Two Month Check-up

Audrie had her two month check-up today. She is definitely not going to like going to the dr. office. She got three shots today. She gained about six ounces since she was last there and has grown two inches. We like to see that growth and not just weight gain. Everything is good thus far.

A Couple More Pictures

Adrianna showing off her beautiful dress and her new baby doll.

All three of the granddaughters Christmas Eve.

Christmas

We had a lovely day. Everyone was here. Audrie was wearing her new Christmas outfit and the girls were wearing their new dresses. They were quite decked out. After the presents were opened and the mess somewhat cleaned up we had a nice ham dinner with cheesy potatoes and fruit salad. The biggest hit in the gift department was the baby doll Pat got for Adrianna.

Date Night

About a month ago Kink offered a 2 for 1 deal on tickets to go see "A Christmas Carol". So I bought a certificate for two tickets and I exchanged that for a day that Dave was home. So last night we ventured to the pearl district in Portland and wondered around a bit. We stopped in at Fez Studio because a friend of ours is part owner. Wow what a great cosmetics store. I bought a bath fizzie for $5 because that was one of the cheapest things in the store. I'm sure the $34 shampoo was lovely, but my frugal nature won't ever let me buy that. We continued on wondering and came to the Swahili store. Bought some carved soapstones for me and the girls. Had a nice dinner at Heny's Tavery. It used to the Henry Weinhardt's brewery. Then off to the play. It was performed at the Armory and was very nice. Lasted 90 minutes which we found to be just about right. It was a lovely night.

Longview

So I had the day off today. Decided it would be a good day to drive to Longview and spend a little time with Aunt Cris. She was all ready to cancel all her plans for the day, but I told her I would be early enough and leave early enough for her to continue on with her quilting plans. Had a lovely visit. While there Uncle Jerry called and we chatted a bit. I told him that I try really hard to stay out of Myk and Cassies's way while they learn how to take care of Audrie. So he told me a story of when they first brought their daughter Cheryl home. Sally was sleeping and he was taking care of Cheryl. She messed a diaper and he went running to his mom......oh what do I do? So Granny being a wise woman told him that she would show him once and after that he was on his own. And she did and he was.

Quiet

Audrie got to take her first trip this week. Her grandpa from Sumner, WA came and got Myk, Cassie and Audrie and took them up there for the week. Audrie got to meet her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Cassie's brothers did come see Audrie and visit with Myk and Cassie. Maybe, just maybe, someone exaggerated how they felt about Cassie and Myk.
My house was very quiet and I had great plans of what I was going to accomplish. Ha. Of all the things I planned I got one batch of peanut blossom cookies baked and then they got ate. I even took an extra day off from work. Just figures. :P

Families are Strange

I went out for lunch with my friends on Friday. Mona was telling us about her Thanksgiving dinner before Thanksgiving. She has been doing this the whole time I have known her. At this dinner her son invites his friends and they all eat turkey. This year her daughter from Arizona was here so they were doing the family thing also and invited her daughter and family from Ridgefield over also. The day of the gathering her daughter called and said she was sorry but they would not be coming because of David's friends being there, but that they would come if Mona told the friends they couldn't come. Mona wasn't about to do this and her daughter did not understand. Mona said it was the best gathering of people she has ever had at her house. All the friends were very well mannered as she expected that they would be. She said four babies came this year and everyone watched their own baby. Barb and I just commented that it was her daughter's loss.
Cassie's family is kind of this way also. Myk is not allowed at her mom's house because he is a criminal. He is also not allowed at her brothers' house. But the topper to that is neither is Cassie because she smokes. So we tell her that it is their loss that they don't want to get to know anyone who lives life differently than they do. Families are strange, even if I do understand wanting to protect our children.

Nature

The other day I was driving to town a little earlier than normal. Up ahead there was a creature coming out of the woods on the side of the road. My vision at a distance never got much better, but I assumed it was a deer. I slowed down and turned on my flashers. As I got closer and it watched me. It was a deer, but it had a little darker fur than what we normally see. Then she started running/hopping up the road and she had a black tail. About that time the baby came out of the woods and then it to crossed the road and started hopping up the road. The baby then continued on into the woods on that side of the road. I'm just starting to speed up when the mama crossed back in front of me and back into those woods. A car came up behind me and must have been as fascinated as I was as they also stopped to watch as I left.

