Busy Week

I have never been wiped out by surgery like this before. After my last doctors appointment I was very sick and weak for a week. I've never been squeamish before but every time I see the foot I get queasy. I've been improving steadily since then but it was only a couple of days ago that I really started to feel good. I'm still weak but I've been living on the couch for three weeks. Hopefully now that I'm feeling better I'll be able to do more each day and regain my strength. I'm certainly tired of lying here and watching movies!

Both Nikki and Twig are now a year older! I was unable to attend Nikki's party but John went and took pictures for me. She had a beautiful day and everyone had a great time.

While John was at the party my brother, who was visiting from Texas, came out to see me and we had a very nice visit. It's probably been 15 years or more since we visited, just the two of us.

Kids night resumed this week but the girls were unable to make it. The other four played outside with the neighbors and then invited them over for birthday cake. Twig loved being the center of attention.

On Thursday both Sprout's and Twig's schools had Mother's Day parties and since Bean could not be in two places at once, I got to go to Twig's. I was exhausted just getting to the car. This was the first time I tried the wheel chair that we borrowed and I was relieved we had it. The kids sang to us and then we all played Bingo. Here is Twig with the gift that he made for his Mom.

The woman who is covering my route and her husband are also friends and they stopped over after work yesterday. It was so nice to have company! She had made up a little booklet and passed it around the bus for all the kids to write their get well wishes to me. It is so sweet! I really miss the kids. I won't share any of the inside pages for their privacy but the things they wrote and pictures they drew really brightened my day.

I don't see the doctor again for another week. The only pain I'm having in the foot is from the blister so I'm hoping that I'll be able to start walking in the boot some then but I'm trying not to count on it. I was getting up from the couch wrong and managed to strain my shoulder and that is finally feeling better. I've had trouble with my other hip for years and that has been bothering me some but is also seems to be better today. I expected the swelling to be bad this morning after all I did yesterday but it really isn't too bad at all.

So all in all things are looking up!

Another Birthday!

It's official, I'm a terrible grandma! Alex celebrated his 6th birthday last week three times and I'm just writing about it now. Things have been terribly busy here but I did help him celebrate two of the three times.

He had is official party a week ago Sunday. You can see from this picture that the partying wore him out. :-)

He was so pooped that it took him three tries to blow out the candles.

A couple of days later we celebrated again at our house with his brother and cousins. He got to pick what we had for dinner followed by another cake. I still haven't bought more birthday candles so he got that same candle we used for Nikki's birthday.

He wasn't quite as tired this time!

His actual birthday was a week ago today and his parents took him to the pizza place with the big mouse and video games. I'd say he celebrated plenty.

While he was turning 6, Ross was celebrating 60. A belated wish for a very Happy Birthday Ross!

123 MEME

Mrs. Mecomber at New York Renovator has tagged me for the 123 MEME.

Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
Open the book to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people.

The newest book is Plum Lucky, by Janet Evanovich. Mom lent it to me but I haven't started it yet. I'll probably read it this afternoon.

I got clean clothes, locked myself in the bathroom, and stepped into the shower. When I got out I felt reenergized.

"I got an idea while you were in the shower," Diesel said.

I tag anyone with a book nearby!


There really hasn't been much going on here of late. The weather can't decide what it wants to do. My middle school boys have me pulling my hair out - and I don't have enough left that I can afford to loose any! I've ordered some stargazer lilies and I've been looking through last year's garden pictures but it is still to early to reopen My Sister's Garden, I think. Most of my time has been spent on genealogy. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about soon. The winter blues certainly have a grip on me right now.

Birthday Bowling

Liz had her Birthday Party at the bowling alley yesterday. I had committed to working at the Onondaga County Safety Fair and thought I wouldn't be able to make it to the party. The Fair was a disappointment. They had us out so far that almost nobody came to see our display or the other, excellent, displays of large vehicles. So I abandoned my teammates and headed over to the bowling alley in time for presents and cake.

After the party John and I went to his Aunt & Uncle's house to say goodbye. They are leaving for the milder weather of Arizona. We'll miss them but they'll be back for visits and maybe eventually we'll get out there.

