Piper

We had to put one of our cats, Piper, down this morning.  She had developed heart failure and I couldn't let her suffer.  She and her twin brother came to live with me thirteen years ago this coming Tuesday when they were only six weeks old.  They were my first babies.

While outwardly I behaved to everyone as though I thought she just had a cold, in my heart, I knew.  I sat with her last night and told her how much I loved her and that I wouldn't let her suffer.  I thanked her for all the love she had given me over the years and thanked her for helping to keep me warm on cold nights.  Almost always it is Andrew who takes care of vet appointments, but as I pulled out of the driveway this morning it reaffirmed what I already knew.  She wasn't coming home, and it was this weekend so that I would be the one there with her.  It was supposed to be that way because I was the one with her in the beginning.  She meowed and meowed the entire way there, just like she did the day I brought her home.  That's how she got the name "Piper", because she wouldn't pipe down on the entire drive home.  She was also the stronger one of the two in the beginning and little Wally followed her everywhere, just like the Pied Piper.  She hadn't like to sit on my lap in the last year or so, but today she sat there and just let me pet her, in fact nearly demanded that I pet her.  She even let me hold her in my arms before I had to sign the papers and she NEVER liked to be held.  I know that she knew too.

I know without a doubt, that it was time and it was the right thing to do, but it sure does feel like it stinks right now.  The hardest part is that my children are hurting, and I can't take away their pain.  I know in the big scheme of life that this is not a tragedy and overall life is pretty good.  But for today, I'm going to allow myself to cry...a lot.

Keeping life in perspective

I'm trying very hard to do a better job of keeping life in perspective.  While things continue to be a little stressful, my life is full of immeasurable blessings.  I know that everyday.  This morning, I was really struggling to get out of bed because I have a bad head cold.  As I was beginning to force myself to get up, I said a prayer of Thanksgiving that the biggest health concern in my own personal life right now is a head cold.  Then I remembered to be thankful that I needed to get up for a job that I enjoy out of the very warm toasty bed in which I had slept well, so that I could wake my amazing children in our warm house.  It definitely helps to keep things into perspective

And here we are at the weekend!  Andrew has taken Thomas camping with scouts and I loved getting to see the joy on my little guy's face as he took on a lot of the responsibility himself of getting things ready.  Catherine and I spent some girl time together while Robert is at ball practice this evening.  The quiet of the house right now helps me to be even more grateful for the life that is mine before we face some more craziness tomorrow!

It's beginning to settle

We are starting to feel a little calmer around here.  Dad was hospitalized for 11 days and was finally released yesterday.  He's still very weak, but at this point feels he strong enough not to need home health care.  I guess we'll see if he's right or not.  I worry about my mom overdoing it, or even not being physically strong enough and they both end up being hurt from a fall or some other accident.

Thomas chipped his tooth two weeks ago.  Fortunately, the dentist said it was a clean break and they were able to reattach the tooth since it lined up perfectly.  We go back today to confirm that all seems well for the time being.

There have been several other highly stressful situations we've been facing which, for the privacy of my children, I'm not going to go into here.  Things remain rather unsettled and I wouldn't mind a spare prayer headed our way.  I'm sorry to be vague, but it's just not for publication.

I've been working lots and lots for which I'm very grateful.  At times it helps to take my mind off of things, and of course it's necessary to pay the bills!  At other times it feels so overwhelming and out of control because it adds to the stress, but the school year is winding down and we'll get through it.

I apologize again for being away so long and not updating the blog.  I want the blog to be a happy place, and the last two weeks it was very tough to find happiness.  I didn't even want to look at the blog and be reminded of all the happiness...yep, that's how tough the last couple of weeks have been.  But as I said, things are beginning to settle, and we are all seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  And the fact that spring seems to actually be around to stay certainly helps us all to feel better!

I've stayed away on purpose

I'll be honest, I've purposely stayed away from my blog for nearly two weeks.  It's been a pretty lousy two weeks in our family...in fact one of the most stressful two weeks I've experienced in a long time.  Please know the kids are all right, and for the most part everything can be dealt with and it will pass.  But I prefer my blog to be a relatively happy place, and life just hasn't been overly happy lately.  Things are beginning to settle though, and hopefully I'll feel more like writing again (and in a happy way) soon!

Remembering Grace

Today would be the 11th birthday of Catherine's classmate Grace who passed away on Thanksgiving.  It's pretty easy for me to remember, as today is also my sister's birthday.  Her family decided to throw a birthday party in her honor for families who wished to share in remembering and honoring her.  They had it yesterday at the town park and there was a bouncy castle, sno cones, face painting and balloon animals.  It was supposed to rain, but it ended up being a perfect afternoon.  Right before it was scheduled to end, they did a balloon release.  Yellow was Grace' favorite color, and it was very moving to watch so many yellow balloons floating into the sky.  Our prayers are with the family today as they remember their very special Grace.

