Tuesday

Well Jessica went to the doctor today and Molly weighs 8#9oz. at this point. They checked her and she is showing no signs of labor in the process. Doctor said, he would check her again on Monday. So for now Molly is toasty!
Audy has an interview with a company tomorrow at 11 a.m. that fixes postal sorting equipment. We are still waiting word from the previous interview to see if there is going to be a second interview in the making. So far we haven't heard a word yet.
Aunt Stacey took the kids to McDonalds yesterday for lunch and play time. She said, after about an hour of play the kids were ready to go, especially Dawson. He would say, "we go now"? He was so ready for his afternoon nap. When Katie got him up from his nap he had a fever and it ran through the night. So we didn't get to take care of him for our usual Tuesday. I stayed with Katie while Papa dropped off Sissy at school and for some reason to her "it took a long time to get there". She asked Papa if they were going the right way? I had to laugh because it seems Nana makes the time go faster. Dawson and I sat and watched the Wizard of Oz until Papa got back. Bryson went on to co-op with a friend because the animals from the circus were walking down mainstreet to the Bilo Center for several days of circus. Can't wait to chat with him about what he saw.

SATURDAY

This week has literally zoomed by! I have spent the last 10 days helping Sandra get things sold at her indoor yard sale. She has had two yard sales one last weekend and another one Thursday, Friday and Saturday. After getting Stacey's stuff moved out and into storage she had the room to set her rental tables up for her "STUFF". I was amazed the "stuff" people bought. I sold alot of mom's leftover fabric and notions. We added "stuff" and walked away with over 100.00 so can't complain too much. I did laugh when Skip stopped by this afternoon and was looking around and found a "compass" and says, "hey this was mine and I got it as a gift". He'd be surprised what was out on the table that sold BEFORE he got there.
Jessica said her last day went very well but emotional. Her soul mate at work was a sweet older man who's daughter runs the office but his office was right next door to Jess's. Like she said, she made his hair appts. and whatever. He was quite sad when he realized he lost a good worker. She is going to miss her Louie. I am sure she can find plenty of excuses to stop by with Molly when she feels up to it.
Speaking of "Miss Molly", she continues to be quite comfy in her cocoon. Mommy is hoping she will stay that way for a little while so she can enjoy the freedom of not having to "go to work" and instead go out to lunch, do some shopping and whatever!
We'll find out on Tuesday what the doctor says the plans are.
After helping Sandra pack up the leftover yard sale items we headed for home. We realized we hadn't seen the kids for a few days and all of a sudden we were hug starved. I called Katie and she said, they were home. We were greeted with lots and lots of hugs and kisses. Made up for some days.
Well Stacey is one happy girl. She got herself a 2008 Saturn Vue. We went to dinner in it and it was so nice. Sweet smelling of being new and no rattles of the old. We are really happy for her.

TUESDAY

I have just sat down to relax after a "full" day. We headed out early this morning to go and pick Jessalyn up and take her off to school. Tuesday is co-op day(co-op is a group of mothers and their school age children that get together once a week and break up into their age group and have a lesson of review what they have learned this past week) for Bryson and Dawson comes home with us. It was so cold and wet to start the morning off! It was Papa's turn to take Jessalyn in to check into her class. He came out with a serious look on his face and I asked him, "what's wrong"? He said, "the good thing about being laid off is the quality time I get to spend with getting to know my grandchildren". His heart was deeply touched when Jessalyn gave Papa a kiss and sent him on his way.
After our grocery trip to Walmart we headed home. Dawson was excited to get to see Maggie. There is just something about a boy and a dog. Them two are the best of friends. At one point I heard them playing rough and looked up and Dawson had her by the hair and was going to bite her!! Why? Well she was doing a good job nibbling on him so he thought he would give it back. Good thing I caught that in time because he would have had a mouth full of hair!
We had the whole family over for their favorite dish, pasta. I even bought a pound of fresh shrimp and Sissy was so happy. She had herself two servings! We really did have a good time together. The whole topic of course was, Molly. Jessica continues to amaze me with how she handles everything. She has had such a good and positive pregnacy and has such a glow about her. Katie measured her tummy like they do at the doctors office and she is measuring out at full term! They will know more on Tuesday if they are going to do C-section because she is a big girl. Her doctor doesn't like to induce first babies and especially if as she is so large. Alot of things could go wrong. Skip and Jessica have a great peace about this whole thing. I am really proud of them.
The night ended with Maggie lounging on Audy's lap waiting for us to head to bed. It's been a long day for her keeping up with the kids!
I got my offical paperwork for American Greetings today. I am not sure when I start but at this point I hope it will be a few weeks. I am thankful for this part time job. Now let's keep praying Audy will hear something positive soon.

