, he is leaving tomorrow for his time off. He said it is about a week to travel to Washington state, where his wife and daughters are now, and then he will be there with them two weeks, and then another week back. So I can breathe easy for almost a month knowing that he is not in Iraq! I can't wait till he goes back to Germany. I wish he were back in Augusta at Fort Gordon but since that isn't going to happen for a couple more years, I am just praying that he gets out of Iraq and this time for good!

Anyway, it was soooooooooo good to hear his voice. I miss him so much. He was calling to tell me Happy Mother's Day since I'm his godmother. He is just too sweet! I just love him soooooooo much!

This is definitely one of the best Mother's Days I have had in a long time!

God is good!!

This was already a really good Mother's Day...but tonight it got even better! I have been waiting to get some stuff that I bought from Ebay and haven't been to the post office since Thursday, so in order to get Brittanie back driving again, I asked her to drive me to the post office. When we got there, there is a check in the mail for $100 made out to Swansea High School JROTC. I never knew you could get an anonymous check....but I got one. Evidently this person donates anonymously all the time because the envelope was typed with no return address. The check had NO name, address, etc. in the left upper corner and the handwriting was total chicken scratch to the point where I couldn't make out not one letter. But he printed "SHS JROTC" and the amount so it was legible and the memo said "donation." We had vandals break into our old gym, where the rifle team practices and dump all the pellets all over the floor and stomp on them. They totally vandalized our rifle team's stuff to the point where it all has to be replaced....with the exception of the rifles, as they are kept in the main school building. Well I belong to a yahoo group that is SC Firearms as well as SC Grass Roots. The purpose of the group is preserve our right to bear arms, which I'm a firm believer in. I e-mailed the group about what happened to our rifle team's stuff and here we are a few days later with a check. I can't wait to take it to the school in the morning. We are trying to create a booster club for JROTC to we don't have to beg for money like this but we are definitely grateful when God touches people's hearts to donate like this. The bank was in Lexington and the postmark said Columbia so this person doesn't even live in our district but still found it in their heart to give to this fine group of young people. God is truly good!!!

By the way, if you would like to donate, please do! Any size donation will be greatly appreciated! Just make the check out to SHS JROTC and mail it to me:

Lynette Sightler
RE: SHS JROTC
PO Box 98
Gaston, SC 29053

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of my friends who are moms and grandmothers!!

I prefer e-cards to regular cards....always have. Here is Tom's.

Brittanie's card made me cry. I HATE to cry but in this case, it was worth the cry. This card is beautiful and soooooooooo sweet and appropriate. Click here to see Brittanie's card.

Katie gave me a wrapped flower pot that she decorated at school. She also gave me a card that says "What's a nice mom like you doing with a kid like me?" and on the inside it says "The best you can mom, the BEST you CAN. Thanks and Happy Mother's Day. Love Katie." Tom wrote "I thought this summed up Katie pretty well." LOL It definitely does!
Tom gave me a big Bar-B-Que pit (actually, we are picking it up next week). I'm tired of having to do multiple batches of Bar-B-Que because we have this cheap $20 tiny grill. I don't like gas grills. They don't give you the bar-b-que taste. I never understood the appeal of those things. I could bake it in the oven and have the same flavor. I want a charcoal grill. So Tom is going to get me this one: Royal Oak Grill

As for Brittanie, I have been seeing shows where kids give their parents coupon books that they create saying they will do this or that for them. Well that's what I asked for from Brittanie. Lisa couldn't come this week so our laundry didn't get done and Tom thinks garages are supposed to be dirty....he literally said that. I HATE our dirty garage. So for Mother's Day, Brittanie is doing the laundry and cleaning the garage for me. YAY!! That's the best gift this year!

I have to add an addendum to this post. This afternoon, Randy came by on his way back from his grandmother's house and he just stopped in for a minute. He came to give me a Mother's Day gift. It is a patriotic car magnet. I love it. I had a cool camouflaged ribbon that said "Land of the Free because of the brave." But for some reason it is not on my car anymore. I honestly think it is Katie. She is a true klepto. Brittanie had this problem when she was 5. Katie is starting early taking things that aren't hers. She was in Brittanie's room 2 minutes this morning and stole a cold tablet and a tube of Chap Stick from Brittanie's desk and came downstairs with it. Brittanie has two sets of dog tags. We had been looking for them everywhere and couldn't find them. Suddenly, Katie appears in the living room with one set in her hand and a week later, the other set magically appeared in her hands! So anyway, I'm thinking Katie stole my magnet off my van yesterday when she was outside with Tom. But Randy gave me a very nice one to replace it. He is such a sweetheart! His parents are very nice. I've never talked to his mom but I have talked to his dad a couple of times and he is very nice. Brittanie said they are both very nice and his little brother is adorable. What I love the most is that they have their time together but don't feel the need to be attached to each other at every waking moment.

They love their daddy

Tom came home really late from work tonight (shocker huh?) and he isn't feeling very well. (He and I are both sick.) Well to make him feel better the girls started fighting over who loved him more and this is how it ended up.Don't know why but there is a big shadow on this picture. But you can see the best part. That's the face of being loved to death. LOL

The softer side of Tom

This morning, Tom took Katie on a walk through of the K3 at Grace, where she will be attending next school year. When they got ready to leave, Tom picked Katie up in his arms and they looked so adorable, I couldn't resist getting a picture.Katie absolutely adores her daddy (even when he makes a goofy face....as above). While she was eye level with him, she couldn't resist giving him a kiss.
And of course he loves his baby girl too and couldn't resist kissing her too. But of course she is so bossy that she had to show him where to kiss her! Anyway, this is a side of Tom rarely seen by the outside world. But this is how he is at home all the time. He is a wonderful husband and father!!