Too Funny

So today after work I planned on going over to the armoury and trading in my certificate for real tickets to see "A Christmas Carol." As I was getting ready to leave Jacob was also getting ready to go. He took a half day so he could go to the lab and work on his art project. We didn't leave together but we did pull out of the parking lot at the same time. He headed towards the lab and I took a right to get to the freeway. Off I go and I get downtown Portland pretty quickly. I felt a bit turned around when I came off 405 as the numbered streets went a different direction than I thought they should. But I found the armoury, but had to go around with the one way streets. So I am watching for a parking spot and I find one two blocks away and think that is good. Get out and start to go to the kiosk to pay and there is Jacob paying for parking. Turns out he needed to get a part for his pin and thought that was a great time to drive downtown. So he showed me how to use the kiosk for parking and then again we went our separate ways. Too funny though.

Thanksgiving

There were nine of us this year. Mom, Pat, Tanya and the girls came over. We had the usual fare and it was all fine. We did have two walking wounded. Dave was sharpening knives yesterday. First time in many many years that he did it sober, so he slipped and sliced between his thumb and forefinger. He got four stitches last night. Elizabeth cracked a bone in her foot last night. She went to urgent care this morning and has an appt. with the fracture specialist on Monday. She said she was trying to avoid stepping on Adrianna and landed funny. Other than those two things everything was good. We are thankful.

She's Growing

A new baby brings lots of visitors through the house. Dave's mom and Bill stopped by to meet Audrie.

Audrie had her two week check-up at three weeks. Her Dr. caught the flu and kept rescheduling her appt. Anyway she weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce at three weeks. I knew she was getting heavier.

She still isn't sleeping through the night, but that will come. She has a good set of lungs on her when she gets mad. :P

Wind

So the storm blew and blew. Definitely woke me up this time. The wind chimes were just chiming. Right about 3 a.m. there was this big crash. Dave thought a tree had come down. Nope. It was just the umbrella. It broke somewhere along the line of its fly from one end of the deck to the other. Got up this morning and realized the gazebo cover was in tatters. Later we discovered that the umbrella had flown up on the roof and beat up the chimney which was then broken. Now we know how the umbrella got broke. Amazingly enough there are no trees down and just a few small limbs.

Epiphany

Tanya seems to have a need to have a relationship with men who have control issues. None physically that I know of, but emotional can do damage also. That said I have always commented that she didn't get that from me. Her mother has this exact same need and I always blame that relationship for Tanya's needs. So this week I was discussing with my mother red flags that Tanya should be seeing and apparently isn't. I made my usual comment when it struck me that yes she does get some of her behavior from me. There are definitely control issues in an alcoholic household. And my passive/aggressive tendencies never showed her how to make stands and deal with a lot of the issues. I'm so sorry that I didn't give her the tools to have control over her own life and be responsible for it and that makes her think she needs a man to do it. I'm not knocking healthier relationships because I understand the companionship aspect and I wish that for Tanya. I guess I will just have to keep telling her that she is a lot stronger than she thinks she is. And I'm not happy about my epiphany.

Two Pictures

My big accomplishment this week, aside from all the normal things and Audrie, was cleaning off my desk. The first picture has my desk in the background still piled with a lot of stuff. This is as clean as it will ever get and it will be awhile before I do this again. I am notorious for piling things on my desk. I am a stacker and that is why there is still one stack left on my desk. :P

Three Generations, One Roof

Now that Audrie has been born we are three generations living under one roof. I find that I really like it. I get to totally bond with Audrie in a way that I would not be able to if they lived somewhere else. Someday I know that we won't all be under the same roof and that is okay too. I think Cassie is really appreciating all the extra help also. Having a baby 24/7 is a lot different than babysitting. I don't think she quite understood how exhausted she was going to be at first. We are falling into a routine now and she is getting more rest.

A Couple More Pictures

Family Dinner

We sure have been having a lot of family dinners lately. Tonight was for Myk's birthday. He didn't want to wait until next week. Then Uncle Norman was in town, so we made it a big family dinner. The first picture is Papa with his girls and the second picture is Les, Betty and Norman. We had a wonderful time and ate really good hamburgers.

Adrianna did not like her mommy holding Audrie. She got the blanket and was going to set it out on the floor. Tanya told her not to put it on the floor so she very neatly spread it out on the couch for the baby and then implied that Tanya needed to put the baby there so she could be in Mommy's arms.

Audrie's Home

Cousins. Elizabeth, Adrianna, and Audrie,

Elizabeth and Audrie.

