Jeff's first grandpa photos.
New mama.
Stephen.
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It's hard to believe but it's true. I am a grandma today. Bailee gave birth to an 8-pound 21-inch long baby boy. He was a month early and he arrived on the day of her baby shower. The whole family was here, we fed them, visited with them, and had a wonderful afternoon together. My friend, Carol even brought me a gift. It was a wonderful day but I'm sure it was disappointing to our guests. It was hard to cancel with such short notice so we had no choice but to wait for everyone to show up. We asked the guests what we should do about the gifts they decided as a group that anyone who wants to come back next Sunday should and Bailee could open them at that time. Getting to see the baby this evening was the best thing ever. I tried not to cry, Bailee was doing enough of that for all of us. The baby seems big but babies of diabetic moms are usually large so the doctors expected a 10-pound baby at full term. Since he was early, he spent his first day on oxygen in the ICU but we still got to spend time holding and rocking him. He is 16 hours old in this photo. We have photos of him hooked up in to all the wires in the ICU but Bailee hates those photos so I won't post them. He is beautiful.
I started a quilting class a few weeks ago and for some reason I really took the whole 'class' thing way too seriously. After finishing my degree not too terribly long ago, I just thought I would have to buckle down. As it turns out, I don't have to show up, keep up, or read up on anything in particular. It's a go at your own pace, work on a project of my own choosing type of atmosphere. The instructor brings in samples and suggestions for new projects but otherwise it's learn what you don't know when you want to learn it. And here I was worried about missing the first class and getting behind. The beauty of this class is that it has given me incentive to finish things and to schedule a sewing day besides the class time.
A really cool extra is that the instructor, Sallie Jo was my daughter's sewing instructor when she was in high school. I mentioned that Bailee was my daughter and she remembered her and asked me to bring her along. The two of them caught up like old friends. Bailee brought samples of her work along and it was like she was a natural assistant to Sallie Jo. I felt like the underachiever in a group of great artists. That's OK though, it was inspiring to be around such good talent.
I think I will be taking this class next semester and I think Bailee will be back to visit.
A really cool extra is that the instructor, Sallie Jo was my daughter's sewing instructor when she was in high school. I mentioned that Bailee was my daughter and she remembered her and asked me to bring her along. The two of them caught up like old friends. Bailee brought samples of her work along and it was like she was a natural assistant to Sallie Jo. I felt like the underachiever in a group of great artists. That's OK though, it was inspiring to be around such good talent.
I think I will be taking this class next semester and I think Bailee will be back to visit.
Adam's mom threw Bailee a baby shower yesterday. She invited all their relatives, all her friends, and some of Bailee and Adam's co-workers. I was really apprehensive about attending it, seeing as I really didn't know anyone except Bailee and Adam. It didn't help that the shower was being held in a bar. I'm not fond of filling my lungs with second-hand smoke all afternoon to then have to go home and totally change and shower to remove the stink. But I have to go, Bailee needs me there.
The bar is not an ordinary bar, Adam's mom happens to bartend there on a part-time basis. It's a nice thing to have access to something like that for events like this. But this wasn't your average corner, neighborhood bar - this was an average corner, neighborhood gay bar. There were artistic photos of very good looking half-dressed men with other half-dressed men hanging on the walls. Not that it's a bad thing, I don't mind the gay bar thing, I still don't like the smoke and stink of bars. But on the other hand, I do like the beer so I was in for the afternoon.
Adam's family was very nice, his brother and sister were really cool and his mother was very outgoing. There were so many people there, they were all truly blessed to have such a large extended family and many friends. I was happy to see that BJ's girlfriend, Lauren came. It was so good to see her since we haven't seen her since BJ left for Yuma.
The gift opening took a long time with so many generous people. Even the gay bar clientele brought gifts. Nice designer baby clothing. How cool. I don't know what I was expecting but whatever it was, I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness and generosity of all these people. Bailee is very lucky to be entering in such a nice family.
The bar is not an ordinary bar, Adam's mom happens to bartend there on a part-time basis. It's a nice thing to have access to something like that for events like this. But this wasn't your average corner, neighborhood bar - this was an average corner, neighborhood gay bar. There were artistic photos of very good looking half-dressed men with other half-dressed men hanging on the walls. Not that it's a bad thing, I don't mind the gay bar thing, I still don't like the smoke and stink of bars. But on the other hand, I do like the beer so I was in for the afternoon.
Adam's family was very nice, his brother and sister were really cool and his mother was very outgoing. There were so many people there, they were all truly blessed to have such a large extended family and many friends. I was happy to see that BJ's girlfriend, Lauren came. It was so good to see her since we haven't seen her since BJ left for Yuma.
The gift opening took a long time with so many generous people. Even the gay bar clientele brought gifts. Nice designer baby clothing. How cool. I don't know what I was expecting but whatever it was, I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness and generosity of all these people. Bailee is very lucky to be entering in such a nice family.
I am not a real fan of movies like The Dark Knight. But when Jeff actually decides going to the movie is what he wants to do, who am I to argue? He generally doesn't have an opinion about how he wants to spend a Saturday night - he just goes with the flow. Since I'm a homebody for the most part, I'm OK with staying at home. I agreed as long as we went early enough to get a good seat since the movie just opened last night. Jeff doesn't usually go anywhere until the very last possible minute.
