Ashes to Ashes

I haven't gone into detail how Lupe, my cat, died. I was up at 5 am on that Sunday morning. I was feeling like poo, so I made myself some Thera-Flu. Rick was up at about 5:30 am and went into the guest bathroom. I recall Lupe coming out into the living room when he heard my voice and he jumped onto my chair. I pet him for a bit and then I nodded off. When I woke up it was maybe 15 minutes later, Lupe wasn't there and I moved into the bedroom. At about 6:15 am Rick woke me up with, "Brenda, Lupe's gone." Lupe's dead." Rick was making coffee in the kitchen when he heard Lupe make the chirping/growling noise that he would make when he saw a bird or a mouse. Rick went to investigate and Lupe was laying by my chair. Rick stooped to pet him and Lupe stopped making the noise. He seemed fine. Rick left the room and came back 10 minutes later and Lupe was dead. Lupe showed absolutely no signs of illness. He was his usual self the previous night and that morning. Rick thinks that perhaps Lupe died when he was petting him because Lupe's position was the exact same that Rick had left him in. Katie woke up before we could get Lupe's body out of the house, but I think it was important for her to see death. It was the first time she had seen someone she knew dead. I cried all day and at the end of the day, Katie told me that she was irritated with me because all I did was cry. She informed me it was okay to cry only one hour when a cat died. Katie is usually so very compassionate. I think she was dealing with her own grief and she couldn't get it out of her mind with me bawling. Also, I think she was scared to see me cry.

Here at the missile base we have a pet cemetery. It is located on the northwest corner of our property. We actually didn't pick the area, someone else did. Let me explain. When Rick first bought the missile base, he was walking around and found a small rectangular grave marked off by stone. There was no headstone or maker of any kind. He decided it must have been the previous family's pet, so when a cat that he had died he buried it next to the unmarked grave. The area eventually became known as pet cemetery and Max and Eric, our dearly loved and departed White German Shepherds, are buried there. We have also christened the unmarked grave as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I just hope it really is a family pet and not Grandpa. However, I have veered of track to the point that I have done a 180. The reason why I brought up the pet cemetery is that when Lupe died, my first thought was to bury him in pet cemetery, but then I changed my mind. Lupe was a 100% indoor cat. He didn't like the outdoors and had no desire to go outside, so it seemed wrong to bury him outside. I also struggled with cremating him because 10 years ago he is all I saved from the fire, so it seemed ironic to have him cremated. However, I finally opted to have Lupe cremated. I should have his remains back at the end of this week.

Lupe died on a Sunday and no place was open for me to call about cremation services, so Rick wrapped Lupe up in an old towel, placed him in a white garbage bag, put him in a cardboard box and I took him down to our large freezer in the missile base. It was extremely difficult. He was there a few days before I could get him to the vet who then had to forward him to the pet crematory for a private cremation. When Rick and I brought him to Dr. Bolt in Abilene, I asked Rick to cut a piece of hair off of Lupe so I could keep it as a memento. Without hesitation, Rick said of course he would do that. I didn't really want to see Lupe frozen, so Dr. Bolt's daughter found an empty exam room for Rick to complete his task. Rick was worried how he would look too, but Rick was surprised how well Lupe looked. His fur was still soft and silky black and his eyes were closed--he died with his eyes open--and Rick said he didn't look frozen at all. So Rick came out into the waiting room and handed me a cutting of his fur and I bawled.

I still hear him in the house or see him out of the corner of my eye. I have split seconds where I think, "I have to feed Lupe." or "I have to clean Lupe's litter box." then I realize he is gone and I get all sad again. I have these witches legs that I slip the dining room table's legs into for Halloween. The feet on the witch's legs have boots that stick out into the room. More than once I have stepped on one of them and immediately thought I was stepping on Lupe. The night of the day Lupe died I had a weird dream. Actually it was more of a vision because it lasted for just second and I was teetering somewhere between being awake and falling asleep. Anyway, in my "dream" our front door was open, but it wasn’t open to our yard. It was open to a bright fog. Lupe was walking out of the front door and I remember panicking and saying, "Lupe is getting out the front door!" I don't know who I was talking to. I was hurt because Lupe won't stop or turn and look at me. In life Lupe would come when I called for him and would never ignore my voice. Then JOLT! I woke with a start. Was it an over active imagination trying to find comfort or did I see him cross over? I'll never know, but the image from the dream sticks with me because his head was held so high and his big fluffy tail was at full mast.

