The Last Day

Today was Jeff & Cindy's last day with us. We went out to the airport and grilled out burgers and dogs and played on some toys. We didn't have the Segway 'keys' to play with that, but Kaylee rode her bike and scooter, and her "Aunt" Cindy rode Kaylee's bike and scooter too. I have pictures to prove the bike. ;) Unfortunately the scooter resulted in a trauma when it hit a rock, bringing the scooter to a quick halt, but not the woman riding the scooter, who went over the handlebars and hit the concrete face first, breaking her sunglasses against her face, smashing into her chest, breaking her watch clasp, and hurting her pinkie finger joint. Kaylee was actually upset, saying that everyone that plays with her gets hurt, because first her Grandma Chiles wiped out while racing her, and now Aunt Cindy fell off a scooter while riding with her. I assured her it wasn't her fault that we adults wiped out now and then. :) I did enjoy flying the T6 today, with Steve and a friend named Justin, and it was such a pretty day. The cooler, smooth air is so nice...blue sky that stretches forever. :) Kaylee also got to drive the golf cart around by herself a little bit. She's pretty responsible about it-watching where she is going, driving safely, stopping at the ends and looking for traffic, taking corners at appropriate speeds, etc. She really does do a good job about it, which is why we let her. Today she learned about backing up, and that will take her a little more practice!

We packed up and came home and fixed up a big old meal including a spaghetti sauce Jeffrey made up that was thick, meaty and tasty, and the seven of us had a nice evening dinner. I made a cake later that night and Cindy made the frosting, and we topped off a nice weekend with too much but good food.

Kaylee is going through an insomnia kind of thing, where she feels weird and she doesn't know why, and her mind is racing so that she can't go to sleep. Sadly, I know how that feels and there isn't much we can do for her on it, but it's really bothering her, and part of it is Jeff and Cindy leaving tomorrow morning. She's not ready for her company to leave again. As I always say, she's a lucky girl to have so many people who care about her. :)

Pictures will have to wait for tomorrow-we're headed to bed!

Monticello Run

Cindy and I took the T-6 over to Monticello today for a 2-day fly-in event they are having there. I wasn't sure if it was going to work out or not because of the weather, but the storms held off for us. Chuck flew Jonathan over in the Citabria, and Steve, Jeff and Kaylee flew over in the RG. Chuck and Jon got there first, which was handy, because they'd arranged to have someone tell me where to park. There were quite a few people there, actually. We stayed for awhile; Jon stayed by the plane and talked to people while we walked around and looked at the DC-3, Stearman, L-5, BT-13, Sabre jet, etc. and had some food. I only have one complaint about Monticello. Nowhere on that entire field do they have any caffeine at all. Now that's just not American. The FBO there has water, but no soda/pop (depending on where you're from.) No machine, no fridge, no Cokes. They had a stand there selling snacks and drinks...but only lemonade and tea. What kind of fly-in doesn't have caffeinated beverages available?? :) It was a nice day though, and we ran into several people we knew.

There was one guy there though-there's always one. He was in a powered parachute, and he was buzzing around right next to the runway and ramp, back and forth, on purpose, right in the way of traffic. I wonder if I disturbed his air when I went by...

Back at Kokomo, Jeff got in the back of the T-6 and we flew around Peru and Grissom (his home turf) for awhile, just enjoying the pretty day for a few minutes.

We had a huge dinner, with Richard & Ann, us and Jeff & Cindy. Steaks on the grill, potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, all sorts of things, and it was delicious. Kaylee wanted to have a fire, so she and Steve went to get some wood, and we all sat out around a fire until the rain drove us inside. Apparently there were tornadoes nearby, but where we were just got a little rain. Some of us came inside for a few minutes until the worst of it passed.

Cindy and I went to Walgreens to drop off her film from today, and on our way we saw a beautiful rainbow followed by a beautiful sunset...a pretty end to a fun day.

The Day....

Well, this morning I thought I was sleeping in. I laid there in bed for a long time, and finally when I rolled over to look at the clock, it was a whopping 7:30 a.m.! :O So much for sleeping in.

Kaylee and I finished cleaning her closet and her room today. I ended up getting rid of over four more bags of clothes, everything is perfectly organized and set up, and I wish it would stay that way.

We had burgers at lunch at Glenndale today, and I took a quick flight in the Citabria with Kaylee to run over to Kokomo and deliver some mag parts for our Saratoga. It was slightly windy and bumpy, but that didn't bother Kaylee at all. :) She told me that she hadn't liked flying last year because she was stuck in the back seat with people other than her family, and that she much preferred the Citabria or her own seat, and just "us". I'm going to give her some flying lessons this summer. She can't quite reach the rudders, but I think we can rig something up for that...

I ended up running an errand to the bank, post office and Sir Speedy to pick up some business cards. I wasn't able to make it to Sir Speedy before they closed at 5, and I needed the cards for my (hopeful) trip to Monticello tomorrow. Kaylee prayed out loud that I could get there before they closed. Every stop light we hit between one side of town and the other turned green right as we got there, and I ended up pulling into Sir Speedy at 4:59 p.m. when they closed at 5. Kaylee said "See, I knew you'd make it. I asked."

We pulled into our driveway at about 10 after 5 p.m., and our company had arrived safe and sound. It's our cousins Jeff & Cindy, good friends and family both. We've spent the evening enjoying each other's company, eating, drinking and being merry. :)

On to tomorrow...

Various Things

This morning was the first day Kaylee and I had to sleep in, since she is out of school, but I ended up awake and up by 8 a.m. anyway. I was sitting there a little groggy when my cellphone rang, so I let voicemail pick it up. Well, I had hired a little cleaning help for this week because we have more company coming, I have several big projects I'm working on, and I could use the help. They were supposed to come this afternoon. The message was from them, that they'd had a cancellation, and were on their way to our house...NOW. I'm sitting here unshowered, no make-up, wild hair, in pajamas, and I'd planned on spending the day getting stuff put away and cleaned up for them to come, and leaving while they were here. Not going to happen. Awkward. I get Kaylee up, throw on some clothes and pull my hair back and they arrived. Thankfully I'd already picked up the majority of the house yesterday, so Kaylee and I just focused on her room the entire time, and by the time they left, most things were sparkling, even in the messy girl room. We are still working on her closet change-over, getting rid of too-small things, hanging up everything, swapping summer and winter racks, etc. I detest that job. I would hire somebody to do THAT for me over about anything else. I don't know how some of you with 4-6 kids do this for everyone every season.

We got to a resting point just in time for lunch, so Kaylee wore her new "glass slipper" high heels and we went to the Mexican restaurant in town with the lunch regulars. When we got back home, we went back to work on her room and clothes, with occasional breaks to cuddle, give back rubs, and play with WikiSticks, creating an aquarium with fish, turtles, dragonflies, etc. The house is looking good, and I'm just trying to keep it that way for the next few days. Nobody touch anything; nobody move. ;) (Just kidding...I'm not that picky).

There were a couple of things from the last couple of days that I'd forgotten to mention. I don't remember what she was talking about, but Kaylee was pretty indignantly talking about bees, and she said something about having a "herd of bees" coming after her. Mom was with me, and we just started snickering, then laughing out loud at the mental image of cowboys, ropes, dust, moos and other things relating to "herding" bees.

At the school picnic the other day, the kids were all sitting at a wooden table under a shelter, and Kaylee pipes up and loudly states "Mommy, there's a word on here and (so and so) says it's a dirty word! It says 'XXXX the Police'!" The good news is, her reading skills are good enough to appropriately sound out a new word. The bad news is, her reading skills are good enough to appropriately sound out a new word. One of the teachers went on a hunt for a marker to cross it out with, couldn't find one, the little kids didn't know what it was or meant and promptly forgot about it, so we moved on. Until another group of kids came up, about 5th graders, sat down at that same table about 20 minutes later, and said "Ohhhhhhhh! This table says..." Kaylee then asked me what the word meant and we got to have that conversation. So, thanks to the teens or pre-teens who decided to carve that one into the table of a children's park.

I don't play the lottery for several reasons, but the other day a mistake was made at a gas station and they gave out a free lottery ticket. Well, the drawing came and went and I never checked it, kind of forgot about it really, until I found it in my car again. I crumpled it, then figured I might as well check it. I ended up matching 7 numbers, winning $50.00. One more number and it would have been $500.00. So, congratulations to me on winning Fifty Bucks! Fifty million would have been handier, but I'll take a free $50. :)

To end on a silly quote that is still quite accurate,

"If you can't bite, don't show your teeth."
~Yiddish proverb

Why We Love Mustangs

Satisfaction

Kaylee got lucky today-her last day of school was an outdoor picnic and play time at a local park. The weather was supposed to be iffy all day, and that morning it was gray, windy and overcast. And yet it was cool enough that they could go play, and there was no rain. So the kids had a great time while we parents just talked about the year, the upcoming year, the summer, whatever. At one point all the kids grabbed big sticks and ran out to a tree-when we asked what they were doing, one of them yelled back "We're going to kill this snake!" Two moms turned sheet white, one climbed up on the table even though the tree was over 100 yards away, and the rest of us looked at each other before somebody yelled back "Seriously??" "Nooooo, we're just pretending" came back, much to the relief of many.

