Here is the day, but by now, it's yesterday

Things are busy busy busy and I've had very little desire to blog lately. But tomorrow's my last day of work for two weeks and even so, I make no promises I'll blog more. 

The big news here is Emma's moving to her own place this week or next and while growing up and out is what's supposed to happen, I know what my heart thinks about it. And even though I'm super excited for her, this house will have an Emma sized hole in it when she's gone. I could go on and on about how I feel, but I'm not gonna. I'll just say when I'm reminded it's about to happen, my heart feels a little heavier for a while. Remember though, I'm trying to accept change with a small, tiny, minor, puny amount of happiness and not just an, "I hate change" attitude. So far I suck at it. 

Because here's what I remember:
One little girl
Two little girls
Three little girls 
Plus one boy
Hugs and kisses
Messy spaghetti dinners eaten in their skivvies
A full across the yard run to jump in the wading pool
Cozy coupe rides
Mr. and Mrs. Potato head marriages
Hearing Mommy 150 times a day
Backyard baseball
Very tired Christmas eve elves 
Exciting Christmas mornings
Giggling bath tub time
Footy pj's 
Double bagged pajamas on cold nights 
Tucking into bed
Saying prayers
Bedtime kisses
I love you's

It goes so fast.

This week I've had some love notes from God that made me smile.  

And then today, as I was getting ready for work, I went to put on my ring. I don't wear my wedding ring all day because jewelry drives me nuts and John doesn't mind. Anyway, my ring wasn't where I keep it. So I moved some stuff around and couldn't find it and then looked on the floor and then asked people if they'd seen it and then moved the couch and then swept the lost dog I found under the couch and then went back to my bedroom and yada yada yada it was no where to be found. Hmmm...it's a pickle. I really wasn't too worried about it for some reason. 

When I got to work I asked the school secretary if anyone had turned in a diamond ring and she said no, but she'd keep an eye out.... As I was walking to my post I decided to go look on the playground just in case. And there, on the ground, under a bench amongst the leaves and gravel, was my diamond ring. Huge relief. Thank you God and Jesus and the angel who kept watch over it all night. OK, that may not be the case, but it was there for me to retrieve today. So thankful for a happy ending. And I've grounded myself from wearing rings. 

  
This was me before I grounded myself but after I found the silver ring at school. I don't mix gold and silver normally, but I didn't trust myself to get the ring home in my purse....seeing as how it didn't make it home on my finger the day before. What had happened was, I took my ring off to apply lotion to my wind chapped hands, and I guess I got distracted by a munchkin and didn't put it back on my finger. It was so close to being not good. Also, after seeing this picture, I've got a bad case of the man hands.

Then tonight Emma, Olivia and I were going to Target, but I needed to go look for something at another store as well and I was saying, "But I need to go here, but then do I go there first?" And Olivia said, "You've got your own little Sophie's choice going on right there don't you?" I almost fell out of the car laughing. Not really. But it was very funny. 

When we got home, we found that Caitlin had taken two hours to shower and primp so she could sit on the couch in her jammies and therefore shower taking was backed up for the rest of the night. Not really, but it sounded better than just an hour. She had no remorse and that made a bad situation even worse. Then I made lemon poppy seed muffins to prove to my kids I can cook, even though I read the recipe wrong and added the eggs whole and not separated and whipped as the recipe said. They were fine anyway. Why add unnecessary steps to recipes?

I don't think I've talked about my Christmas tree at all this year and now I shall. I didn't want the one we have, it's a long story about a yahoo who broke the top out of the one I'd chosen first. But that's not what I'm talking about.....the one we have is no longer taking water....and it's got to make it til next week. It's like a scary movie. That's not really true either but I felt I needed a fill phrase.  

My shopping is officially finished and almost all is wrapped and now that I am through with this post, everything I talked about happened yesterday. But I'm not about to go back and change the words to make it sound like it.

I'm so tired....

And I just heard my pillow say, "Get the heck in here."