So that's the end of Lupe's 13 years 8 months of life. I still can't believe that he is gone.

Up Seven in Three Days

If you pay attention to the rattlesnake count on the right rail of this blog, you will note that it has made a significant jump.

Saturday, Rick found an adult rattlesnake in the Quonset Hut which he dutifully shot. Sunday, Rick found two more in the Quonset Hut. Both snakes were in the same spot but not at the same time. Tonight Hobo, our Pyrenees, was outside and barking like a madman. Rick flicked on the porch light and looked out the window on the front door. Hobo was barking at a baby rattlesnake that was at the bottom of our front steps. Because it is a warm night; because it's that time of the year when the rattlesnakes move around and because when there is one baby there are usually more, Rick took a walk around the missile base with his .45. He found another baby underneath the Hummer and a third baby by the burn pit. I had to move the Hummer out of the way before Rick could shoot it and I opted to climb in via the passenger door since the snake was closer to the driver's door. Of course Rick shot them all, but having been lightweight snakes, they got some air when the bullets hit them. Rick had to search around the front yard for the body of the one that was at the foot of the front steps. The snake flew a good 15'.

Tonight is garbage night and Rick needed to get the garbage can up to the road. We usually use the golf cart to haul it, but he had already stored the golf cart in the Quonset Hut because of impending rain. He couldn't hold a flashlight, look for rattlesnakes and pull the garbage can all at the same time, so he asked that I accompany him. We didn't see any rattlers in our very long driveway; however, when we got back to the parking area, there was an adult rattler heading in the direction of the Hummer. He's dead now too. Now if my ciphering is right, that is seven snakes in three days.

Once I know that the rattlesnakes are moving--they are searching for a winter den--I get pretty anxious when I am outside. I get so obsessed with constantly watching the ground that I have caught myself checking were I walk in the house. Now the chance that a rattler would get in the house is almost nonexistent, but it is a hard habit for me to turn off when I get inside or out of rattlesnake country. Case in point is that when I visit my mom and dad, where there are no venomous snakes, I still find myself looking for those diamond backs in the grass, crevices or under rocks. Anyway Rick feels pretty good and has counted the night as productive. On the not-so-triumphant side, Hobo is terrified of loud noises, so whenever he hears gunshots, he heads for the hills even if the shots are coming from dove hunters a mile away. Tonight I bet he just about pooped his pants when Rick shot the snake and he was only about 20' away. Most likely Hobo is hiding in the cotton field right now and when he doesn't hear a gunshot for a while he will come home. I am worried about him roaming around out there with the moving rattlesnakes. All I can do is every so often go out on the front steps and call for him. But because I'm in my anxious-about-rattlesnakes mind set, every so often is approximately every five minutes.

That's the rattlesnake update on the countdown. Excuse me while I go step out on the front steps. Ciao.

The Years Are Short

Time to play catch-up. Katie had her spring ballet recital in the middle of May. About a week before the recital she informed me that she didn't want to do ballet next Fall. My heart broke. She is so good at it and that is not just the bias opinion of her mother but also of her ballet teachers. Katie's reasoning is that she wants to try something that will stretch her muscles and she is getting bored with ballet. I explained to her that in the Fall she will move up to a new age division, but she wants to try gymnastics and she is well aware she cannot do three activities at one time. After the recital she started wavering when she saw the dance that the 7-8 year olds did. There were leaps and spins and extra fancy footwork. Her boredom with ballet has to do with the fact that she wants to be dancing like the "big girls". She wants the dramatic, but doesn't realize that she needs to work up to that. I really want her to stick with ballet for at least one or two more years because ballet is the basis of all dance. I might have found a solution. The local gymnastic clubs offers six-week summer courses that will allow Katie to try out gymnastics. I don't want to say "no" to it just for the sake of ballet. Who knows, she may be very good at it. But enough of the ballet drama, here are a few pictures.

This picture is actually from the dress rehearsal, the night before the recital. We were in the first floor ladies lounge at the Paramount.

This is from underneath the stage the night of the recital. The dancers cannot put their costumes on until they are backstage where there are no photo-op friendly backgrounds.