A COLD MONDAY

Audy just came in from taking Maggie potty and says it's 16 out there. Not a cloud in the sky just COLD crisp air. Here it is 8:30 a.m. and neither one us is to excited about getting out of our p.j.'s and venturing out in that cold! You must remember we are southerner's and this isn't the "norm" temp. for us! While most of you are drinking your hot tea or cocoa we are still drinking our southern sweet tea! burrrr...
We had a very nice weekend. On Friday I helped my friend Sandra with her indoor yard sale. It's not that she had any "junk" but you know what I mean. I was amazed with the people that were spending 20 dollars on "stuff". It motivated me to bring over some "stuff" I had laying around and we made $45.00 on Saturday! She is doing another one Thurs. Friday and Saturday.
Audy had his interview with that company. It was a duplicate of the company he left BUT larger and very professional. He is still neutral because it was just the first interview. The first meaning that jobs these days do several interviews with you before they hire you. The young man seemed interested in what Audy has to offer and he said, he would notify him in a week or so if they were going to set up a second interview.
What is so funny about this job is our best friends, Dave and Rhonda are starting a new job in a few weeks. The company is located out by our house and Rhonda will be working from home and David will be at the office by us. Well the company that Audy applied for is by their house! He'll be working in Greenville while Dave will be by us in Simpsonville! We had a good laugh about this switch!
We had some more snow on Saturday afternoon. This time it didn't stick. It was pretty as it was falling. I think it was just too wet to land. We drove around in it carefully as Saturday was our voting day. Audy went and voted. I decided to wait until the elections. These political stuff confused me and I am tired of the mud slinging and all of the clutter of signs. I will be glad when it is over. I can think of a better way to spend campaign money!
We are going into Greenville after lunch and move Stacey's heavy furniture into storage. Another week.......oh before I forget, I heard from Cindy at American Greetings. The home office is almost done verifying my application so I should be starting work some time soon.

South Carolina SNOW

The weatherman promised us a couple of inches of snow and this is what we woke up to. And boy am I thankful for a garage for my car otherwise I would be doing exactly what Stacey is doing! I waited until she got out to the highway on her way to work before I adventured out. I was so excited that I had to call Audy and tell me I saw a SNOW PLOW...wow we're finally moving up in our county spending for them to have bought a snow plow. People still don't know how to drive in the snow and you will see them in the ditch all along the way!
I was glad to hear that Skip was taking Jessica to work before he headed on to work. She didn't need to be driving in this weather.
Her doctors appt. went well on Tuesday. They are going to do another ultrasound in a couple of weeks and see how Molly is doing and make the plans then. Mama is still doing wonderful just a little tired. She plans on resting all weekend. Skip's work is giving them a baby shower tomorrow afternoon and that was all they were planning on doing. Their kind of resting is staying cozy in their king size bed with Lucy (golden retriever) at the foot of the bed all watching their 42" wall flat screen TV. Lucky them!
Well it seems things are moving at a snail pace but we are thankful. Audy has an interview with a company tomorrow afternoon. He's staying neutral about it because it's "another" company needing a manager. So we shall see what happens.
The owner of my possible part time job approached Audy last night to tell him he hadn't forgotten about me but he would be interested in talking with me down the road a bit. I was really happy to get that news. The company is so close to my house and great people to work with plus I would be able to keep my American Greetings job when ever I get that one. Books Are Fun will start back up in March and we will work through first few weeks in June and then close up for the summer. So if I get this other part time job it will cover the summer months.
We stepped out in faith and booked our week at the beach in Sept. We got a great deal on a house right next door to our friends AND our pool is heated at no charge. We all laughed and said, you can guess who's going to be in your pool in the evenings! During the day you don't mind the pool but in the evenings a heated pool is nice bath water!
Stacey moved in with us on Monday. She will be living with us until the end of February. She is sharing a house with a girlfriend not far from Skip and Jess. Becky found a really nice 3 bedroom house to fit both of them. Stacey told her well I am not moving out unless I get married!!! No prospects at this time but the point is she is tired of moving. Becky said the same thing. It is nice for the both of them as they have their own lives but yet good friends. She is good company to Audy and I as well.
Sandra made it down from Washington DC last night. I went in to Greenville for the day to help her setup for an indoor yard sale this weekend. She is moving the rest of her stuff into storage in DC as Pastor Gray will be Chaplin at Arlington until Feb. 2009. I sure am going to miss seeing her every few months. If Hap comes out this spring AND if Audy has any days off we are hoping to take him to DC and we have free rooming (thanks Sandra). We shall have to wait and see what happens.

