May flowers...

To me May has always been the beginning of good times. Summer is on its way that means swimming and sunshine, the start of holidays at work, the beginning of weenie roasts and cookouts, no more homework or schedules and it is okay to wear pants with holes in them if you want to. Summer is freedom! Here are some of my pictures from this month to share with you all and are not in any particular order.

Savannah at Kindergarten graduation yesterday, she wasn't feeling well and she was utterly sad about the school year ending and how much she was going to miss her teacher.

Full bloom!

Savannah after her dance recital...

Quiet Time

Thought I would take advantage of this quiet time this morning and post an entry. It is rare that I get these moments, of course there is always a grunting little dog following me around, but hey she is loyal and patiently waits for me until my next move.

Next week is the last week of school. I am looking forward to free Fridays so I imagine I will need to plan some events . What's good is that the beginning of June Charlie will be working in Utah for a few weeks too, so what a better way to start the summer off and we will get to see him for Father's Day!

Savannah had her dance recital this past week, she said to me that she liked the winter recital better, but I think this is because she missed a few too many classes and didn't have the chance to really get this one down. She still did a good job and remembered to smile. Her costume was way cute as they all are, the lady who does them does a really good job. I am grateful at how dedicated the teachers are at what they do. Where ever we end up after the house sells I'd like to sign Savannah up for tap dance - she seems to be interested in those shiny shoes at the store whenever we are there and I admit I did too when I was little. I am glad she is not overly shy like I was and is willing to go, however once we move that might not be the case.

Yes, we have our house up for sale. Bittersweet, but it is time! People ask where we are moving, that hasn't actually been 100% decided yet. But you know how when you just know it is time for something? Well it is time...

Speaking of time, my quiet time is over, my sleepy daughter has finally awoken. It was nice to let her sleep in until she woke today as she needed it and I feel so guilty getting her up at 5:45 on those work days. I keep thinking I want to work part time now! I have no options for this at my current employer, so I have been looking about and see a few things but it is not quite time. I can't go anywhere until our house is sold and we are able to pay off some debt. So I pray for patience of course.

Wisconsin, Mother's Day, and Spring

Our visit to Wisconsin to visit Charlie was nice, it seems like he has been gone forever. Savannah loved being on the plane, she was scared at first but then was excited and could hardly contain herself. Charlie was right about the mountains, he said I would miss them and he was right - just as soon as we got there all I could see was the same horizon front and back and I did miss them almost immediately.

We started the night with a good home made meal as we both hadn't had one in what seems like forever. I was amazed at how nice Charlie's apartment is, they really hooked him up - 2 1/2 bathrooms, washer and dryer, fireplace...Savannah's comments were, "this is great, we should live here." Here are some pics...and of course Savannah posing. She loved the deck and her bedroom.

I enjoyed having the fireplace on at night, it is like one great big candle and the light flickering just soothes you - it seems fireplaces are a staple out here from what I could tell looking online at realty. Good stuff though. Later that night when we put Savannah to bed she told me, "It's good to have daddy back isn't it mom?" I just smiled and agreed.

Next day it was rainy so we decided to go shopping and for a drive as it was noted from preparing dinner the night before that there were still several items we needed to furnish the apartment with. You know just everyday items such as a potato peeler, coffee maker, mugs, you know the stuff we have at home. We found out later that scissors were needed on that list too, but we won't talk about my stabbing myself in the hand while trying to open a box - ugh.

We drove to Appleton as I wanted to see it as I thought the name of the town was just so cute. I was amazed at how many miles and miles of fields and trees and open space there was. It never stopped! Even when you were in the city it was still open no matter how much population there was. The houses are on at least 1 or 2 acres of land each and no one has fences. I couldn't understand this, where did people contain their dogs? It was just so laid back.

Charlie showed me his work and the lines he's put together at the plant and all that he was working on and everyone we met seemed real nice. He showed me the old town of Oconto where he first started working as a maintenance mechanic/engineer and where he found God in a whole new light in a bitty shack in a field where he used to lead Praise & Worship - why I didn't take a picture of that I don't know. I was surprised to find that the cheese factory did not have tours on Saturdays and will take better note of this for next time as that was one place I wanted to visit and to taste - after all Wisconsin is the dairy state. We drove around looking at neighborhoods and found a really nice one in Bellevue not too far from his work. Outside the neighborhoods you find farms spread out and wide. You see a lot of these around....a lot!

In between storms Savannah kept on us about getting out there to feed the geese and the ducks outside the apartment. So when we did we found out that the ducks and other wild life here aren't scavenging for food at all, they are self content. Not even the seagull that flew by stopped for a piece of bread. I think the geese were more hesitant than any of the other birds as they had such a cute little family to protect. This is a picture of them next to the pond by Charlie's apartment. Savannah found out the hard way that geese are not too friendly and have pointy sticky out tounges that hiss at you while they run.