 Flash photography is not allowed during the performances so we got very few photos of Katie dancing that are not blurry messes. The above is one that is only partially blurry.

 Curtain call. Katie is the tallest ballerina in the front row with the aqua blue skirt.

 With her bouquet of flowers from her Momma and Daddy.

Being silly with "Uncle" Don and "Aunt" Gerri, our neighbors and good friends, who came to watch Katie perform.

 Katie outside the Paramount. Each year I have taken this picture with the marquee in the background.

 Another traditional picture, Katie on her Daddy's knee.

Family picture.

This week is the last week of school, so it has been busy. Tuesday was Katie's Field Day at school. Field Day is comprised of different stations of games on the football field in which each class partakes. We have been in the 90s and 100s with blazing sun but the day the kids have an outdoor event, it was overcast with gray thunderheads. Figures. Since pictures show what takes hundreds of words to explain, I'll go with pictures.

 Hula hooping

 Tug-of-war. Girls against boys. The boys won two out of three. They then mixed the teams up and Katie was in the front position. She dug her feet in and won't budge. Her team won.

 Sack race. She got some serious air and was pretty fast.

 This game involved a can with holes in the side that the kids had to pass to one another, over their heads and, oh, it was filled with water. Then the last person had to race to the forward coffee can and empty the water, if any was left, and start all over.

 The final event was a race where seven kids in the same grade race against each other. I wasn't at the finish line but I thought Katie came in third. She thought she came in second. Regardless they all got the same ribbon.

Wednesday morning was the Awards Ceremony for the Elementary School. Katie made the "A" Honor Roll with an all "A" average for the entire year and was in the 15 mile club, which means she walk/ran 15 miles on Wellness Wednesdays throughout the year. We are pretty proud of her. Of course pictures are included. 

 Sitting next to one of her best friends.

 Blowing kisses to Daddy

 Receiving her awards from her teacher Mrs. Henrich.

 Examining the awards

"Wait! I'm on a stage!" Kiss, kiss, pose, pose. I wanted to crawl under my seat with embarrassment. Only Katie. If she doesn't spend her life on stage, she will surely shrivel and dry up.

Which brings us to today, the last day of first grade.

I measured Katie the other day. She is 49.5" tall. Yes, she has broken the 4' mark. She is 4' 1.5" tall, thanks to Rick. And she is all legs, thanks to Rick. She has my tone and shape (shameless bragging), which I got from my mother, so the girl has gorgeous gams.

That's the picture news for the last month or so. Since I started this post, I mailed in the check for gymnastics, so she'll be doing a gynmnastics this summer. Next Saturday she will be testing for her 2nd degree red belt in Tae Kwon Do. They had sign-up for Anson Youth Cheerleading and I was relieved that Katie didn't want to participate. It really was a bad experience and made me appreciate the outstanding coaching and instruction that she receives at Team Chip and Ballet Abilene. So as you see life moves along at Corinth West. A school year ends, new adventures begin. And all the time in the back of my mind I hear, "The days are long, but the years are short." How true, how true.

Katie's Dream House

Wednesday I met up with Katie at school to assist her in the construction of a gingerbread house. The entire first grade class was in the cafeteria and each child was encouraged to invite an adult to help them build. They gave us one hour to create and Katie continued working on hers at home. Below are pictures of her first ever gingerbread house.

Here is a view of the left side and front of her house. I had bought Lifesavers, licorice, mini candy canes, M&Ms and Starbursts. She was pretty creative with the candy.

Here is the backside and left side of the house again. The right side looks just like the left. The white frosting on the tray is supposed to be snow, but she ran out of frosting and couldn't do the snowbanks that she envisioned. She had to do Texas snow, which is just a light dusting.

I call the house Katie's Dream House because she would be in high heaven if she lived in this house made out of butter cream frosting and candy where she could eat a chunk of the wall whenever she pleased.

If a picture is worth a thousand words than I am off the hook.

Over a month has past since my last post, so it is time for a new one. To update you would take oodles of time and numerous keystrokes. Therefore, I'll give you the abbreviated text version and rely on pictures to give you the details.

Katie danced in The Nutcracker as a Tiny Angel; was in Abilene's and Anson's Christmas parades with her cheerleading team; visited with Santa at the Mall; received another report card of straight A's; and is growing and learning.

