Saturday Happenings

Saturdays are the best day of the week. At least from the viewpoint of getting to do whatever I want. All of my other days are structured, i.e. they are pretty much planned for me. Such as Monday through Friday I am at the preschool at least 9 hours a day, then there are the things I have to do with two teenagers (well Abigail is almost a teenager) in the house still and no drivers license yet. Sundays are our day of worship and where else would we use our gifts but in the preschool Sunday School class.
So here I sit typing instead of the usual Sat. cleaning or shopping that has to be done. What can I say except Kim has me hooked on this new experience of sharing on the internet. A typical Saturday for me means waking up around 7 to 8 am. I stumble to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee.
While I get the cobwebs out of my head, from the night before, (a saying my mother-in-law use to say) I click on the TV to catch the morning news and weather, ( a ritual I got from my dad). Then with my husband off running errands (he's a very early riser) I get to catch up on email and other computer readings. By then it is almost 9:00 and I fix some breakfast or grab a bowl of cereal and wake Abigail to get ready for her Saturday morning taekwondo class. Usually she has class at 10:45 am and that finishes the rest of the morning. After getting back home and getting some cleaning Thomas and Abber and I head into Franklin for our regular shopping.
Last weekend I planned a late shopping trip so Abigail could attend her parents night out at Mr. Rodgers Taekwondo shop. Returning home late my Saturday disappeared so quickly I retire tired but happy for the day.

President's Day Weekend

For those of us who work in a preschool the holidays are looked forward to very much. This past weekend we had a four day weekend with the observance of President's Day. My daughters and I were to have the weekend all to ourselves but at the last minute my husband's trip was cancelled and he stayed home with us. We had some plans for shopping and movies but the weather decided we all needed to catch up on much needed rest instead. When we woke up Saturday we had about 2 inches of snow on the ground and ice on the roads. It didn't stay around long because by Sunday the roads were opened and the snow disappeared by lunch time.
Our son however departed on one of the worst airline trips of his life. He was going to check out a college in the northwest and left last Thursday morning around 7:30 am and had to change planes two times before he got to his final destination. His first stop was Chicago and of course the plane was delayed. (I should have known the plane would be delayed, we have a history of delayed planes in Chicago. In 1999 our family moved to Illinois to start a preschool. We had not visited our family for two years and when my sister who worked for an airline offered to get us tickets for a trip to Dallas, the children and I jumped on it. The only problem was the tickets were standby. We arrived at the little airport to fly over to Chicago and they only had 3 seats and we needed 4. The lady at the ticket counter said if you don't mind driving the 2 hours to Chicago we would probably have no trouble getting 4 seats as the flights to Dallas left every 30 minutes. We were so excited we jumped into the car and arrived thinking we would soon be on our way (wrong). When we got to the ticket counter there were about 150 other passengers trying to get to Dallas, too. We went to every gate trying to catch the next flight and by 10:00 pm my husband who had been telling us you won't get out of here tonight struck up a conversation with one of the reservationists and she had a co-worker give us a hotel voucher to spend the night. So around 11:00 pm we went to a hotel to sleep about 4 hours and then took a taxi back to the airport to catch the 7:00 am flight to Dallas. Abigail who was 5 years old then was so tired she lay down in the floor by our chairs and before she fell back asleep said "I don't care what you do just get us on this flight, I'm tired". We did get boarding passes for that flight and finally arrived in Dallas.
So when Thomas called and said he had missed his flight from Seattle to Spokane and was put on standby I did not have a good feeling about. Thankfully I had family living there and they rescued him and even drove him to Spokane the next day. On the return trip he arrived at the airport and was informed because he did not use the last part of his ticket the computer cancelled his return flight. After panicking and trying to reach customer service, he called and said they gave him his boarding passes all the way back to Nashville. Great I thought until he called and said his flight from Spokane to Seattle was delayed and now we wondered if he would get there before the Chicago flight left. At lease they gave him a seat close to the door so he could run leave the plane first. He barely had time to run from that plane and get to the next one before they left. I was so glad when he got home. Finally last night I got the best night of sleep since he left. It's good to have the family home. I just wish the rest of our children lived close by.

Valentine Birthday

My husband and I have six children, four sons and two daughters. I have always told the girls they were special because they were born on holidays. Our oldest daughter was born on Easter Sunday and our youngest daughter was born on Valentine Day. Every year since my husband and I have worked in preschool our youngest always had to compete with that holiday to celebrate her birthday. At all of the preschools we have worked and with the one we now own, we have a big celebration for this holiday with lots of candy, cards and party food. Our parents are known for their generosity with parties. When she was younger I would ask about bringing extra cake or cupcakes and they would look wild eyed which would suggest "are you crazy", with all the other sweets that day it would be lost on the kids. We usually celebrate on the President's Day weekend, like the year we had a surprise party for her in Ohio when we went for the weekend where our oldest son and his family lived. We had just moved to Tennessee after living in Florida for two years. Yes can you believe it we did not see those babies for two whole years and when we returned to their part of the country they had another girl, sweet little Megan. When we moved Lydia was the baby and she did not know us. It took some time but with some coaxing I eventually won her love and she understood that while we could come and visit we would not disrupt her family forever. So with time off from the preschool we headed north and surprised Abigail with a party at the local McDonald's and all her friends in the area.
This year we headed to the local Laser Chase for an afternoon of shooting and obstacle course and lots of pizza, with her friends from school. Celebrating on the President's Day weekend had its advantages. We had the place to ourselves and they let the kids have a few extra turns on the obstacle course. Even tho her sister and I froze the kids worked up a sweat trying to shoot each other with the laser's. After two hours of fun we were ready to head home and now Abigail is reading the book her dad gave her from B&N. What a day. Sure wish those grand children lived closer. :) hint hint

My Thoughts

I am a grandmother and I have seven beautiful granddaughters. It is so easy doing the grandma thing it probably is a good thing I live three states away. I love spending time with them either at their home or when they come to spend time with us. When we do get together I have so much fun watching them and spoiling them it brings back so many memories when their dad was still at home, or it reminds me of my girlhood when there was seven girls at our home too. Life was so much fun then but we were too busy trying to get out of work or trying to get some attention we didn't know it. Since my oldest son has been married we have only lived around their three oldest daughters and the oldest was only four years old when we moved away. She will be thirteen years old this summer and it seems like ages ago I was able to pick them up for the weekend and have the whole weekend to spend time with before they went home on Sunday night. I am starting this blog site so they will see what life is like for their grandmother who loves them so much, and doesn't get to see them each day. I love to read their posts on their sites and that of my famous daughter-in-law.
I will also endeavor to post some of my life when I was still living at home so they can have a glimpse into my past.