March 2010

March started with a fun night at Chuck E. Cheese. The PTA at Jonathan’s preschool had a fundraiser night. There were a ton of Jonathan’s friends there and he had so much fun running around playing with everyone and playing all the games. He has not quite realized that all the tickets equal a prize, but that’s ok, he just enjoys playing the games. We actually ate the pizza this time since the PTA got a percentage of all sales. Let’s just say that the pizza is not much better than it was twenty years ago. But it was edible. His teacher, Mrs. Ellen, was there as well.

The first weekend in March, I went to another scrapbooking weekend at Petit Jean. This time, though, was extra special. My cousin, Athena, flew up from Houston to go play with me! I don’t get to see her as much as I would like, so it was super fun to have time to be with her. One of the girls I work with, Carrie, decided to come try it out too. We all had a great time visiting, scrapbooking, and just having some good girl time. Of course, everyone has a different scrapbooking style, and we had fun ribbing each other. These weekends are also fun in that we get to share information and ideas and help each other out when we get stuck on a page.

Gracie’s marker finally came in as well. It has been three months and we are still dealing daily with the loss of our sweet baby girl. The feelings come in waves it seems. Sometimes the tide is out and things are going well. Then, deep in the night, or at the most random times, the tide comes in. The waves swell, and the feelings can be crushing. It was a good and yet a sad thing to see her marker finally placed. I think that it is beautiful and perfectly remembers her, yet it is so very, very final to have a piece of granite and bronze there for always. Plus, just seeing her name written out was very hard for me. I have longed to have a little girl and name her Gracie for so very long. Practiced writing it, thought of how I would have it monogrammed, etc. I just never thought that I would see it written this way. Anyway, just wanted everyone to be able to see it and how nice it really is. We decided to get a vertical marker. It just seemed less depressing and we liked the way that it was laid out better. The words at the top say, “Our Most Precious Gift from God.” This is the phrase that we have always said about both of our children, regardless of anything else that may/did happen. We did not get to keep the gift of our Gracie for very long, but she was still a gift, one that we will treasure for always. We know that her life was important, had significance and she was a part of God’s plan. Our hope and prayer, is that we can follow God’s will for our lives and allow her life to be a part in furthering God’s kingdom. The second picture shows the Valentine wreath and the Christmas doll that we have gotten for her. Mark decided to put th doll in the vase, and it actually looked pretty cute. Eventually, I will get some flowers to put in the vase, but for now, the doll will do.

The day before my birthday, I decided that we needed to do something fun for me and my little man. We decided to go to a little park not too far from my work. We invited Katie and Megan (and their Mommy Karen) to come join us for a little fun. The kids had a great time swinging, sliding, and going ‘round and ‘round on the Merry-go-Round. All in all, it was a great way to start my birthday!

To continue with our birthday hat necessity (per Jonathan), Mark got me a Cinderella princess hat and he and Jonathan Mickey Mouse ears. They were super cute and we had a good time wearing them. We had planned to go out to eat, but everyone was just too tired to get dressed and go. So instead, Mark picked up Outback to go. Rather silly, but it was nice to just sit around the house in our pajamas and have dinner. We got our usual, a blooming onion, salads, and their yummy bread. Totally enough food without making you feel yucky. The highlight, though, was my birthday cake. Mark and Jonathan had driven all the way to Conway to get me a Dairy Queen Birthday cake. There are NO DQ’s in Little Rock. Ridiculous, I know. Anyway, he got the Blizzard cake and trust me it was delicious!! I love ice cream cakes, but none live up to the DQ cake. I’ve had Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone, but no, DQ is the best! Jonathan had picked up some rocks and mini-pinecones that weekend at the park that were the ‘candles’ for my cake. He really wanted to put them on the cake, but we convinced him that beside it was ok too. I did have to blow out those candles too, though!

The girls from work took me out to eat for my birthday on Friday. We ate at Copelands and had some wonderful cheesecake for dessert. The girls were very sweet and got me a DSW (shoes) gift card for my birthday. So, of course, after lunch, we made a trip over to the shoe store. Funny thing was, I didn’t buy any shoes! Crazy for me, but I just didn’t see any that I really wanted. Oh well, try again later. I am very fortunate to have a great bunch of girls that I work with. It really makes the day a little easier and I am blessed that God has placed these people in my life.

The weekend after my birthday, we went to the bowling alley for another fun-filled day. The place we go to in Maumelle is just perfect for kids. They have bumpers that pop up when it is Jonathan’s turn, and then go back down for Mark and I’s turn. Jonathan is getting better every time we go. He just has to work on pushing hard on the ball to make it go a little faster. His aim is not bad, just needs a little more force behind the push! And in case, just bowling in and of itself wasn't fun, I won both games! Cracked me up as I never win! I'm really not very good at all. But my back had been hurting, and I think I was being very cautious of that, so I guess I was holding my body frame a little tighter. Or at least that's the story I'm going with!

That afternoon, I went to ANOTHER children’s consignment sale, Rhea Lana of Greater LR. I had already been to Rhea Lana of WLR and Duck Duck Goose. Finally, at this one, I found some decent clothes for Jonathan. He is just getting to that age where little boys have worn their clothes out. Oh well, I have fun going and looking for the good deals. Always find some fun toys or books too. We went Saturday night to Boudreaux’s in Maumelle for boiled crawfish. I wish I had a picture of Jonathan trying the crawfish. It was hilarious. Mostly, he just ate his chicken strips! Mark and I enjoyed it, though we are still in withdrawal from a true Cajun cooking it for us. Plus, they were sorely lacking in corn, potatoes, onions, and all the other things that Mark thinks should be cooked with the crawfish.

My Mom has been here the last week for Spring Break. She and Jonathan spent the entire week together and had a blast. I think she had at least one toy and one book for him every day of the week! It was hilarious, but he just ate it up! They finger painted (not a big fan) and water color painted (loves it) and who knows what else! She took him to Wonder Place one day and to the Big Dam Bridge park another day. Momma also bought him his very first board game, Candy Land! He absolutely loves it, and we have played it 100 times already. He is actually a very gracious player and is excited for you if you win. Such a sweet spirit he has. The only thing that he didn’t do so well was SLEEP for MaMa Deb! He just refused to take a nap for her. It was too funny as he went straight to sleep for me when I got home from work. Oh well, Grandmas are not supposed to be enforcers anyway.

Momma also brought my birthday presents, so we had another birthday party Thursday night. She made a yummy banana pudding and Jonathan had everyone singing “Happy Birthday” again. She got me a couple of scrapbooking books, some new jewelry, a t-shirt, makeup head scarf, Cinderella Christmas ornament, and cold hard cash! So, that was a lot of fun. Jonathan is very into “helping” to open presents, so he had fun as well. Now I just have to decide what to spend my money on! I’m thinking some additions to my digital scrapbooking software, but we’ll see. Oh, and I forgot to say what Mark and Jonathan had gotten me for my birthday. I’m getting a new laptop. Mine is not very old, but it just has not held up very well. It has Vista on it, and obviously that is a problem. Plus my mouse button is broken, Internet explorer randomly dies, Quicken randomly dies, one of my USB ports doesn’t work, the battery will no longer hold a charge, need I go on?? So, my sweet, loving husband has bought me a new and improved (and much bigger) laptop. So I am excited to get that and hopefully get some more scrapbooking done. I need to get caught up, that’s for sure!! I’m presently scrapbooking March 2008, so I’m a good two years behind!!