Rick is finally on his well-deserved and much-needed, month-long vacation. We have had snow already this year, but the dusting was gone by noon. The weather has been cold for the last few weeks--30's to 40's in the morning. It gets warmer as the day goes, but the temperature just drops once the sun drops below the horizon. I've decorated for Christmas, but have not gone all out like usual. The Christmas spirit eludes me this year. I try to fake it for Katie's sake. My dad has cancer and his treatment options would possibly buy him more time, but nothing will eradicate the cancer. He has turned down the options available and has chosen at home hospice. Right now he is holding steady and doing well.

Below are a few pictures and I hope they are worth a thousand words.

Family Christmas Picture 2012

 Katie with some of her fellow cheerleaders waiting to board their float for the Abilene Christmas parade

Katie lost her first baby tooth Dec. 15, 2012. It's the gap on the bottom front. The gap on the top front has always been there!

 Katie at Santa's Wonderland at the Mall

 Katie's 2012 Santa Picture

Katie after she visited with Santa at the Mall. She got the Elf hat from one of Santa's elves.

As the holidays approach, my prayers go out to the families and the community of Newton, Connecticut. My wish for you is that the quiet peace of the season remains with you throughout the year. Merry Christmas.

The Nutcracker Festivities

The Holidays are fast approaching and that point was driven home to me this weekend when the events surrounding Abilene Ballet Theater's performance of The Nutcracker kicked off. Sunday Katie and I attended the Sugar Plum Fairy's Tea at the Abilene Women's Club. The Tea is an important fundraiser for ABT and Katie and I have attended for the past three years. This year I participated in the silent auction and was the high bidder on a 18" metal Nutcracker and for the first time Katie really got into getting autographs from all of the dancers even though she sees them on a regular basis at Ballet Abilene where she takes lessons and where the ballet company rehearses. It must have been the gorgeous, sparkly costumes and the dramatic make-up that had Katie all awed and star struck. 

Like last year, Katie will dance in The Nutcracker as one of the Little Angels. She has two performances. One is Saturday night's and the other is Sunday's matinee. This year we opted to buy tickets for only Saturday night's. The Little Angels dance about a 1/2 hour after the ballet starts, so on Sunday Katie and I will arrive around 8 pm and I will wait in the tunnel while she dances. Then when she is done we will head home.

There's a lot more that has occurred the last couple of weeks, but I'll fill you in later. I really just wanted to post some photos for Rick.

 Katie and one of the Claras. ABT does six performances of The Nutcracker over the weekend and the part of Clara is split among three dancers. The part of the Sugar Plum Fairy, which is considered the principle dancer, is filled by two dancers.

 At our tea table. When you enter the tea party, the Claras hand out tiaras for the girls attending. This year Katie's was purple.

Each year Katie and I have our picture taken and this year like last we had to have our picture taken after the tea. The blue, metal nutcracker on the left is the silent auction item on which I bid. Each year at the tea I purchase Katie a nutcracker. This year she chose a gold and white one. This year I also bought myself one. It is purple and gold. The first year Rick and I were married I went hog wild--or I should say Rick did--and bought me every nutcracker that I liked from Michael's. It's time to grow my collection.

Til I have time to write a longer post. . . .Ciao.

Stranded at Corinth West

Today I hopped in the H2 to run errands before I picked up Katie from school. Turned the key. It didn't turn over. No fear, my bullet, the SRT8, was sparkling in the sunshine by Katie's swing set. I gathered up my belongings and slid into the seat that still fits me like a glove. Turned the key. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. You have got to be kidding me. I called our friend and neighbor Don and he came over with cables and such to access the situation. While he was here I had to go to the top of the driveway to meet Katie's bus and I tell you I was absolutely surprised when the golf cart moved when I stepped on the gas. With the luck I was having, that should have been dead too. Anyway, long story short the H2's battery, which had a 36 month warranty, died because this month is the 37th month and the SRT8 just needed a jump. So my errands did not get run, but I am thankful that my vehicle broke down in my own driveway as opposed to along side the highway. Matter of fact when a vehicle does strand me, 9 times out of 10 it is in my own driveway, carport or garage. Can't complain about that.