Adrianna and Audrey.

Myk, Cassie and Audrie got to come home today. Naturally that means a few visitors. Here are pictures of all our girls. Adrianna wasn't too sure about her at first, but seemed to like holding her.

Minnie is in love. She thinks she has a new pet. Anytime Audrie cries Minnie is right there checking on her. She is being so gentle with her doggy kisses. Mishka and the cats don't really care.

Introducing Audrie

Audrie came this morning at 11:39. She weighs 7 pounds and 7 ounces. She is 20 inches long. For now she has red hair and blue eyes and is perfect in every way. Not that I am prejudiced.

We Found the Answer

Now we know what keeps happening to the papertowels.

Audrie Update

Cassie had a dr. appt. yesterday. She goes in tonight to start the induction process. The dr. told her to call for a time around midnight. Well before we got back to BG the hospital called and wants her to call to make sure that 8 p.m. will still be good for her. The only thing that shifts her is how many mothers may come in today to have babies. My understanding is she gets some kind of medication that works overnight and starts the process of birth in the morning. So if all goes according to Hoyle, Audrie should be here tomorrow. Am I an excited Nana....no not at all. :)

Visiting Uncle

Uncle Jerry from Colorado came to visit. He is spending a few days at Aunt Cris's house. So today they had a little party at the nursing home with Uncle John. Beth, Randy and Mary came. Mom came with me. You can see Mary and Randy in the first picture along with Jerry and Aunt Cris cutting cake. The next picture is John and Cris. Sorry Unc...the photo with the napkin was the better of the two. And then the last picture is Unc checking his text message about some work that he is suppose to be doing while he is here. So he did 'work' briefly. The cake was delicious.

Then we went back to Cris's house and had dinner and a nice visit. I got baby gifts for Cassie and finally go to see the quilt. Beth was helping Cris pick out paint color for her bathrooms. Just a nice family evening.

Visiting Uncle

Travelling....Really?

So Dave has tickets to fly. He tells me his work schedule and I don't count on anything until he has the airline ticket. And even then it can always change. However it looks like he is spending the next three weeks in Montreal. He'll be home every Thursday to make his group meeting on Friday and then fly back on Saturdays. Wow.
I think he planned this to get past the new baby to be in the house. He expects to be discomforted by her crying. I said...you have survived three babies in your house before and she won't be in our room nor do we have to get up with her. And she may not be a crying baby.

Not Yet

No sign of Audrie yet. Cassie has another dr. appt. on Thursday. Last week the dr. said she hadn't dilated more but things are progressing. Just so slowly and too slowly for Cassie.

Busy

We have been busy the past few days. We had Adrianna's party. Then Dave and I went out for dinner and a play on Saturday. We ate at El Presidente. Both of us wished we would have stopped at El Rancho Viejo in Battle Ground instead. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as El Rancho. The play was at the Magenta Theater. We saw "Wait Until Dark", which is different for this theater. Usually they do comedies and this one was a thriller. We liked the play and walking around downtown. Sunday was pretty quiet. Then Elizabeth had another day on the horse yesterday. She got on the horse all by herself with no one holding on to the horse for her. She is making good progress.

Recycled Fountain

I've tried twice to get photos of this really cool fountain. Both times the pictures turned out really bad. Dave and I were downtown and he took these. They turned out much better than mine.

Recycled Fountain

Recycled Fountain

Adrianna's Second Birthday

Adrianna turned two years-old yesterday. We opted to do the family dinner birthday thing that we do with Elizabeth. It saves us the frustration of bigger parties. So we had lasagne and then cake. Then Adrianna got to open her presents. All four of them. Four seemed like a very good number. She enjoyed everything and didn't get overwhelmed. The boots are for our house, but she wasn't taking them off tonight. She wore them home and they will come back another day.

Clean Carpets

I've been doing the home cleaning of the carpets and thinking that it just isn't doing the job. Must be time to have the truck come and suck out more dirt than I can. My brother's old roommate actually started a carpet cleaning company. And I knew that if he was in our area I would have him do the carpets. He is completely trustworthy and I know would do a good job. The only problem was he lived in Salem.
So I am at Pat's house chatting with Pat and he says something about Sean. I said yeah but he is in Salem. Oh no, he moved to Vancouver awhile back. Pat gave me the number. The next day I was at Pat's and there was Sean up on his roof helping him paint. Well we set up a cleaning.
He came this week and was here for three hours doing my great room. Seems my great room is about 420 square feet and Sean charges 30 cents a square foot. Came out to $126. He didn't insist that I had to have things I didn't want, like the last cleaner I had in. My carpet looks so much better and even feels nice under bare feet again.
Sean's business is American Dream Carpet Care and the number in case anyone is interested is 360-921-6823. But I don't think he will travel to Malaysia, so don't call him Scott.

