Where has time gone???

Well, it seems since I got home from Chicago time has flown by!! So lets catch up. We survived Chicago, then it was on to Rachels Kindergarten Graduation, followed by Sandy's suprise 50th birthday party. Wow...what a fun month. The birthday party was a lot of fun. Nicole picked a perfect setting, Brenda made an incredible cake, and Aunt Betty and Aunt Maria did a wonderful "Devil/Angel" skit to commemorate the occasion. Oh and Brad and Carmen did a very good job on putting together pictures of her life. She was surprised with a beautiful necklace from Tiffanys! I think turning 50 deserves a little blue box with something wonderful inside, dont you?

We made it through the first week of school being out, then it was off to VBS. Both Charlie and Rachel attended along with a friend of Rachel's from school, who spent the week with us. It was a lot of fun having an extra girl around...when they weren't constantly bickering. :o). I had fun co-teaching 1st Grade with a fun school Mom. We both agree that 1st Grade is a rather challenging grade, but somehow we made it through the week. The kids all seemed to have a great time, so that is what is important.

Now we are getting back to normal, somewhat. Charlie is going to daycare 2 days a week, but I have yet to find entertainment for Rachel. We start each day with the normal questions---"What are we going to do today?" "Can we go swimming today?" "Oh, I dont want to do that,,,its boring". Stay tuned to see how this goes. We are only into our 3rd week of no school and already everyone, including me, is bored to death. We will be making lots of trips to the libraries and other entertainment venues over the next couple of months.

We are anxiously awaiting our new stamped patio to be installed. We gave the dude a down payment on May 8th and have had very little conversation with him since he cashed the check.....something doesnt seem right, but we are sort of stuck, so just praying it will be in by Fathers Day, since he originally told us it would be done in 3-4 weeks. Maybe my calendar is different than his, but I think we are well past the 3 -4 week mark. Dann did say he saw the dude wandering around the back yard earlier this morning with another guy, so maybe he is sizing up the project to see when he thinks he can possibly squeeze us in. I really do hate dealing with hired people to do jobs for you......you are so at their mercy. This guy knows nothing about customer service, as we are finding out the hard way. Hopefully I will have good news to report later in the week. If it turns out like we have planned, it will be very nice and a great place to relax. That is, if the weather gets better. Its either raining or hot and humid. Ughhh.
Well, I better sign off for now. Hopefully I can catch up again later in the week.

Wow! Time to catch up!

Wow, that was a long break in blogs. Well, lets see, the weekend in Chicago was perfect. We had a great time laughing and catching up and seeing all the sights. The odd thing is I wasnt even that tired after it was all over with, which is a huge suprise. We did a lot of things for the birthday girl, but I must say the highlight of our trip was lunch at Dicks Last Resort! That place is a riot---rude waiters and all. We laughed so hard our cheeks hurt.

We worked a shift, which inlcuded overtime, at the Hersheys chocolate store on Michigan Ave. We got paid in chocolate, so not a bad gig. Sandy was serenaded with an operatic birthday song from the Hershey Baker, which was lovely. We shopped at Filene's Basement (which oddly enough, we took an elevator UP to?). The other highlight of the weekend was dinner at Carmines. Fantastic Italian food. It was a nice dinner out with the girls and we enjoyed our time there.

Now we just got home from Iowa for the weekend to celebrate Sandys's 50th birthday---it was a surprise bash and was very nice. The ever famous "Angel and Devil" showed up to do their skit, which was hilarious! I had never seen this before, so it was a thrill for me to finally get to witness this! Very funny and great actresses!

Then to Davenport to help with my good buddies daughters high school graduation party. It was great spending time with her and helping prepare for the festivities. Hard to believe our little Maddie Beth is all grown up and heading away to college. It was a great party, with wonderful food and lots of guests. Kathy always has known how to throw a bash and this was no exception. I only wish I could have stayed longer, but back to STL we went.
The pool opened this weekend, so we had to get home so we could enjoy soaking up some sun and letting the kids splash off some energy.

Today was my first "official" day home with both kids.....oh boy....its gonna be a long summer. I was on the phone all morning trying to line up activities for them to keep the occupied and to keep them from asking me every 15 minutes "Can we go to the pool today?" Augh!!! Enough already. We already have a swim play date set for Thursday....the first of many Im sure.

Well, not much else to report that is exciting. Oh, Charlie boy just ran in the house to let me know he just peed outside, behind the tree, "like Evan does." Our neighbor boy does this when he needs to, so Charlie has decided its time he give it a try. I wasnt sure whether to yell at him or praise him? Hmmmm, yup, not sure? Ideas anyone?

Better get the kids in the bath so we can start winding down. We have extended their evening schedules by 1 hour for the summer. Lets hope this isnt a dumb choice later in the summer.
Over and out for now.
Shark