Me from SSD: Floral Frenzy

I'm feeling like paying some homage to my dad, so here's a little ditty I wrote yesterday for the Signed Sealed Delivered blog I maintain. (It's a local scrapbook and gift store I work for.) The post is called Floral Frenzy. Click it to read it. Enjoy!

Daily Sunshine: The Hightops

I loved these shoes when I bought them for Lindsay a year ago. But her feet grew more quickly than I planned, and her tastes changed too soon, and the life expectancy of these uber-cool Justice hightops was shorter than I hoped.

(Artwork and penmanship courtesy of several 6th and 7th graders, thank you very much.)

And then my rainbow-loving second daughter grew into them. Rebekah, dear, I'm so glad you appreciate these shoes! With your capri jeans rolled up and these hightops on your feet, you're ready for whatever spring is going to bring you.

Bring on the sunshine, baby!

Daily Sunshine: The Eagle Scout Project

This daily sunshine took more than a day to become a happy spot. Several months of planning and work, and four years of sitting on a Life Scout status, in fact.

But today, we delivered the four picnic tables that symbolize the end of a long Eagle Scout project for Colin. Starting with a food drive in November for the Salvation Army and ending with creating these benches from scratch, the manual labor is finished. Only the paperwork and interview remain.


Very bright bit of daily sunshine, indeed.

Daily Sunshine: The French Onion Soup

I love getting together to talk about great books with wonderful friends. But I also enjoy the most delicious food that we all bring. Today’s spread included some most amazing soups. But I must admit, my dear friend Juanita makes The. Best. Soup. In. The. World. I give you:

French Onion Soup.

Yum. Heaven in a bowl. With cheese and homemade croutons.
Please, Ma’am, may I have some more?

A Sweet & Sticky Summer Starter

Ah...the sweet sounds of summer. No, not the sound of waves at my feet or children splashing in a pool...not the sound of kids playing in the yard...

It's the sound of the ice cream truck coming down the street.

(WARNING! Personal soap box moment coming)...And it's playing "Turkey in the Straw." Really? Does every ice cream truck in the nation buy their soundtrack from the same music box on steroids? I'll give it one thing...you can be inside, at the back of the house, and hear him coming from two blocks away. There's no mistaking that sound...or the one that follows it: "MOOOOOMMMMM! The ice cream man is coming. PUH-LEEZE???" Hand it to those ice cream guys--they really know how to snag a child's attention.


Luckily, we live at the end of a long cul-de-sac so we can hear him coming and then we can capture him at our end of the road as he turns around...or we can chase him down the street if we didn't hear him coming fast enough.

We've heard him this year, but I've been too Grinchy to give in to $2 ice creams when I have a freezer full of perfectly good and tasty freezer pops, 100 for $3.99, thank you very much. But with Rebekah home on school intersession this week, a treat was in order. So the picture to the left was the scene two afternoons ago.

I had dragged her all over creation that day, so when she asked if she could buy an ice cream that afternoon, I felt a special treat was most definitely in order.

So she pulled up a chair and waited patiently for the ice cream truck. And waited. And waited. And for those of you who know Rebekah, this was a feat. But she picked a cushy chair.














When I finally complained that we were cooling the outside too (after taking several priceless photos, mind you), she moved her vigil outside.

But guess what? Our street wasn't on the agenda that day. Sad, sad Rebekah.

So today, she and some friends were playing with the hose in the backyard, and they heard their favorite summer tune...yep, the tinkling sounds of "Turkey in the Straw" wafting on the gentle breeze. They came screaming through the back door, Rebekah yelling at me to grab my money, all of them trying feverishly to unlock the front door...but their hands were covered in leftover sunscreen goo and the doorknob quickly became too slippery to open. I thought Rebekah was going to have a heart attack. After wiping the residue off the knob, Lindsay and I barely got the door open before they exploded out the front door. Of course, by now the truck was headed back up the street. Barefoot and dressed in swimming suits, they blazed up the road. I grabbed my wallet--and my change jar since I didn't have much cash, and we chased him up the road. I think he must have seen our little parade coming in his rear view mirror because he pulled over near the end of the street.

