I truly have had the best birthday week. I've gotten to celebrate with so many of the important people in my life. The celebrations started on Saturday when we went out to the Brown Bottle with my parents - it was a joint celebration of my birthday and their 38th wedding anniversary which was the 22nd.

On Monday - my actual birthday (or the devil's birthday as my dad says, but that's another story...) - Chris grilled burgers for dinner and surprised me with an angel food cake. I dreamed that morning that he wished me a happy 26th birthday. When I told him that later, he said "that really was a dream!!" Regardless of what he said in my dream - the numbered candles on the cake did not read 26. Ah well... His gift to me - and I'm quite impressed with this - was a promise to take Latin dancing classes with me. We took ballroom dance before we got married and had a darn good time with it - we weren't the stars of the class, but we had fun. I've been wanting to do Latin dancing for the last few years, but it really hasn't been high on his list - so for him to agree to go with me was very meaningful.

I spent the rest of my birthday evening at work as we had a Board meeting. My friend Carol was so thoughtful, and delivered a cake for us to enjoy in celebration at the meeting. It was nice to sit down with the Board members and the Directors and enjoy the cake and their company - I've been with them for over four years now and have grown into a comfortable relationship with them.

I also was double-flowered. Double-caked and double-flowered. Does it get any better than that? My boss and my dear friend Sarah Joy both sent me flowers. Honestly, I sound so spoiled - I guess I am - is that a bad thing necessarily?

Tuesday night we celebrated with Roger and Diane. They made a delicious dinner for us at their house.

Wednesday night I celebrated with Jackie. We went out to dinner at Mulligans and then she took me to the dog park in Cedar Falls. It was a lot of fun - I can't wait to take Sugey, I know she will love it there!!

Today the celebrations continued with lunch with my friends from work. We had quite a crowd at the OP, and I even got to hold Joy's new baby son Aaron. He is a perfect creation. I must say that I do love the babies. Not that I want any more, but I do love how the new babies are so content to be held and cuddled. Sigh...

So - thanks to everyone that helped to make my birthday special - I must say that this was one of the best ever!!

On to the rest of the family - because although the last rambling bit may have sounded pretty self centered - there are other members in our family!!!

Olivia is camping out with Grandma Diane and Papa Roger in their yard tonight. Should be perfect weather for them!

Elliott and Olivia are both looking forward to their fourth of July parade tomorrow at Daycare. They are also having a craft and bake sale to raise more money for the playground. I spent time tonight making rice krispy treats. It's been a while since I've done that, I forgot how sticky it gets.

Chris is out for a bike ride tonight. It's hard to believe that RAGBRAI is just under a month away.

I don't know if I mentioned that Chris hooked the trailer to my bike, but we've sure been having a good time with that. Tonight after work, Elliott and I hopped - her in the trailer and me on the bike - and rode to the library to check out new books and movies. The school has a summer reading program in collaboration with the Janesville library, so it's really motivated us to keep going to the library. Heck - with all the reruns and no cable - we've all been doing a lot of reading.

Well, enough rambling... on to bigger and better things... Oh, who am I kidding - on to more laundry!!!!!!

Olivia had her first day of her summer camp yesterday. It's actually called the summer enrichment program and it's put on by Area 267. They have four classes a day in the week long program. Her first class of the day is magnificent mosaics - it's actually taught by the art teacher from her school - bonus for Olivia :) Her second class is in the same location - with the same teacher - it is called Lights, Camera, Action. They are working on making a movie. Her third class is Mom, I'm bored. This one is supposed to help them come up with creative ideas to entertain themselves - I sure hope it works!! Her last class is pet gazette. They are researching and writing a magazine about pets. Her report from the first day was that mosaics was the most fun, and lights, camera, action was the least. She explained that the big kids are writing the script right now, so that doesn't leave a lot for the little kids to do right now. They'll get to do the acting later, and then I think she'll enjoy it more. It's funny the things that she chose - pretty good mixture of mom's and dad's interests wrapped up in her!!! It's being held at Valley Lutheran School in Waterloo, and we are able to carpool with her friend Noah, so Noah's mom will drop them off in the morning, and Chris picks them up in the afternoon. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the week!! Have a great Tuesday!!!!!

