Dancing Queen

My apologies for the late post today. Normally I post earlier, but the past few days we were a bit busy.

This weekend my daughter had her dance recital. The recital features groups of all ages and is really fun to watch.

This recital was divided into three “themes.” The first was about the water – surfing, the beach, the ocean, etc… The second was more serious tap, ballet, and jazz. The final section was a salute to “the greats.”

Ella dances in the first and third sections with her group. Her first song will make the Beatles fans who read Happy – Yellow Submarine. All the gals hopped into a bathtub on wheels that was made up like a submarine. As the song starts to play, they are wheeled out and exit the sub. They moved to the front of the stage and do their dance. It was priceless!

Saluting the “greats” was a fun theme. Ella’s dance was saluting Betsy Ross with You’re a Grand Old Flag. I’m not sure if there is supposed to be a kick in it, but she did one! She looked like she is having so much fun.

The other dancers saluted Babe Ruth (Centerfield – John Fogerty), Henry Ford (Life is a Highway – Rascal Flatts), Nat King Cole (L-O-V-E), Albert Einstein (Weird Science), Dolly Parton (9-5), The Big Band Era (Sing Sing Sing), Gene Kelly (Singing in the Rain), Alexander Graham Bell (Pennsylvania 6-5000 and a few I can’t remember.

She had two shows – one last night and one this afternoon. Last night, a boy from her preschool class was there to watch and even brought her flowers! Honestly, I thought I had more time before boys started wooing my daughter!

I didn’t want to post without permission, so I had to cover her friend’s face. She was surprised to see him.

Andrew’s speech therapist, who we’ve become very close friends with, was also there with her daughters. Ella calls them her big sisters. They brought her a beautiful butterfly corsage and a baby rose bouquet.

She had to wear the wrist corsage when she woke up today. She put her flowers in a vase. They are next to her bed. On her nightstand.

Today, Nana and Pa brought Aunt Nikki to the show. Andrew stayed the night there last night, so they brought him to the show.

A two hour dance recital and a three year old don’t work well together. We brought his tablet, but he didn’t last long on it. He was kicking the poor woman’s seat in front of his. He also kept asking if it was over.

I wound up bringing him out to the lobby so he could run around at intermission. They had a feed of the show on the monitors in the lobby, so I got to watch her second performance on TV.

Aunt Nikki, Nana, Pa and Andrew with Ella

I’m glad Sam and I got to watch it without interruption last night. We are so proud of her.

They featured two seniors from their studio during the show. One of them had been dancing there since she was Ella’s age. Perhaps she’ll keep on dancing. I hope so!

My Funny Valentine Story

I like to bring Sam flowers. It’s nice that you can go to almost any grocery store and find them. They’re far from the quality you’d get from a florist, but they are perfect for an “I was thinking of you today” gesture.

Anytime someone purchases something from our bank account, we get a text message. So I grabbed a few bucks out of the savings account to buy her flowers. I ordered them online earlier in the week, to be delivered today. I thought it would make her day to open the door to flowers.

Well, then I found out she had to be away from the house for a few hours. I asked her when she’d be back. Once I got the time, I called the florist. I told them she’d be gone from around 11am to 3pm and to deliver them after that.

About 10:45 this morning, Sam gathers up the kids and heads out the door. I strip off my clothes to jump in the shower for work. That’s when I hear a knock at the door. I assume that my wife forgot something, but the door is unlocked. So I walk to the door to see the flower lady walking away. I yell, “Hold on one second, I’ll be right back.”

I threw some pants and a shirt on and go to the door. The lady said, “I knew she would be gone around 11, and I wanted to catch her before she left. I tried to flag her down as she was driving.” She explained that as she was waiting to turn on our street she saw them backing out of the driveway. She tried to wave at them to have her stop so she could give her the flowers, but my wife kept driving. I laughed and told her I couldn’t wait to hear what my wife had to say about that.

Sure enough, as I was driving in to work, my wife called. “Did someone stop by our house after I left?” I lied and said, “No, why?” She goes on to explain that some woman she didn’t know had rolled her window down and was waving at her as she was driving down the street. She says, “I have no idea who this crazy lady is, so I kept going. Then I think she pulled into our drive way! What the heck was that all about?!” I told Sam that I had jumped in the shower when she left, so I didn’t hear anything. (Valentine’s lies are allowed, right?) She said, “It was so weird, it’s going to bug me all day now.”