Our "dirt pudding" was a big hit. Adults and kids alike thought it was neat and tasted great, people went back for seconds and thirds, and I heard lots of comments about it being "clever" and "cute". Of course it wasn't my idea or plan-Kaylee planned it and I just found the directions on the internet. But for awhile Kaylee enjoyed a little celebrity. :)

We stayed and played at the park until pretty much everybody went home, which ended Second Grade for Miss Kaylee. She is looking forward to Third Grade now, but mostly she is looking forward to the summer off to learn to swim, to stay up later and sleep in later, and just play outside and be a kid.

Kaylee finally got to go shopping today, and she was fired up about it. She went with her Grandma, and she came walking in the door carrying three bags. She had her own money she'd been saving up, and with her money she bought a pair of black boots, a pair of clear high heels, a pair of dark red spike high heels, a hot pink purse with an orange interior, and a gift she bought for me--a pair of rich purple fuzzy low heels, because as she said, purple is my favorite color. She told me up front that she has plenty of clothes, but she loves shoes and purses, and she was going to buy some new shoes. Buddy she did, too, and she only spent $12 total on all of it. She is scarily like a girl with this whole shopping and shoe and purse thing! Actually, I like her dark red heels, and they fit me, too. The boots and the clear heels fit her now, so I'm sure she will be wearing them around. Meanwhile, I showed her that I do indeed have a (winter) purple shirt that matches the purple shoes she got me, and that pleased her greatly. :)

I think that shoe fiends are born, not created, because she didn't get this influence from anybody in this house. Her poor closet some day. ;) Yet she ended the day having played at a park with friends, brought the "fun" dessert for everybody to ooh and aah over, go shopping, buy new shoes, eat ice cream, and stay up extra late tonight as the "end of school year" treat. Another good day in the life of Miss Kaylee and Crew. :)

It's All About The Girl

Kaylee is excited as the countdown towards School Out drifted to "one" today. She had half a day of school, or should I say "school" since it was counting down required days and not actually involving any work. :) They played games all day, and she came in second on the hundred yard dash. I picked her up at 11:30 and she joined us for lunch at Applebees.

While she was in school, I took the opportunity to get printer cartridges we needed from Staples and several other errands like that, ending up at Meijer for one main purpose: Dirt Pudding. Kaylee signed me up for a dessert for tomorrow's last day of school picnic, and she told me she wants Dirt Pudding with fake worms on it. So last night I pulled up some recipes for it, and today I went shopping for a pot and all the goodies to go in it. Here I thought it was just pudding and Oreo cookies crumbled up with gummy worms on top, but no! We have to get complicated on Laura and include powdered sugar, cool whip, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, etc. too. ;) It was also the first time I've ever taken a blender to Oreo cookies for that matter. When my flight was cancelled for this afternoon, we destroyed the kitchen making Dirt Pudding, and it turned out quite well if I may say so myself. We were left with quite a mess in the kitchen and one satisfied 8-year-old. That works.

The rest of the story was mostly at the store. The recipe just says "fills one pot", but doesn't say what size pot, and there are a LOT of different sizes of pots you know. So I got one regular and one big, trying to gauge how much mass would be in the ingredients list I had there. Then I needed some fake flowers to put in the pot, and I go to the fake flower aisle where it is Cleaned Out, I suppose from Memorial Day, and I'm left staring at one thin sprig of dark red something-or-others that will look sad in a big dark purple pot, purchasing an entire gravesite arrangement just to pick out a couple flowers, or eyeballing the two nice elderly ladies who held the white whatevers and hoping they would leave it behind. As you can see from the photo, they did, and I snagged it and ran, the last fake flower in Meijer.

Oh, one more thing. We had two bowls going, one with a pudding mixture and one with a cream cheese mixture, and when it came time to combine everything, Kaylee had trouble, so I helped out. She paused and said "You're good at this Mommy." Isn't it grand when things can be so simple in life? :) She also said "Let's take a picture of this, and you can put it on your blog!" Okay, done...

When we finished up, Kaylee was invited out for ice cream by Grandma & Grandpa, and she wanted to run next door and tell them she was still kind of full from lunch but wanted to go in a little bit. So she tosses over her shoulder at me "I'll B R B, Mom." BRB? My kid just said "BRB". That stands for "Be Right Back" in "chat" internet lingo for lack of a better explanation. I've quit wondering where she's heard some of that at this point. (No, she does not chat on the internet or have a cell phone or text or anything.)

Kaylee chowed down on Cake Batter Ice Cream with Grandma and Grandpa, then it was time to go to ballet and tap, then come home and play a little "Disney Fairies" on the computer for awhile. It's a good day for Miss Kay. In fact, as she danced out the door, when she found out my flight was cancelled and we were going to stay home and make the dirt pudding right then, she exclaimed "This IS the Best Day Ever!"

Memories

Kaylee and Grandma had a fun time together. They slept in Kaylee's Princess tent in the front living room and played all sorts of indoors and outdoors games. When they left this afternoon, Kaylee curled up on my lap, where she stayed for quite awhile, a little depressed. She's a fortunate girl to have so many people care about her and really want to spend time with her...

While Mom was here, she gave me several things from one of the churches/schools I used to go to in Union Grove, WI. It's apparently "old home" week, since a friend from there just sent me an email with a photo of one of my classmates. It was so strange seeing her for the first time since we were 13 years old. And it was extra strange looking through the church directory and seeing people I recognized instinctively that I wouldn't have been able to tell you that I still knew. Names rang bells and popped stories into my head, faces brought up memories. Susan with the long hair who ran the Christian gift shop, Kyle with Cerebral Palsy (I think), nasty little Shelby (the meanest bully I had in my life) with her mother who was our hairdresser, the classmate whose mother was the first person (not related ;)) who said that she thought I was "pretty", my babysitters down the street, my teachers, everyone. It was just really strange to see them through the eyes of an adult now, to wonder about the background stories that I never knew as a kid. And then there was this school photo of a 13-year-old. She really had combed her hair before going out there to get her photo taken, but simply had uncooperative hair. And at least both her eyes were back to the same size now that she'd been wearing big glasses for the last 4 years. Steve's comment was "no I do not want to know how old I was when that was taken". ;) Ahhh, the awkward years...gotta love 'em...I hope I grow out of them one of these days. ;)

Today is also Memorial Day, the day to remember fallen heroes that has been expanded to remember everyone loved that has been lost. Richard and Ann went to the cemetery and took care of the grave sites up there, including Devon & Sidney's. I remember going to the cemetery with my Grandma Johnson, Aunt Peggy, Aunt Gladys, etc. in Kansas and decorating the graves as well. I appreciate the remembrance...

The Merge

I actually had to go back and read my own blog to figure out the last thing I'd posted; me missing two days in a row doesn't happen unless I'm on a trip sans computer or something. But that's just how busy we were, and how tired we were at the end of the day.