Probably scared the little guy to death. But I'll bet he's used to it.
Mission accomplished. A round of treats for the little squirts, and order was restored. I wish I'd had my camera to capture the chase scene. But I did get it in time to record the smiles and sticky faces of some of the successful hunters.

Ahh, the first expensive, pink and blue, bubble-gum flavored ice cream of the season.

Welcome, summer!













Parting question: Would someone please tell me why "Turkey in the Straw" is the American Idol winner of ice cream truck karoke machines? If you have a decent answer for this, I'll send you a buck to buy your own bubble-gum flavored concoction. Drippy popsicle stick included.

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Birthday, Colin!

It sounds so cliche, but it fits so perfectly...

Where has the time gone? When did my 7 pound 6 ounce boy become a 6'1" man?

This is the "legal" birthday he's waited for for so long...time to drive on his own...time to date...

Wait! Did I just say that? He's not that old! (Rather, I'm not that old, am I?)

He wants to wait to get his driver's license for 15 more days...the braces come off on March 17 and there's no way he's taking that famous photo with them on. Somehow I thought he'd be more anxious for it, but who can blame him? Plus, that permit he's been carrying gives him access to a car anyway...as long as we're with him.

And the dating? I'm so not pushing that one, but he's definitely a ladies' man so I don't think it will be too long. I asked him after school if he had a date yet. His answer? "Not yet. I'm working on it!" I think it's going to be a best friend he's had for years who's moving soon. Safe and simple.

(But still, keep working on it, buddy. We can soooo wait for that day!)

The birthday was rather quiet and unassuming for such a milestone... early morning Seminary, then school and basketball practice as usual. Then it was off to dinner with family, including grandparents, aunt, and cousin, at Olive Garden, his choice. We'll have a bigger party later, but for now we simply celebrated this rite of passage.

I have to share the sweet but silly photos of him and his cousin Catherine that I took at dinner. They're more like brother and sister. Six weeks apart in age, same grade at the same school for years...I've loved watching this relationship grow with them. But trying to get them to pose for a serious shot? No way.

This is what I got when I said "Put your heads together."



This is what I got when I then said "Really, guys."

And so I never got that perfect shot. But this one will do!



Once again, happy birthday, Colin!
We love you!

Meeting Marianne

(drum roll please...)

Here at last is a picture of me with my birthmother, Marianne. For those of you new to my blog, we had never met before I took this trip to California. Spoken on the phone many times, but never physically connected. So here we are at last.

We didn't have pictures taken at the airport...we both had our cameras, but we were too busy hugging and crying to do it, and there was no one else there to take it without bugging someone we didn't know. Probably best, since our makeup was a mess and we could be a little more composed if we waited. This picture was taken on Tuesday by her friend Felicia, who's been one of her best friends since the beginning of my life.

I'll post tomorrow after I get home with all the fun details about this most excellent adventure, but I had to at least get a picture posted. It's been a very full few days, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, but I wouldn't change a thing. 

But before I go...

Those of you who know me well know this is a picture I've wanted to take for almost nine years now...ever since we left the shores of New Jersey. It seems almost rude to share it with those of you in ice-bound Arkansas, but I gotta do it.

Just me, walking barefoot into the Pacific Ocean. May I just say that this also caused me to shed a few tears this week.

(And for those of you who think I'm a Bad Momma, I would like to go on record as saying that I HAD NO IDEA WE WOULD HAVE 3 1/2 SNOW DAYS WHILE I WAS GONE! David's been quite the trooper filling in for me, and I'm glad he's been able to take a mini-vacation while I'm on a real one. Thanks, Hon! I love you! Need a break from the kids? Here's a little something I wrote just for you...)