Fishing

So my dad and Dan have been fishing for the past couple of days in a church tournament. They are trying to catch largemouth bass. There are several types of bass, but largemouth are the most predominant here in the south. The first day the conditions were tough. Dan and dad were fishing hard, and instead of a largemouth, Dad hooked a twenty nine pound striper. It is quite the fish. I thought I would post a few pics for those of you who don't understand the big fish idea, or that people really do catch fish!

Haircut Day.

Today, my mom treated the girls to a haircut, including shampoo and blow dry. It was so much fun. It was also Sarah's very first haircut. I can't believe how big they are all getting.

There was a guy and a girl there to cut. Rebekah was determined that no guy was cutting her hair. Sarah was the ham of the day. The staff kept calling her Curious George. The guy just enjoyed Sarah. While he cut Abby's hair, he talked away with her. He did a great job. He was certain he was going to do Sarah. When the lady was free, she offered to take Sarah, and he spoke up to let her know, Sarah was his next cut. Rebekah was thrilled. The older two got the shampoo and conditioning. They so loved it. It was so relaxing to Bekah I thought she was going to fall asleep. The best part of the afternoon was when we were waiting on Bekah's hair to be done. A gentleman came in and he wanted his hair cut short. He had served in the Army and had kept that style. Curious Sarah was up in the chair to watch. As the guy cut the man's hair, he took off all on on side, and he announced he was done. He asked Sarah what she thought, and she just put her hands over her mouth in shock. It was so funny. Enjoy the pics of the girls. They are all so adorable. Of course, I know that I am extremely biased.

A Day at the Park

We decided the weather was just too nice today; so we all went to the park. It has changed a lot since I was a kid. Funny how the park always seemed so huge as a kid, but now as an adult..not so much. The kids had a blast.

Rebekah's Hives

It seems that unusual sickness and injury plague my family. Saturday night after being put to bed, Rebekah came down stairs to tell Dan and I that her belly itched. When she lifted her pajama shirt, she had bumps everywhere. They didn't look like true hives. Since I have excema, we thought maybe she was having a break out. This is always a tough time of year for me. We lotioned her and sent her back to bed with the order, "DO NOT SCRATCH!" Sunday morning she got up, and she had hives down her leg. They quickly cleared. Not a big deal at this point. We headed to church Sunday night, and the hives began to reappear. By the time we got home she had hives from head to toe. She was so afraid to tell us because she is terrified of getting a shot from the doctor. Thankfully, after a dose of benedryl, the hives disappeared. The hives stayed missing in action all night and all day without any meds. Once we arrived and got settled here in SC, we took a romp through the clay pit and woods. As soon as we came in and the girls settled down, back came Rebekah's hives. She is too cute in her timid way of letting us know. Again, the hives were quickly gone after the medicine. So today, Rebekah has kept us aware of her hiveless state. She will come right up to us and slightly lift her shirt, and then she asks if we are glad for her. The first time I was caught off guard, and I reminded her that she shouldn't lift her shirt ever. Then, she ever so slightly cut her eyes at me to let me know she was showing me her lack of bumps. Thankfully, we are at the end of the day, and there has been no breakout. Maybe this has passed. Let's hope so.

Welcome to SC

It is so nice to have a break in the action. We are spending a week with my parents in SC. The girls are having a blast, and Dan and I are enjoying some downtime. One of the girls favorite things to do is to walk through the woods. It brings back tons of memories for me. My brothers and I spent so much time in the woods. One really neat thing is the clay pit that has always been a part of our property. It is a huge pit, and the sides are so beautiful. I remember all the dirt bomb wars my brothers and I used to have. The girls have enjoyed visiting and climbing and throwing dirt clods as well. Only I don't let them throw them at each other as my brothers and I did. I hope to post some more pictures of this area so you can get a real view, but the wall of the pit is in the backdrop of the new profile photo.