Friday morning I got most of the house ready for company, then went out to the airport to help Nathan straighten up his two hangars and get them set up and ready with tables, chairs, tools and cords out of the way, etc. for the Kindergarten class. They arrived by school bus after lunch, about twenty kids and three adults. Nathan gave them the "kite/arrow/airplane this is how planes fly and move" talk, then took them around to all the different types of airplanes and showed them the control surfaces, differences in engines and purpose of planes, etc. We divided the kids up and put half in the Citabria for a photo and half in a 172, then switched groups so each kid could sit in each airplane. They went over to the other hangar where he talked about the Cheyenne, Mustang and T-6, after which the kids all got milk and cookies (in the shape of airplanes, of course!) The kids each got a little wooden airplane with "Kokomo Airport" on it, and they made it back onto the bus in one piece and headed home. It's cute-Chuck called it herding cats with twenty kindergartners, but we've done this with a lot of groups from school groups to Girl and Boy Scout groups to homeschooling groups, and the kids have always been interested enough to sit and listen, and they always come away with a photo of themselves in an airplane, and hopefully it is something that most of them will remember fondly. Not a lot of people out there really have a chance to sit in small airplanes or learn anything about them, and the kids around here don't know how fortunate they are to have some of these "specialty" airplanes included in the package. I wasn't much older than the kindergartners when I was introduced to small airplanes, and it had a permanent impact. Obviously. ;) So you never know...that little boy who liked to pretend to dive and swoop in the 172 might end up a National Aerobatics Champion in another 20 years. :)

More running around commenced, a whole lot of it, so I'll spare us all (plus I've slept since then) and say we ended up having a tired but tasty dinner at Outback before going back out to the airport to finish setting up for the Poker Run being held the next morning. There was one box of cards that still needed delivered to an airport, so Nathan took me and the box of cards in the 172RG and flew us to Sheridan. It was such a beautiful evening...it was just one of those flights where you want to be headed somewhere special. Being up high and watching the sun go down, everything still and clear as glass, cool spring air, sunbeams making patterns on the fields below; it's just one of the best things about that birds' eye view I enjoy so much. No being trapped on the roads next to everybody else trapped on the roads, but...free. Anyway, when the mission was accomplished, there was a pit fire in between the hangars, my Mom & Ernie had arrived safely, and Dale, Charlie & Dawn, Nathan and Jamie, and all my crew sat around the fire until everybody was too tired to get up and go home. Let me add here-I've said it before, but I do feel sorry for my Mom. She married an experienced, active pilot. Her daughter became one, and her son-in-law is also one. She's surrounded. And she's very patient about the whole thing, too. The best thing for her is that her granddaughter is pretty non-interested thus far and would much rather play other things. ;)

Saturday showed up waaaay too early. Steve got up at o-wrong-thirty and was out at the airport by something like 6:45 a.m. I heard him leave, but promptly rolled back over and went to sleep, as did everybody else in this house. Ernie and I went out next after a stop at Meijer for some last-minute needs for lunch out there. Mom & Kaylee drove out around lunch time and joined us then, giving them the morning to just play together at home. The Poker Run hit one little snag first thing in the morning, but it was taken care of, and the run was on. I don't know the statistics yet as to how many planes or people flew, who won the prizes, or how much money was raised for the school group, but it seemed to be a good day. The weather held off-it was hot and muggy, but the forecasted rain didn't show up until after the Run was officially over with, thankfully. It's always quiet around the home base, because the point is that most of the planes in the area are out wandering around to all the other airports, then stop at our base and eat, relax for a few minutes, talk, etc. Kaylee told me she wanted to do the Run. Knowing her, I put her off, but she insisted, so I told her we'd go get one card at one airport. She said she wanted to get them all. I smiled, put her in the Citabria, and away we went to Marion, which is very close to home. I land at Marion (where someone there does a double-take when he saw me and Kaylee climbing out of the Citabria), she picks up her sealed-in-an-envelope card, we get back in the Citabria, and she says "Okay, I'm ready to go home." :) So naturally I took her home. I aim to please! We ended up with some pilots coming from other airports, I think the farthest away was South Bend, who had heard about the Run and decided to come down and participate and check it out, which is always good.

It was such a hot, muggy day; I wanted to take my mom for a ride in the T-6, but didn't want to do it when it was so bumpy and muggy. So I waited until it cooled off some, went in and looked at the weather radar and saw several little rain showers popping up off to the west, but nothing that registered by us. Looking outside looked fine too. So I pulled out the T-6, and it wasn't sitting out for a minute before it started sprinkling. And then it started drizzling. And then it started raining. And then it dumped. A long time. That little shower was small enough to barely show up on radar, but it was so slow it wouldn't move away. Meanwhile this airplane is just sitting out. The canopy could be leaking badly, getting the parachutes or the panel all wet, the fuel caps could be leaking, letting water into the fuel, plus just sitting out in rain is not exactly a good thing regardless. We all just sat inside and watched it dump, for what felt like forever. I almost went out in the rain to go put it away, but I kept thinking this rain would just blow through. You could see blue sky to the west and even the south for 20 minutes while it was still raining on top of us. The shower that would not Move. *sigh* Finally the thing mosied on its way, and after a sump drain and a towel to some dribbles on the inside, Mom and I got in the thankfully-not-very-wet-on-the-important-parts-inside-after-all T-6.

Mom was a little amazed with all the buckles and belts. This was her first time strapping into a parachute, and it is no small effort to get into everything. Steve told her how to get out of the belts and use the parachute should we need it, I got it started up, and we taxied away. Justin took these pictures of us in there together, thankfully-my camera was in my car, Ernie thought he left his at home but it was in his car, and we just weren't prepared on that end. :) Mom made me laugh though-I did the run-up, and when I brought the power back down, Mom said "Well, that's good for me." I thought for a second it was too loud and irritating, but the next line was "I always have loved the sound of the warbirds engines". I had to get it from somewhere, didn't I? ;) It was a nice little flight, but it ended in a way that left us both laughing and giggling and snorting all the way home. It had rained so hard, so, you know, I thought I'd better check Glenndale's runway and make sure it wasn't flooded again. I came on down to look, and I hear Mom say "Moon!" I said "What?" and she said "We've just been mooned! A full moon!" She got it on film and it'll be up on YouTube soon. Just kidding. ;) I'm pretty sure that the mooner assumed it was Nathan in the T-6, and not me with my mother. :D She got a full view too, having nothing to do but look as we went by. So Mom got four firsts in one flight. She got strapped into a parachute for the first time. She flew in a T-6/warbird for the first time. She pulled a few Gs for the first time. And at 56 years of age, she got her first ever "full drop trousers" moon. Yes, that's still making me laugh...this picture is of the two of us still smirking about it. :)

I got a "I'll give that a ten" on my landing, which I'll take, and we got things put away and went to Red Lobster for dinner. At the end of the meal, I was just exhausted, and I wasn't the only one. We drove home, Kaylee gave me a hug and kiss and went to bed on her own-which never happens-and I was up for less than an hour before I just knew I wasn't going to make it any more, and I went to bed at like 10 pm or something silly like that. I hit the bed and I don't remember a thing. I woke up briefly around 4 a.m. as did Steve, Kaylee and Ernie (weird), but other than that, I was dead to the world.

Sunday morning Steve and Ernie had some things to go do, while Kaylee and Grandma played and I worked on the Kindergarten class photos for Nathan to be able to print out and give to them on Tuesday. It's nice that Grandma & Grandpa can stay an extra day because of Memorial Day Weekend, too. :) I went out to the airport briefly to return Jamie's clothes that Kaylee had borrowed (when she got wet in the brief period of time that I was gone against my wishes) and leave the pictures for Nathan. The rest of today will probably be spent with Kaylee & Grandma playing non-stop, the boys watching the Indy 500 coverage, and me catching up on emails or computer work that's slipped in the last few days.

By the way, if Steve makes it all the way through this entire giant 3-day-coverage post to this paragraph, Happy Anniversary. Thirteen years today. You know, just in case you forget...just because it seems like much longer and all. LOL ;)

Today is also the running of the Indy 500 race, and a friend FaceBooked me and said they were watching and saw planes fly over and asked me if I was flying over the race today. No, but thank you for reminding me of one of the coolest memories I have. :) Ah, life is good sometimes. (You can click to enlarge any of the photos in this post btw...I'll put them up on the regular site later.)

Whoa, Nelly

Well, I have 30 things to do by the end of tomorrow, and I don't even want to see Steve's list. I haven't been home at all during the day for most of the week, most of the afternoons and even many of the evenings have been taken up with things to do, and when we finally do get home, it's been a lot of work. Steve's been working non-stop on the phone and computer until past midnight most every night, and while I stopped to watch a few season finales, I've been busy too until bedtime. You wouldn't believe what it takes to organize one event...and we've got at least three that he's working on simultaneously along with several other big projects, all of which need things asap from people left and right. Meanwhile his flying schedule is booked up and his computer job is in the middle of a really big, really important project as well. This is all a bit of lunacy, actually, with no clocking out for the foreseeable future. These are the times a 9-5 steady paycheck job's benefits are more apparent...

On the other hand, this pretty sunny morning I got to work with someone on crosswind take offs and landings for over an hour, and that's always a good way to spend your time. Better yet, after lunch I asked Nathan to demonstrate some...okay, just take me for a ride in the T-6, and that was the best stress relief of the week. We flew around some, looked around, did a whole fun aerobatic routine with all sorts of stuff, just had a partly relaxing, partly thrilling, all grin-inducing flight. I needed that. I also need to work more on my aerobatics. After that, my poor little roll and loop seem kind of sad. ;) These are the times a 7-midnight always uncertain paycheck job's benefits are more apparent...

