let's try this again!

I'm all geared up for water aerobics.  No headache today, and I am very thankful for that.  When you have one, you wonder how you can be so blasé, nonchalant, blissfully ignorant of how wonderful it is, when you DON'T have one.  So today, I don't have one, and it's pretty sweet.

These three girls, Miss Cam, Sonja K, Char...such fun girls, such sweethearts.  We went to Target...

No, they don't get shopping bags full of goodies...it's chicken, and apple cider vinegar and new ice cube trays.  But they did get drinks from Starbucks, that's something they really appreciate.  They don't love when I say, let's get a picture, but too bad, ha.  I know how time flies, and before long, even these days will be memories.

Yesterday I went to Aldi with Kathryn, and she brought this little darling, Rhys.  She got a kitty cat sticker from the nice cashier!   We also took a quick run into the thrift store, found a nice outfit for Achilles, a shirt for Grant, a Tonka garbage truck, working with batteries, and a little toy cash register, also working with batteries, all for eight dollars.  

Last night was activity club, Miss Charlotte Claire got to drive.  It was challenging for her when it started to get dark, she needs some practice.  We also need to take a few trips into town, so she can practice parallel parking, 3-point turns, and stop and go neighborhood driving.  (I do not like this, not one little bit. I put on the invisible brakes, I work hard on not reacting so much, and giving praise as well as criticism.  I tell her my job is to teach you to be a good driver.  When I criticize, it's not personal.  You're not allowed to argue (If I say you're too close to the car in front of us, the answer is NOT, "No I'm not!"),if you have any issues with me, you can bring them up later when we're not driving.  This being said, I'm not mean, no, I just have things to point out, and when you're a teenager and your mom is telling you you're too close to the center line and that you didn't slow down enough for that turn, well, it's not easy.  Teenagers are just built that way and it's not their fault.  So it takes humility on both of our parts to get through this and teach her to be a good driver.

Tonight is Sonja's Pinning Ceremony.  I know I'm going to cry.  She has grown up so much during nursing school.  It seemed to stretch forever into the future, and she worked so hard.  Every test:  the posting of the grades, the anticipation, the dread, the jubilation when she aced them.  Every clinical:  so many details, such stress!  There were times she thought she wouldn't make it, she considered transferring, the program started with fifty, tonight there will be ten, and around the same for the other campus graduating with them.  Her friend she drove with had to drop out, it was too sad.  But Sonja stuck with it, she grew up and was responsible, she learned to balance having fun, and studying.  She worked extremely hard, took it seriously, and we are very proud of her.  She already has a job, starting in August, in pediatrics at the big hospital.

So tonight we'll go and celebrate, our little Sonja K....

from a few years ago, my eleven daughters...Kathryn, Margaret, Suzanne, Molly holding Lydia, Emily,Abigail, Sonja on the end with her knee wrapped....then Evelyn in front with Sunny as a puppy, Mariel Joy, little Camille, and Miss Charlotte Claire...most of these girls will be at the ceremony tonight.

And...here I sit, drinking my coffee and letting time slip away...I have to get to that pool.  But:  our hose is on right now, our backyard pool is getting ready for the season!  Paul has been working on it, now all we need is some really hot weather!  Soon!  But not soon enough, tonight there's a frost warning!  Woe to all the flowers already planted!  

So grandma in Florida is in a place right near the hospital.  She's starting rehabilitation therapy for the hip, slow going, but she's almost 94.  She's a strong and independent lady, so this is not setting well with her.  She lived on her own until this fall, and that's where she wants to get back to, and it's unlikely, unfortunately.  We're going to be headed down to see her one of these days, as soon as we can.   She has short term memory issues, but she's still smart and sharp, and she texts me and calls all the time.  

Ahh well, time to hurry out the door!