Today's update

This morning, Brittanie came downstairs to get her clothes (we still haven't finished her closet upstairs) and found Katie laying in the hall and just had to take a picture. I asked Katie later why she was laying in the hall and she told me it was because her pull up was wet. As you can probably tell in this picture, she is still wearing the wet pull-up. Her bed wasn't wet. The pull up didn't leak. We still can't figure out why she found it necessary to get out of bed and lay down in the hall. But it did make for a cute picture. (By the way, we have a picture like this taken of Brittanie at 4 years old only she fell asleep in front of the toilet in the middle of the night. It was so funny! We are a sleepy family!)

Tonight was Swansea High School's honors and awards banquet. Brittanie got an invitation and 3 tickets to go, which meant that she had won an award. She received the award for Superior Noncommissioned Officer. It comes with an official Army certificate and medal but unfortunately they weren't in yet so tonight she got a couple of regular certificates and an Army bag. Brittanie and I are both bag freaks so we were thrilled to get the Army bag!! But we can't wait to see the medal when it comes in. Here are some pictures we took tonight. Unfortunately all Tom was able to get was pictures from behind but it's better than no picture at all.

Here is 1st Sgt. Cannon (left) and Major Norton (right) before the ceremony started. 1st Sgt. was looking around and when he made eye contact with me, I hit the button and took his picture. He laughed at me afterwards. He's such a nice guy! He's Brittanie's second daddy.

Above is Brittanie receiving a certificate from Major Norton

Here is Brittanie receiving her Army bag and another certificate from Major Norton and Sgt. Bogan.

Brittanie's new guy

I wanted to wait awhile before saying too much about Brittanie's new guy, Randy, because you know how teen relationships come and go. Thursday they will have been together for a month and it doesn't look like they are close to breaking up so I think it is safe to talk about him. Randy is a Junior at Brittanie's school and lives in Gaston. He works construction with his dad when he isn't in school. He drives a 1966 Galaxie 500 that he restored. He respects Brittanie and the rest of us. He is very well mannered and even gives Katie attention. (Justin was actually mean to Katie at times. At one point he even yelled in her face. If I had heard him, I'd have thrown him out!) Randy is good in Spanish and has been tutoring Brittanie in it. Spanish is kinda like Math. If you miss classes, you can get behind and not catch up. Well Brittanie missed 13 days of school between the tosillitis and the tonsillectomy. Needless to say....she missed ALOT. She has recovered in all other subjects but not Spanish. But Randy has been a big help in helping her go from an F to a C. She is hoping to struggle out a B before the end of the school year....which is the 25th. One of the things we (Brittanie included) LOVE about Randy is that he makes sure his priorities are straight. He doesn't spend 24/7 attached to Brittanie. Brittanie felt smothered with Justin because he clung to her like she was his lifeline and then went psycho when they fought. So far, she and Randy haven't fought but he definitely isn't clingy. He is just normal. He has a very balanced life...exactly what we wanted. Tom always called Justin "jerk face" even to his face. But he calls Randy "not a loser." He really likes Randy....so do Katie and I. I think Brittanie did a great job in picking Randy.

Wild boar

Last night, Brittanie, Katie, and I were coming home from Brittanie's tanning appointment and as we were coming up our driveway, we saw a HUGE hog with tusks. At first we didn't know what it was and we kinda freaked out, screaming "WHAT IS THAT THING????" Brittanie was driving her new car and when we saw that thing, she backed up all the way to the road because she was scared it would charge her car. I called Tom (who was in the house) and told him I think there is a wild boar in the driveway. His response was "Yeah? We have those around here." He was so calm about it. Just like a man, he isn't afraid of anything and just walked out of the garage and was looking for it. Brittanie and I were more intelligent and refused to get out of the car! Tom took Katie from us and Brittanie and I left to go to Wal-Mart. Tom never did see the boar as our dog chased it into the woods. It must have been really old because it wasn't very aggressive and was walking pretty slow. But now I'm afraid for my girls to be outside in our yard. This is the biggest drawback of living in the country. There are all kinds of critters out here. This one definitely scared us. Brittanie and I ran in the house when we got home from Wal-Mart. That was just too scary.....at least for Brittanie and I. Can you tell we were freaked out?
This is what the boar looked like....only MUCH MUCH bigger. (Photo courtesy of http://www.illinoisplantation.com/) This thing is like a baby compared to the one in our driveway. I called my mom and told her about it and just like a typical Cajun, she asked me why we didn't shoot it and put the meat in the freezer. I just don't understand people that see disgusting animals and road kill as potential meals. GROSS!!! It reminded me of when we lived in Gramercy, LA and Tom was the song leader in our church and pretty popular. One night some of the deacons knocked on our door at like 10pm and wanted Tom to help them haul an alligator to one of the deacon's house. One of them had hit him with his truck and he got out, shot it in the head, and called some of the deacons to help get him in the truck and back home. He promised meat from the tail to everybody who helped. So they were coming to our house, since we were nearby where the gator was killed, to see if Tom wanted to help cleaning him and harvesting the meat. Anybody that knows Tom knows how funny that is. Tom would NEVER EVER do that. And just like with this boar, there was no way we would have killed that big thing because we wouldn't have wanted to haul the carcass away and we definitely wouldn't have cleaned it for the freezer either. YUCK!!!