The Wordy Wednesday Post

In total contrast to my earlier Wednesday post, this one is wordy.

As mentioned in a previous post, I now have a neurologist. Monday I met another neurologist who performed an EMG on me and a neurologist technician who performed a nerve conduction study. Let me get to the point, OUCH.

The nerve conduction study measured how fast my nerves send signals. This was done by sticking electrodes on me and then electrocuting me at numerous points on my hands, arms, feet and legs. The pain was the worst at my forearms, elbows, ankles and knees. The shocks were hard enough that I was worried that they were going to zap my heart out of rhythm, but the tech assured me that would not happen. For some reason I thought I was done after the tech rolled the electrocution cart to the other side of the room, but she didn't invite me to sit up. She did say, however, that she'd be right back with the doctor, so in comes the doctor and the cart is rolled back. Not a good sign. My regular neurologist told me about the test the doctor was about to perform, but I thought maybe, just maybe, I didn't have to have it. No, I was getting an EMG or an electromyogram or as I call it "stabbed with a darning needle." The purpose of an EMG is to listen to and measure the electrical activity of your muscles at rest and at contraction. This is done by inserting a needle into the muscle and then after a moment or two you contract your muscle. They started with my back which means the doctor went down both sides of my spine with that needle. It. hurt. so. bad. When I am in a lot of pain, I don't cry or sob, but my eyes will water and water they did when he stabbed my back. The part that freaked me out was that the nurse would dab up the blood with cotton balls. I was then asked to turn over and had no idea how I was going to lie on my back after that exercise in torture, but I did and my mind was soon off of the pain because I got stabbed in the calves and thighs numerous times. The doctor kept assuring me that he was almost done. I stopped believing him when he said it the third time. It was extremely hard for me to contract the muscle with the needle sunk into it. It was sadistic because it hurt worse when I did that. So there I was with my eyes watering, a tightly clenched jaw--surprised I didn't crumble at least one tooth--and a few "That hurts. That hurts." thrown in for good measure and the doctor informs me, "I am using a child's needle." I guess that was supposed to make me feel better in the sense that if he had used an adult size needle I'd be in a lot more pain. Thanks, Doc. Way to cheer a girl up.

The test finally ended and the doctor printed out the report. The good news is that I did not have a Guillain-Barre episode, but the bad is that I do have to go through one more test for more answers. I also learned that I have nerve damage in my feet and a nerve that runs down from my knee to my foot does not take a direct route. It does a loop around my ankle before going to my foot. The doctor couldn't figure out the numbness in my hands, which is a relatively new sensation. I have a pinched nerve only in my right elbow and that nerve would only cause numbness in my pinky finger. So all that pain and I am no closer to finding out what the heck is going on. And you know, that pain didn't stop with the test. I hurt for the rest of the day, all of the next day and my back and elbows still hurt. Initially huge welts appeared on my back where I was stabbed, but they finally went down and turned into bruises. My elbows haven't stopped aching from the shocks. I seriously felt and feel like I was beat up by the neurologist and his side kick the tech.

Word to the wise be wary of nerve conduction studies and EMGs.

Wordless Wednesday Post

This will be a Wordless Wednesday post. Perhaps later I will be wordy when I have the time.

 Hobo

 Hobo with Cody photo bombing.

 "We're going for a walk, going for a walk."

 Sunday, prior to Rick leaving for the airport. The stuffed animal is not mine. Kate made me hold hers. Really.

 Kate none too pleased about her Daddy going to the airport.

Hobo and Kate

Okay, maybe this needs to be called "Almost Wordless Wednesday".

Update--Composite TKD Picture

I emailed KickPics last night and had three email responses this morning. Katie had two photo shoots. The first did not have any shots that I liked. The photographer did a second shoot. I picked photos 3, 6 and 7 from the photo shoot. KickPics used 3 from the first shoot,  and 6 and 7 from the second shoot. I erred in not stating which photo shoot and they erred in randomly picking between two photo shoots. (Don't fret, we have a happy ending.) KickPics immediately recognized the error and offered to reprint the composite with the correct pose and mail them to me. Great customer service! Which brings me to a sad thought on the current state of customer service. When I have to contact a company regarding an error that they made, I EXPECT to be in for a long battle with the company. It is a shocker when they pony up and make it right immediately.

