Two Days With my Two Daughters......My Heart is Full

  Amber and Mike continue to deal with damage done to their home from a broken water pipe.

It took the insurance adjuster a full two months to address their claim!

Now they are on a waiting list for repairs!

For weeks they struggled with a power outage that lasted for days - some days with half power as in half of the house had it and the other half had none. 

At the same time they were without water for a week or more, showering at their neighbors and bringing laundry and dishes over here to wash.

Amber is pretty amazing because she continued to prepare meals and school lunches through it all.

Her home is truly a gathering place.

This sign hangs over her kitchen sink.

Wednesday afternoon, I drove over to Dallas to spend the night.

I folded laundry and watched a few episodes of CSI.....

we both liked that show.

The afternoon went fast!

Amber picked the kids up from school, they all had snacks and then watched one of their favorite TV shows and chilled for a little while - they were already tired from Field Day at school - and tonight was their weekly hockey game!

Who knew Amber would be a Hockey Mom???

Mike was away on business so she carried a load, helped all four kids get all their equipment on and skates laced up......then sat and watched them play with the eyes of an eagle since there are four of them to watch! They do make up nearly half of the entire team!

Sabrina and Rayne came out to cheer them on!

Summer arrived a little later after spending several painful hours at the dentist.

Then back to the locker room to undo all the things she did before the game!

She spent as much time in the locker room as she did watching the entire game!

Then back home with the kids taking showers while Amber prepared 'an easy dinner.'

Have I mentioned that she cooks nearly every single night?

She made THE best quesadillas!

They are loaded with lots of cheese and chicken.

Makes a hearty meal but her idea of 'easy' is different from mine.

It was a school night and still Amber was up until after midnight.

I slept with Summer in the guest room, which Amber and Mike fixed up for her.

They bought a queen sized bed and cleaned and organized the room, which they had been using as a catch all storage room since everything has been taken out of the normal closets and storage areas due to the water leak.

We were up early to catch the kids awards ceremony on the last day of school!

With four kids, the sock basket is always full so we sorted socks while we watched via Zoom.

All four received awards.

Harrison's was Cooperation.

Trystan's was Integrity.

Kailey's was Responsibility.....

and I am drawing a blank on Logan's!

Oops!

Look who came over a little later that morning!

Louis Dean was there to put an extra shelf in one of Amber's kitchen cabinets.

Since it was the very last day of school, Amber wanted to do something special for the kids.

The weather has been wet and mild but Thursday was no rain and temps near 90, so she packed up the swim bag with all their suits, flip flops, goggles, and such plus an insulated bag full of snacks and surprised them by going straight to Hawaiian Falls water park!

They were so excited!

Plus she had stopped and bought ice cream sandwiches to eat on the way!

Amber got the 'Best Mama' award that day!!

I love the sights, sounds and smells of a waterpark!

Chlorine, coconut scented sunscreen, all the happy laughter and squeals and even screams!

And the smiles. Everyone is always smiling - or so it seems to me.

Everywhere I looked, people were having fun.

Even the ones walking by themselves were smiling.

I was doing the same thing.....smiling as I walked to the restroom and back in the little foot stream that took me to our loungers. By the way, that's the only thing that got wet for me....my feet. Water was way too cold to get in the lazy river or the wave pool, but it didn't seem to faze the kids!

I wore my new swim suit for the very first time!

Amber helped me pick it out at Target - her favorite store.

I like that it's one piece and has the little skirty thing.

We both had new suits for our first day at the water park.

You KNOW we have season passes and will be going often.

I already have some friends to go with me!

It's going to be a fun summer!

You know, even having fun can make you tired and TIRED hit all three of us that evening.

Amber was completely worn out with being on duty doing all of the parenting for a few days and not getting much sleep. Summer had been to the dentist and was not feeling well for several reasons.

And I have been on the mountain top of emotions lately with the trip to Kansas City and then coming back home and still up and doing all that decorating and damage control.

Bottom line, I think we all 'crashed and burned' that evening. Does anyone even say that anymore?

I guess I do!

I started on antibiotics for the UTI I am continuing to deal with and I just used up all the umph I had.

I drove home sinking deeper into exhaustion with every mile. Then when I got home and came in the front door - it.was.HOT. Louis Dean had turned the AC off!! Things were going downhill and fast!

I was unpacking my swim bag and preparing to shower and go to bed when I discovered I had left two things at Amber's. My make up bag and toiletry bag - both essential to my well being.

I got back in the car and was heading BACK to Dallas when I realized it would be DARK by the time I got home, so I drove back through the neighborhood and asked Louis Dean to go pick them up for me.

While he was gone, I went ahead and took my shower.

Then I lit candles, turned on my classical music, poured me a glass of my favorite wine - Sunshine Bay's Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and settled down to read a few chapters in A Young Wife.

It was still late when I went to bed last night but I slept well and I slept long and lingered in bed until noon. Then I took a 2-hour nap later in the afternoon.

My main goal today was to clean the kitchen and make a chocolate pie.

I did both.

Louis Dean had the run of the kitchen while I was at Amber's and he amazes me with what messes he can make. This time he did something completely new! He bought some groceries yesterday after leaving Amber's and happened upon a 5-dozen container of eggs on sale.

He accidently cracked some of them and I came home to find 4 eggs in a bowl on the counter and egg whites dripping down the front of the cabinets and more whites congealing in a puddle on the foam rug in front of the sink. This was another reason I was all teary eyed on Thursday night. 

ALL of that has now been cleaned up and the fridge cleaned out, laundry done and floors swept and mopped. I have decided I may need to stay home and protect my clean rooms!

What was Louis Dean doing while I was busy with damage control?

Pulling out a huge lava rock from the flower bed at the corner of our house.

This is the last place we need to address water coming in.

He is pretty amazing and can figure out to do alone what it would take two men to do otherwise.

And it worked!!

He won't even have to dig a hole for the sump pump!

And this is the chocolate pie I made.

Mrs. Morrison was my landlady when I was 15 years old with a new baby and she was 62.

She lived until she was 94 and I loved and admired her more than any other person I have ever known.

All four of my children loved her, too.

She used cocoa to make her chocolate pies so I do, too.

I'll close tonight's journal entry with this pic of Summer and Kailey.

They are sitting on the front porch eating Ramen Noodles together.

Making memories.

Note from Logan to her Aunt Summer on the evening she moved into the guest room. I love how 'amazing' is in bold letters. They do love their mama's cooking!!