I set her flowers on the mantle where I knew she’d see it when she got home. Once she saw them, she realized what happened.

Earlier in the week, she said to my kids, “Do you know Daddy hasn’t asked me to be his Valentine yet!?”

I told her I thought when we got married, it was understood that we were lifelong Valentines! She was saying, “Oh no, you have to ask and bring candy and special gifts.” So I asked, “What do I do for Valentine’s Day if I have already brought you candy and special gifts?” There was a long pause and the reply was, “Bring more candy and special gifts?!”

Anyway, in the card, I had to poke fun at what she told the kids. So I had them write:

6 Down – Forever to Go…

Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Sadly, we didn’t get to spend much time together. My wife worked the night before and came home and grabbed a nap while picked the kids up from their sleep over at Nana’s house.

I came home and got the kids their lunch, showered and shaved, and got ready for work. I waited until the last minute to wake her up so that I could head into work. I quickly gave everyone a kiss and left. What my wife didn’t know was that I had ordered flowers right down the road and I had to go pick them up and bring them back home so I wouldn’t be too late for work.

The florist did such a wonderful job! I think in this day and age, we tend to go t he “easy route” too often and grab a simple bunch from the grocery store, but those flowers really lack the touch of a florist! These were simply beautiful!

According to the “anniversary gift list,” the gift for anniversary number six is iron. It is supposed to represent the fact that you have made it through the first five years and the iron represents the strength of your marriage. So I wanted to get her something along those lines.

Years ago, I bought her a small wind chime that a nice windy day destroyed. I found a simple metal wind chime that sounds so pretty. She loved it.

The inscription reads, “A house is made of walls and beams. A home is made of love and dreams.”

The original plan had been to go into work early and leave early so we could have some time together. However, a week or so ago, they scheduled the farewell party for our director at work on that same night. My wife insisted that I be at the work party because our director has always been a big supporter of me. My wife has never been the “take me out to an expensive dinner and buy me expensive gifts” kind of person. She is happy just getting time together. So we will find a day to spend together in the coming week.

I am so thankful to have been married to my soulmate for the past 6 years. I cannot wait for the years ahead! I love her now and forever!

… and counting!

A Happy Weekend

Tuesdays mean back to work for me. Technically, Mondays are still part of my “weekend.” Yesterday, I wrote about the amazing birthday I had Monday, but wanted to share a few other highlights from the past couple days.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Sadly, Sam had to work that night. That didn’t stop us from celebrating. The kids made sure to spoil mommy with a card and cake.

We also made sure she had plenty of flowers to brighten her day.

We got her a Grey’s Anatomy sweatshirt that she wanted and of course, she got the porch rocker we built. Before she left for work, I was able to snap one of the best photos of her and the kids!

Today, the weather in Michigan was perfect. I wanted to go to Menard’s to pick up the wood that I need to rebuild part of the playscape in the back. However, because it was so nice, I took the kids up to the park to play first. They had a blast!

For Andrew, there were so many things to play with. Slides, rocks, and even tic tac toe.

Ella just loved running around and playing with the other little girl who was there, too.

Every once in a while, they stop at just the right time for perfect pictures.

After the park, I ran up and got the wood. I also got a couple shepherd’s hooks and two hanging flower baskets for the front of the house. On the way home, I stopped and got the kids lunch and we had a picnic on the porch before naptime.

Along with the fun of my birthday, this weekend was just loaded with wonderful memories! I hope your weekend was just as happy!

A Cool Place To Sit

It is finally starting to feel like Spring in Michigan. Some of the days ahead may even have summer like temperatures.

After I put together the porch rocker for Sam, the kids and I ran around the yard. Sam had got some flowers and soil to put in a planter pot and we placed it next to the front porch.

The back yard needs a good mow, but Sam had actually mowed the front lawn late last week. The kids were running around the front yard and I took advantage of the shade. I actually decided just to sit on the front lawn. The kids saw me and came over and sat with me. If there had been clouds out, I would have laid on my back with them and looked at the shapes. Skies were clear, however, and it was nice to just sit on the ground and play with them.