Round and Round and Round I Go

Typical 1/2 hour of my day.

1.   Sit down at desk to call doctor. Phone says line #2 is not plugged in. Realize that when testing phone lines on the back of the house did not plug back in #2.
2.   Leave office to go outside.
3.   Stop by child's bedroom door because dog who is in bedroom yelps. Question 5-year old, who is also in bedroom, why dog yelped as if in pain. Five-year old admits to pulling dog's tail.
3.   March tail-puller to "The Corner" in master bedroom.
4.   Go through sewing box while child is doing time. See material that I intended to use for baby clothes. . . baby clothes for Katie. . .the 5-year old. Mentally run through list of friends who have female babies for whom I can make the clothes.
5.   Timer goes off after 12 minutes. Accompany child to bedroom and instruct child to straighten room.
6.   Head to dining room. See item that belongs in master closet on dining room chair.
7.   Return item to closet.
8.   Head back to dining room. See child's breakfast plate still on dining room table.
9.   Retrieve child from bedroom and have her clean up plate.
10. Leg starts getting numb again. Must call doctor.
11. Head to office.
12. Sit down at desk to call doctor. Phone says line #2 is not plugged in.
13. Deja vu!
14. Shake head and wonder how I ever accomplish anything.

Spoiled

My high school reunion is June 30, but I will not be going. . . again. I have never attended a high school reunion because I have always had something big going on and this time it is no different. The TCR (Texas Cowboy Reunion) Rodeo starts July 4th and we will have a ringside box again, so my travel dates are pretty limited. If I drove it would take me three days each way, which means I would spend more time on the road than at my folks. I would prefer to fly, but flight availability is horrid and pricey. Another "big thing" is that my dear husband bought me a new vehicle, a Hummer H2 Silver Ice Edition! Rick bought the vehicle in Chicago and will be driving it home June 30. I am so EXCITED! But I am also sad that I must bid adieu to my SRT8. I love my SRT8, but I really need a SUV and Rick got an amazing deal on the Hummer. So if you are looking to purchase an amazing, powerful, classy car, email me. Back to the Hummer. The Silver Ice Edition is a luxury edition of the standard H2 with all the bells and whistles and I read that only 750 were made. Here is a picture of my exact Hummer. And yes, I am spoiled. What's it to ya?! (Thank you Rick!)

Oh, where o' where has my head gone?

We've been keeping ourselves occupied over here at Corinth West, so there is a lot to blog about. However, I will try to break it all into smaller posts.

Last Friday evening I was watering my flowers, which are still surviving despite the grasshoppers' mission to seek and destroy. Right off of the south patio, I have a planter of petunias hanging on a shepherd's hook. I took one step off of the patio with my right foot. I then began to take the step down with my left foot and I just so happened to look down. There was a rattlesnake and I was about to straddle it. Now the rest happened quickly. The snake rattled about a split second after I looked down. I jumped backward, I think, and recall my ankle hurting. Cody was outside and about 10' behind me. I yelled for Cody to come, got him into the house and grabbed my gun. This all went so quickly and I think I was back at the end of the patio and aiming the gun about a minute after I first spied the rattler. I shot and separated his head from the rest of his body. Not content with with one snake now in two and because both parts were still moving and because I was scared and mad, I shot the head again. Take that sucker!

A couple of interesting facts. (1.) The rattlesnake had 13 buttons, so he had been around for a while. (2.) Katie and Rick were in the house and neither heard the two shots despite me firing the .410 about 15' from the house.

So there you have it, the closest I have ever come to being bit by a rattlesnake and below you have the post-mortem pictures.

 Lose something there, buddy?

The diamond pattern is very distinctive; however, the white and black rings on the tail are usually what make me say, "Shit, it's a rattler."

Making Space on the Camera

I have had so much going on; a camera full of pictures to match and a crazy long blog post.

First off Katie's ballet recital was this past weekend. It took me 1 1/2 hours to do her hair and make up, but not because they were complicated but because Katie gets bored and wiggly. Have you ever tried to put mascara on a wiggly child? For the recital she was a Woodland Fairy and danced to a slow song as opposed to a cutesy song. She really is elegant and more expressive in the slower dances. Dress rehearsal was Friday night and the audience attended Saturday night. I may be subjective, but Katie did a great job. During rehearsal we can take pictures, but not during the real performance, so the following photos are from Friday night. Excuse the blur, but in the dark theater my flash is a little useless.

