Catching Up

We celebrated Niko's birthday recently. It was one of our better birthday celebrations. We had some small colds but nothing like the nasty ones of years past.

We arrived early and went to a big family party. It's always fun to see DH's cousins and their growing broods. We spent a little bit of our time talking to DH's granny. She has always been so adorable. I think she really misses DH's grandpa who recently passed away. She remarked that he had passed away easily and just didn't wake up. She said she had tried that but she just kept waking up. She is so loved. Someday we'll all miss her so much. But it's sad to watch her as she misses her sweetheart and has failing vision and hearing. DH's aunt informed us of a talent show while we were driving down. I called an old friend and asked to borrow her daughter's viola. It's not quite the same but it worked. M and T played it. T went to practice and half way through his song he said, "Wait, where'd my E go?"

We went to church the next day. C was being a turkey and I had to take her out. After, a lady who knows DH's parents said to him, "You have 4 calm ones and one firecracker." If she only knew. Luckily, we have had enough time to train the 4 bigger ones.

On Niko's day we went out and did our shoe shopping first thing. T and D found theirs first. T wants a pair of basketball shoes and D got a pair of Nikes that are laced with elastics. M found a pair of Jessica Simpson flats. S found a pair of shoes that look like low top Converse. They are hot pink with white polka dots. C, the firecracker was more interested in looking for 11's for her size than shoes. (It turns out she needed 12s). We finally left the mall without any shoes for her and I took her into Payless and talked her into some fake Ugg like boots.

We went out to the cemetery and were surprised to find the geranium we planted in the cup holder last March still alive. In March we just took flowers from the grocery store because birthdays were on Sunday last year. I loved having something in Niko's little cup the was living. We added some flowers to his and the kids got antsy about visiting Joshua. DH jokingly told them they hadn't sung Niko happy birthday. So the kids busted out in song along with some cha cha chas and Scooby Doos. Then they zoomed down to Joshua and took him some flowers too. There was a little hide and seek action down in that part of the cemetery. Then C decided she just had to go to the bathroom. Now it's one thing to find a big bush or tree at a park if it's an emergency, but doing it at a cemetery is a different story. So the two of us headed to the office. We walked in to use the restroom and a couple was there obviously needing some property. I felt a little weird going in as happy as I was because they didn't look too happy. I wanted to say, "Hey, it's my dead kid's birthday and it's okay. I promise it'll be okay someday too." Instead, I just hurried C into the restroom. And it was okay. Did I get a little teary? Of course I did. But it was a good day. As we were leaving I noticed someone tending a grave right by Joshua's. She and her I'm guessing husband were doing it so tenderly. It was nothing like the quarrelling over which flower to leave. It wasn't hide and seek. It was just perfect. I'm guessing they were grandparents because they seemed too old to have a baby in the infant section. I thought how cool it would be to have someone else who wanted to stop by and care. I had to take a picture from a distance because it touched me so much.

We went out to lunch as a family and then headed back to my parents' house. My dad wanted to take DH and I shooting. I have never shot anything more powerful than a kids' water gun. We headed to the range and my dad gave me a quick lesson. There was some guy in the stall next door who had a gun with a very loud sound and quite a little fire when it was shot. I was actually pretty terrified to be there. I did shoot the .22 and it wasn't too bad. But when I went to shoot the 9mm or the .40 I was just too scared. The range master came in and gave me a little lesson. He really knew how to make someone aware of what needs to be done to have confidence. He instructed me and then had me shoot all three guns. Not only did I shoot them, but I managed quite a few bulls eyes. I think my dad really liked doing that with us too.

We visited a few friends that day. I would love to have seen more people. But time always runs out. I hope to visit them in March when we visit again.

It was a good trip. The kids were relatively good. The weather was nice there. We weren't too sick. There was so much good to appreciate. It was a nice way to start the Christmas week.