Still here...

Yes, I am still here. When I don’t post for awhile my family and friends think that I am sick or something is wrong…which many times is the case, but this week…just busy. Also, much of the week was about Gavin and he is getting really nerved by my postings and pics of him online. I am going to ruin his social life.
So here is a recap of this week….

Monday Gavin went back to the doctor for x-ray and new pink cast (which only girls can sign). The Doctor noticed that his bone had shifted slightly. He has to stop using his arm so much. Three more weeks and hopefully we will move on to a brace for another six weeks.

On Monday evening Snowball tickets went on sale. Snowball is the Vigo County School Corporation’s middle school dance. They only sell 1,000 tickets, and the event is so large that it takes place at ISU’s Hulman Center. Tickets were $26 a piece for this formal affair, and were available for sale at Hulman Center from 6pm to 8pm. There was already a line at 1:30 that afternoon. After 4pm that day, Gavin called to tell me he had a date to the dance and would like a ticket. When we got there at 6:40 the line was all the way around to the back of the building. We waiting in line for one hour and then were told the tickets were all sold out. I wish I would have taken a camera to show you the line….amazing. Gavin was bummed, but personally I am not. He’s got so many dances ahead of him…and he is only in sixth grade. I did feel bad for the girl in front of us who had already purchased her dress.
Tuesday we go to meet our new neighbors. I came home and found two little kids other than my own hanging from the monkey bars. Macey is so excited to have made a new friend. Gracie is one year older than she. Gracie and Macey.

Wednesday my car broke down. How awesome is that? I don’t even want to talk about it. I guess when it rains it pours. Gavin’s exclamation of benefits came in the mail the same day. His emergency room visit alone, top out to over seven thousand. Just thankful that Paul and I have insurance, and are employed. This too shall pass, right?

Thursday Mamoo and Papsy came to dinner, and it was a good day.

Today is report card day for Macey!

Here are a few pics of Macey this summer attending her first wedding reception. She had so much fun dancing with the girls. Afterwards she told that for her birthday party she wanted a disco just like that.

The Great Pumpkins Patch

Arthur IL, in the middle of Amish land is a great big pumpkin patch with all kinds of things to see and do. Here are a few pics from our trip there...







Gavin had way too much fun playing with the animals...



Macey's favorite was the corn maze...and it was pretty cool!




I took so many more photos...it was a good time. The guy who owns the farm decorated the White House last fall. To see their website click here.

I dream of London...

I would love to be sitting at a tiny pub in the middle of London, maybe at Trafalgar Square or Portobello Road….the places I have read about. I would love nothing more than to sit back and listen to the conversations taking place all around me. I love British English, and the sounds of their plummy accents.

Where else in the world can you use exclamatory words like Absobloodylutely, Blimey or Gobsmacked?

They live in flats, not apartments, they eat biscuits instead of cookies, and they always look so smart! They will ring you up on the telly. Even their babies get pushed around in fancy prams and wear nappies, not diapers.

They spend quid while we spend money. They take the bins out (trash). Occasional they get into a row(fight) with a mate (friend), and might even tell him to go bugger off. (Bugger sounds so much kinder than what we as Americans would say in its place.)

After they go out all night and have a smashing (great) time getting pissed(drunk) they are knackered (tired).

Some other fun words I think they say…

Kitchen roll – paper towel

Wonky – crooked

Wobbler – Erratic behavior

Bullocks – crap

Chat up – pick up or hook up

Cheeky – smart mouthed

Daft – crazy

Jammy – lucky

Snog – kiss

Gander – look

Wanker – not really sure, but wouldn’t want to be called one

Bloke – man

Check out some other slang here.

And how about this scenery?

Cherrio Mate!

Hope

I saw a rainbow on the way to work today. It offered so much promise to the day. It made me think of hope.

Emily Dickenson wrote this Hope...

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the hale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Tales of the 1st Grade

Yesterday Macey got to be the special student, which meant that she got to be the teachers helper, line leader, and all kinds of special things...plus she got to bring home Henry the Hippo as her guest.






















Macey then got to write about Henry's adventures at the Payne house. I am sure this one will stay forever sketched on the poor Hippo's mind...Jack thought it was a new toy for him!

Macey applied 1st aid and all was right again in the world. I think she might have been the first student in her class to take back a hurt Henry the hippo.



























Of course he was in good company, so I think he felt better quickly.

Every night Macey comes home with a reading assignment.

Last week she got a new book. The first chapter was a lot like a "Dick and Jane" book. Daddy was listening and this was her page...
Jan came.
Pete and Dave came.
Dean had fun!

Daddy's mind was in the gutter and he busted out laughing. Of course Macey laughed too, and kept repeating "Jan came," to which her daddy and I tried to recover and swiftly added "to the party."