I finished out the day at the fundraiser for my co-worker. The turn out was large; cars were parked all along the side of the road wen we got there. An amazing number of items had been donated and the raffles took a long time. John and I had ate well and enjoyed the company of the people we sat with. I stayed until the clean up was done. Many hands make light work. So I had a very long but very good day!

Blog Neglect

Where have I been, you ask? The start of the school year is always crazy and this year has been a bit busier than most.

Family

We have resumed Kid's Night. Once a week we have the four oldest grandkids come here after school so they can play together and spend some time with us. Bean has even brought her two once and I hope she will again! Six kids and our house is packed full, loud and crazy. I'm exhausted by the time they leave and I love it!


We also went to Mike's Birthday party. I told him I'm not ready for him to be 9 already and so he couldn't have a birthday this year. He thought that was quite hysterical. He loved the game we got him and I hear that he continues to beat his dad at it.


Then there is weekend football. Mike plays on Saturday and Alex on Sunday. John has been going to all of the games and I have been going when I can. I'm not crazy about them playing but I am definitely a minority of one! Overheard at the game yesterday, "I want you to go out there and hit somebody this time!" Give me a break, they are just little boys. I'm lucky I didn't hurt myself biting my tongue!
Work

We had our car seat check the second week of school and we have two more fall safety events in the planning stages. Planning and meetings take up too much of my time. We also had our 1st training day of the year and I was asked to take on another volunteer position. I guess I will if nobody else will but I really need to learn to say NO.


We are so very close to raising what we need for the Training Bus that we also have a push on to finish up. I got way behind in updating the blog but I think I have finally caught up! I need to get a new picture of the thermometer.


I've also had all of the beginning of the year paperwork to deal with; student lists, route sheets, handouts, etc. I hate paperwork but I should finish it up today. (I'd better finish it up today, it's all due tomorrow!) With everything else going on I haven't taken any charters yet but I'll have my first field trip this week.

Gardening

Between rain drops and everything else I've been spending any free time I have I the garden. Country Girl and I spent a wonderful Saturday with Kerri & Ross, who filled our car up with plants. I have them all planted, finally! Then we spent a Saturday at a symposium in Rochester where I got more plants that I had to get in. There was also a plant exchange at our garden club so I have been moving plants around like a crazy person. I haven't started on the fall garden chores yet nor have I bought a single bulb so there is much to be done. Good thing that it looks like the weather will be great this week.


Genealogy

All summer long I neglected Apple's Tree and my research. The other genea-bloggers kept very busy without me. I have finally posted something for the Carnival of Genealogy and I'm trying to catch up with everything I missed over the summer. I was planning on participating in Scanfest today, thinking that Alex didn't have a game today. He is playing so I may only have time to stop in say hello. I hate scanning and this gives me something fun to do while forcing me to work on it.


I hope to get back to regular blogging shortly!

Leading The Parade

Sunrise Wednesday

I always look forward to the first day of school and every year it is chaos. This year was better than last though. Every year on my elementary route I have some parents that hold me up taking pictures and then follow the bus to school to check on my driving and to get more pictures as the kids get off. This year I only had three cars with me the first day and one the second. lol I really don't mind the picture taking as all of the pictures I have of my kids school days are of their backs. I did have one father that decided rather than a quick couple of snaps, he wanted a whole roll to document such an important event. I quickly drew the line when it became obvious that he was going to get on the bus to take a few more! This year I didn't have a driver-in-training with me but I did have a seasoned sub and that helped immensely with getting the seating chart done and dealing with all the paper work. I love training though and look forward to working with our new drivers in the coming weeks.

I had a great finish to my week. My sister and I had a perfect day visiting with Kerri and Ross. She wrote about our visit here. We'd only met previously through our blogs and email. They are a wonderful couple and we had a great time getting to know each other a little better and swapping stories with lots of laughter. Kerri promised not to go to any trouble over lunch but she treated us to a scrumptious lunch of squash casserole, zucchini bread and fresh veggies. Her kittens kept us company while she allowed us to raid her gardens. We took home an entire car full of plants and I felt a little bit guilty about taking so much but she assured us that much of what we took needed to be thinned anyway. I am certain they are scratching their heads over the fact that I drive a bus but had so much trouble turning my car around in their driveway but I was very worried that Max would find his way under one of my tires!

Thank you Kerri & Ross!!!!!