The Simmons household (ever expanding) survived our first week of a four generation home!  We love having the girls (Mer and Em) with us, although Emma had a pretty tough first week back at her old school, but things have smoothed out since then.  Ah, the joys of being a teenage girl!  The girl drama seems to be even more pronounced than when Meredith and Carrie were teenagers. Meredith is adjusting well (yeah, there's a shocker!) to her new position at the Emergency Dept of NCMC.
I finally got my cataract fixed and it was about the easiest "procedure/surgery" ever...back home from Ft. Collins by 9:00am and could instantly see for miles!  I still will have the problem of keeping track of my reading glasses, can't wear makeup for a week, and have to put drop in my eye for 6 weeks, but hey, I can see street signs when I drive!
Brad's MRA came out fine (he claimed it was a big waste of time and money beforehand) and we are grateful.
Sophie had a busy week with "Battle of the Books" where her team tied for first place and her drawing was selected as one of only a few second graders, to be on display at the District Art show! (Like father, like daughter!)
Steven and Elijah drove from Ogallala on Friday morning where Steven had a job interview with the City of Greeley Friday afternoon and was offered the position a couple of hours later.  Elijah stayed with Brad during that time and was treated to Chick-Fil-A and some time together. He (Brad) sure enjoyed their visit. (I was at my monthly support group meeting in Loveland).
The weekend brought the return of the wind, which is still blowing like mad, as well as some soccer games, (with Heather and baby Keva on the sidelines) a first communion celebration at a park, (Sunni, Jessie's daughter) and an overnight visit by my sister.

 

 

Sunday morning, Carrie, Meredith, Pam and I went on a short shopping trip to Centerra followed by dinner cooking in the crockpot while we were gone (french dips...yum) and some major laughs brought on by a new board!

 

 Have a great week!

Easter weekend

We enjoyed another beautiful weekend, with no rain or snow to detract from the egg hunts, egg dying or soccer games....you know, these go hand in hand this time of year.
Our big news is that Meredith and Emma moved in with us yesterday for a few weeks until the other half of their family joins them in May after school is out in Ogallala.  We are all so happy to have them back and they are happy to be back.  Meredith starts her new job this morning, and unlike her lazy Mom, she is swimming laps before work, not blogging!  Emma will go back to her previous school, but not until tomorrow.  Both had going away parties and Meredith received an award for leadership at hers.  Ogallala, you missed the boat, not schmoozing such a great employee! (Secretly, we are happy!)

We had a fairly large group for dinner yesterday, with the addition to our regular 12 of Mer and Emma, Don and Vicki and Mom. Dinner was scrumptious- ham, 2 potato dishes, 2 salads, fresh green beans, rolls, deviled eggs and delicious pies made by Vicki.  She made Brad's favorite, strawberry rhubarb and holy cow, was he happy!

I made some Easter basket cupcakes for the kids and Grayson loved the  "handles".

 

After dinner we had the annual backyard egg hunt with Rory and Emma in charge of hiding eggs.  Leave it to Gabi to climb a tree (in her Easter dress) to get an egg!

 

 

 Of course, these are the plastic, candy filled eggs, not the hard boiled type that they dyed on Saturday at Curt and Amie's house.  My favorite picture was of Grayson, who was obsessed with the blue dye!

 

 I imagine next year, it will be Keva (who took it all in) with her hands in the dye!

How can it be?

First off, how can it be Monday already?  I swear the weekends go by in warp speed.  And then, how can we be wearing sunscreen and tank tops on Saturday (no, peeps, no tank tops for moi!), then be scraping ice off our car windows on Sunday? And, here is a really "How can it be?" moment when Carrie commented that yesterday the twins (Walker and Wyatt) would've been NINE years old.  That seemed impossible! Time flies....
Brad had his MRI on Monday, with a follow up appointment with his oncologist on Wednesday.  The results showed increased brain damage (from radiation) to the white matter, settling mostly in the speech center of his brain, thus his struggle with word finding. They also recommended an MRA which looks at blood flow to the brain as there was evidence that he may be having mini strokes due to lack of oxygen from narrowing arteries.  We are awaiting the scheduling of that one.
Friday evening, we were joined for dinner (a fine one, too, with bacon and eggs) by Sophie and Grayson while Curt and Amie had a quiet (and much needed) dinner together.  Grayson immediately spotted the return of our backyard bunnies (3 of them) who have gotten pretty large over the winter months.  He insisted on feeding them, so with carrots in hand, (and Sophie to assist) he was on a mission. 

 After dinner and cartwheels, Grandpa offered ice cream, always a staple at the Simmons house.

 

Saturday, another beautiful Spring day, brought the usual games, Corbin and Sophie playing soccer, (both scoring goals) and Gabi her last volleyball game.  Needless to say, these events are not all at the same place, so there is much coordinating of schedules on Saturdays.

 

 Sunday brought cold and snow, just after the workers finished with Gramma's house (remember when the patio cover roof blew off?) late on Saturday.  Hopefully we can now get it sold!

 

 Saturday also brought the putting away of the Christmas village (a new record of 6 months atop the cupboards) which is always a pain!
Sunday, cold and snowy was a good day for green chili.  I've found that if I assemble all of the ingredients, Brad can put it together easily.  His problems with memory come up in the kitchen, too.  "Did I put onion salt/oregano/chili powder/etc. in that?"Anyway, we enjoyed the meal as well as the strawberry shortcake that Amie brought.  And had fun playing cards after dinner.