Pranked

I am not a big fan of pranks and practical jokes for many reasons. Often, the joke cause hurt feelings or public humiliation. The worst part is that what goes around comes around. Regardless of all that, we have some jokers on our staff. Dan is a really tough prank job. Last year, one of our fellow HS staffers pranked Dan with a gift. This year, we put our heads together on what to do. It always revolves around his birthday. This year, I supplied the idea. We decided to have some one call staging as a police man or the DMV to tell Dan that his boat had been stolen. I provided all the info for the boat. I knew for Dan to believe it the guy would have to know as many details about the boat as possible. My fellow staffer had her brother in law call Dan. It was during his class; so a voice mail was left. My fellow staffer let me know the call had been made. I had to put on my serious face and pretend I knew nothing. At class break, I had yet to see or hear from Dan. My staffer's fear was that he would so believe it he would leave without telling me. I assured her that he would come to me quickly if he believed it or not. Five minutes into my class, Dan shows up at my door, and he is panic stricken as he has listened to the voicemail and returned the phone call. My students had no clue. We had planned to tell him a former student had stolen the boat. After that was stated, Dan's wheels began to turn. It was sooooooo great to get him. It took probably 30 minutes for Dan's heartbeat to return to normal.

Definitely Good Friday

Dan and I were so thankful for a day off. We are really looking forward to spring break. I think we are more excited than the kids. Today was so nice. It was definitely made to be a family day. For Sarah's birthday, my parents bought her a co-pilot bike system. It attaches to the back of an adult bike, and Sarah can pedal, but she is pulled along behind. When we head to the greenway, she can't keep up on her little bike (not to mention she hasn't quite mastered the art of brakes). Today, we took the girls. We biked for several miles, and Sarah loved every moment. This will definetly be a repeat event.

I got so tickled. Thankfully, there are a couple water fountains along the way. When we stoppped at the first one, Sarah had to get her drink from all her hard work. She pedaled and pedaled, and when I looked at her to laugh at her hard work, she actually had broken a sweat. It was great. I loved all the looks we got from all the other parents pulling their kids in those big trailers. They all had the wheels turning on why they didn't have one.

Signs of Aging?

I am not sure whether it is truly a sign of aging or just simply ironic. Dan turned the big 30 on Saturday. He has been fighting a major sinus infection for a few days. I had encouraged him to visit the doctor numerous times. Over the weekend, I was definitely feeling similar pains. I had some spots of question on my throat. Dan encouraged me to visit the doctor to be sure that I didn't have strep. It is going around like crazy here. Of course, I was sure to comment that it was ok for him to send me to the doctor on an iffy basis and for him to still not go. I set up my appointment, and Dan called shortly after and set up one as well, only we were going to be seen together. He was certain that he was fine and there would be no medicine to help him. Poor guy, when the doctor checked his ears, he questioned Dan's hearing due to the amount of fluid. He asked him if he wanted him to clean that up for him. After the doctor was done with the exam, he was telling us that there is a new study in which they determing that antibiotics don't help sinus infections. There were some flaws in the study. Dan was certain this meant no antibiotics for him. He gave me a smirk only for the doctor to inform him that regardless of the study no real doctor would let a two week old sinus infection go untreated. I am sure my smirk was bigger. So here we are both us at the doctor together and both of us with a huge bottles of pills for the next ten days. Which is the greater sign of aging: having a joint doctor's appointment or the huge bottle of antibiotics we are now taking?

The Big 3 - 0

Today was the day that Dan finally left his 20's. I have been relishing this day far too long. So far his transition has been much smoother than my 30 year. I seemed to have broken 3 bones in less than six months that year. It was a very nice day. It was busy and unfortunately for my early rising husband (NOT!!!) Rebekah had a 9:00 am game. We did our presents at 7:30 this morning because the girls just couldn't hold it in anymore. Thanks to Grammy and Granddad, Dan is now sporting a new Ipod Nano. He is already enjoying it, and he is looking forward to his podcasts. That means many quotes for me in the near future. I am so glad for him. We also got him some fishing stuff, but we won't bother with those details. The highlight of the night was the cake. Abby and Rebekah helped me every step of the way, and I think we were all pleased with our creation. At least we all ate our slice. Abby had two and for Sarah, she ate the frosting and the cake...that is always a news flash for her.

I have been learning some photo software tricks. I created the Dan fishing pose.