Such a serious ballerina.

This picture makes me laugh. None of the ballerinas are doing the same thing. However, what is hilarious are the 3-4 year old ballerinas.They have no qualms about yelling directions to the other dancers on the stage. One little girl cracked me up because she was very concerned about staying on her marked spot. Most of the time she was bent over, looking at the floor and trying to find her dot.

Two out of four is not bad.

The following photos are from performance night.

Posing before the show. Kate is in the tunnel that leads to the stage. The tunnel is actually underneath the left side of the audience.

Still in the tunnel but this time doing a leap. She got some pretty good air.

Curtain call.

 Outside the Paramount with the bouquet of flowers that Rick and I gave her. I was trying to keep the flowers a secret, but Kate saw them in the frig. So naturally I lied to her and said they were for Rick. She bought it.

 Posing after the performance. This picture shows how beautifully she does the classic ballerina hand position.

 A rare thing, Kate and I in a picture together.

 Daddy's Li'l Doodlebug.

 Doodlebug kissing her daddy.

One more pose and we are done.

Monday I had a MOPS brunch to attend. It is when we say good-bye to steering team and table leaders who are leaving and welcoming the steering team for the next year. I wasn't looking forward to the brunch. I didn't want to cry and was fearful that I would blubber. The was pretty sure I was going to cry during the blessing. The blessing is when you stand in front of the room with a Mentor and they read a personalized blessing that they wrote for you. The only thing that saved me is that the mentor that I am closest to did not deliver the blessing. It was actually a new Mentor so I didn't feel the same connection. After the ceremony, I stopped to talk to my favorite Mentor and I cried. I high-tailed it out of there before I got to the point of uncontrollable tears. Leaving MOPS is bittersweet. I truly feel that I have outgrown MOPS especially since I am no longer a mother of a preschooler. However, I am very sad to lose the regular contact with other moms. When it comes down to it, MOPS was the only place that I got to talk with other women. What am I going to do now?

Yesterday was Field Day at Kate's school. During Field Day the kids participate in contests like tug-of-war, transporting an egg in a spoon, etc. At one point it started to rain, but it stopped as soon as I got to my car to retrieve my umbrella. Kate wasn't in the best mood. She was very weepy and cried, cried, cried about not winning her heat in the foot race. Rick likes that Kate takes winning seriously; however, we are concerned about how she gives up if she is not winning. No one got a trophy or ribbon for winning a contest, but the recognition from the crowd was a reward that Katie craved. Here's Field Day.

Field Day. Katie looking a less than excited.

Another contest. Flipping a little bean bag on a Frisbee.

Hula-hooping. The little boy in the foreground had told Katie, "Don't cry. Watch me." The little boy's grandma also encouraged Katie to pick up her hula-hoop when it hit the ground and to try again. They were supposed to sit down once the hula hoop went down. I wasn't too happy about the grandma "ok-ing" Katie to cheat.

Tug of War

More tugging.

The egg in the spoon transport. The fun was taken out of the game because the kids had to carry wooden eggs. But I can understand not wanting to deal with the egg mess.

Foot race.

I have been taking pictures of my outdoor flowers. Last year I did not clean all of my planters out and lo and behold some of my petunias came back. One pot of last year's petunias looks better than the fresh petunias that I bought this year.

I had bought Katie a first grade workbook that she can do throughout the summer. One of the instructions said to draw a box around the word "the". I had to look at it for awhile before I understood.

 See instruction #3

Katie's boxes around the word "the" in the third line. They are cardboard boxes with the flaps open. Bless her little heart.

Hobo is still trying to conquer his fears. I noticed that when my in-laws were here he went into hiding more often than usual. He doesn't welcome new faces. This past weekend, Kate and I were outside tending to my flowers when Hobo walked up to us and let Kate pet him. I had to hold jealous Cody by the collar otherwise he would have driven off Hobo. Here's Hobo.

 

 The hanging basket of flowers that my mother-in-law bought me and Cody eating grasshoppers. ("Oh, crunchy Scooby snack.")

One last picture before I go.

Katie and I before dipping in the pool.

And that's all she wrote. Ciao.