There is also some sorted romantic triangle going on between her best friend Stella and a boy they both like who I will name "Mike." Stella is in love with Mike and is going to marry him someday. Macey has actively decided to take a back seat, because she loves her best friend more than the boy (if only it stayed this easy later down the road). However Macey was telling me how Stella asked Mike why he touched Macey all the time. He told Stella to tell Macey it was because he wanted to play with her. So Macey told Stella to tell Mike that he could play with her. But Mike said he didn't want to play with her right now, it was only when he touched her. I asked Macey if she liked Mike, and she said "I am too little to like anyone right now." To which I told her she was very wise!

Her Fingers May be Small

but she has these boys wrapped right around them.

Your so vain, I bet you think this blog is about you...

Eleanore Roosevelt said..."You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do."



Carly Simon said "Your where you should be all the time and when your not your with some underworld spy, or the wife of a close friend," or as I say the Mom of a best friend.

A Leason Learned from the Family Dog

I will be the first to admitt that our dog can test my everloving last nerve. However he has taught me a couple of things.

Tolerance...this little girl will drag him around with her everywhere. This picture is a common view in our neighborhood. She loves to take him for rides around the house on her jeep, and he is happy to accompany her.


Friendship...it doesn't matter what anyone says or does to him he loves you all the time!

My Dreams for Gavin

I came upon Gavin's baby book. When I saw it I recalled that the back page was titled "My dreams for you..." I wondered when I started reading it if what I wrote some eleven years ago would be different from what I feel and think right now. After reading it I was touched and amazed at how very right on I had it from the start. I wouldn't change a single thing. It is still my dream not only for him but for all my kids. Here is what I wrote:

To know, love and follow God, the creator of your life.

To feel loved and safe each night you close your eyes.

That you will know the difference between wrong and right, and that you will not allow others to justify or compromise your actions.

That you will have a strong sense of who you are, and who you are capable of being with God's help.

That you are not afraid to try, and learn from yours and others mistakes.

Cherish the little things.

Say please and thank you a lot!

Know that even mommies make mistakes and forgive them and others.

Don't be afraid to love, and keep your promises. You are only as good as your word.

Follow your dreams. Remember you can't please everyone.

Have no regrets.

Be honest even if the truth hurts.

Remember me and where you came from.

Know that wherever life's journey takes you that my arms are always open, my ears will always listen and my heart will always love you!

Oh, and hot cinnamon rolls always made me feel better at the end of a terrible day!

xoxox Mommy

How to do a cartwheel

Hand, hand, foot, foot, fall down, get up, repeat.

I love you but...

I found upon this website a few weeks ago. It made me laugh out loud, click here.

In our home when we get frustrated with one another we usually say "love ya mean it." So love ya mean it, or love ya but, here are a few to the ones close to me...all in good fun of course!

I love you but....

you could use a hair cut!
(my hair extensions on Paul)




























I love you but...

your a klutz!


































I love you but...

your just mean if you don't get your way!




























I love you but...

you throw up when you ride in cars.



I love you but...

not only do you eat all the pickles, you drink the juice straight out of the jar.

A Two Hour Trip to the Emergency Room

I have found out that there is only one singel thing that rattles me as an individual, it's very simple, and that is the lack of self control.



Gavin's dad called me on Saturday night, in transit from his house to the hospital to tell me that Gavin had broken his arm. Panic set in when I heard Gavin's cries in the back ground. It settled in somewhere between my heart and my stomach and set root on the nearly two hour drive from my house in Terre Haute to Gavin in Noblesville.



I find it the most unnatural thing in the world to have a kid that is sick or hurt. From the moment we bring them into the world we are acting on their behalf to keep them safe, happy and healty.



This marked Gavin's 4th emergency room run, and really his most siginfigant. In the past it was always me in charge of getting my sick or injured kid better. This time I was in the driver's seat, literaly. As stressful as that in your face, emergency, act now parental role is...the not being there, not acting part is much worse.




Gavin handled the entire thing much better than I did. I had made myself sick with worry on the drive there..thinking surgery, arm attachment, etc... Even after I got there I could not calm myself down and was of no use to my son. For this I am sad.

After they had set Gavin's arm, my mom said "I would go home now, but I think I need to be there for you." She was, and acted on my behalf before I could get there. For this I am grateful.

Gavin is feeling much better. Surgery is still on the table, it is all a matter of time and if the bones will heal properly. Fingers crossed this is the worse it will be.

I am so happy to have him home with us. I think I will sleep the best I have slept in nealy five night.

Gavin you were brave and I am so proud of you!

Cute Happy Kids

Last week we went to Macey's best friend Stella's house for dinner to celebrate Stella's 6th birthday. Here are a few pics of some really cute and very happy kids!