I'm excited, Nick's nervous & Kendra has no idea that we're about to leave everything & everyone she knows & in a way, start over. I'm not sure "how" this will all work out but I know that it will because it always does!!
I took a load of pictures on the ride up there. Kendra didn't want to sleep & she was bored so I took Miss Honey out of her kennel & she rode on Kendra's lap. She thinks the dog is hillarious. Honey just has to look at her & she goes crazy! Anyway, it kept her pretty busy until she finally fell asleep.
It was nice to spend some time with my little brother & his cute family. We did a BBQ at Steph's sisters house where we gave Emma her presents. We got her a picnic basket complete with dishes, napkins & tons of goodies. She's always inviting me to her pretend picnics so when I seen this cute little basket, I had to get it & of course she loved it!When we got back on Sunday, my mom had cooked a big birthday dinner & invited some family over. We ate 'till we were sick & then played a game of Farkel (dice game) with Grandma. She was a hoot as always & just adores Kendra. Here's our four generation picture:
FYI - As you can see, I cut my hair! TWELVE inches donated to Locks of Love. Made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside plus cut my hair drying time in half :)
And Lynette thought she was good......gosh I guess I just didn't realize I had such talent when it came to typing. I mean, I don't want to sound arrogant but 113 wpm, that's good right? Better luck next time Lynette:)
What they didn't expect to happen was that the soot that came loose from the chimney would fall down, not up (duh) & that's exactly what happened. All I remember after that was the General screaming STOP STOP, TELL HIM TO STOP. When I ran downstairs to see if everyone was alright, all I could hear was mom cussing dad who couldn't hear her anyway, he was on the roof. Things did simmer down for a minute and then the idiots decided to do it again, you know, get things real clean in there. So down went the sewer snake again, Nick hooked up the brush and once again waited for the signal. Not once but twice she gave the go ahead & not even five seconds after he started pulling it back up, she was hootin' and hollering to STOP that it was making a huge mess. Dad did stop long enough for mom to put a towel in the end of the chimney and then they finished pulling it through. You would think they learned their lesson but you know what they say - third times a charm so.......one last time they do it again.At this point it was all a blur as my mom went completely ballistic!! She was crying & yelling obscenities at my dad. She was vacuuming & mopping & dusting all at the same time. Nick retreated to our room & I went down to see if I could help her but "physical" help was not what this woman needed. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Dad's on the front lawn cleaning some stuff up, minding his own business when mama bear comes barreling through the door with a huge bucket of black soot. First she tries to dump it on his head but he stops her, then as she walks back by him I'm yelling for him to move out of the way, she's coming through like a freight train & I'm afraid he's gonna get run over so once again he runs out of the way. I think he described her perfectly when he shook his head and said "DeAnn you are un-stable, UN-STABLE DeAnn".
Now remember Nick is back in the bedroom and he's been back there for at least half an hour. I went back to check on him & he said he wasn't sure if he was supposed to keep helping my dad but that he wasn't taking any chances. If you know what Nick has been up to lately, you would know that he isn't afraid of anybody but today was different. He said he had never seen anything like this before. Anyway, Nick wanted lunch but didn't dare go in the kitchen where mom was. I made lunch for us & as we were sitting on our bed I had a glorious idea come to me so I grabbed the camera and waited for my mom to come my way. This is where the R Rated Picture comes in. 
I'm unable to disclose exactly what she's saying but I think you can all figure it out & I have to say that never in my 24 years of life have I heard my sweet little innocent mother (ha ha) say the things she said that day. I shall never forget it, it's burned into my mind forever.
At the close of that exciting day, Dad got called for work. As he left, he refused to give her a hug and a kiss goodbye and Mom just couldn't believe it. In fact she was stunned by this gesture & acted like she had no idea why he would act that way. After returning home from work, Mom and Dad apologized to each other and they went back to their normal routine of driving each other nuts.
Even though there seems to be a lot of drama that goes on here, I really am greatful that we have a place to live. All the quirky things in our family that goes on is what makes them so gosh darn loveable. I wouldn't trade them for anything!!
Here are some fun pictures of Jase's Party. Kendra loved the water until she got tired. Everyone had a lot of fun, especially the big boys. They instantly turned into little boys again once they hit the slide!