God bless all

And to all a good night.....  

The final wedding pictures

Well it seems the cold weather is here to stay in Louisiana for like ever. It's so cold! And rainy! 

I went to a ladies Christmas swap at church the other night and while it was fun, my present I ended up with was not good. And on the off chance the person I don't know, and who has no idea this blog exists, and who brought the gift, that I don't like, happens upon my blog, that's all I'm gonna say. 

Christmas is closing in and I'm almost through shopping. 

Caitlin's off from school for 5 weeks and she's already bored. 

Emma's moving out to her own place soon. If I could insert a smiley here, It'd be one with the sniff. And my family of six will very likely never live under the same roof again. My mother's heart will survive this new development, but it's not easy. Because I've never liked change. But change isn't always bad or scary, so I'm trying to look at it differently. My parenting is coming to close. So what's next for me? I don't know, but I hope it's something good.

A peek at her new home.

This is a sad version of a hug between Caitlin and Olivia.

This is Owen looking all grown up. And I'm not gonna cry. 

After this small update, I'm gonna finish the postings of the wedding and get ready for the next thing. 

Moving on now peeps...

The reception place was all glammed up and ready for a party. The music was so great and many people, not me, danced the night away. But first,there were the arrivals. 

The entrance to the club.

And the arrivals.

Some people I know.

And some more.

The Mr. and Mrs.

First dance.

They did quite well.

And Grandma enjoyed it.

Cute.

Well done!

From both angles.

And the pressure to perform was over. 

Yum and gorge.

The groom loves a chocolate chip cookie.

We missed getting a pic of the bite they shared.

Then it was off to greeting more guests...

And more dancing. 

Billie had a wonderful time.

Cute pic.

And another.

I love this pic of all the girls.

I love making new memories. 

It's one of my favorite things to do.

And to watch Keith do the hustle.

A little dancing with one grandson.

A little cheek to cheek with another. 

Getting ready to throw the bouquet. 

A very little girl caught it.

And the garter throwing. A very little boy caught it.

One last dance before they go.

And one more picture. 

Sissies.

Didn't forget the other grandson.

The football room. LSU fans weren't happy. I didn't care.

Good pic of another married couple.

Group pic!

Carlie not behaving. That's an excellent imaginary bow and arrow.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Sorry/not sorry Lindsey.

One family pic.

And another.

I love the lighting in this picture Melanie took.

And I love these sparkler pictures.

And this one.

Cute.

Sparkler head, very different from sprinkler head. 

Someone stole one more pic of the bride before they left.

Love this.

And this.

And off they go.

Next stop, home for Johnny's pizza and then St. Thomas.

One married off, two more to go.

And there it is. 

The end.

Which is really the beginning. 

I've worked on this post for a week now trying to get it all right and ready to publish. Then tonight, when I was very close to finishing, some kind of format got added somehow and started deleting pictures when I tried to add commentary. I was just about ready to cry or cuss until I remembered an easy fix that I'd used a long time ago. But this hasn't happened in so long I'd forgotten about it! So. Many. Ughs. 

But I'm happy to report I've completed the blogging of the second wedding of the year for our family. Just in time for the year to end. I'm looking forward to our Christmas with our new family members and before the end of 2014, we will have multiple new baby boys! 

So I'm reminding myself that change can be good and fun, otherwise we wouldn't have new family members! Or new babies! I just don't want to turn into an old fuddy duddy, or be married to one. The jury's still out on that.

And since I began this post a while back, I think I've finished my Christmas shopping.

And lately I've been reminded that God loves me so much, and He puts up with a lot from me. But we have our secrets....me and God...and they will never cross my lips to another soul, because He's the only one I want to know them. If you haven't shared some of your secrets with Him, give it a try. 

He's THE BEST secret keeper. 

And He's trustworthy forever.

And now that it's 2:23, I'm off to find my soft pillow and see if it remembers me.

God bless us everyone.