In a bit of a funk

You can always tell when I may need to increase the dosage on my happy pills,when there are no blog postings for days on end....I do attribute  some of my lack of writing to Meredith.  Why? you ask.  Well, it is she who got me started reading an extra long, but fascinating book, "The Goldfinch" over the past weekend, cutting into my time sharing family experiences.  I had just completed two books prior to beginning this one, with the intention of reading a little here and there while unable to sleep at night.  Ah well, so much for intentions....I was able to tear myself away from it this afternoon to update you on the past couple of weeks.  Just for the record, the motivation for writing just hasn't been with me lately.  Call it lack of events to share or lack of enthusiasm on my part....
Anyway, I survived TWO rainy, dreary four-day weekends , back to back, and emerged without getting my name in the paper for abusing those who live with me!  Quite an accomplishment!
As the pictures reflect, it's been family stuff that has kept us busy (and kept my sanity).  Corbin played in his first baseball game (looking quite stylish in his new attire) and Gabi in her

first softball game (with hair ties for the team completed on Sunday.  Both kids played catcher during their games.

 

 Little Grayson showed his new skills riding a scooter.  The boys, (Brad, Curt, & Spencer) and Carrie played poker at Sunday dinner while at the other table, the rest of us played "31" where Meredith and  Sophie were the big winners.

 

 Last Friday, I took Corbin to get his new athletic glasses (as seen below) and had the goofy 5 with me!

 Later, after taking them back to Eaton, they did some trampoline jumping and some cousin bonding.

Yep, when the times get a little hard to deal with, these are the people who hold me up!

One lucky mutha!

Strange and unique Mothers Day this year.  First of all, it snowed for the second consecutive M.D., which just seems odd for this time of year.  At my house there was no breakfast in bed or bouquets (except for the one delivered to Gramma at 8:30 that morning via FedEx).  Gramma wanted me to wash her bedding, so I did hers along with ours, getting our clean sheets on the bed just in time for Brad to take his afternoon nap.  And, (BONUS) she handed me a list of some things she needed at the store (scrawled in her shaky handwriting) which, if you've ever seen her writing, you know it's almost impossible to discern the word "Bugles" or "post-it-notes", so it was challenging to figure out what she wanted. At this point, I started feeling a little like Cinderella (thanks, kids, for knowing the REAL me).

 OK, Meredith, Carrie and Amie, someday I'll have one or all of you running all over Wal-Mart looking for stuff, so I think I won't complain and just be grateful that I have the ability to run errands, M.D. or not!  Brad started the dinner before he got too tired and baled on me after he got the ribs in the oven.  In the morning, we took over the nail salon with all eight of us girls getting pedicures.  Fun and relaxing!

 

Later, we gathered for dinner at our house, where, silly me, thought we would never be able to eat all of the ribs we'd made, missing two of our big meat eaters, Elijah and Rory.  But, our 4 little peeps made up for that!

 

 And Emma was sweet to help Brad assemble the spicy coleslaw.  After dinner, we played cards and then were invited to watch a Mothers Day performance directed by Emma and starring the 4 littles.

 Our biggest laughs of the day came when some of the adults tried riding Corbin's new "clown bike", with some of the riders landing on their butts!

 

 It was a great Mother's Day!  Thanks to all of my family for making it so special!

 Friday, I took Brad to Lafayette to get an EEG per his neurologist.  Unlikely that anything will show up, but we got it done.  Saturday we played a double session of bridge in Ft. Collins and placed in both morning and afternoon (out of 36 couples) which was really remarkable, considering Brad's memory issues!

Truly a Spring Week

We were blessed this weekend with  beautiful Spring weather, the kind that makes Brad ask (in his special way) to go get some plants for the patio and front porch and to say "yes" to a golfing invitation by friend, Jeff.  It was also a momentary dangerous Spring day on Saturday, when a micro burst lifted the Frost trampoline and dumped it nearly 2 blocks from home in pieces.  Amazingly, it didn't hit a car, a window, a person or anything else before landing in a field.  Carrie and Gabi went on an unscheduled scavenger hunt, looking for all of the springs and other parts.  Saturday was also one of Sophie's last soccer games for the season, so Brad and I made a quick stop to watch. (Clearly, Grayson was into the action!)

 

On Sunday, I hosted (with the help of my co-workers) a baby book-themed shower for 2 month old Stella.  We had about 20 guests and enjoyed the food and fellowship on a rainy Spring afternoon. As always, I had fun planning the party and the decor.

 

 

 

 The menu consisted of "Pinkalicious" cupcakes and punch, "Goodnight Moon" sandwiches, "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs", Peter Rabbit veggies, chocolate covered strawberries and "hungry caterpillar" fruit kabobs.

 Stella now has a full library of some of the cutest children's books!

 

 Afterwards, we went to the Frost house for dinner and some games.  We played "31", a card game we learned while Nancy and Sarah were here last weekend.  Lots of laughs!  And speaking of laughing, I tried taking pictures of Meredith, Carrie and Brad on the trampoline, but was laughing too hard to get any good ones!  (No one was injured during the filming of this event!)

 

 Maybe better left to the younger family members!
On a sad note, Nancy's brother-in-law, Richard, lost his long battle with kidney cancer this weekend.  We will keep you all in our thoughts and prayers.