Our spring break

We had a fabulous spring break, although it's gone entirely too fast (but then, doesn't time off always go too quickly?)!  This was the first time in five years that both our school district and my husband's district have been off at the same time.  We had to take advantage of it!  In order to keep things within our tight budget, we decided on a trip to Indianapolis.  We set out Wednesday morning, and the kids were amazed that we arrived so quickly.  After all, any other trip we've taken was AT LEAST four hours, and we were at our destination in two!

Our first stop was the home of our 23rd President, Benjamin Harrison.  I was especially excited about this, as he is a fellow Miami grad.  That tour took about an hour and then we checked into our hotel.  Normally we prefer to stay in a Residence Inn because it gives everyone a bed (even if it's a sofa bed) and there is more than one TV.  Not in the budget though, so we stayed at a Cambria Suites.  Shout out to them...the room was AWESOME!  There was a good sized sitting area with a couch, chair, and desk, and then there was the sleeping area with two double beds.  Since we were planning to do lots of sight seeing, it was perfect.  After dinner the kids did some swimming, and everyone was in bed early for our adventures the next day.

We decided to visit the Indianapolis Zoo.  Of course since it was spring break week, it was absolutely packed.  I'm also pretty spoiled, because Cincinnati has a great zoo.  Everyone enjoyed seeing the animals, but we all agreed, we have a pretty good zoo right here at home.  After the zoo we decided to drive around downtown a little bit and decided to walk into the state capital building.  We were able to watch some debate in the Indiana State House of Representatives and even was able to watch them take some votes.  We are such Social Studies geeks in our house!  As we were heading out, Andrew mentioned that he would like to know where the governor's office is located.  A gentleman heard us and took us to the inner chambers of Governor Pence's office.  While we were there, the governor walked out of his meeting, and we were all introduced and got to shake his hand.  WOW!  I'm not sure the kids understood what a big deal it was to get to shake hands with a state governor, even if it isn't our state!  After dinner there was a little more swimming, and the kids, even though they were tired, had some trouble falling asleep after all the fun.

On Friday we visited  Conner's Prairie.  It's an interactive "museum", but more like a living history site.  They had a camp set up to replicate the Lenape (Delaware) Indians, and then we toured Wm. Conner's house and barn.  The barn was the highlight for Thomas.  Some farm babies had been born recently and all were available for petting!  I wasn't sure we were ever going to get Thomas out of that area!  They also have an area that is a re-enactment of Captain Morgan's raid on Indiana.  It has a theatrical experience where the visitors are in the store and we get to experience the "raid".  That was definitely Thomas's least favorite part, and I don't think Catherine was a big fan either.  The final section is a prairie town in 1836, and all the characters "live" there, so they "know" nothing about our modern conveniences.  I think the kids were a little confused when they told one of the characters that we were from Ohio and the person exclaimed that it must have taken us days to get there.  We had dinner on the ride home and everyone tumbled into bed very, very tired.

For Andrew and I, this was the very first trip ever we had taken that involved only the five of us.  Every single other trip has involved going with others or visiting others.  We aren't complaining at all, those trips have all been wonderful and we wouldn't trade them for anything!  At the same time, we commented that it was also really fun to be able to do what we wanted when we wanted, and if plans changed it didn't matter...no one else was effected.  We absolutely had a blast!  Because of the timing and exorbitant costs of scout and sporting camps this summer, we were thinking about not taking a family vacation.  Now however, we realize that we are only going to have this time with our kids for so long and then they will be grown and on their own.  We are hoping we can squeeze in an expensive quick trip somewhere, sometime...we love making these memories with our kids!

Our Easter weekend

We had a very nice Easter weekend.  In fact, it was probably my favorite in years and I have very good memories from it.  And memories is all I've got because I took not one photo.  For one thing, Easter morning was a rainy and cold, so while we were dressed nicely, we were cold and wanted to change quickly into warmer clothing.  And for another, I just wasn't up to the whining and protests that I knew would inevitable occur.

There was no school for Andrew and Robert on Friday, and I didn't work either.  I spent the day cleaning the house because my in-laws arrived late Friday night.  Of course, they arrived in the middle of Andrew and I trying to figure out why our sink wasn't draining.  What we didn't realize is that in the process of trying to drain our sink the water was backing up into our laundry room and causing a little flood.  Yippee Skippee.  We had a fairly uneventful Saturday of breakfast and a big Easter dinner that evening.  Sunday morning we attended the 8AM Mass (WAY too early, but my idea).  Andrew's parents were heading back that day and wanted to get on the road by early afternoon.  I decided (and Andrew agreed) that if they weren't going to be around for the day that we might as well spend the afternoon with my family.  We were able to visit with both grandmothers, my parents, and my sister.  My dad was actually feeling pretty well, and the sun even came out in the middle of the afternoon.

That evening we allowed the kids to just hang out and we did the same.  All-in-all, it was a fun Easter!