Happy Tuesday

Well I promised some pictures today but unfortunately they didn't turn out. Katie had a nice time at her party. We sat round and did like I said we would, drink coffee and snack. We played a little game I put together with 10 questions asking her friends about Katie. It was so funny! They did a pretty good job answering them truthfully.
Skip and Jess came over early so we had a chance to visit. At the time of this writing we haven't heard from them yet about her doctors appt. I am so proud of her for being such a good and brave sport. I asked her last night, "honey are miserable?" and she said, "no I am actually feeling great". There hasn't been a time that she has ever complained!
We dropped Jessalyn off at school this morning and now we have Dawson. Him and Maggie (my shitzu) are running around in circles and having a ball. He is the only one that has her under "full" control. He is waiting for Nana to turn on Nemo which will be later in the morning.
Audy got a call yesterday to stop by a staffing agency about a couple of jobs he had put in for online. There is a company in Greenville that makes some sort of wiring boxes for train engines. He has the background that they are looking for. The lady said, it would be Feb. before they interviewed for the job but he was definitely a candidate. The FIRST positive bite we have had so it was encouraging. He called Greenville News HR and the job he had applied for had been merged with another job. The other jobs that are available he can't apply for because they would be in Skip's dept. That is okay because we have learned when God closes a door he sometimes opens a window.

HAPPY 33 BIRTHDAY KATIE

I don't feel too old until I see that number 33. She may be 33 today but I will always think of her young at heart.
Audy called her last night and asked her to go to breakfast with him and Nana would sit with the kids. So we showed up at her house at 8 a.m. and was greeted with 3 happy children telling Papa and Nana it was "mommy's birthday!" This past week I took pictures (the ones I posted earlier) and put them in a frame for her. The kids made her a birthday card and she loved her presents.
Dawson was so upset telling me he lost his "choo choo". Of all the trains he has "Thomas is his choo choo favorite". Katie says, "mom we have looked everywhere and he's not happy". Papa says, "Dawson let's pray and ask the Lord to help us find choo choo", so we prayed together about it. Papa and mommy left for breakfast and the 3 kids and Nana were on a mission to find "choo choo". Guess what? Bryson found his "choo choo"! Why is it such a surprise when we "find" what we have prayed for?
Such a small example of how God does take care of the little things! So little faith!
We read lots of books that they had picked up at the library this past week and needless to say, I am hoarse!
Audy took Katie to her favorite restaurant called, Mimi's Cafe. They have the best breakfasts and over all yummy foods. They enjoyed their time chatting and catching up on father daughter time. I had to chuckle when Audy said, she admitted she was going to have a hard time sharing Nana with Skip and Jess because after all she's had Nana for 7 years! She is so excited about being an Aunt. She reminds me that I HAVE TO SHARE Molly time!
Tonight I have some of her close friends and family over for a "Girls Night" and we are going to sit in front of the fireplace snacking and drinking coffee and having some girl fun. I will post pic's tomorrow.

Jessica's Doctor's Appt.

Jessica had her first weekly doctors visit today. At her last visit a couple of weeks ago she was "measuring" out ahead of schedule. They then scheduled an ultrasound test today to see how Molly is doing. Well it seems Miss Molly is doing wonderful and joining her Nana on the plump side! It's no wonder Jessica can't seem to get comfortable these days because Miss Molly is tipping the scales at about 7 1/2lbs. The ultrasound shows that she is "right on schedule" and her due date is still Feb. 11. They figure she can gain 1/2lb a week. The sweetest thing is she has curly hair!!!
Jessica looks so wonderful. I knew she was all baby! The other night when we were together she points to her tummy up high and says, "mama what body part do you think this is"? I am positive it was her little rump!
I think just to be on the "safe" side of things I am packing my Nana bag next week!

