Friday Memories - Mom Fails

Hello Friends -- it's time once again for another installment of my "Here's What I've Been Thinking About" series - this one about Mom Fails! For your viewing enjoyment (and mine) - here are some photos that are from this same time of year (Thanksgiving) from 2008 on to 2014 (i think). Photos have nothing to do with text -- I know, I'm weird that way.

1. Killing the stinking gecko . . . by accident! My sons had the stinkiest gecko when they were growing up that somehow fell to me for care for most of the time. I did draw the line at hand feeding it live crickets, so they did that, but the yucky crickets lived in the refrigerator next to the milk. GROSS! One bright, sunny warm spring day, I figured the gecko would LOVE to be outside in the sun. After all, I had to buy a warm rock for it to sit on in the house, so a bright sunny day sounded perfect. So, I put it on a little table on a deck in its glass container. The deck was black and I suppose reflected the sun back up into its glass home. Guess what was a crispy critter when we got home from work!! Yep -- that disgusting gecko! It looked worse than an extra crispy burned piece of bacon. Bye bye stinky gecko. Truly was an accidental killing as I figured that geckos like the heat in Arizona, why wouldn't it enjoy it on my porch in a glass container on a black deck???

2. Fireworks! Aren't there always fireworks incidents/accidents with kids? Who could forget the time that I allowed them to have some fireworks when I was at work. Who knew they would chase each other around with a lit punk and a paper bag full of fireworks with 2 neighbor boys?? You can guess where this is going, can't you? Of course, the punk lit something in the bag and loads of fireworks exploded in advance of July 4th - burning a hole through a table umbrella AND a huge burn mark on the patio table! I dreaded the 4th of July for many reasons after that year!

3. Magnifying Glass Incident. So proud the year one of the instructors at the tennis shack called me and Rickster over to say the boys had started a fire! WHAT??? Well, they were doing an experiment to see if using a magnifying glass with the sun focused on old dead leaves would result in a fire -- yep it did. It was quickly put out - but my face stayed red for a long time!

4. Sending kid to doctor on his own. You know how there is so much talk now about adulting and having your kids learn to be adults and do things on their own??? Guess I started early as my oldest was probably 12 or 13. We did not live far from the doctor's office and I had to work. I instructed him to ride his bicycle and go on his own and show them the rash on his legs. I figured they'd give him some lotion or creme and that would be it. Nope -- they got some needles out, dug in and cut into the abrasions on his legs! Who knew?? He rode home for the doc with his legs bleeding. BAD mom!

5. Ear Issues. Another one for the oldest. He had loads of ear infections and problems with his ears when he was young. After finally feeling like his ears were in good shape, I didn't want him getting a lot of water in them when he was swimming one summer. Every time he went swimming, I'd put some drying drops in each ear. Lo and behold, he complained his ears hurt. Took him to the pediatrician who said --"I don't know what's going on, but his eardrums are so dry, they are about to burst!!!!!!!!!" Oooops! Oh dear -- another fail! I threw those drying drops away and never admitted they might have contributed to the dry eardrums . . . until now!

FYI - That's my little sister Amy in that photo with a couple of her coworkers. We both went to parties that weekend (hers in Florida; mine in Nebraska) and I think she may have had more fun then me! :) Wasn't that a fun trip down memory lane? :) Have a good weekend!

Catching Up?

Summer seemed to have sped by at warp speed

and somehow I've gotten way, way behind on blogging.  

Sometimes, I have a bit of blogger's block

and simply cannot put together a sentence or

two and thus I get behind.

I'm going to try and catch up a bit here

and there.  Sorry if stuff is out of order,

but that's life -- it often seems out of order, doesn't it.

Me, Philip, Maddie, Connor and the Littles

In mid-August, my sweet niece returned to town for her

second year of college!

How she can possibly be in her second year already is

simply beyond me!

Grace, Todd, Amy and Philip's little kids

Amy (my little sister) and Todd brought Grace back to town from Florida!

We don't get to see them as much as we'd like, so

we nabbed the opportunity to go out to eat with them

in the always fun Haymarket area.

We had such a beastly hot summer and it was sweltering that day,

but being from Florida -- they didn't seem to mind!

They got Grace all  moved back into the dorm and she's

back into the college-coed groove!

I'm sure Grace is looking forward to temps cooling

off  . . . soon I hope!