This afternoon, I got down just in time to get Kaylee out of school just in time to run her to gymnastics, run the series of errands I haven't had time to do in a few days, get her home and fed and bathed, then dressed and right back out the door to the Chapter meeting for our local EAA group (Experimental Aircraft Association). It was held at Indian Hills tonight, where the host lives in a hangar on a nice little grass strip. Don't laugh-his hangar has a nice apartment in it with air conditioning and all the comforts. It's a nice set up. We had a very tender pork tenderloin and all the "fixings", pans of home made dessert, drinks of your choice, watched a couple of little planes fly, got a little business done, and stayed until the sun went down. It was a beautiful evening for it, and the only downside was when the sun went down, the mosquitoes decided to show their faces (suckers?) for the first time I've seen this year. That's when we all called it a night and headed on home.

Kaylee got a snack and went to bed, and Steve's been on the phone or computer ever since (it's now 11:15 p.m.) and I've finished making changes to a brochure and have it on its way to be printed up and am working on some other things for tomorrow, including organizing how I'm going to get done what I need to get done, which right now doesn't seem possible. Tomorrow we have a kindergarten class coming out to the hangar, and after that we'll need to get set up for the Poker Run which starts bright and early at 7 a.m. (O-Wrong-Thirty) the next morning. My Mom & Ernie are coming into town Friday evening as well, but they will have to love me regardless of the picked-up status of my house. ;) Kaylee can't wait!

Guess I'd better get back to it...

Accomplished

Busy week! Another flight, today to Frankfort for 1.2, and it was a nice pretty day for it. Of course as the day progressed, the air got that variable bumpy turbulence it's been doing lately in the afternoon. We had lunch out at the hangar today, as Ernie arrived right on time in the 172 from Missouri. He got to ride in the back seat with two strangers up front for three hours, one of them a new student-I'll bet he had fun. :D

After lunch I took the Citabria over to Muncie to pick up some things for the Baron, and it was decidedly not a smooth flight any more. Yet I still enjoyed opening the window wide and bumping above the corn fields. Back to Kokomo to deliver what I had, then back to Glenndale to put her away and run to get Kaylee out of "after care".

Tonight was Kaylee's end-of-year Awanas ceremony. It's her last year as a "Spark". Sparks goes for 3 years and they have three books full of sections and verses to memorize. Kaylee finished her second book this year, and then did the whole third book as well, so she earned a big ribbon for book two, a pin for participating in the Sparks-a-Rama games, and a plaque for having completed book three and thus all three Sparks books. Her grandma & grandpa made it back in time to get to come too. We're all proud of her. :)

I took a few photos, but not many at the church because she ended up in the back of the pack and I couldn't even see her back there. But I did get some which you can see here. Next year she goes to T&T, which is the group for 3rd-6th graders, and she's excited about that. For one thing, she gets a green shirt instead of a "silly" vest as she calls it, and that is much more fitting of her personal fashion sense. ;)

She's growing up fast!

Safe Landings

I keep forgetting to tell the story of how Steve shot Kaylee. You wouldn't think I'd miss that one, would you?? ;) When they initially set up the BB target, Steve attached it right to the fence. He watched his first shot hit the target, and then ping, it bounced off the hard wood behind it, and the next thing he heard was "OW!" It apparently ricocheted farther than anyone expected and hit her in the leg. So Steve set up the target differently, with a nice thick foam padded thing behind it, and sent Kaylee in to get some safety glasses. She comes back out wearing sunglasses, wrapped up in a blanket, and holding a pillow in front of her, with the comment "Don't shoot me again Dad, okay?" He convinced her it was safe to lose the padding, and they went on to have a great and safe time until I pulled in the driveway and saw them plinking BBs at the target while kicking back in lawn chairs, "Kentucky" style. ;)

I flew 1.4 with KL in KS practicing crosswind tols today, for the ole logbook.

What do you know-today is the First International Talk Like A Pilot Day. Sometime in the winter was Talk like a Pirate Day too. Who comes up with this stuff? And...why? Besides, pilots talk like pilots every day anyway and they can't seem to stop it, and non-pilots need to not talk like pilots because they sound just as silly as people sound when trying to talk like Pirates on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Let's just...not...shall we? ;)

Although having an excuse to say "unable at this time" or "any traffic in the area please advise" might come in handy out here in the real world too...

Today Kaylee's Grandma & Grandpa made it back from Florida for the summer! She was excited, and she informed me quite solemnly that she was NOT going to ballet today if they were coming home while she was there. I told her she WAS going to ballet and she could see them when she got home, and she let me know how wrong that was, that she always waits here for them, that she always gets to see them drive up, etc. She has been looking forward to it for days. They arrived just before we got back from ballet-so welcome back to your other home to "grandma & grandpa"! :)

Water World

I think we have finally started into an entire week of decent weather. Our runway was mostly dried off enough to go fly today, as long as you knew what path to take to not hit the standing water and various muddy puddles. I had a flight with a student out of there this morning for 1.6, and when we came back in to land there were two mowers buzzing around on the field. For some reason they scattered when they saw us coming. ;) At least it should be fine the rest of the week and for the Poker Run!

I brought Steve some lunch out to the other airport, because this week he has lessons booked up with no lunch break anywhere from early morning through late afternoon. This is good for business for the week--not so good for getting anything else done or...eating. :) It was getting really bumpy up there today even by the time I came down before lunch, and his flight was doing a bunch of commercial maneuvers, which meant lots of circling and pulling and diving and such. His student asked to quit for the day because it was making him queasy, and Steve didn't argue either.

Kaylee was irritated because they had a substitute teacher today, and this teacher sent home homework! It's just one page of math, but Kaylee was completely indignant because she's made it all year long without a single page of take home work. This school will let you work on it at school, and if you finish it, you're done. If you can't, then you have to take it home and work on it there. She's been happy to have never had to have homework this whole year...until now, the last week of school. Kind of funny. (Next Tuesday is really her last day, but both it and the Monday before are 1/2 days.)

When Kaylee got home from school, she had one thing on her mind: water. She got the hose out and started off getting herself all wet in her school clothes. Next she moved to a swim suit and I got out the sprinkler, which she set up under her swing set and had some water fun while swinging and sliding. She also wanted to get some water balloons, so I made up two big fat ones for her. The first she smashed on the ground, and the second she tried to toss on herself. You know what happened-it bounced off of her and smashed on the ground anyway. A little pout later, she just got a bucket and dumped it over her head and finished it. ;) She came in and took a hot bath to get warmed back up (since it isn't super warm today), cuddled up with a blanket and some hot oatmeal, and is about to go to bed for the night. She had a fun afternoon. It's good to be a kid, isn't it? :) Of course I took a few photos which you can see here...

The End of the Weekend

Steve picked up our over-nighter bright and early this morning. They got in the door, Kaylee immediately crawled into my bed with me, was in the middle of a sentence answering a question about the event, and the next thing I heard was heavy breathing. She went OUT. She stayed out, too, until I woke her up for good at 11:30 a.m.! I tried to get her up at 10 and she was having none of that. So at 11 I turned off the noise fan and pulled off her covers, and it took another half hour before I could milk her out of bed. She started off cranky, until I told her that if she couldn't handle going to the sleepover without coming home a cranky monster, then she didn't need to go next year. Suddenly her attitude had a drastic improvement. ;) She did have a great time though, and finally went to bed around 2 a.m. There was an option for kids to stay up past 2 and watch a movie, but Kaylee decided it was too crowded in that room, so she went to bed and got about 4 hours of sleep. All in all, a successful event--though I think Monday may still not be fun when the alarm goes off bright and early in this, her last week of school.

We spent a good portion for the day cleaning and organizing. Even Kaylee got into it because part of it was taking out clothes that are too small for her or she won't wear, and replacing them with the last of the bins of clothes in her closet from her cousins. In the past, that was just my job, and I picked and hung stuff up. This time, Kaylee gave me the "keep" or "don't keep" order, which was both more time consuming and amusing. She was quite excited to be getting some new clothes to wear, she loved looking at colors and patterns and deciding what she wanted. She picked some wild and crazy things to keep, and several times she'd look at something and say "Nah, too dark and depressing." She didn't like the dark colors or the "plain" clothes--she liked shirts with jewels and faces and ribbons and opposing patterns and such. She also liked the "fancy" dresses and dress-up clothes. She's in clothing heaven. :) And me, I got rid of Six Bins of Clothes that were too small for her or of the bigger stuff that she didn't want to keep. I still have to actually get everything hung up, but hey, we made a lot of progress today.

Steve had a flight today, and when he got home, I went out to the airport. It's the first time I've taken the T6 in awhile and I just need to get current and get some more time in. I went up and did some maneuvers, including waving 'hi' to the family below, but mostly I stayed in the pattern and did takeoffs and landings on the "in the wind" runway for awhile at first, then ending on the "crosswind" runway for a few.

