A Perfect 10

It's hard to believe but my sweet niece, Abbie Grace, turned 10 today. Where has the time gone???

If I could bottle up her enthusiasm for EVERY.SINGLE.THING I would be a millionaire. She is Anne of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls, and a princess all rolled into one.

I picked her up last night for some girl time. We checked into a hotel and I'm not going to lie, I was T.I.R.E.D. I could have laid down on that hotel bed right then and been out! I had not slept good the night before and it was a long week at work. But, I told my old lady bones to get it together and we headed out to eat. I told Abbie we could eat anywhere she wanted and all she wanted was a cheeseburger. So, that's what we did. Then we spent the next few hours going to every single shoe store in Hoover looking for this ONE pair of shoes that she was dying to have. Thankfully, we finally found a pair that she liked and that fit.

This girl had me laughing all night. I love it that she totally confident in herself. She even talked me into taking her to Toys R Us before heading home.

After we woke up and got ready we headed to IHop for breakfast. She couldn't resist the funny face pancakes.

Our day ended with manicures and pedicures. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of her fingers and toes because she got the cutest color with flowers and polka dots.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your day Abbie girl! I'm the luckiest Aunt in the world!

Dinner and a Movie

Well, today is the official last day of my vacation. It's been a week filled with all the laziness that I could possibly get in and more TV than should ever be allowed. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do on my last day and couldn't think of a better way to spend it than with my niece and nephews.

Our first stop was at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I think we had been sitting at our table for all of 20 seconds when Abbie dropped her drink and her cup busted on the floor.

A little later I noticed an older couple looking at our table and snickering. When I looked up, this is what I saw. James was lapping his ice cream up like a dog. I just about busted a gut laughing. Needless to say, we had to make a trip to the bathroom when it was all over to clean him up.

Next we headed over to movie theater to see Shrek. We were super cool in our 3D glasses. It was cracking me up to hear the kids laughing all through it - could possibly be the best sound in the whole world.

Loved today!

Rain, Rain

This is how my morning started at work. Seriously, I'm not making this up. DG came in and said, "WOW, you look different. It's like you have a niceness about you today." First of all, I'm not sure niceness is a word and secondly, what??? Do I not have a "niceness" about me everyday? I think that might have been some sort of backhanded compliment. He tried to do all the backtracking saying that's not what he meant but lets face it - sometimes I have PMS and I'm like the devil, so it was probably legit.

On another note, it appears we will be getting some rain. Between Ana, Bill, Claudette and whoever else, the rain - the glorious rain - should be coming any minute! I am in deep love with rain. I wish I had a tin roof...

My grandparents were always afraid of storms. Whenever one came and we happened to be at their house, they would wake us all up and make us go to the storm pit. Please note, the storm pit was not big. There was a twin bed, a couple of chairs a small table. I think it had a hurricane lamp with the oil. All the men would stand outside and watch the storm while we all huddled in that tiny space.

I wish I had been older so I could remember what all the women talked about. Were they excited because they got a chance to talk for a while or were they mad because they were probably going to be up all night and still have to take care of kids and chores the next day?

It's funny how memories like that flood my mind sometimes. I hope I never forget it.

Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.