We got to the theater 20 minutes before the 7:20 movie started, with 10 people in front of us, management announced that the next showing is sold out. We decided to buy tickets for the 8:10 showing then come back a little later. When we got to the front of the line the sales clerk informed us that we bought two of the last 25 tickets available. In that case, instead of leaving we figured we should just get in line.
When we got in we headed to the back of the theater for our version of the best seats in the house. The movie started and I wondered how I would stay awake since these kind of movies are really not my thing. Not to worry in this case, it was gripping from the very beginning. The plot was complicated so paying close attention was important, like when watching one of the Bourne movies. I was hooked. Nothing like intrigue, a complicated plot, and an incredible performance by Heath Ledger. This movie had a very talented cast but Ledger truly stood above them all. Every time he was on the screen, I felt like this was a disgustingly real character who could psychologically manipulate us all to believe that this kind of evil could possibly rule the world. His manaical ideas on chaos, order, anarchy, and morality as well as his ruthlessness towards his villain counterparts makes for a criminal who can haunt one's dreams.
The special effects were incredible. The motorcycle riding up the side of a building and the helicopter scenes had me believing these moves were really possible. I love Chicago so the city backdrop's familiarity was an awesome addition. I don't want to mention how things end up but the writers are truly genius. The complexity was compelling and the dark side of the comic book series was apparent. Living 'happily ever after' certainly was not the final word. It's not often a movie is this good. I would be surprized if there were no Oscars for this film.
Jeff was so enticed by the movie that on the ride home, he was already planning on getting Matt to go with him to see it (again). I am glad I agreed to see this, it was worth it.
We got to the theater 20 minutes before the 7:20 movie started, with 10 people in front of us, management announced that the next showing is sold out. We decided to buy tickets for the 8:10 showing then come back a little later. When we got to the front of the line the sales clerk informed us that we bought two of the last 25 tickets available. In that case, instead of leaving we figured we should just get in line.
When we got in we headed to the back of the theater for our version of the best seats in the house. The movie started and I wondered how I would stay awake since these kind of movies are really not my thing. Not to worry in this case, it was gripping from the very beginning. The plot was complicated so paying close attention was important, like when watching one of the Bourne movies. I was hooked. Nothing like intrigue, a complicated plot, and an incredible performance by Heath Ledger. This movie had a very talented cast but Ledger truly stood above them all. Every time he was on the screen, I felt like this was a disgustingly real character who could psychologically manipulate us all to believe that this kind of evil could possibly rule the world. His manaical ideas on chaos, order, anarchy, and morality as well as his ruthlessness towards his villain counterparts makes for a criminal who can haunt one's dreams.
The special effects were incredible. The motorcycle riding up the side of a building and the helicopter scenes had me believing these moves were really possible. I love Chicago so the city backdrop's familiarity was an awesome addition. I don't want to mention how things end up but the writers are truly genius. The complexity was compelling and the dark side of the comic book series was apparent. Living 'happily ever after' certainly was not the final word. It's not often a movie is this good. I would be surprized if there were no Oscars for this film.
Jeff was so enticed by the movie that on the ride home, he was already planning on getting Matt to go with him to see it (again). I am glad I agreed to see this, it was worth it.
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Yesterday was BJ's graduation party. It was a perfect day, the weather was warm, the sun was shining, everything was right except that the pool wasn't ready yet. Since it's so early in the season, it wouldn't matter if it was open, it would be too cold to swim in anyway. Between the volleyball court by the creek, the hot tub and the fire pit, there is enough to keep us all entertained.As people started to arrive, family grouped together at two tables, our friends grouped together at another, and BJ's friends took up pretty much the whole back yard. The half barrel of Heinekin was flowing, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We cooked up 15 pounds of tenderloin steaks and 15 pounds of chicken breasts. I made different side dishes; potato salad, seafood salad, pasta salad, calico beans, plus all the fixings for chicken and steak sandwiches. We had bowls of fruit, chips and dips, salsa, and a veggie platter. But the best part was the wonderful graduation cake from Rich's House of Cakes.
It's hard to gauge a party when hosting it. I barely had 5 minutes with any one group but I think it all turned out well. I drank tequila with the boys and Pat, one of my co-workers joined in. All the laughing, conversation, food, and drinks were flowing well. As everyone departed, I had wished I could have spent more time with everyone. Luckily for me, Jeff is a wonderful host. He kept everything going as did BJ.
As it got later, BJ's core group of friends were still in the back yard. We hung out in the hot tub with the neighbors and had a nice fire going. As it got later it was time for us to retire. Jeff and I headed up to bed but one of BJ's friends, Eric followed. So we all had a drink in bed together - as crazy as that sounds. We kicked Eric out so we could get to sleep.
When we got up in the morning, we found Josh and Mark sleeping in the living room. It was way early for them so I went outside and started cleaning up so there was less noise in the house. I finally finished cleaning up the back yard - and the fire was still smoldering so it was good that I went out there early - then I went inside and scrubbed the floor. Jeff and I put all the garbage in the truck and hauled it directly to the dump, there was too much to wait till garbage day.
BJ got up and made his friends breakfast. It was a wonderful bonding time for all of us. It's very difficult to think about BJ leaving for a new job in a new state soon. But for this day, the party was a great time and I am glad we could make it happen for him.
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