Emma's 14th

Good grief, Gertie, what a weekend!  We loved having Meredith and her kids here for the weekend, and were especially happy to be able to celebrate Emma's birthday.  They arrived at our house about the time I got off work Thursday night and were able to stay until yesterday.  It was Emma's one desire to go shopping while in Greeley (with birthday money from all) because apparently the shopping in Ogallala is limited.  I do believe that we were able to shop at nearly every retailer in a 30 mile radius, and even up to their departure yesterday, we were still at it.
Friday morning, I took Meredith with me to my support group "coffee club" to meet the ladies who have now become an important part of my life. It was pretty emotional with Vicki, just having lost her husband two weeks ago, sharing some of her thoughts.  Afterwards, Meredith had a long visit with Gramma (who misses her tremendously) and then started getting ready for her interview (the purpose for her visit) at NCMC, while I took Emma, Elijah and Corbin (who was home sick with strep) to their various destinations.

Emma had made arrangement with her friend Mary to get together for lunch and Corbin had an appointment to see the doctor.

We picked Mary up at the kids' old school (where Elijah was able to see some of his friends as well.  The girls were sure happy to see one another!  I dropped them off at our newly opened Panera while Elijah and I had lunch at Subway.  Then we took Mary back to school and went back to Centerplace to start our shopping extravaganza. Elijah found his only purchase for the weekend at Target, a Minecraft cardboard "head".

We got back just as Meredith finished her 4 hour long interview.  We sure are excited at the prospect of having them back here with us.  Keep your fingers crossed!  Amie had a Norwex (cleaning supplies) party Friday night, so Curt and the kids enjoyed wings from the WingShack at our house, while we learned about new cleaning products.  The boys (Rory and Elijah) were sure excited to see on another.  Elijah commented the next day that "Rory is a man now and finally taller than me".

Saturday morning was Corbin's last basketball game and although we wasn't feeling his best, he still wanted to play (and be there for the medals handed out after the game).  Gramma went with us as well.

 

 Following the game, all of the "girls" Emma (and friends, Tessa and Mary), Meredith, Carrie, Gabi, Amie, Sophie and I went...you guessed it...shopping at Centera.

 

 We began with lunch at Mimi's Cafe, then shopped until we literally dropped!  I took Sophie and Gabi to JoAnn's (hobby, fabric, and crafts) and while I was looking around, I got a page, "Is there a Sue Simmons in the store?  If so, could you meet your adorable granddaughters at the service counter, as they have lost you?"  Moments later, we were reunited! Whew!

After many (grueling....guess I'm not much of a shopper anymore) hours and bags of purchases, we came home to a great meal cooked by Brad while we were away - chicken and steak fajitas, guacamole and all of the fixins'. Corbin got some new Lego figures from the Lego movie and had fun opening and assembling them.

After dinner, while the kids played downstairs, we adults played cards and had a great time with lots of much needed laughter! Then we sang "Happy birthday" to Emma, had some cake and looked at all of her purchases.  (My favorite was a new bra from Victoria Secret!  Meredith almost fainted at THAT purchase!) She modeled  some of her new accessories, hats and jewelry, with some new tops that she found.

 

 We played cards until Grayson, Corbin and Gabi were ready for bed! (Sophie was at a sleepover birthday party).  Elijah spent the night with Rory, and surprisingly they slept!
They departed yesterday after a quick mini-shopping trip to Sprouts, Michaels and Bed, Bath and Beyond.....The roads were bad from Sterling and east to Ogallala and we were happy to hear that they made it back with no problems (other than tearful goodbyes).  Elijah asked Meredith if they could come back next weekend!