Pasture Time

Elizabeth finally got to ride in the pasture. She discovered that it is quite a bit different than riding in the arena. First there is a lot more space and it isn't nice and flat like the arena. Then the horse doesn't listen as well in the pasture. Tries to eat grass. So it is a different experience and Elizabeth was not sure she liked it. Now she did fine and will get over that nervousness. I bet she now understands why Jerry wanted to make sure she had good control before letting her loose in the pasture. We are going back on Monday, but more than likely it will be raining which puts us back in the arena.

Got to get that girl some of her own boots. Guess her xmas list is growing.

Nostalgia

This picture hung on the wall of my grandparents' kitchen for as long as I can remember. The people in the picture are my uncle Warren, my uncle Wayne and cousin Fred. Now Fred likes to call himself my uncle because he always felt more a part of my dad's family than his own. And that is fine. But really he is a cousin. I think it is a really cool picture and I'm glad that someone made a copy for my brother. Then my brother just scanned it for me so I have my own copy.
I think I have been feeling a little nostalgia since I took Doug and Heathers' wedding pictures down. They got divorced this year. As I was replacing the pictures I felt wrong about it. Even though they are now divorced their marriage was a big part of our lives too. And that doesn't change just because they are no longer together. I know that life goes on and things change, but memories are nice also.
I am starting to think about my picture wall again and finally putting it back up. Maybe I will still hang a wedding picture just because it is our history along with all the other pictures that remind of us of who we are and where we come from.

Elizabeth Day

Elizabeth and I didn't do a lot exciting. We did go find Lulu's boutique in BG Village. There wasn't much there for a girl her age. And mostly the prices were too high for me to spend my money. It wasn't badly priced, just not cheap enough for my frugal nature. Lulu pointed us to the shop across the sidewalk which is called BUG. Means Battle Under Ground. Website is www.battleunderground.com . That shop I really like for its pricing. She had a lot of cool things in there and I think all the teens from BG should go shop there. We bought a scarf and a magnetic necklace.
While we were at Lulu's , Brandon, her husband came in with her lunch. Her family owns one of the little Thai restaurants in town called Golden Tusk. We discussed that Dave actually now likes Thai once in awhile and maybe we would see if he would dine with us there. So that is where we went for dinner and Brandon remembered what we would be ordering. He doesn't listen to his wife but he does listen to patrons.

Another Change

Yesterday was my Elizabeth day. We asked Dave if he wanted to go out with us and he said he would (there is that doing things again). I asked him whose car we were taking and he said his. I commented on noticing that he is driving again. He said well he isn't inebriated.

Too Funny

I am in the shower when Mishka starts barking. Mishka went through a period of barking at everything when she first lost her hearing and most of her sight, but lately she is pretty quiet. So I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around me. Go out into the living room and there is red light flashing in the driveway. Oh no. I peek out the window by the door and it is my car flashing. I don't have a car alarm. This is very strange. So I go dry off and get dressed. Take my key and go to the car. Unlock it and it still is flashing, but the dome light comes on. There is Mittens in the car, but she can't get back out of the window she got in. It was only down about three inches and I had the seat flipped forward. She had turned on the emergency flashers. Maybe she is a smart cat....or just lucky.

Minnie and Marseilles

Just a picture of Minnie and her pet cat Marseilles. They are so funny. Marseilles still follows Minnie all over and lays with her on the deck to survey the domain. Marseilles likes Minnie a lot more than she likes the people.

She's Coming

Cassie had a dr. appt. today. She is at the every week stage of the pregnancy. Well today the doctor told her that she is 1.5 cm dilated. She estimates the baby to be between 7 and 8 pounds. Told her she would see her at her appt. next week if not before. Methinks there is a baby coming sooner than the 22nd of Oct.

I Don't Get It.

It turns out that Max's litter mates live across the street. The neighbors ended up with two male kittens about the same time as we ended up with Max. One of them looks a lot like Max and they are all the same size. So that means that someone definitely dropped them. I don't understand the mentality of that. If you are going to go to the trouble of hauling them all the way out to the "country" it wouldn't be much more bother to put them in a box and stand in front of Safeway finding them a home. Max, Hyde, and Leo are just lucky that they found homes instead of becoming roadkill or coyote food.

