Rachel's 11th Birthday Party



At 9:45pm on the 24th of May I got this great idea for Rachel's birthday the next day.  I was soooo relieved I'd finally gotten out of campaign mode enough to plan something special for her birthday.  Election day was just 7 days away.  I was stressed to the max and completely and utterly exhausted from the whole experience of losing Mariela and trying to win this election all at the same time.  Her birthday was just hours away and I'd still not figured out how to make her feel special and loved for her 11th birthday.  When this idea popped in my mind I got busy and called all the people that she loves that live near us.  Of course Marilyn lives clear acrossed town but she's convinced us all that she'd walk a million miles for us so I knew she'd love to show up for Rachel at 6am to celebrate her special day.  Marilyn is one of Rachel's favorite people.  And Mare loves her equally as much.  I planned a surprise party for Rachel. I pulled Rachel out of bed at 6am, blind folded her with a pillow case and put her in the van. I drove all over the neighborhood and picked up all her closest school friends. I then proceded to take her to Cracker Barrel where she loves to eat and had breakfast.  It was one of the funniset, funnest memories of my life.  We all had a ball celebrating Rachel's birthday with her. 


Popular posts from this blog

Eathyn Has the Croup

At one a.m. Eathyn started crouping in his crib.  It was bad!  Every single time he breathed out he would croup really bad.  I took him into the bathroom and started the hot water.  The steam subsided the severity of his cough but he was still sounding bad.  I put him in bed with Brett and I when he started to panic in his crib because of the cough.  While I was in there I gave him some ice water and that immediately started to break up the cough.  Interesting.... is croup that simple, all it needs is some nice cold ice water???? I was glad to come across a remedy that was so simple.  While I was laying there I started thinking about the events of the evening before and told Brett about something really funny that had happened.  Every morning when Mariela's nurse Marilyn walks through the door Eathyn use to ask for candy.  After a couple days of this I thought, "is he too young to learn to say good morning instead of, 'can I have some ca...
Read more

Growing up too soon!

Image
June 24, 2023 We have all called these two “The Little Boys” since the day Ryan was born and I have always called Eathyn Little Boy Blue and Ryan Tiny boy blue. I was sitting at the air port this week seeing the Little Boys (Eathyn’s almost 15 and Ryan’s going on 13) off to Georgia to stay with Hannah and Austin for a week. Austin’s out there selling pest control for the summer. He also just closed on his dream ranch that’s 303 acres in Arkansas. I am so impressed and so proud of his grit! He’s only 25 years old!  As I was sitting there with the little boys, a Flight attendant came to pick them up and walk them onto the airplane. As they stood up, I looked at them next to each other and realized I felt like I had never seen them in the light I was seeing them in at that moment. They were so big and so incredibly cute and so incredibly handsome all at the same time. I wanted to capture that moment and remember it forever, but the flight attendant whisk them away! I called out to Rya...
Read more

A Tribute to my Nurse

Letter from a Mother to a Daughter: "My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”... Just listen, please try to remember the times when you were young and I would remind you to refill meds, not once or twice but often many times. I could have said something to make you feel inadequate or unfit for the task of taking care of your sweet little angel, but I never did because I loved you unconditionally from the very beginning.  Also, try to remember the many times I would sit for hours and listen to you talk and we'd laugh or we'd cry while you were growing into the person your Father in Heaven knew you could become. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me.  Just remember, the many times I gave your daughter a bath  whether she ...
Read more