When I pulled into my driveway, I saw Steve and Kaylee in lawn chairs in our driveway facing the fence under the car port, and I couldn't quite process what was going on. I got out in time to hear a "pffft" and "ping!" and realized Kaylee was shooting her BB Gun at a target in front of the wood pile in front of the fence. They were just sitting there shooting at the target in their lawn chairs, which still cracks me up.

Kaylee said she had a great time with Daddy while I was gone-that they played basketball, shot the BB gun, played games outside, played on the swings, and as she put it "just had a great time, Mom!" I'm glad. Long live quiet, playful Sunday afternoons. :)

"Be wise enough not to be reckless, but brave enough to take great risks." ~Unknown

The Busiest Day Ever

Or it would have been had we been able to do everything that was scheduled for today, anyway!

First, Congratulations to Alonna on her high school graduation! We're very proud of you, I hope you know that. :)

Part of the plan for the day was some form of T-6. There was a formation clinic today, originally a fly-in in Missouri, and when we decided to stay here there was a pancake breakfast at a nearby airport I thought some of us might go to. Of course Mother Nature didn't agree much with that plan, and the blustery winds and the barely VFR ceilings all morning/afternoon made it a good day to leave that plan behind too.

I went out to the airport to hook up a battery charger, went to the store to pick up cat food (which we are going through much faster now with a 3rd cat chowing down on it) and a few other things, then went Back to the store to pick up some things for tonight.

By the way, did you know that in business/accounting, red is negative? You know, you're in the "red", you're negative numbers, you're in the "black", you're positive numbers, right? And yet on batteries, red is positive and black is negative. I think men came up with that inconsistency just to make some poor girl pause and doubt herself just for a second before hitting "on".

Today was Picture Day at Kaylee's ballet/tap school. You can see the photos I took today here. :) This was my third year of doing it, and I am now officially an old pro at everything except that blasted bun. That's a lost cause, but the rest of it--I knew to make it a low bun even though high is easier. I brought the black shoes even though no paperwork said so and they are in a pink outfit and you'd thus think the pink shoes would be better. I brought the lipstick so I could put a tiny bit on, though I still refuse the big blue eyeshadow and the bright red clown cheeks. Can't do it, and no, I don't care if "everyone else is!" or not. I knew to put her in the ballet outfit first even though nobody let us know. I brought the bag with the hair spray and the bobby pins and the brush. I knew it would take an hour even though there was a 15-minute time slot for it. I helped one or two newbie moms who were lost and confused about several of the above points. I could not help them with the buns, however. I even knew where to park so I could get out of there. It was a non-event, easy, not all that stressful, and this is the first year I've ever been able to say that, that's for sure. See, even this old dog can learn some new tricks. I am officially a Dance Mom. *lifts chin*

After Kaylee ate, we had a little birthday cake for Devon's 11th birthday. Just a little something to remember by. Kind of a dark picture, but it was just after we sang Happy Birthday. :)

I got Kaylee cleaned up, and we packed her bag for tonight. She's so excited to be having a sleepover. This is her third year doing this as well. It's at her gymnastics place, and they cover all the windows, lock all the doors, and there are no boys or men allowed in. There are about 8 adult women there in charge, and they each have 6-10 girls in their mini-groups, and they play games and have a blast until very late at night. Somewhere around midnight they turn the lights off, and the girls sleep in their sleeping bags until morning. Kaylee has always loved it. Last year Steve picked her up at 8 a.m., and when he got there she was fast asleep on/by all her stuff with her rear end in the air. She gets to pick out snacks to bring with her, which she does, and she just has a blast with the whole thing. I dropped her off, she hooked up with a little friend, and she disappeared without hardly a goodbye wave. I know she'll have a great time like always.

Steve and I had a nice big surf and turf dinner with chicken, steak and shrimp and some veggies; ate too much surf and turf, but it was good! It's strange with the kiddo out of the house-I keep waiting for her to come back out here after she was supposed to be in bed and ask for "just one more thing". I like the quiet, and I'll like having her home again too. :)

Ad Nauseum

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. with a headache, so I got up and took some Tylenol. At 7:30 it wasn't any better, so I took some more Tylenol. I drove Kaylee to school, and my head was just throbbing, and when I pulled in the drop off area, my stomach just revolted. I slapped my hand over my mouth, and Kaylee said "What's wrong?" I didn't (couldn't) say anything, and she leaned in and said "Are you gonna puke??" Actually, other than the fact that I would have been jumping out of my car in my pajamas to throw up in the parking lot of her school in front of parents, kids and several teachers including hers and the principal who is a friend and always stands by the door, yes, that's exactly what I'd have done. Fortunately, willpower does still have some say, and severe concentration and the thought of the extreme embarrassment got things back under control. Whew.

Today Kaylee's school was having a chicken noodle fundraiser. Since it coincided with our Friday lunches at Glenndale, Steve and I bought the number of lunches we thought we'd need then asked if people were willing to chip in towards the cost, let them know that the money would go to the school. We had fewer people here this week than we have in many weeks in the past, so we have lots of chicken and noodles and green beans and mashed potatoes and bread to eat over the weekend and then some. :O (Anybody want any extra chicken/noodles? I might even deliver!) So at 11:30 I went back to the school to pick up our orders and drive them back to the airport. (Yes, I was feeling better by then.)

I got back to the school for the third time that day early-at 2:35-so I could get Kaylee as quickly as she got out and run her over to her dentist appointment. As soon as she got in the car, she said "Mommy, I think I'm going to be sick. I feel sick. My stomach hurts." All the way there she just did not feel well, but as soon as we got to the dentist she seemed fine. She did great at the dentist by the way. Her teeth are healthy, she's never had a cavity yet, and so far so good. She also handles it quite well, following directions, holding still, not complaining or fighting him, talking to him when he asks her questions, being quiet and polite. She's very grown-up sometimes, when she needs to be. She chose bubble gum fluoride, and just watching her do that made me glad to be a grown-up all over again. While we were waiting to go in, she was thumbing through some of the magazines that were on the table, telling me that she liked this person's hair, that was a pretty dress, that lady needed more clothes on, and my favorite, "THAT is comPLETELY inaPPROPRIATE!" to an ad that showed a naked woman (without actually showing anything).

Unfortunately, right after the dental cleaning, her stomach really bothered her again, and she had to lean out her window in case of impending upheaval. (Not while the car was moving). She barely made it home, then spent a good two hours lying on the couch until she felt better. Right now she feels great, and the day full of stomach disobedience has passed for everyone.

Aren't you glad to read so much about stomachs? ;)

Time to go listen to the next wave of massive storms rolling by...

Failure to Launch

I keep getting emails from Cedarville University (it was a college at the time), which I attended during my year of pre-veterinary medicine study. They have had problems for awhile now with a group of people who started a smear campaign against the university, creating a website using Cedarville's name and logo only anti-the-university, emailing all the alumni with accusations of things the school is doing, etc. The school keeps sending rebuttal emails out to defend themselves, along with hiring attorneys. I just think the whole thing is sad, it tarnishes the school no matter what, and brings ugliness. That's one area I still feel like a kid-I still want the world to be fair, I still want "right" to win, and I still want to believe that not everything has a dark, political, game-playing underside to it. I've learned it's best to not know too much about most business/company/groups, and I think that is...sad. For me, Cedarville was a good place; a thorough education, a time of healing in a couple of ways, a time of fun, and a time where I met friends that I still care a great deal about 19 years later in life. That is what matters to me.

My CB guy that interferes with my computer system is back in full force, at almost any time during the day or evening. I can't even get away from him by working on my laptop, because my laptop is out of commission for awhile here. So I get to hear all about this guy's life; I know when he goes to the store, what kind of jokes he cracks (about what you'd expect), who he talks to...he did turn it down and quit for awhile, but the last week or so, he's been baaaack. Now I get to figure out the next step of Taking Care of Business.

I tried to go flying this afternoon when Kaylee was done with gymnastics and Steve was home from work. I drove out there, and on my way to the hangar I noticed someone attempting to start his airplane. This person got no training in the airplane they are in, and therefore has no real idea how to start it properly. The whole time I am doing other things, I hear that engine just cranking and cranking and cranking, and I almost went over there and did it for him. Unfortunately, even a friendly offer of help wouldn't be met well by said person, so I just listened from a distance as he worked over his engine and starter for a very long time. Ouch.

