We have had a busy, BUSY summer. I could write several pages on each thing we did this summer, but.... who has time for that? I started a new job, which I think truly is one of the great stressors in life. Tony has been gone and is leaving again for two months. Alex has had, and by Alex I really mean Alex and I, have had lots of homework. We've had hail storm damage to the house for which we are getting a new roof. We've had to replace a heating/air unit, which came with a faulty drip pan, which then flooded Alex's room upstairs, necessitating a water damage team to come here with some big, BIG dehumidifiers and fans, which makes it sound like a helicopter is taking off from our roof. And this doesn't really even scratch the surface of WHAT ALL we have done this summer.
We went to the beach on about 1-1/2 weeks notice right before I started my new job. Tony was in Spain so he didn't get to go but my mom and I took the kids, read books ALL day long in our lounge chairs, and experienced, unbeknownst to me, my last peaceful, easy moments of the summer.
Alex got a tattoo, which said princess complete with a tiara. The girl who did the henna tattoo told her not to touch it for two hours or it would smudge and there would be nothing she could do to fix it. We didn't even make it out of the store before her arm swiped through it... The girl tried to fix it but it ended up a little smudged.
We decided there is no other way to do the beach than to rent the umbrella and chairs. They are worth it, no matter the cost.
Alex played a little softball. Okay, a lot of softball.
Alex also had shoulder surgery one week before school started back. And slept all day that day, and stuttered and staggered on the pain meds all evening. It was kinda funny. Here she is sssssleeping. Her cousin, Brennan, came by and watched Soul Surfer with her that night.
Her best friend came by the next day and brought her a pillow pet.
School started. This is the first first day of school I haven't had to drive anyone. In ten years...
She gets to wear this beautiful accessory every day for six weeks.
Then there's Maggie. Aka Stupid Dog. She stepped on something in our yard and practically cut the pad off her foot. Anthony took her to the vet, which cost 274.00. That was on a Thursday. By Sunday morning she had chewed the cone off her head, taken off the bandaging, and removed all of her stitches. She then went back to the Emergency Pet Hospital, where we spent 216.00 in order to get her sewn back up. We got sedatives for her this time in the form of a little doggy Valium, which we thought would help but these stitches also lasted about three days. Anthony took her back, again, and for 60.00 they glued her foot together and told us to keep her in the crate until it was healed, which she had been in the crate the whole time anyway. Not to mention every time we took her outside to use the bathroom, we had to wrap the foot in a plastic bag to keep it from getting wet or germy...
It was so funny though! She ran into EVERYTHING with that cone on her head. She was probably sore the entire time. And her ear always looked so cute all mashed down like that!
Getting ready for school/work was a lot of fun. Alex can't dress herself or fix her hair, and for the first few days we had to hold her eyes just right so that she could get her eyeliner on. She was limited to ball t-shirts cuz "this stupid sling ruins all my cute outfits"...
Anthony and Tony bought themselves a 1953 Wyllis jeep. Another project. Great...
They drove it around for a little while but now it's in our basement in several hundred pieces. It will be restored back to the Air Force Jeep it was 58 years ago.
One night I got the privilege of seeing this beautiful family. This is the family I spent three weeks with in Japan right after I graduated from high school. One of the best trips ever with one of the greatest families ever. It had been 22 years since I had seen them. I feared I would never see them again but I did! And they were exactly the same. I was sad to learn that her grandfather had died, in his 90s, about the same time my grandmother died. Now I have to start worrying that I will never see them again. Again.
Anthony has fought some Civil War battles in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky including the 150th anniversary of Manassas.
We have had some fun softball practices for everyone else, extremely sad practices for Alex. She is so sad that she can't play right now but we are down to 4-1/2 more months now. And therapy at 7 a.m. three mornings a week is gonna get her there.
She actually got to pitch these water balloons.
You gotta start somewhere...