It's a girl!!!! Ben and Stephanie welcomed little miss Isabella Marie into the world last night : ) Brian called last night around midnight to make the announcement. It took me a minute to wake up and realize that I wasn't talking to Ben - Brian was a little weirded out I think when I started congratulating him. That's what you get for waking me up from a sound sleep!!! I don't have all of the vitals yet, butBrian said that she was just under 8 lbs. and mom and baby are doing fine.

Here's to parenthood :)

Olivia and Elliott would like to send their thank yous to Aunt Dani, Uncle Bill, Morgan, Will and Matthew for the very nice Play-Doh set. They sure have had fun playing with it. You'll see in the pictures Olivia and Savannah and their Mermaid creation. It was divine!!

We were double blessed yesterday. Savannah and her mom Barb brought two large totes of hand-me-down clothes for Olivia!! That was very kind of them and very much appreciated. I like to think that it's a comes around goes around kind of thing. We were so glad when my friend Jennifer had her daughter Maya so we had someone to pass our girl clothes down to, and we were so happy to have hand-me-downs from my friend Cindy when O was a a babe. New clothes are always so much fun!! Unless it's a swim suit and you're trying it on for the first time at Grandma Diane's house before swimming lessons, but that's another story for another day...

Olivia is at swim lessons right now - they finish up on Thursday. Chris and I both agreed that we are glad that swim lessons only go two weeks. It's just a lot of running and a lot of busy days and nights. I am pleased with the quality of swim lessons at the Waverly pool though - it has been worth the running.

Chris is heading to Tripoli after swim lessons tonight to work on the RAGBRAI bus. They got it painted this week, and still have a bit more work to do before it's ready to go in July. I should have him take pictures to post to the blog...

Work has been crazy this week. Full moon was Sunday, but I swear we're still feeling reverberations. It was just non-stop today. I like busy, but this was overkill even for me!!! Our neighbor Nicole (across the street) had her baby last week. A little boy named Ethan. She will definitely be in our thoughts. It can't be easy to bring home a new baby when you're alone and you already have a 1 1/2 year old. Another one of those putting life in perspective moments.

I have really liked keeping the blog, but I find that it is terribly one-sided. I really don't have much of an idea of who reads it if anyone. I shouldn't say that - I know that my friend Carol is pretty religious about checking in, but it would be nice to hear from anyone else who may be visiting the blog - it'd be nice to know if I have an audience!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you - Happy Birthday dear Jackie, Happy Birthday to you!!!

It's been a good weekend, even if low-key, or maybe it's been good because it was low-key. Olivia had swimming lessons on Friday night - I was thinking for some reason that we had Friday night off - so I was surprised when I looked at the calendar after dinner. I must not have been the only one thinking that way because her class was pretty sparse. They got to wear life jackets and jump off the diving board three times (I think they would have kept going all night!) and then they swam to the shallow end of the pool. Pretty big stuff!! I did feel kind of bad for them - it was a pretty chilly evening. The air temperature was about 70 and it was pretty breezy. The pool is heated, so no problem when you're in the water, but when you're standing in line at the diving board, well - I get goose bumps just thinking about it!!! Afterwards we stopped at Fareway and picked up some ready to bake cookies and some cookie dough ice cream. Oddly enough, Olivia didn't want any of the ice cream - but a nice shower and a coouple of warm cookies did the trick : )