Any time I leave to go on a flight when Kaylee is home, she will hug and kiss a stuffed animal of hers and give it to me to take with me. Sometimes I do put it in the airplane, and sometimes it waits in my car for me, but I always take it with me. I think it's sweet. :)

My plan to fly the T-6 was aborted. I got out there, and I knew I'd have to tug it all the way to the fuel pumps because their fuel truck is broken. Okay, that's a hassle, but okay. The winds were kind of high. Not more than I should go in, not gusty, but high enough, and Steve had just come down and he mentioned that it was pretty windy. Okay, that's not overly relaxing, but fine, I wasn't planning on a bunch of tols anyway, just one to get off and one to come in. Then I get the door opened and the tow bar propped up and ready to go, and the tug was dead as a doornail. That pretty much put the nail in the coffin of the idea. I briefly looked for the charger, but it wouldn't have helped for tonight anyway and I couldn't pull it out any other way. So I closed everything back up, hit Taco Bell and came home.

I spent the day in my car. All morning and most of the afternoon, driving from one place to the next and back again. Often unsuccessfully. I have a screw stuck in my right front tire, and I was trying to get to a place to have it removed after lunch, but then I had another "quick" errand to run, and then it wasn't very quick after all, and then I realized yet again that "Tire Barn" is not "City Tire" and that I was at the wrong place and out of time. So far the tire has held up, but I'm trying to get it in before I walk outside and find a flat tire.

Steve's schedule is pretty unreal. He is booked up on flights, has computer jobs that are needing done, and in the meantime he's trying to get ready for a June fly-in at Sheridan and a July fly-in at Kokomo. Oh, and the regular running of business stuff is in there somewhere too. The only days he gets off from flying are the rainy/windy ones, but then no income comes in from anything else, either. He's a swamped boy. I'm busier too, but I'm sure not saying much, because in comparison...

Kaylee's world is slowing down though. School is relaxing and almost out (a week to go I believe), Awanas has ended, I've had her out of cheer for several months, and she's just hitting the "It's time to be a kid during the summer" months. :)

Tomorrow Kaylee has a dental appointment, and we talked about it some tonight. She told me "I don't like the sucker. It sucks all the saliva out of my mouth and then I have to regenerate more. I don't like how that feels." I didn't know she knew the word "regenerate". :)

That's life...

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I seek opportunity--not security...I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed...I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia...It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. ~Dean AlFange

Wednesday Rambles

It's a bummer when there is something humorous you want to talk about that several people would enjoy, but you can't, because one must be intelligent about what one puts on the internet and who might see it, even if you don't think they know your blog exists. Oh well, I'M amused anyway. :D

Standing in line at the post office the other day, the man standing in line in front of me tugged on my shirt sleeve. I turned and looked at the stranger with a blank but hopefully semi-pleasant "may I help you?" look on my face, and he said "Hi Laura, how are you doing?" I didn't remember him for anything, and got no clues back from further conversation. I still don't know his name or why we know each other, but I hope I did a fair enough job of conversing that he doesn't know that. Man, that's terrible, I'm too young for that! Or maybe I'm around too many new people that stop in and introduce themselves and chat for a few minutes or fly once a year for a Flight Review or some such thing. But that standing there not knowing who someone is when they know who you are thing stinks!

Tonight was Kaylee's last night of Awanas for the year. She has the awards ceremony to go to next Wednesday where she should be getting her trophy for completing all three books. She is also memorizing the Fruit of the Spirit for school, and when she missed "longsuffering", I told her, and she looked at me blankly. I forgot they probably don't use King James any more, so I tried "Patience", and that rang a bell better for her. :)

I spent a good long while picking up green confetti off my living room floor today. Kaylee had spread it ALL over the floor for Mother's Day up front, and it's not something you can vacuum. Way too much, and it's shiny/thick/metallic. It has also found its way all over our house, stuck to people's feet. I debated, but even though it seems wrong for me to have to clean up a mess made for Mother's Day, even though I should probably have her do it, I just couldn't make her spend as much time as it would have taken her to do that clean-up job, not when she did it for me. So I'm a sucker sometimes... I did find out we got off lightly though-she told me she wanted to tape up red vine wire decorating hearts all over the walls, but figured Daddy would freak out. Boy is that the truth. We both stopped ourselves from commenting on the huge mess on the floor with the confetti when we saw it, but had she taped up stuff all over the walls, it would have ruined the paint up there, all over, and that would have...not been good. :O Fortunately she controlled herself, and after hearing that, I was grateful for just the confetti! Hey, she was trying to decorate it pretty for me, what can I say to that but "thank you"?? It's just a little extra pick-up time, right? ;)

Well, the nasty weather is here again. Time to hunker down with the heat on and a warm beverage and watch the rain fall...

The Program

Tonight was Kaylee's end-of-school program. Her last day of school is now almost two weeks after the school's "graduation" thanks to all the snow days and school delays for nasty weather all winter. The kids did a nice job, and Kaylee had several "solo" parts. The administrator had asked Kaylee's teacher to pick someone to get up in front of the whole program and make the announcement to "Please stand and join us in saying the pledges", and Mrs. H immediately said "Kaylee, definitely." So Kaylee got to open the program that way. Then they handed her the Bible and told her to stand back up front so we could do the pledge to the American flag, the Christian flag (which were both on stage) and then the Bible. They sang various songs, and said The Lord's Prayer in Spanish, with each child learning a phrase and going to the mic to say it. They each said a verse as well. The last song of the night, Kaylee opened with a solo singing line, then two other girls had solo lines, then they all sang together. She was right on key and not shy at all, and she sounded really nice. The end of the program involved the kids all getting awards. Some were silly, some were academic. The first nine awards were created by the kids and voted on by the kids. Kaylee's award was "Best Dramatic Performance in Class." What a shock. ;) She was also one of two kids from the school who had Perfect Attendance.

Tonight I took my camera to take still shots. The lighting was a lot better than it was at the previous other schools, but I still had to choose between no flash and subsequent blurriness sometimes or flash and red eyes, bad color and it being too far away to be really effective anyway. Fortunately I think they mostly turned out pretty well anyway, and you can see them here. I also brought my little Canon camera with video capability and gave it to Steve so he could get video clips of her doing her stuff for me to put up. I gave him a quick run-through on the camera, but didn't think to tell him to be pointing it at the kids before he hit "record", which meant that several of the videos are focused on something besides Kaylee and really fuzzy. At least you can tell it's her because of the orange dress. ;) I also have a video of the guy in front of us-at least his rear end-Kaylee and I laughed hysterically when we watched that one! Hey, I got plenty of still shots. Anyway, it was a nice evening, and she did well. :)

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Best Things About Being Mom

I said last week that I'd do this week's Tuesday Top Ten, and this is the topic for this week due to Mother's Day. So, on to the top ten best things about being a mother...

1. Cuddling. From the time I first snuggled Devon and Kaylee under my chin and could hear them breathe, feel their heart beating, smell them...it's addictive. Kaylee is getting so big now that she hangs off of my lap, she can't curl up on me like she used to; she's outgrowing me. But sometimes she'll still sneak in our room after 6 a.m. and wrap her arms around me, and you can tell she feels safe and loved. Funny-so do I. :)

2. Kisses. From sticky and sloppy but heartfelt through to the kiss she lightly planted on my cheek when she thought I was asleep and didn't want to wake me up but couldn't stand to leave the room without some form of affection. ;)

3. Laughter. Nothing makes me laugh like kids. Devon's tarzan yell and little games, and Kaylee is just a goofball. She's sarcastic and highly energetic and dramatic and snappy and fearless, and she makes me laugh all the time. When she starts really laughing, belly laughing, I defy anybody around to not laugh with her.

4. Life. She's so full of life, so full of potential. She lives each day at full tilt, she wants to do it all, see it all, understand it all. She enjoys the ballet, tap, cheer, gymnastics and Awanas, and also wants to do horse riding, drums, guitar, jazz, hip hop and swim lessons. And anything else she can think of. She's a pleasure to watch.

5. Innocence. I love seeing the sparkle in her eyes. The happiness, the innocent joy of life. Where the biggest issue weighing on her mind is whether she liked what was in her lunch or if she got as many signatures on the club she started as her friend got on hers. Kids are so real, they just are. They have a sense of right and wrong and justice and they wouldn't think of playing the adult games that everyone else does. Being a part of that innocence is a great benefit of being a mom.

6. Teaching. I know some of those were more about the best things about having kids and not specifically about being a mom, but that's what came to mind so I went with it. But teaching is definitely a good thing about being a mom. Explaining something to your child and watching them soak it up, figure it out, and incorporate it into their brain is a privilege. Kaylee will ask me to define something, explain it, and will try to incorporate examples to make sure she understands. When she gets it, she's satisfied and moves on, and until then she is a dog with a bone, getting more and more irritated until she figures it out--and if you try to give up on explaining it, you're in for a fight. She has stomped her foot at me and said "I WANT TO KNOW!" Good for her. :)

7. Passing It On. I don't know, there's just something kind of amazing about looking into the face of someone else and seeing your own brown eyes and freckles. I just wish I could pass on only the good things. ;)

8. Watching. It's a privilege watching her grow into a tall, beautiful, smart, sweet, loving, generous young lady. Every year she becomes more herself, and I look forward to seeing who that will be. It's a true privilege to be her mom.