Being a Florida girl, winter was her favorite time of year here

in Nebraska last year!

Sister/Cousin Fun

Even if it wasn't 't officially Sister/Cousin day last Sunday, it was for us!  

My little sister, her husband and daughter were in town for a quick visit from Florida.

Besides seeing her in-laws  too, they were looking at the university.

Amy, me, Maddy, Granddaughter Jane

How can it even be possible that the sweet baby girl I met with Amy in 2000

will be headed to college next year!

Maddy & Grace

Grace is absolutely one of Maddy's favorite cousins!  We really wished

we had more time with them, but were happy to have one evening together. 

We had a wonderful family pizza dinner at Philip's so Amy and family could meet

Harry (now 3) and baby Dorothy!

Just before they headed out, we made a quick request for a few photos! 

It was such a scramble that we missed getting others in the photos too!

Next time!

It was so good to see them all and spend some time together!  Now, cross your fingers that our University is her favorite and she picks the Big Red!

Wishing We Were There Again!

Maddy's cheer coaches and their competition teams

are at Disney now for a competition!

We keep seeing photos from

the happiest place on earth, 

and . . . 

are just a teensy bit jealous that

we're not there too --

especially after a bit of snow last night

and below freezing temps!

Mother Nature -- please bring spring back!

We were there a few years ago

with my sister and her most adorable daughter!

What a fun time!

Happy Easter!

August Birthdays!

I'm not quite sure just how we got to 

the end of August already! 

Boo hoo!!  

Summer -- please don't go!

What a great cake smash!  Borrowed this photo from his sweet parents!

But, before we let August slip away,

we must celebrate a few August family birthdays!

First, we have baby Harry, the youngest grandson!

His first birthday was a couple of weeks ago.

He is simply little Mr. Adorable -

his sweet face matches his very sweet disposition!

He's standing on his own and ready to walk -- 

the only problem is that he can get where he's going faster

crawling!  Seriously, he is a little speed demon!

Just after Harry's birthday

was my younger sister, Amy's birthday!

Wish we could have seen her for her birthday -

we need to do some celebrating!

Gin and tonics for all, right Amy?! :)

Then just last week, it was Big Al's birthday

my Dad, Al, that is!

Maddy and I were so happy to see him earlier 

this month.

He just turned 91! 

Al, in earlier years, working on the train at the Henry Doorly zoo after his retirement
from the real railroad!

Happy Birthday Harry, Amy and Al!

You are all so very special!

xoxo

An Update

Hello friends -- Happy April! Whoa, felt like I almost fell off the earth without computer access for a few days there. Happy to be back in internet and blog-land! Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Maddy and I were in Omaha visiting my sister and two of her kiddos from Florida! They brought the warm weather with them as it was 85 on March 31st! That was crazy hot!! Amy and I turned on the AC when our parents weren't looking! Actually, she did it, not me -- she has always had a bit of a naughty streak!

Spooky glow golf!!

We had such a good time visiting and having the cousins (Maddy, Grace and Erik) hang out together. We went to a fun arcade, played some glow golf, went out to lunch and the girls absolutely wore Grandma's dog out taking him on many walks.

Buddy loved it and was very tired and sad when everyone went home!

Grace, Buddy and Maddy

Plus, Amy got to meet her little Great-Niece -- Miss Janie!! Luckily (for us) Amy did not act like our Great-Aunt Carrie used to when it was hot!

Aunt Carrie would lift up her blouse, fan it for some air and exclaim, "I'm Roasting!" She was one incredible lady, but that vision has been burned into everyone's memory forever!

She was our elderly Great-Aunt Carrie -- it was not a pretty sight!

Great-Auntie Amy and Janie Boo

And look at Amy's hair! She has way curlier hair than mine, but it was so gorgeous, soft and straight! A hairdresser friend was "practicing" some new hair-straightening procedure and did it for a substantial discount. I SO want it for my hair too!!! I must get to Florida! Amy mentioned that she also has some plastic surgeon friends who have been promising discount treatments!! Oh yeah, bring on the botox and fillers! Kidding! Errrr, well, kind of kidding! ;)

Amy, Erik, Maddy, Grace and Larry

Unfortunately, Amy, Erik and Grace had to head back to Florida early on Easter Sunday - we miss them already!