Change

Dave wanted to go to Barnes and Nobles to get a book. When he told me about it he actually asked if I wanted to go with. This after helping me with hay yesterday and we went to Fred Meyers the other day. A couple of weeks ago I felt like going to Saturday Market and he went.
Now WE don't do things like this together anymore. Haven't really in years. So this feels like a remembrance of years past when WE did do things together. I'm talking about the mundane usual kind of things. It is kind of nice.

Hay

Too Much Power is getting to be an old lady horse. So Jerry said it was time to start feeding her better hay. He explained that hay from the east is better than the hay grown here. More nutrients. More money also because it has to be transported here. So we talked about that and how much that kind costs. Too Much already gets beet pulp. Yummy.
Seemed kind of fair to me that we supply that extra nutrition as we are working her. So today I bought a ton of Eastern Hay. One hundred pound bails. Once we got it from the feed store to the arena and stacked it is surprising how little it really is. Anyway she now has her extra hay for this winter. I hope Elizabeth appreciates it. Because after this the work is on her to pay her way for her riding....and that means mucking out the stall.

Next Time

Next time Elizabeth gets to ride in the pasture. Jerry, as the teacher, wants to make sure she has good control of the horse before letting her loose in the pasture. That sounds like a good plan to me. Elizabeth can now mount and dismount all on her own. She is learning about saddles and has much more confidence on the horse. She has to wait until week after next week before she gets to ride again.
I think I need to go buy some Eastern Alfalfa hay. Even I am learning about horses.

Fadi

Rush week again. So I'm always looking for amusements. When you do backpacks, faces become familiar. There is this kid who has been coming in for a few quarters. So he is getting his back pack back and some friend of his comes up and says "Hi, Fatty." I look at him and say "He did not just call you that". They got into a long speech about it being his name and off they went. The next day he is back and I say "Hey, Fatty." He smiles and off to the store he goes. When he comes back I ask for his real name because there is no way his mother named him that. I again got the speech about oh yes it is his real name. Now most of this comes from his friends. Then it comes out that his name is Arabic and his friends have changed it a bit. His name is Fadi. The next day I ask for spelling. Fadi starts throwing out letters at me so his friend spells it for me. Now I have a good pronunciation, except his friend is still trying to get me to use Fat instead of the shorter a in Fadi. Fadi seemed to like it that I insist on saying it correctly.
Fadi has a real sense of presence. You just feel he is going to do something great. So Jacob looks up his name and it means savior. I think maybe his mom named him well.

Arena

Nope, Elizabeth was in the arena again today. She did manage to get up on Too Much Power on the first try. So that means she is getting stronger and more confidence. Jerry told her to come back in a week. He wants her on the horse one more time before he goes to AZ to climb down to the Colorado River. Sounds like quite a trip.

Too Short

Two day weekends are just too short. I don't know how people who always only have two days for their weekend get any rest.
Yesterday was the memorial service for my friend Kathi. I drove our group over as the service was in Portland. It was very nice and lasted about an hour. Our group was mentioned a couple of times. Had lunch afterwards. It was kind of interesting seeing the faces for all the names I have been hearing about for the last five years. I think we realized how different our Friday lunches are going to be now.
Today Elizabeth has another date with a horse. Should be an outside ride today so I should get pictures.

Catch Up

We are eating tons of corn, cucumbers and tomatoes. They have done the best in the garden this year. We also harvested all the onions and they look pretty good.

Elizabeth had another horse date with Too Much Power. Unfortunately the pictures turned out bad. Not enough light. Anyway she gained in confidence and found her command voice. She has another date lined up for this weekend and she will be riding in the pasture.

Dang busy at work. Can't get caught up. Getting overwhelmed some days. Rush is next week and after that my schedule changes. I am going to have a set schedule of Mon through Thurs, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Now that is always subject to change depending on how busy we are. But I will like getting off earlier in the day.

Cassie is getting bigger. She says Audrie moves around quite a bit. I still haven't seen or felt it, but I talk to her. Myk is still incarcerated taking care of all that old business. He should be all done before the baby comes. And then he'll have it all behind him and can start making realistic goals.

Dave is doing well. He finished up his intense sessions of outpatient. Now he is doing his 16 weeks of once a week. It seems he finally bought into AA and seems to be enjoying that more. Maybe enjoying isn't the right word, but anyway it is a support system for him.