9. Legacy. Someone who can remember me when I'm gone. Maybe just a little piece of our own immortality walking around?

10. Second chances. There's something about having kids that I think is God's way of teaching you more lessons. For one thing, everything you used to do that never bothered you, that you never thought was "that bad", you suddenly realize you don't want to see in your child, who is a blank slate waiting to learn what you model. Every bad habit, every character flaw, every personality quirk, if you don't work on it, you see it mirrored in your child's behavior, and it shows you just how unattractive, what a big deal it really is. You also often end up seeing your complete opposite in personality in one of your children, and it makes you have to adapt, learn and understand ways of thinking that could be completely foreign to you. If you are willing, being a mom can make you a better person. More selfless, more understanding, more compassionate, more careful, and wanting to be the person you see reflected back at you from your children's eyes. You want to be what they think you are. You want to live up to them, you want them to be what you could not be, and you want to guide them into being the people they could be. To do that, you have to change yourself, too, because you see quickly that they follow you for good or bad. THAT is a huge responsibility and an amazing thing about being a mom all in one.

P.S.

Remember by any chance when I mentioned "Secret" has a new line of deodorant that has exotic scents and names now? Well, "Secret" has upped their game again, and now their newest packaging has a scratch-n-sniff feature.

A deodorant product has a scratch-n-sniff spot on the packaging.

*smirks*

Monday Pieces

Another 1.3 hour flight this morning with a student in KS went well. (I'm going to get behind on my logbook again, I can tell.) It's been a productive day both at home, with SMA stuff, with paperwork stuff and airport stuff, and I'll probably keep working for several more hours here, so that's all good.

One of the things we wanted to do on May 16th was cancelled, so combined with a few other factors, we've figured out how to accomplish the most things we can in one day. Kaylee gets her sleepover as that's one of the biggest things she wanted done, will get her pictures taken for ballet, may get to go to a birthday party, etc. and we have 2-3 things we should be able to do as well here. I do wish she could do all that she wants and that we could also see Alonna graduate and I could also do some formation practice, but that's life!

Well, right now Kaylee wants to have a tea party with me, and she already quietly got frozen blueberries and frozen cherries and water and napkins and everything all set up in there, so I'd better go do that. In the meantime, our SMA community lost another little boy named Logan. A friend started this poem when a little girl named Lily died, and finished it after Logan passed away. Her name is Debbie St. Onge, she has a little girl named Veronica Rose with SMA, and she wrote the below in honor of SMA kids...

Calling All Angels

The heavens appear so much brighter tonight
As another sweet angel has just taken flight.
Leaving behind many hearts that won’t heal
And a mother whose pain and sorrow we feel.

Calling all angels, come hear this plea
Please guide this child into eternity.

When a hero falls, it affects us all
In ways we can’t explain.
The hopes, the dreams, what the future brings
Is challenged once again.

Calling all angels, please calm my fear
Help me understand why she’s no longer here.

To live this life is no easy task
Our beliefs are queried; why, we ask,
Does God need so many angels to be at His side
Leaving family and friends on an emotional ride?

Calling all angels, please help to heal
A heart that is broken, a faith I can’t feel.

How do I tell the child I love
That another friend is in heaven above?
I choke down the sobs, my eyes fill with tears
As I do my best to abolish her fears.

Calling all angels, please help her to see
That children are dancing and running free.

We get through the day the best that we can
Knowing that this will happen again.
We hope, we pray, we just wait to learn
A cure has been found, for which we all yearn.

Calling all angels, allow us the dream
Of ending the pain this disease can redeem.

Mothers

Mother's Day isn't fun for everyone. Not a year goes by that I don't think of my ladies (and a few dads) on the SMA Grief Chat Group I host. Mother's Day when you are a mother, but your child is no longer here with you, is one of the more painful holidays. That may be hard to understand, but it is infinitely worse than being single on Valentine's Day or alone at Christmas if that helps anyone comprehend. As some have said, a person without their spouse is a widow/widower. A person without their parents is an orphan. But there is no word for a parent without their child, and there should be.

Another set of mothers who have a different outlook on Mother's Day: families struggling with various disorders/disease/struggles like SMA. Debbie just wrote a lovely entry on what Mother's Day means to her, and it includes the wish that her daughter could just say the words "I love you, Mom." I heard that maybe 12 times today at least, but Veronica only makes noises and "uh-huh" sounds because her muscles don't work properly and allow her to enunciate her words. Moms take it for granted, even get bothered if they don't get a gift they'd like or their spouse is lukewarm on helping for it; I wish there was a way to show them how blessed they really are.

Anyway.

MY Mother's Day was pretty special! Kaylee woke me up at 7:40 a.m. with a kiss on the cheek, and led me out to the living room where she had set up a blanket on my seat, with a hot spa foot bath with scented and colored steamy water and a blanket to cover myself with as well, and a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice waiting for me. So I got a nice hot foot soak in purple lavender-scented water while I had breakfast. I asked her to join me, and she hesitated and said "But it should just be for you." I told her I wanted her to join me, so we snuggled together on the chair and enjoyed our spa time until the water started cooling. At this point, she took me to the couch, where she had laid out her pillow and two blankets, so I could go back to sleep and take a nice leisurely nap while Steve had a flight lesson. What is shocking is that she actually left me there undisturbed for 90 minutes! Oh, she's still 8 and I still heard her running her scooter around in the kitchen to get a snack, or when she started screaming when she hit her toe, but she did not come in to say a word to me for over 90 minutes, and that is some kind of record for her. She usually can't stand it if she's awake and alone and anyone else is asleep-she must come talk to them, hug them, kiss them, etc. :) I got up to use the restroom, and I really did fall back asleep prior to that, and she said "I was going to wake you up with a nice back rub." Yum! :) We sat and watched various TV shows together, just snuggling and cuddling and talking. Steve got home and Phase II commenced. He grilled up some delicious brats (bratwurst), and Kaylee went off to the other room to blow up balloons. I got to teach her how to tie them successfully, which pleased us both, because she got it. :) We ate outside in lawn chairs and let the three cats play while we enjoyed our freshly grilled food. When we came inside, it was "Party Time". Kaylee had set her alarm for 6:45 a.m. and got up and decorated the entire front living room with confetti, a couple of streamers, etc., and made me stay out of there. So now it was time, and I went up there to find green shimmery confetti ALL over the floor. (This is going to be a serious clean-up job by the way. lol) She gave me a crown to wear that said "Happy Birthday" that is now for Mother's Day, she put on music, and we all danced in the living room to Nicole Mullins (Christian rock). We played a few games like "don't let the balloons hit the floor" and "whoever gets the balls into the bins the most in a time frame wins", and then we popped all the balloons by sitting on them. I twirled around in a circle and Steve and Kaylee dripped confetti all over my head. It was a fun party. :) Next came gifts, and Kaylee gave me cards she made and three lovely bracelets she made for me, along with some candy. Then it was time to take a break for a little while. The end of the day was Kaylee insisting on making me a crown out of red heart decorations and a gown of green streamers, and making Steve do a list of things for me as well. She made up a barrette for me out of paper, and set it out along with an entire pile of art decorations so he could decorate it pretty for me, which he did nicely. ;) She also insisted he draw me a candle-lit bath and a couple of other things. She knew what she wanted, she made up a list, and she insisted on following the path today. It was super sweet, and probably one of the nicest Mother's Days I've ever had. She's such a sweetheart.

So I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, who always had a hug and a smile and never left any doubt how much she loved me, to my mother-in-law who loves me as though I'm also her daughter, to my grandmothers whom I respect and love, and to all you moms out there, children here or gone, doing your best for your kids day to day.

My Girl

Well, apparently it was a false alarm of some kind. I can't explain the fever or chills, but Kaylee woke up this morning with the usual allergies snuffles and that's it, feeling perfectly fine. No fever, no chills, nothing weird. That was kind of weird, because she really looked sick last night. Whatever it was, she's just fine today. Me, I fell asleep early for once and had to be woken up to go to bed. :)

I had the worst nightmare last night. I dreamed that Kaylee died. I don't know why or how, but she was gone, and I was living through that process (funeral, waking up in the morning to the realization all over again, etc.) in my sleep, and I'd wake up with my heart pounding and my stomach sick, and as soon as I fell back asleep, I would fall right back into the same dream. It was really awful, "living" out life without Kaylee in it, and I'm thankful that most of that dream has faded now other than the original theme.

