Rumplestiltskin

Wow! I woke up this morning and I'm pretty sure that I've slept through spring, summer, and fall ... a whole 8 months at least! I will say that I sure feel rested today, and it's high time for a haircut (really), but here are some of the things that I missed during my long slumber ...

... I slept right through Mitch's graduation and open house! I sure hope everyone enjoyed the colorful plates, cups, and napkins that I bought in March.

... I was completely out of it for the entire 3 months that Alli was in Nicaragua. A complete blessing, since I didn't have to cry any tears of loneliness.

... Thank goodness I slumbered during the entire 4-H fair. But I've awoken to spot some blue ribbons on the kitchen counter. Hooray for my kids and their animals!

... Wilbur's family grew by 3 wonderful new little blessings while I slept!

... Wow, I slept during the entire fall soccer and volleyball seasons. A mixed blessing for sure. Those of you who have kids in sports will understand.

Strange huh??? Well, I took pictures this morning to post and show you why I'm convinced that spring, summer, and fall have completely passed me by. But I'm sad to say that they're too "snowy" and I can't get them downloaded.

Enough for this post, I must go downstairs and start carrying my Christmas decorations up. Christmas is right around the corner!

Tweety Still Sings

We've had sickness in our home ... not just the sniffles but honest-to-goodness sickness! I've been fighting a sinus infection for two weeks, the man of the house has been hacking around, Kevin has been dragging his rear for at least two weeks, and last week Abbi hit the jackpot by having a major round of strep throat. I really don't think I've ever seen any of my kids so sick. She cried because she was hungry, she cried because she couldn't eat anything, she cried because her whole body hurt. She really didn't eat anything for 6 days. In the midst of it all she also was blessed with a strep rash, also known as scarlet fever. This was a very itchy, red-hot rash, that then led to peeling (like a sunburn), and caused her tongue to become raw (yup, completely smooth, no little taste buds). Her fingertips are peeling back from her fingernails this week. Poor thing! She missed 5 days of school and now we're playing catch-up.

So all of this to introduce you to my pictures, and my Post Title .... my sister-in-law asked me to post pictures of all the kids who AREN'T sick. Tah Dah (see next picture)

Here's our parakeet Tweety.

Who still sings a cheerful song each day - thank goodness!

I'd like to add a picture of Mitch too, since he hasn't been sick, but he's never home so I wasn't able to digitally capture the 18 year old. HMMMM ... so maybe that's the secret to staying healthy ... just always be away! And of course, Alli's not sick either since she's away at college - thank goodness. But I couldn't resist going into my picture archives and finding a special picture of her to post. She's going to love this one!!! It's a lovely prom dress she tried on her junior year of high school. Actually this one was just for fun and she really was stunning in the dress that she wore that year. Can you believe they actually make prom dresses like this?? Wait ... I have a song playing in my head ... can't you hear it? "Somewhere over the rainbow..."

Here's the "sicky" ... Puffs Plus and wastebasket close at hand. The wastebasket was for dirty tissues and the occasional throwing up. I guess the strep also caused nausea for her. And she really isn't chubby, the strep just caused her glands in her neck to be so huge that her entire face seemed to be swollen.

The ONLY benefit of having a sick kid are these beautiful spring flowers that Abbi received from Grandma B. They were, and still are, a wonderful breath of fresh air, in an otherwise germ-filled dreary home last week!

See ... I knew it - Spring is right around the corner! We just have to get through the grunge ...

Opposites Do Attract addendum

So maybe the title wasn't clear ....

Dave enjoys the mountains, snow, and skiing. And being cold, nose dripping, lots of hard work, sore muscles.

I, on the other hand, enjoy sand and sun, reading a book, being warm, sleeping in.

So after almost 22 years of wedded bliss, we are still attracted to each other . *sigh*

Opposites DO Attract

Yes, it's true ... after the Hawkins' family split up and went opposite directions, we once again have arrrived back at the "Center of our Universe".

Abbi & I headed to sunny south and loved the white sand beach, warm and toasty sunshine, and some of Grandma's lovin'! We overlapped 1 day with Alli who was Spring Breaking with 7 other girls. She is now back at school (enjoying) her classes again. :)

Abbi and I became pros at Sand Castle building on beatiful Siesta Beach!

Every kids' dream ... chasing seagulls!

On the last evening, Abbi & sat on the beach and watched the sunset. We also were priveleged to witness a handsome young man propose to a beautiful young woman. Gave me goosebumps!

And now for the "Men" and their wonderful experiences in Colorado ... this a group shot with Mitch and Kevin kneeling, and (l-r) Jeff, Tom, & Casey. Dave is taking the picture. They had a beautiful first day. Then the second day they enjoyed skiing in powder after a fresh snowfall the night before. They were able to spend quite a bit of time with my nephews Casey & Austin, who are working on the slopes this winter.

Here's Kevin just chillin' under the watchful eye of cousin Casey. Yeah right!

Here's the picture that Mitch sent me on my cell phone at the end of their first day skiing and boarding. He added the text ""I got in a bar fight". I told him "stay out of the trees!" He wiped out and his snowboard caught a tree and whipped him around and he scraped along a tree and the icy run. All in a day's work for My Man Mitch!


Kevin riding the lift ... thank goodness Kevin had his camera along,

because dear old Dad didn't think about taking his.

And the best thing of all for Kevin was this "prize" he found on the sidewalk the last

evening they were in Colorado. It's the real thing!

And now we're all back home, trying to catch up with missed school work, Dave went to work to catch up there, and good ol'Mom is catching up with laundry!