Blessing and More

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, Mason was blessed. What a fabulous day it was! Mason was a stud in his white suit! Kevin blessed him, of course, and in the circle was Kevin's brother, Chad, and his Father, Larry (Pop Pop) and Bishop Kippen (my Bishop ran the JFK 50, did yours?) Mason cried the entire time, and I went to the mother's room immediately after. When I arrived back to our seat in the chapel, Kevin nudge me and pointed to Shannon's (Chad's girlfriend) hand and I spotted her huge BLING! I was mad they made us sit all through Sacrament Meeting before we could get the story on their engagement. I am thrilled that Shannon will be in our family. She is wonderful and will one day find a cure for Malaria!

We had everyone over lunch, I made a great Chicken Noodle Soup, which ended up being Turkey Noodle Soup because I had no chicken, and then ended up just being Turkey with carrots and celery, because I FORGOT to put the noodles in before I served.... oh dear. No one cared though. They even ate every speck of halfbaked brownies.

The day was great, but there was a touch of sadness, because my Dad was unable to participate in the blessing. He suffered a stroke in February, two days before they were supposed to come visit us. Luckily, it was a minor stroke, and he is recovering very well.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7: I took a flight with the two kids, to Omaha, to visit my parents. Tage was on a Monkey leash, and Mason was in the Bjorn. Pretty smooth sailing.

The trip was good, Tage chased Woofer around the entire time, and Mason slept.

The last day, my mom was a little weepy, because we were leaving. Tage kept saying "Grandma! Don't cry! I'm still here!" and when we were back in Maryland, she called her and said "Grandma, you sad Tage had to go to Daddy's house?" Tage is adorable!

TUESDAY MARCH 17: Flight back to Maryland. Not as smooth as the trip out, but still fairly pleasant, considering Tage had awful sleep the night before, and had no nap that day. We had some tantrums in the bathroom at our layover in Chicago (apparently I wasn't doing the soap right...) and for the last 45minutes of our flight, Tage cried that she had to pee (a tough task to help her with in the eensy plane bathroom and holding an infant) and finally when we landed, I tried to get her to use the plane toilet, but the second she saw it, she said "No" and she ended up peeing in her pull-up, which was fine with me, that's why she had it on in the first place, so I wouldn't have to deal with the airplane bathroom scene!

So, I had told Kevin I thought it would be easier if I just picked up our luggage and he picked us up outside, instead of him parking and coming in and then making the trek back to the car with the kids. MISTAKE! The baggage didn't come for awhile, and Tage was crawling on the floor, with me holding her back with the Monkey Tail. When our bags finally came, she wouldn't get off of the floor, and finally when she did, I struggled to grab my bags, and a very nice man helped me get them off the belt. Then, everything came crashing down. Literally. One suitcase fell, and then Tage tripped, bumped the other suitcase, spun around and fell on top of the suitcase. All in a split second, with Tage crying, and Mason screaming in he Bjorn, and me wearing a backpack that weighed about 1/2 of what I do! The same man that got our bags, insisted on helping me, and I told him I was just going to sit and wait for my husband. I didn't want him to know that I was going to walk out of the airport myself. He carried my bags to a bench, and when he was gone, I headed to the doors. Automatic doors? No. They were broken. So I pushed the door and tried to navigate it's narrow opening, before another person came to help me. We were all thrilled to see Kevin, Tage got giddy when she saw him.

Great to be home! In the 10 days that I was gone many of my seeds have begun to sprout. YAY! This year, my yard and garden are going to look GREAT! I hope.


Update on cleaning: Umm, well... let's see... I gave a bin of clothes to my mother in law to consign. And I sold a spare exersaucer (again Tage's words as the toy left "Hey! I want my toy back!" Mommy: "Sorry, we gave it to those people, and they gave us some money, and mommy is going to...." Tage: "Go to the store and buy more Yoooooguuurrrrt!") A small dent, but a dent it is.