Oh My Peanut

There is a little girl that is 7 years old and she is known as my Peanut. Since the day she was born she has tugged at my heart (not that there aren't some other special ones in my life, but there has always been something extra special about this one.) I saw her after the hour she was born, she is my best friend's oldest and also my goddaughter. I got to hold her for hours when she was a baby and to this day she loves to sit and cuddle with me. Anyway, I lived with my best friend and her family for a little while when my Peanut was around 2 years old. I think she vaguely remembers this because she will ask when I am moving back in. Since I have had trouble getting an answer about a transfer and haven't been able to find a job and many other things that have gone wrong lately I told my best friend that I needed some luck and she said she had run out as well and that she would ask my Peanut for some of hers. A funny thing happened while my BFF and my Peanut were out for a walk all on her own my Peanut told my BFF that if I needed some of her luck she would give it to me, all without my BFF suggesting anything. I mean how can you not just smile, she is just too sweet.

It Was The Worst Phone Call We Ever Got...

Funeral's always bring out the stories for people, about the person that has passed or others that have gone before. Having attended a funeral this past week so close to the day my dad passed away had many people talking about him at the funeral home. One of my cousin's wives talked to me about getting the phone call from my cousin, and not being able to understand what he was saying because he was crying so hard.

At first I thought I don't want to hear this I have my own story, however I do realize that hearing this just reiterates how much my dad meant to so many people which was shown by the number of people that came to his funeral.

Although every year this day seems to be so hard, it helps some to know how much he affected peoples lives. We have missed having you around so much that it still really hurts to think of what you weren't here for Bub and Shyguy's births, E., Turtle's graduation from high school and my own graduation from college. Plus all the little things the birthdays, visits, helping with everything that you could and throwing a really good barbecue. If I could have just one more day, conversation, hug, and laugh, but I know that wouldn't work, because I will always just want one more day, conversation, hug, and laugh.

Scooby-Doo Where Are You?

For those of you who don't know me I LOVE SCOOBY-DOO, I now have 2 little boys that have found the same love for these crazy characters. So it is only suitable that they dress as yes that is C-Bear as Velma and E. as Daphne, I mean what else would 2 boys want to be for Halloween. The family shot is the Director as Fred, and the Newsman as Shaggy. These costumes are awesome, this is definitely the best dressed family, except where is Scooby?

A Long Week

So this past week I drove to Michigan for a funeral, one of my aunts passed away (technically she and my uncle have been divorced for many years, however we all still called her aunt and invited her to parties.) She was a great lady she loved to craft which I can relate to, her greatest ability was making cakes. She was one of my sister's godmother and every year to my utter jealousy my sister got a doll cake. It was the ones with an actual doll and the cake part was the dress they were always awesome! It is always great to see relatives the unfortunate part is that most days we only now for most we only see people at funerals and weddings the bad part is that we don't have many left to marry in the family.

The high point of this past week was of course seeing my family and friends and all the little ones as viewed in the above pictures of Little Bob, Peanut, Curly-Q and Munchkin, I also got to see C-Bear and E. I just didn't get any shots of them unfortunately but I did get to enjoy dinner with them and watch Dinosaur Train! I'm glad I got to end the week on a better note! Always great to see everyone and those I missed hopefully next time I'm through I will be able to visit.

Oh How I've Missed You

The Internet is something that I didn't realize how much I used and or depended on it until I couldn't use it for a couple days. We had some technical difficulties with our Internet provider so I wasn't able to do any job searches or look at emails (which pile up extremely fast when not looked at for a couple days). However, we are now up and running again. Yea us! So now maybe I can get some more posts up.

A Great Story...

My nephew Spanky who plays freshman football for my old high school, did an amazing thing. When practices started in August, he was the only kid who talked to another player on his team that has extremely bowed legs. This kid came out for the football team and is always ready to go at practice he is on time and dressed everyday, even though he is not on a first string offense or defense. Spanky went to a local Lutheran school and so did this other kid, so he did know him before going into school. Some of the other football players constantly picked on this kid until Spanky told them all to shut up and leave him alone, that he is there everyday and ready to practice. Yes, my 15 year old nephew stood up to his entire football team in defense of another player. We only found out because one of my other nephews plays on the team as well and he told his mom what Spanky did at practice and so the story was told to Spanky's mom. She asked him why he did it and he simply said he was sick of it so he told them to shut up! He is such a good kid and this truly proves it, we are all so proud of what he did!

October Birthdays

So the October Birthdays were celebrated...last week was one of my older brothers surprise party he turned 40. The top pictures are from that...I unfortunately had my camera battery die so I didn't get that many shots, but I did get one of the "Big L" after he got out of the car. The next one is 2 of my nephews Turtle (bearded one) and Spanky standing with G.S., as you can see she is not as tall as they are!

The next shots are of my roommates birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (Yum) we had a very nice dinner and they brought out her cheesecake with a candle in it and we all sang to her. The couple shots are of the Brit showing off her new sunglasses and her very large cappuccino. Of course we all were in a food coma afterwards, but really enjoyed the day.