Sometimes, you gotta take a minute and enjoy the little things….

Of course, I did need some help getting up!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ..

Forgive me if I have blogged about this before. Every spring my yard seems to be filled with dandelions. Those stupid weeds!

That’s not the way the kids feel about them, however. They are “pretty” or “beautiful” flowers. They are fascinated by them.

Yesterday, Ella was picking a special bouquet for mommy.

Today, Andrew was out picking them too!

I’m sure that as a kid I picked my share of dandelions for my mom. She displayed them in a plastic cup in the kitchen, just like Sam did.

Weeds? Nope. Exotic flowers for a special someone.

A Morning Spring Walk

I’ve been struggling with a few things lately. I decided to listen to my own advice and take a step back and look around and appreciate the little things. So this past week, I put Ella in her stroller and we took a 2 and a half mile walk around the neighborhood.

She loves going for a walk and it was very beneficial for me as well. The first thing I did was focus on the sounds of spring, which were all around us as I walked!

The Sounds

As I was putting Ella in her stroller, the sounds of the birds singing rang loudly in my ears.

As I listened to them, I could here the songs of different types of birds. One, in particular, reminded me of early mornings in Caseville. I remember walking out of grandma’s trailer and hearing this one particular bird sound. Funny how you can remember that almost 40 years later.

At one point during our walk, the church bells began to chime.

It is not odd to hear the church bells/chimes begin to play hymns during the day. I recognized the hymn as being Blessed Assurance.

The weather was nice, so naturally, some neighbors were out mowing the grass.

This allowed me to experience not only the sounds of the lawnmower, but the smell of fresh cut grass.

There were also plenty of neighbors out working in the garage. I loved walking by and hearing the sounds of a small radio playing from inside the garage.

I remember my dad always had the radio on when we were outside on the weekends. If he was washing the car, working on the yard, painting, cleaning the garage, or fixing something – the radio was always on. I remember many Sundays listening to Casey Kasem and American Top 40 while we helped outside.

The Sights

Along with the sounds of spring, there were plenty of sights, too!

Ella always gets a kick out of the squirrels running up a tree or around a yard.

There are plenty of squirrels in the neighborhood – and many that run around my yard!

The Robin is the Michigan State Bird. We always look for the “first robin of spring.” They are all over now. They were hopping all around the yards and bird feeders we see along our route.

Along the way, we also saw many neighbors out doing yard work.

I truly wish that I had the time and energy to do what some of my neighbors do! I’m lucky if I get the leaves out of the flowerbeds by late summer! It is SO much work! Yet, there are neighbors who line their walkways with tulips, fill their flower beds with every flower imaginable, and have hanging flowers that are beautiful all spring and summer long! We bought hanging plants one year and they died within two weeks. I obviously do not have a green thumb.

Kudos to my neighbors! I love looking at the product of your hard work when I walk.

There is one house I always walk by with Ella. I do it because there is always this old hound dog outside.

The dog is either laying along the fence or up on the back porch. It always looks up when we walk by, but it is old and content to just lay there soaking up the sun. We have no idea what the dog’s name is, but she gets a kick out of seeing that dog on our walk.

Sadly, the dog is really old and I’m not sure how many more walks we will be seeing him/her out there.

The last thing I really enjoy seeing when I am out walking is people sitting out on the front porch. I’m not sure why more people don’t do this, but it seems to be more and more rare.

Before Ella, we would sit out on the porch in the morning and drink coffee. That doesn’t happen too much anymore. There is something about sitting out with a hot cup of coffee, my Bible, or a newspaper that is so relaxing. I don’t need a rocking chair, any chair will do.

I guess the only beef I have with sitting on the porch lately is the recent increase in the number of bees and wasps. I’ve walked around the house and looked to see if there are nests, but I can’t seem to find any. I read somewhere that peppermint oil will repel them. Maybe I need to find a way to put that around the porch?

The walk around the neighborhood really helped me relax. Noticing the sights and sounds instead of being lost in thought was a big part of that. I’m looking forward to my next walk …