Homesick

For some reason, this song makes me feel closer to home. So I listen to it all the time ... go figure. It's one of my old country favorites. Maybe I'm just reminded of having my windows down, listening to it as I drove between Topeka and Lawrence.

Weekend visitor

Auntie Jill came through town this weekend, and she and Miss Clara Kathryn stayed with us Saturday night. For the weekend Jill was without Bill – he and his dad were up north deer-hunting so Jill and Clara spent the weekend visiting us and one of Jill's friends in Grand Rapids.

We had a great time, too. It took no time for Stella to become comfortable with having Aunt Jill around.



She gave Stella another great haircut (not pictured above). I keep thinking she should go to cosmetology school and become hair stylist to the rich and famous.

She's famous for dancing with babies to quiet them down, so she tried it this weekend with two babies, and danced around our living room to one of John's Monkees albums. AJ and Stella were only mildly impressed.



John and Jill pose here with their new babies:


And here's one of Miss Clara Kathryn. She's really a beautiful little baby with bright blue eyes and delicate features. None of her pictures quite do her justice but I kept trying!



Miss Lauren was with her dad and his family this past weekend, which is why we didn't get to see her. She was having lots more excitement than us, though, because she was in Chicago shopping on the Miracle Mile! Lucky girl!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Stella and Albert want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. John and I do, too!



I've got my Weight Watcher's notes and am ready to try to be real on Thanksgiving about how much I'm eating. God knows I love eating and making food. I'm just hoping to maintain this coming week!

Actually I think keeping myself in check is easy for one holiday, but seeing how Thanksgiving opens the doors up to a season of eating, I know I will be fighting a real battle with temptation!

Have a wonderful holiday.

Happy Birthday to Stella's and AJ's DAD!!

AJ and dad stand in front of the burning bush:



Stella jumps for joy because it's her daddy's birthday:


Happy Birthday to our fun dad, who plays the drums (and guitar), watches Seinfeld, loves pasta and pizza, listens to every kind of music including the Kingston Trio, the Negro Problem (my least favorite), Steely Dan and Dave Brubeck.

You're a geezer but you don't act like one!

Except when you get grumpy.

Meanwhile, I need some of this:


It's been a rough week. I'd tell you about it except I don't know where to begin. All I can say is that sometimes the greatest stress blows your mind so much that you actually start to relax. I think all my circuits have been fried. Either way, Calgon take me away!

Happy Birthday, Hubby. I love ya!

Cake, wine and babies

Aunt Joanne's Party

Well, we all love Aunt Joanne so it was a pleasure to be in attendance at her 60th birthday party at Piccirilli's. Uncle Jim threw a great party for her.

My wonderful sister-in-law Jill hooked me up with a babysitter she knew, and John and I were able to go to the party and enjoy ourselves. And we did. There was lots of great chianti to drink, pasta, cake, music, speeches ... the whole works. We got to spend time with friends and family we hadn't seen in a long time.

Aunt Joanne looked beautiful; what a great celebration Jim threw for her:


Chris, Mark, John and John Vrana pose by the bar:


John and I managed to get a picture with the waiter, ha ha. That cruet of wine kept getting filled up and I kept drinking it!


And then the next day . . .
My other sweet sister-in-law made brunch for everyone (egg casserole, monkey bread, bagels and fruit salad) and so we had all these babies together and a great meal. Joe kept saying, "Look at all these kids, Rynnie! Holy Moly!"

I got to spend a little time with the newest baby, Miss Clara Kathryn. She's adorable. She coos and squeals really loudly, for only being 10 weeks old. She's extremely alert, and just a doll. Here she is saying "Peace."



So we all sat around doing what moms do ... plopped in the middle of the toys.

I think my toes made it in the bottom left corner of that picture. Nice pedicure, huh? Compliments of my mom.

Here's Grandma with some more adorable babies:


And here she is with one little guy who thinks the world revolves around him!


But the reality of it . . .
These pictures make everything look nice, but we had a really hard weekend with Stella. She was extremely difficult the entire time. Tantrummy, resistant to transitions, not sleeping, not using the potty. It was really rough.

She got sent home from school last Thursday for crying and pulling at her ears, but when I took her to the doctor's office later that day, the nurse practitioner didn't see any ear problems -- just a sore throat.

Today I took the kids back to the pediatrician because we are trying to change Stella's nighttime medication (which has been in the works for awhile) and a flu shot for AJ. I asked the doctor to check Stella's ears, and she said her left ear was so infected that the ear drum looked like it had cracked! Yikes! So Stella's hopefully going to be acting less "psycho" once she's feeling better.

I think sometime in the next few months, her ear tubes will probably be replaced. I think they're starting to come out and she's had two infections in the last month. Poor girl. I hate the fact that she was suffering in silence.

I hope our next visit to Washington will be better for us. Clearly this time, the reason it was so rough is because she was feeling so bad.