The Day Continue's

This is his favorite shirt....Katie tells the story about one day last week when he had the shirt on he sort of had a pee pee accident on it and mama told him she had to change it. He cried his eyes out about his Star Wars shirt.

I see so much of Katie in her little pixie face.

My little muffin!

A DAY AT THE PARK

Even Dawson found a little cutie in pig tails (Drama Q's sister!)

We had a beautiful day high 69 after that freezing 17 last week! I noticed there was a huge fluffy red cardinal outside on one of the leafless trees sitting there sunbathing. I thought to myself, "I don't think he's gotten the memo that it's not spring yet!" It was kind of funny seeing people out and about in capri pants and shorts!!!

The kids arrived this morning full of energy and ready to GO! We had to wait for Papa to run some errands and then we loaded up the wagon and the bicycles and off to the park we went. We went to a park not far from us in Simpsonville but they were doing some work on the grounds and we didn't feel it was safe for the kids. Audy hadn't been to our new park called Heritage Park. It is a HUGE park with several baseball fields, a huge playground and a smaller one. A small train track with a train (only open on the weekends for a small fee). Nature trails all around the park to walk or ride bikes. The route we took via the HUGE playground was about a mile around. The kids had a blast riding as fast as they could. Jessalyn was hilarious to watch riding the training wheels so fast they were literally off the ground! Bryson was stressing out because he is the BIG brother and she can't pass him up. He is so protective in that way. I told Katie the other day, it's time to take the training wheels off and let her GO.
We stopped off at the HUGE playground to let them play for awhile. I knew it was time to go when Bryson had a little 6yr old in tears constantly! Hum I forgot to tell mama about that.

This little girl with a long blond pony tail close to his age was very taken with him. They were running around playing on the equipment and having fun. The next thing I knew (several times) she was pulling his arm and leading him where SHE WANTED to go and he had other ideas for HIS DIRECTIONS. For those of you who don't know Bryson, he is the sweetest and kindest child to anyone and not a mean bone anywhere on him. So I kept an eye on things and spoke with her mom and she assured me she was all DRAMA. After the second time in about 15 minutes I told Audy, we better go before the DRAMA QUEEN has a permanent melt down!

I gave the kids a choice for lunch, head home and make pb&j sandwiches or run through and get a HOT AND READY Pizza....they said PIZZA.

IT'S FREEZING HERE

Well it's finally COLD in Greenville! I'm beginning to wonder how you Debby up there in Alaska deal with the cold daily! No thank you.....I'd be out of my mind for sure.
We took a drive to Myrtle Beach today. I wish I could say we "strolled" on the beach but instead we looked at some beach houses for our vacation in September. Here neither one of us are employed and we're thinking about a vacation!!! We were the only ones that had the time to make the trip as everyone else is working. After our experience a couple of years ago at the "Deviled Crab" we try and check out the houses before we rent them. The story about the Deviled Crab was I rented it sight unseen and them kids of mine haven't let me live it down yet. Now it wasn't really too bad but let's just say, bad enough.
We all look forward to that week at the beach when Katie's family, Skip and Jess, Audy and I spend a bonding week together. This past Sept. we had several other families join us and we had a HUGE house with a pool. This year our friends have the HUGE house and we are renting a smaller one next door. We are across the street from the beach this year because the price is about 1,000.00 difference! What's nice is our pool is heated at no extra cost!
James parent's are planning on coming this year so it shall be really nice for the kids.

Audy has had several "hits" on his resume and one place has requested an interview. He will contact them in the morning. Skip downsized his resume and he's going to Greenville News in the morning to fill out an application. It's amazing but the human resource for the newspaper has a policy that if you are "over" qualified you can't get a job! It's not the best paying job but the medical insurance is wonderful. He will have to work a part time job to make up the difference in pay cut. It's something we are going to have to trust the Lord on.

I still haven't heard from American Greetings yet. I am kind of puzzled about why she hasn't called me back yet. I am calling again tomorrow even though I left a message the other day for her to call me. It's hard to sit back and wait!