Mother's Day

Hope everybody had a great weekend. I sure did. I had a board meeting on Thurday night so was able to take the majority of Friday off as OD (off duty) time. I took care of some errands, etc., around town and 'got out of Dodge' around 1:15. I arrived at Barb's house about 4:30. Glad I have a key so that I was able to get in. She's suppose to get off work at 3:30 p.m. but had paperwork to do so I just moved all my junk inside and waited for her.

We made connections with Jim to find out what he and Mandy were doing for the evening. He was out with friends (a coworker was leaving) and Mandy was on her way to pick up Jayke. Jayke is Mandy's nephew from Council Bluffs. He spent the weekend with them. What a cutie!!

We stuck some laundry in (I always take my laundry to Ankeny)! We decided we were hungry so left a phone message for the kids and took off for Old Chicago. Had a little wait but did that at the bar and a great meal after. As usual there were plenty of leftovers so . . . Barb has lunch for a couple of days this week!!

Watched some movies when we got home. Have you ever seen "27 Dresses". It's a riot! One of the gals at work was just talking about it Thursday morning and when Barb said she had it, I had to see it! If you haven't seen, do. It's a really cute movie (chick flick!).

Our plans were to go to Farmers Market on Saturday morning, but it was raining nicely when we got up. Change of plans! We grabbed some breakfast and took care of some errands. Barb wanted to go flower shopping so we headed to Mernard's and bought flowers for her flower boxes. We even got them in the soil before we left for Jim & Mandy's. They look real good!! The sun finally came out later in the afternoon, but it sure was windy and cool. Rain came back for the evening hours.

I just had to go to the scrapbook store in Ankeny and pick up a few things. Scraping is my life!!! We also made a stop at the Dress Barn and got me some new tops for spring/summer. I'm hoping it soon gets warm enough to wear them. Can't wait.

I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking (surprise, surprise) and finally finished a book for Jackie (Mandy's mom). I had promised her one at the wedding. Mandy was checking it out when we took the picture of her and Jayke. Jayke found pictures of his mommy and his grandma. It was really fun watching him pick people out of the book. Hope Jackie enjoys it as much as I did putting it together.

We had lunch at Barb's. Did some more laundry and headed to Urbandale. Jim & Mandy gave us the grand tour of their home. It's great. They've done a marvelous job so far and have some great ideas for the future. I love it! I enjoyed my evening with my children. Jim grilled ribs (in the rain) and Mandy had stuffed potatoes, salad, burnt garlic bread (sorry Mandy, had to put that in) corn-on-the-cob (delicious) and fresh strawberries and bananas with a fruit dip. It was a fantastic meal. Mandy had just told Barb and I that she usually ends up burning the garlic bread -- about 2 minutes later that's just what happened. We ate most of it anyway!!! Jayke is a great kid to be around. He's very entertaining!! He's a very sweet little boy. I can see why Jim and Mandy love having him around.

Mandy & Jayke went to get movies while Barb and I tried out Jim's Wii game. Is that how you spell it? He has Guitar Hero II. What a hoot! Jim's pretty good at and Barb didn't do too bad either. I could really get into those games. I got booed off the stage the first two times I tried it but finally got all the way through one song and didn't die! It was fun. I want to try bowling next time. Beware Jim & Mandy I'll be back!!

We watched "P.S. I Love You" while Jayke watched "Sherk" and went to sleep. He's such a good boy. It continued to rain, but it was a great evening with my children.

Sunday was very windy. Barb lost her grill cover -- someplace. We looked around for it but didn't find it. At least her Iowa State and Cubs hangings didn't disappear. We decided to all go to the late church service together. Barb already belongs to St. Stephen's and it's just down the street from Jim & Mandy's house. Worked out real well. We went to the comtemporary service. Jayke enjoyed it. He was very good in church. Jim & Mandy bought me an orchid to wear to church and out for dinner. That was so sweet. I love flowers and they know it. Thanks so much kids!

Mandy wanted some pictures of us since it was Mother's Day and here are a couple of them. There's one with Barb, Jim and I too, but that's in Mandy's camera. I'm sure she'll send one on soon.

We had lunch together and then it was getting to be time to take off. Jim, Mandy and Jayke were going to McDonald's Playland until it was time to take him home too. Barb and I headed back to Ankeny and copied some pictures for me of Christmas. I'm a scrapbooking nut and wanted some pictures from a different angle than the ones I have. Hey family, if you have some good ones, let me know and I'll get some copies from you. Got packed up and left Ankeny around 3:30. Always takes longer than you think it's going to.

I faired pretty good on Mother's Day this year. Got a new shower curtain, and beautiful towels from Barb. I can now take down my snowman curtain. Barbie also bought me my shirts at Dress Barn. Thanks sweetie! I love all of it! Jim and Mandy got me a tower fan (with remote). My apartment is air conditioned but it's a window unit and he mentioned to Mandy that the bedrooms get pretty warm sometimes so they decided on the fan. I love it! I was thinking about buying one myself. Now I don't have too. Jim & Mandy also got me my orchid. It's lovely. It was a good Mother's Day weekend. Thanks guys. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hope we can do that again some time soon.

There, I finally wrote about something other than scrapbooking or how boring my life is. Things are looking up! Have a great week. Talk to you soon.