Backwards

It is just one of those days. Dave caught Marseilles on the baby bouncer. Then Adrianna was playing in the cat tunnel. I think we buy cat toys just for her.

In Honor of Kathy

They say death always comes in threes. So earlier this summer I had two uncles die. I wondered who the third would be. Well this weekend the third one came. It was my friend Kathy. We met almost four years ago when I was struggling to deal with all the stress in the situation with Myk. Kathy was dealing with her own stressful situation with a child. And so our friendship formed. She was one of my greatest supporters. She knew when I felt like a failure and always reminded me of my successes. She taught me so much in the last four years about compassion and forgiveness and how to live.
I know that had we met at any other time we may not have become friends. Our mutual striving to be good parents brought us together and kept us together over all our many differences. She was more conservative to my liberalness. But she showed me that she lived her religion and she practiced tolerance. She never once put down my opinions even when we disagreed. I always knew that she cared about me. And I cared about her. I will miss her.

Full Moon Drumming Circle

Elizabeth and I attended our first Full Moon Drumming Circle. We came a bit unprepared and didn't really know what to expect. We could hear the drums for a block before we could see them. Found a place to park and walked to the Mint Tea store. The Mint Tea is an import store/bistro. Outside, in what would be the yard, sat a circle of people playing drums and other percussion instruments. On the sidewalk were some bigger drums. The crowd and players were a mix of every age group. There were professional people and laborers, hippies and yuppies. It didn't take Elizabeth too long to realize we should have brought something to play. So she went in the store and found a little bell. She rang that bell in time to the drums for quite awhile. We were able to pick out the different drums as they were being played. A man was playing the didgeridoo. Our favorite instrument was a cabasa shaker. We both thought that was really cool and one needed to be added to Nana's noise makers for grandkids. Finally it was hunger that drove us to leave. Neither one of us can wait for the next one. Not sure if there will be one in Oct. or whether we have to wait for next summer, but you can bet we'll do it again.

Offended

I knew when I did it that it was going to come back to bite me on the butt. Dave had walked up to me and was in my space and I smelled that fermenting apple smell. Alcohol. So I said "I smell alcohol." Naturally he told me that he had not been drinking and that was that. So he had a one on one counseling session yesterday and he told her about it. Her comment was how long is he going to put up with that. So he is telling me this and I'm confused....put up with what? He said sniffing to see if he was drinking. Whoa. I have taken immediate offense because I feel accused of something I don't do. And I have no idea where his counselor gets the impression that I am like that. Obviously I have no idea what he says to her. Anyway for the record....yes I am co-dependent, but I don't look for it. I asked him what his response was and he said oh he wasn't worried about it.
So I am thinking about this whole thing. I think I was feeling a bit safe and the eggshells are a bit firmer and that is why I said anything the day of smelling. Maybe I was wrong.
Anyway on to the other subject...Dave also watched a movie yesterday in group. Thinks we need to watch this movie at home. All fine. Except..... when he is telling me about this movie I can see him searching for the right words to get me to watch the movie without pissing me off. And he is right.....him telling me how to handle my relationship with Myk pisses me off. And I got the distinct impression that is why he wants us to watch this movie....so WE can quit enabling Myk. He tempers it with I might learn something about his addiction also. He forgets that I have been dealing with his addiction for 25 years and with Myk's for five. I'm willing to watch the movie and learn something, but I'm not willing to be willingly manipulated. Maybe that is where Dave's anger towards me comes from. The anger that he keeps hidden part of the time.
I think I heard an eggshell crack.

Creating a Swimmer

Part of our birthday present to Zach was swimming lessons. Today he had the last of the first set. He invited me to come watch and see how far he has come. He resisted lessons all summer and then finally relented. He went from being very scared of the water to being able to put his head under the water. We'll see what happens when he takes the next set.

Zach is so Funny

So yesterday was Zach's birthday. He had a little party. We ate BBQ hot dogs and had cake. After I got there he showed me that his friend had brought the biggest present. I lifted the gift bag and said oh it is a just a little present. Said mine was heavier than that. So he lifted mine and told me he knew what was in it. I said of course you do...it is the same thing every year. He says yup school clothes and hopefully shoes. He was absolutely right it was clothes, but his mom got him the shoes. His friend gave him a half pike thingy for finger boards.

Saw a Man About a Horse