mary.

mary christine waite 1234

at cat bat pat
nap

Happy Memorial Day

It was a happy Memorial Day weekend even though it was kind of weird and bittersweet to have a grave to visit now. In the past Danny and I have just tagged along for the ride to visit graves of people I didn't have the chance of meeting before they passed away. This year my family all got together to visit my dad's grave. It was a good experience for me and for the kids. We got the kids pinwheels to place on Grandpa George's grave. They liked being apart of the Memorial Day remembering. The cemetery looked amazing with all of the flags placed upon all of the veterans graves. It reminded my how blessed we are to live in a country with the freedoms to live and worship the way we choose. It also helped me be that much more appreciative of all of those who die for our country.

I still feel incredibly sad when I think that my children will most likely not remember their grandpa George when they are older - especially Allen, since his name is my father's middle name. However, I find immense peace in knowing that we are an eternal family and eternal families can be together forever.

Our family with Grandma George at Grandpa George's grave. We love you and miss you Grandpa!

P.s. It was my birthday too, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend it. The entire weekend full of good BBQ food, and I didn't have to prepare a single meal.

Chalk It Up To Experience

I will spare you the details. Don't run with a full bladder.

Why Oh Why . . .

Why in the world can I never get my picture labels to work out properly? I have tried and tried and now I just don't care as much. O.k. that's not true, it actually drives me nuts, but I don't know what else to try. Oh well, maybe next time.

Allen's Birthday and Mother's Day

Unfortunately for Allen his birthday will always be linked with Mother's Day. There is just no way around it when you are born on the day. So this year even though his birthday didn't fall on the same day as Mother's Day we still celebrated both together- with both families too. Everyone was spoiled, especially Allen. On Sunday, Grandma George, Uncle Trevor, Aunt Carrie and Kambrya all came over for dinner and to celebrate. Danny was going to use all of his dutch ovens and make a magnificent meal for us. One the I wouldn't have to cook too. Well, the weather had other ideas, and it rained all day long. So, scratch that idea. We had lasagna, rolls and a fruit salad instead. For dessert Aunt Carrie made an awesome birthday cake for Allen, which looked and tasted amazing! After dinner we opened presents for all mom's and for Allen.

Grandma George opening her Cricut. Yea for being able to use/borrow your mom's things!
Allen "opening" his present.
Discovering his cake.

Enjoying his cake. Enjoying the cake on his truck :)

Today, on Allen's actual birthday, we got together with Grandpa and Grandma Waite, Uncle Tim and Aunt Jenelle and celebrated Mother's Day, Allen's birthday and Jenelle's birthday. We first had a yummy dinner of pizza - which I think Allen might have eaten more of than his cake. Then we opened Mother's Day gifts, and then Allen's presents and then Jenelle's. Then we ate cake and ice cream. We have lots of cake leftover. I wish that I knew more people around here so that I could give it away, or better yet invite them over to share. I made Allen a train cake. Which was a lot of fun making and putting together. Either the cake was just real easy to do this time, or I am getting better at making birthday cakes. Hopefully, a little of both. Anyway, on to the pictures.

Grandma Waite opening her Mother's Day gifts. Daddy helping Allen with his presents.

Allen getting help with presents from Grandpa Waite and Derrick too.

Allen after he has completely enjoyed and demolished his portion of cake.

Highlights Of The Past Few Months

With moving, and then not having Internet access for a few weeks I have gotten even more behind on blogging than usual. I even have several posts that I really want to do, instead of just squashing it all together. But before those, I am going to highlight a few things.

Tent time - Mary and Derrick made the tent, but Allen enjoyed playing in it the most.Danny's Birthday - the kids loved looking in and banging on Danny's newest dutch oven. Fish Farm Preschool Field trip - Mary caught the fish by herself, and then I took the hook out by myself. It was the first time I have touched a live fish in a VERY long time.St. Patrick's Day - in all it's green breakfast glory.
Pi Day - I don't remember exactly what kind of pie this was, but it had a cheesecake layer, two chocolate layers,and crushed Snickers in it. It was a slice of heaven :)Mary's bird's nest - she made it out of branches pruned from the apricot tree. Enjoying the weather after Aunt Natalie's Graduation ceremony.

We Are In

We have moved in. Walls painted and cleaned. Yucky carpet ripped out and new lovely and wonderful carpet in (can you tell that I like our carpet a lot?). The boxes are almost all unpacked. The kitchen is organized, and oh how nice it is to have SO much space to work with. We just have pictures to put up on the walls and books to unpack. All of the books that are still packed are mostly Danny's chemistry things, and they can stay in boxes as long as Danny wants.

Our house is truly beginning to feel like home. The more money we use to fix things the more grateful I am to patient in-laws that let us live with them for such an extended period of time to save and find the perfect home. It has made all of the difference unpacking, knowing that I will not need to pack everything up again in a few years. We even threw away all of the boxes that we have been holding on to for who knows how many years and moves.

I know that I heard and learned about all of the "little expenses" from various people, and thought I was prepared. But these things add up so quickly. I never would have thought that I would need to purchase new shower curtain rods, because the rods left behind don't let our shower curtains hang down far enough. Or purchase new toilet seats, because the ones left behind we too gross to even want to clean, and I just threw them out.

Anyway, it is fun and so good to be done with all of this extended move. Sorry, to all of you out there that want to know my new phone number and address. We still don't have our Internet services figured out. So, I am posting this from my in-laws, and hopefully I can shoot you all a quick e-mail with all of the info. Thanks for all of your support and interest.