Saturday Chris went to paint the bus, and the girls and I went shopping. We needed to find Jackie's birthday present and father's day gifts. We did good!! We even stopped for lunch at McDonalds. After dinner Olivia grabbed her scooter, Elliott hopped into her stroller and we took Sugar for a walk to dead end park. We the weather being chilly and gloomy, we were the only ones there and Sugey got to run off of the leash for a while. It was a good treat for her and it helped to burn off some of her endless energy. Elliott really enjoys the rock climbing wall thingy. She is so proud that she can do it herself. After we finished playing on the equipment, we walked down to the river. The girls like to throw rocks in - I was a bit nervous that Elliott was going to launch herself in with a rock, but amazingly she did not. Sugar was hillarious. There were a few larger rocks, partially submerged that she just ran around barking at. I don't know what she thought they were - but she seemed to think they meant trouble. Quite funny. After that we came home and rode bikes in the driveway. Olivia is getting much better at turning. She still gets frustrated pretty easy, but she's getting it. She actually fell a few times - one was a bell ringer - no, she didn't hit her head, but the bell on her bike popped apart when it hit the ground. No band-aids required!!

This morning we went to the annual pancake breakfast at the fire house. They are raising money for a new firetruck. At least I think that's what they're doing. Olivia rode her bike and did quite well. We had the good fortune to run into our old (I mean previous ;) neighbor Dennis and his new wife BethAnn. It was good to chat with them.

This afternoon we will go to the Waverly Health Center picnic. The theme is an old fashioned picnic. They're going to have three legged races, sack races, horseshoes, a cake walk, etc. It should be a lot of fun.

Next week is the second week of swimming lessons. And Jackie's birthday :) She gets to be older than me for thirteen days!!! And don't you know that I just love those thirteen days!! I can't believe June's almost half over. Where does time go?

On a more serious note - I have had a reminder of the fragility of life, and how things can all change in the blink of an eye. The son of one of my dear friends at work was in an accident with his family on Memorial Day weekend. Her son is my age and he and his wife have four kids. It was a freak accident, and thankfully her son and his family were not seriously injured, but two of the people in the other car died. My heart just breaks for both families. I cannot even imagine. It really helps to keep things in perspective. The changes that I gripe and moan about, the seeming headaches and hassles that go with everyday life - it's all small potatoes. Small potatoes that I should be so thankful for.

So enjoy the rest of your weekend - and make it a goal through the coming week not to take things for granted. Be thankful for the cool evening air, the rain, the feel of a small hand in your hand, the laughter of friends, and the love of family. Be mindful, be gracious, be present.

Boy am I getting lazy - I think I should post that to the blog, and I just don't seem to get around to it. We had a good weekend. Saturday we either had one daughter or three in the house. Olivia was quick to get her room cleaned, knowing that she couldn't play with Savannah until it was straightened up. Then they were hardly apart all day. Savannah ate lunch with us, and then Olivia went to see Over the Hedge with Savannah and her family. Then after dinner, Savannah came back to spend the night with us. Sleepovers are so much fun when you're a kid. I must say, not so much fun when you're the adult. They started out in the basement and ended up in Olivia's bedroom. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping that went on!!

Sunday we went for a bike ride to the steep metal slide park. Olivia rode her own bike - banner day for us - she did an awesome job. Elliott and I ended up hoofing it because my bike had a leaking tube that Chris couldn't patch despite multiple attempts. It would have been a much better day for a bike ride - it was a bit hot walking. The girls had fun swinging and sliding, and then we walked down to the river and waded out to a little sandbar where O had fun scouting for shells.

Last night Olivia started swimming lessons. She is in class with one of her daycare friends, so I had the opportunity to sit and chat with Randee's mom. It's always fun to talk with other parents who have kids of similar ages - it's good to feel that you're not alone, not that unique in your experiences.

Yesterday was my first day at work without my friend Sarah. I was lonely. People kept being irritating and I didn't have anyone to share my frustration with. :( AND the new Development Director that was supposed to start next week isn't coming now. That means that I have to continue doing the interim work that I've been doing since DECEMBER. GRRRRRR... My good nature is starting to wear thin on that.

Anyway... Happy Tuesday!!!!