Sunday after church (yes we found a church out there to attend and it was a nice service) we went to the breakwater park where the water connects to Lake Superior and if you didn't know it was a lake or didn't taste the water you'd think it was an ocean the body of water is so big it runs for miles out. We had brought a picnic lunch with us but it was too windy that day to enjoy eating outside so we ate in the car. We had a blast and I'm not referring to the soda bottle that exploded on Charlie.

Mother's day was nice, I told Charlie I wanted to get a new houseplant but that he would have to keep it there and would need to keep it alive for me plus would add life to his apartment. He is skeptical and thinks he will kill it but I beg to differ. I also thought it would be fun that in the future he should get a canary or something for him to have some noise about, but for now the plant will do and I quite like it.

This Friday a real estate agent we know from church is coming out to look at our house to help prepare us to put it on the market. I am excited yet feeling bitter sweet, this is after all the first real house I've had but it is time to move on to a new adventure. In the meantime I am loving spring and the growth it is bringing even if it is stunted a bit by all this weather and a dog that likes to chew up the lilacs we planted...look what bloomed while we were gone!

Whatchya know Joe?

I'm an aunt again! My big little brother Matt and Kelly had their baby, Kelby Carrillo, on Monday and boy is he cute! I can't wait to babysit him and neither can Savannah. She just loves babies but yet doesn't want any in our household. What is that about? Ahhh...single child, yes!

Charlie has a prospective job in Phoenix Arizona for a company called Cornerstones doing what he is doing now - Integrations Specialist - he has already had two interviews and they want him to fly out for a 3rd. Interesting seeing as how this was all due to word of mouth from his past supervisor. We'll just have to see what happens with this...

I didn't get the job I'd applied for, but that's okay. I at least I tried and obviously it wasn't meant to be.

We had a pinata today at work to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, when I was telling Savannah where I got all the candy, she said, "Awww" - I know imagine us adults doing kid stuff. In addition of course was salsa and chips and taquitos. I just LOVE Mexican food.

I didn't get Savannah's quilt finished this last weekend as was my goal - amazing how running out of thread puts a hold on things especially when you live 12 miles from the nearest store!

My tulips are finally blooming!

Savannah has learned how to blow bubbles with bubble gum!

When out shopping for a Mother's Day gift, Savannah asks, "When is kids' day?" - I told her, "Every day," - she disagrees.

We are leaving on a plane tomorrow morning to visit Charlie in Green Bay. I am so nervous about flying and really have no reason to be. I just pray and know that we leave in God's hands. This will be Savannah's first flight and I pray she will be calm. (I am not so sure about it since we took her on that scarry ride at Disney's California park.) She had asked me a lot of questions tonight about how the airplane goes up in the sky and then said, "I have to ask you these questions so I will know." She was being so serious too. Once we get adjusted to the idea of flying and airports we will be so excited to visit! Now she will see what planet her Daddy is on! (In reference to the day she asked me what planet Daddy lived on...it gave me quite a chuckle.)

More than just a souvenir...

So a funny story about this mug. Well not this mug here in the picture, but a mug identitical to it. As you can tell it is a souvenir from Sea World, but it is not the one that was handpicked off the shelf and traveled home with us after our recent vacation.

You see as Charlie and I were choosing souvenirs at the Sea World park he prompted me to get a mug, I commented yes that it was pretty but declined saying, "Ah we have too many mugs already." (I know, I am the one that has to find places for them in the cupboard!) So he replied that he would get it then as he really liked it. And being my cynical self I pictured it collecting dust in the cupboard at home just as he said that.

Some of my decision in this is was not just the fact that we have a lot of mugs already. It is an attitude I still struggle with in not having enough money most my life to afford to get souvenirs or other things that are "wanted" instead of "needed." So this was more the reason that made my determination to get a small snow globe instead. Something not overly large that I could keep at my desk at work, would not cost a lot of money, and was something we didn't already have.

Next morning at the resort where we were staying I was making his coffee in the mug. Low and behold I fell in love with it. It fit so perfectly in my hand. The look of it, the feel of it. The coffee even tasted better. I wanted it for me. When I told him that he was right, that I should have gotten a mug, he laughed and said, "I told you!" Ever since then when he catches me using it he still chuckles at me and I admit to him that he was right about the mug.

Well last week as I was doing dishes, the mug slipped from my hand and broke on the floor. As you all know he is living temporarily out of state right now so I felt so awful I had broke it and he hasn't even used it but a few times. If I hadn't of used it for myself while he was gone it wouldn't have needed washed which in turn wouldn't have gotten broken. And why this mug? I have washed my other mugs thousands of times in the past and never once dropped them!

I immediately panicked, stopped doing the dishes to search and search online to see if I could buy another to replace it. Not even e-Bay had them. I called Sea World, but being 8 pm at night they had already closed. I was devastated. You can imagine how relieved I was able to get in touch with them the next day and order another right over the phone.

The funny thing is though, I not only ordered one, but two mugs. And they arrived yesterday! Now I have my own! This will always be something we chuckle about together that will also add to the many memories of our vacation.