Earlier in the day the Crafter, Brit, and I went out shopping at a ginormous craft show where I picked up a few things for my Peanut. It was a very enjoyable time to wander around and see the things people have created. The most popular dog bandannas and little girl barrettes...not sure what that means...but there were a lot of interesting things.

The Apple Farm

I got invited to go on a field trip with C. Bear and his momma the Director to an apple farm. We had a lot of fun here are a few shots of C. Bear and his momma. Also, some group shots are for the benefit of seeing C. Bear do his funny face, which you will notice he is the only child with his arms up and tongue out in the pictures...he takes after his momma in more ways than one! We got to go on a hayride, a walking tour of the orchard (which is where the funny faced tree comes in), and then we got to play, eat a fresh homemade donut and cider (yum), then do a craft. The odd moment was when I was introduced to C. Bear's teacher and her reply without my last name was I know her she worked at Camp. AH what? That was some years ago....we later learned she had seen my picture on Facebook and so knew who I was...although since its been 20 some years since I worked at camp and believe I look a little different and there is no mention of camp on my Facebook, I still find it a little odd especially since I worked in the kitchen! Thanks to C. Bear and the Director for the invite and lunch I had a lot of fun hanging out with good friends and cute kids!

The Cheerleader

On Friday night of my Vacation week...my sister J-9, sister-in-law J. Daiquiri, and my niece Burly. We all drove down to see "Missy" cheer. We stopped and picked up my sister Beeth, and "Missy's" mom Cha Cha C., we completely embarrassed "Missy", as any good aunts should do, all we did was when we arrived was walk up to the fence and yelled her name incessantly, and waved to let her know we were there...her friends thought it was hysterical as did we, "Missy" did not we were told to go away. We had a lot of fun watching the cheers and the game. After every touchdown her team scored the cheerleaders had to do push-ups for every point the team scored! So the top shot is "Missy" cheering and next would be push-ups. Next is J. Daiquiri clapping while embarrassing her daughter Burly. Although how Burly can be embarrassed, I'm not sure because she has a sparkly headband on. Next is J-9 with Burly and then a shot of Cha Cha C. with "Missy" then a shot of "Missy's" feet after the game yes flip flops in late September at a football game are the "in" thing. Cha Cha C. has been going through a rough time due to a douche bag ex-husband and some ungracious sons. We really enjoyed seeing the game and I think deep down "Missy" appreciated us being there embarrassing aunts and all. This completed my tour of the nephews and niece playing fall sports and though I wished I lived closer to be able to see more games, I am grateful that I got to see at least one. They are all good kids and we are proud of them.

Little "Bob"

This amazingly cute little boy is one of my good friends kids, he looks just like his dad "Bob". I got to stop in and see them before I went up and saw the football game. So actually this was the first part of my vacation. I had a great visit even though I couldn't hold him because I had a runny nose, but it was still great to see them. Also, he has a great outfit on...I gave it to him of course, since you can't see it the toys are talking to each other and saying what great hair he has!

My Vacation Part 1...

The Football Game

This past week I was on vacation and was able to see my nephews play football, go on a field trip with another nephew, see one play soccer and go to my brothers 40Th birthday party. These are some pictures from the game I will try and post some from all of the other activities over the next few days. The first picture up top is Spanky (85) and the Quarterback (22) in on the offense during this time they scored a touchdown! It was way cool they are both second string offense and first string defense where they both play defensive end. Their season is 4-1 which is great. The next shot was after the game, yes they both are really freshmen in high school!

C-bear and E. came with their mama to the game they had a good time eating hot dogs and cheesy pretzels! The bottom of shot of E. is after the game modeling...wait for it his Daphne shoes for his Halloween costume! Yes he will be Daphne from Scooby-doo and C-bear will be Velma and Mama will be Fred and Daddy will be Shaggy! Can't wait to see pictures of this.

Bub's Playing Soccer

Here are some pics of Bub's first soccer game this fall. He did a good job and had some great kicks. He almost scored some goals, but they were just a little shy of the goals. That's OK though being out there and playing is really the ultimate goal. He seemed to have a good time and Shyguy made a good cheering section. I was very glad I got to see this game and hope to see another in a couple of weeks.

The Wedding

Here are some of the pictures I took at the wedding I attended this past weekend. There are 2 little boys that did a fantastic job being ring bearers. They both walked up and down the aisle with their little flower girls. Although they both had Hello Kitty, bags full of activity items to keep them occupied during the service...along with Nana and Aunt Scooby's camera's to snap off some pictures. One of the only clear shots E. took is the pictures of the stuffed animals...how ironic! They stayed and partied at the reception and E. made a friend with the wedding singer....he complimented her on her pretty shoes(there is a shot of their feet above). Side note the shots of the flowers and the church were me playing with my camera while ChaCha set up some night shots with the bride and groom. Everyone had a great time, it was so good to see everyone, I'm so glad I could make it.