A little later this afternoon I made my semi-annual trek to the mall today and decided to do the eyebrow thing and the Target-for-supplies thing. When I got back, Steve asked Kaylee if my eyebrows looked any better, and Kaylee said "Yeah, they look thin, not like Sasquatch like they did before." Sasquatch?? They weren't that bad, c'mon! I did find that the place I always took Kaylee to get her hair cut is out of business now. One less reason to go to the mall...

Kaylee leaned in today and whispered "He's just trying that guilt trick thing on me" about Steve, which made me laugh. 'Guilt trick' is actually an appropriate misuse for 'guilt trip', don't you think? Same thing! Oh, and Friday on the way home from school, Kaylee said "Mom, I read a book at school today, and they started a sentence with the word 'But'. Can you believe that? A book did that, and they should know better! They should have had a comma after the last sentence and connected it with the 'but' sentence. Even I know better than that." It's probably a good thing she doesn't read my emails or much of this blog, because I tend to email like I'm speaking, not necessarily in the Queen's English any more.

Nothing is happening today of societal import. Kaylee's playing with her electric guitar (I'm so glad they found that), I'm just doing errands and housework stuff, Steve is doing his weekend piddling thing and getting my motorcycle ready for me, etc. It's too windy to go do some of the airport stuff, and I think we needed the day "off" anyway.

Kaylee did decide to start Mother's Day a little early. She is such a sweetie, she just loves to celebrate things for people. Birthdays, all holidays are fair game for her to do up as much as we will let her. This is the girl who held a birthday party for her cat in her bathroom, streamers and all, and wanted to invite 15 people to come celebrate with us. So she just could not stand to wait for tomorrow to celebrate Mother's Day. She lassoed Steve out on the deck, shut the door, and began making plans for today and tomorrow, and she was so excited. She played music for me on her guitar, then she set up a lit candle and some gentle music on her iDog and iPod at the table for me, and had Steve fix up steaks smothered in mozzarella cheese for dinner. After this she got out her personal pillow and set up a chair outside for me, and they made up a campfire in our fire pit, with me having her personal TinkerBell pillow, a bowl full of frozen cherries and blueberries with colored toothpicks to eat them with, and a wine glass filled with Diet Coke on a tray by my chair. On the bottom of the tray was the rest of the can so I could get a refill if need be. She also gave me a big back rub, and lots of hugs and kisses. She wanted to get streamers and a disco ball to put up in the house as her idea of a full celebration, but Steve nixed those ideas. ;) We sat outside until the sun set, watching the fire burn down to embers and letting the cats out to play.

Our two cats apparently have seen enough of "Golden the cat" who stays outside in our yard that when they finally all met face to face, it was a non-event. Which shocked us. Dulce is still wild at heart, and she chases birds, squirrels, dogs and cats given the chance. When we brought Roadie in, I didn't think it would work. Dulce freaked. So I figured we'd see a fight today-but they sniffed each other, Dulce lifted a paw and growled a "get out of my face", Golden backed off, and they had a truce almost right away. We think they must have all gotten used to each other with a screen between them for these few weeks, making it not a big deal. This is good. Peace in our yard. :)

When it was dark, we came on in, and Kaylee headed to bed with a promise to "get up early to celebrate Mother's Day with you". I have admittedly never been really big on holidays or "special" days. But right now, my daughter is so excited to do things for me on Mother's Day that she had to start a day early and had the worst time hiding what she'd made for me. In five years it's entirely possible she may have to be driven to a store and feel obligated to pick out something for me, but for now she is just thrilled to have a special Mommy Day, and everything she does and everything she gives me comes from her own heart. That's pretty hard to beat...

Friday Again

Uh-oh. Kaylee has a fever, her head hurts, she is wrapped up in a blanket because she says she is cold, and yet her face is flushed and hot. Sore throat, runny nose. She was fine this morning, then felt a little bad when I picked her up from school, and I gave her some medicine thinking it was allergies. I laid down on the couch for a minute and she passed out cold on top of me. THAT never happens. I got up and left the house for an appointment, and when I got home she was as described. Oh, great....it looks like a virus or maybe even flu, and it came on fast. She breathed and sneezed right on my face when she was sleeping on me, so I'm toast. Steve is contemplating bubble-wrapping himself since at least one of us needs to not be sick and still work.

It was a full day. I left the house around 8 a.m. and I didn't get back home for the day until just after 8 p.m. I had a 1.3 hour flight this morning with KL, and got done in time for lunch, ran some errands, got Kaylee, got my motorcycle plates renewed and some stuff from the store, came home and passed out for 30 minutes with Kaylee, then went back out to Kokomo for awhile. I got the fridges restocked with the necessary beverages and Trey drove a long way to come up and take some up close and personal photos of all the parts of the T-6 for future training purposes for the WTC...

Today is my Mom's birthday. :) She kind of gets all the holidays crammed into one weekend. Her anniversary, her birthday and Mother's Day are all within just a few days of each other. Kind of a ripoff for her, probably, but Happy Mother's Anniversary Birthday anyway!

Kaylee brought home an invitation to a classmate's birthday party, and giggled when she handed it to me. The party is for May 16th, of course.

Happy Friday...

It's A Zoo Out There

Kaylee's entire school went on a field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo today. We were all to meet in front of the zoo at 9:20 a.m. sharp because we all needed to go in together as a group. It was chilly and several of the kids had to use the restroom, but we had to wait until we were in the zoo to go to the bathroom, which usually isn't too big of a problem even after an hour and 15 minute drive. Unfortunately, several families were very late, and we stood outside in a group for FORTY MINUTES waiting on them. Two of them still hadn't shown up by the time we gave up on them and went inside. Me, I'd have given them about 15 minutes before deciding they could pay the regular rate and go in on their own, as I would hope people would do with me if something came up that made me that late. At 10 we went in as a group, hit the restrooms, and upon exiting the restrooms everybody went their own way anyway. We did run into a boy from Kaylee's class and we went around the zoo with him and his grandparents for awhile. We pretty much hit the whole place, and just before lunch we enjoyed the dolphin show. They have eight trained dolphins, and three of them do tricks for the audience. Kaylee sat in the "Splash Zone" and hoped to get drenched-she didn't get wet, but she had a front row seat and really enjoyed herself anyway.

They had some rides there too, and Kaylee wanted to go on the roller coaster. Her friend from school was shocked she would go on the roller coaster, but compared to the real ones she has been on, this is nothing. She went by herself and had a good time with it. :)

We had a group lunch outside the zoo, and then I took Kaylee to the "Gardens", where they have a butterfly room. It's a big building full of flowering plants and loaded up with beautiful butterflies everywhere. The kids loved it, spotting the different colors and sizes and shapes of butterflies, and we stayed there the longest. Kaylee fiercely wanted a butterfly to land on her, but when one finally did, she squealed and acted scared of it. I said "Are you kidding me? They don't even have teeth or claws-they're butterflies!" She shrugged and went back to trying to get them to land on her. I never could get a picture of a butterfly and her in the same shot, but I did take some pictures of the zoo experience.

Kaylee had a great time. She loves the zoo, loves going and doing something fun and different.

I think every school within a 100 mile radius was there today. I'm actually not kidding-there were scores of school buses in the lot and school children packed into every square inch of the zoo buildings today. You couldn't even get up to the walls or see the exhibits half the time because of the crowds. We got into the underwater dolphin bubble where you've got water on all sides (pretty neat), and there were 20 children standing against one of the walls all yelling "DolPHINS! DolPHINS!" and banging on the Plexiglas walls, with nobody stopping them. The baby shark display you could stick your fingers in the water and pet a baby shark if you wanted. Kids were grabbing for the sharks, bumping other kids out of the way of the water, yelling, and the whole time the woman was speaking loudly into a microphone trying to get everybody to be gentle with the sharks. (I bet she went home and took a Tylenol too). The butterfly house was so packed you couldn't stop in one place, and you were packed in shoulder to shoulder on the pathways. Pictures were almost impossible because you couldn't stop and if you did, you'd get run over and/or you'd have a bunch of other kids blocking your photo. It was amazingly, amazingly crowded at the entire zoo. I have been to the zoo at least once a year every year for many years, and I've never seen it like that. Kaylee didn't care, it added to the excitement for her most likely.

I personally am not a fan of zoos, and I am particularly not a fan of crowds, for four hours non-stop, in many enclosed spaces, with loud screaming often ill-behaved youngsters, but the bottom line is that after:

$12 for admission
$17 for lunch
$.51 for a souvenir squished penny
$9.50 for a snack
$1 to feed a giraffe
$2.75 for a roller coaster ticket
$15 in gas
2.5 hours time in the car in some pretty good traffic
and
2 Tylenols later,

Kaylee had fun. :)