Sissy's Song

I love this song. It brings tears to my eyes but it's so true. It wouldn't be more perfect if Alan Jackson had written it for my Mom and my family.

Why did she have to go
So young I just don't know why
Things happen half the time
Without reason without rhyme
Lovely, sweet young woman
Daughter, wife and mother
Makes no sense to me
I just have to believe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

Loved ones she left behind
Just trying to survive
And understand the why
Feeling so lost inside
Anger shot straight at God
Then asking for His love
Empty with disbelief
Just hoping that maybe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

It's hard to say goodbye
Her picture in my mind
Will always be of times I'll cherish
And I won't cry 'cause

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me
Don't worry 'bout me
Don’t worry 'bout me

Aren't kids great?

There’s a spider on the outside of my window, which is directly in front of me. That doesn’t sound too unusual until you think about the fact that my office is on the 4th floor. I mean, that’s like 50,000 floors to a little spider. It’s a Super Spider! I’m just glad it’s on the outside… Anyway, that’s my random thought for the day. ;-)

I thought that I’d share some of Taylor’s more recent fiascos. They’re quite funny now that they are over with, and well, I want to be able to remember these stories so I can tell her when she has kids of her own. ;-)

Last night I was baking a pizza for dinner. Taylor was downstairs playing, or so I thought. When I called her up for dinner, she smelled slightly of Lysol. I thought maybe she had sprayed it in the bathroom trying to clean (she often sprays so much air freshener that I can smell it all the way out in the family room). When I asked her why she was playing with it, she said she was just trying to make her hair pretty. HER HAIR! She had sprayed it all over in her hair and evidently was brushing it too because I found my hairbrush next to the bottle in her room. How she didn’t spray it in her eye or face is beyond me.

That made me think of a time a week or so ago… Taylor had showered with me but I sent her out to get dressed while I finished rinsing off. When I got into my room, Bailie informed me that Taylor had put my deodorant in her hair! She said she was just trying to make the front straight (I do that to her hair everyday – push her bangs to the side and keep the rest curly…). It actually didn’t look half bad. lol

Last week when Grandpa had the girls home with him, Taylor decided to do a little seasoning. Yes, seasoning. I had made burgers the night before and the seasonings were all still out on the counter. I came home to find an entire bottle of salt, ¾ bottle of pepper, and a ton of seasoning salt all over the burners! When I asked her what the heck she did that for she said “Mom… I just wanted to cook like you do” in such a sweet little voice.

Hmmm. That’s all that I can think of for now but I’m sure I will have more to share later. Oh, there are a couple things she’s said that have made me laugh so hard…

A while back we were driving in the car when Taylor exclaimed “Mom!! Look!! My fingers can do the splits!” She was sitting in her seat stretching her fingers all apart.

Driving up our driveway, it gets pretty bumpy. She often points to my keys and says “Oh Mom! Your keys are dancing!”

Lastly, when she was with my dad a few weeks ago she discovered her calf muscle. She points to it and says “Look Grandpa, my leg is having a baby!”

LOL!!!!

Just another day...

I think Taylor called it when we walked out the door this morning and she announced: “Mom, it’s a stinky day today!” It did stink this morning and it’s continuing to stink.

Literally, the air outside is horrible. At home and at work! It’s disgusting. Then I got stuck in the elevator with two smokers. Yuck. Now I’m in my office and I swear to you it smells like alcohol. (And no, I haven’t been drinking!)

Figuratively, when it rains it pours. Why does it only pour when my boss is gone? My phone is ringing off the hook with questions and requests that I know nothing about! Engineering is here to pull cables from the ceiling for the new temp desks… but nobody bothered to fill me in on where they want them! Doctors are locking themselves out of the billing system. Yes, they’ve given me full access to everything on the system, but have they shown me how to reset someone’s password? Of course not. Lets not even talk about the people sharing my office who are talking nonstop and driving me crazy!

Anyway… here’s hoping the stink will let up soon. ;-)

Patricia Ann Epping

I made this a couple months ago... Just thought I'd share it here too.

Mondays. Ugh.

Wow. We had a very busy, but good weekend. Hope you all did too! (The Good, not necessarily the Busy.) ;-)

Our weekend in summary – Trip to Walmart to buy flowers; Amity Elementary Carnival; Hannah Montana, the movie; Shopping; lunch; Soccer game; Pizza party for soccer team; sleepover; movies; Church; lunch; playground; b-day party; planting flowers; shopping; dinner; Blazer game; movie. Whew! I’m tired just thinking about it all.

Like I said though, it was good. Bailie got to spend a lot of time playing with friends this weekend, which she doesn’t do often. Taylor had a blast being a pain in my you-know-what. I swear, this kid! She has such selective hearing… Anything that resembles “No!” she doesn’t acknowledge. But I can’t stay mad at her because her new thing, in addition to not listening, is to tell me that she loves me throughout the day at random times.

Matt was in Bend for the weekend, for a wedding. I wasn’t expecting him back until Sunday afternoon but he came home early… So that was really nice! J

You know, I was reading through some of my older blogs and there was a time or two when I made the comment “Time Flies!” or “Where has the time gone!” I swear I say, or at least think, on a daily basis how I can’t believe it’s already _______ (Thursday! The Second week of April! The end of April!)!!

It’s true. Time does go by really fast. We get caught up in the whirlwind of life… Work, weekend plans, kids’ school events, sports, etc. Before you know it, years have gone by. When did I become the mom of a 7 and 3.5 year old? It scares me to think how fast the next 7 years are going to go by. It makes me wonder… Am I spending enough time doing things I enjoy? Am I spending enough quality time with my kids? My friends & family? When I look back on this time, years from now, will I think “My life was good; I was happy; etc.” or will I think “I was merely surviving from day to day; weekend to weekend.” ??

What about you?

(Some soccer pics...)

Live, Laugh, Love.

This phrase is so common these days. You see it all over the place; bumper stickers, myspace, people say it all the time. So simple, yet so full of meaning. I've made this my life goal the last few months... Live - your life, not somebody elses. Do what makes YOU happy. Laugh - seriously, there aren't many things that are better than laughing so hard that you cry! And Love. Like the quote says "Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit."

So my last blog kind of left you hanging with the big surprise... And I'm sure anyone who actually knows me has heard all about it by now. My best friend Ashley and I surprised the girls with a trip to Disneyland. We had the BEST time. Keeping it quiet for 2 months was the hardest thing to do, but seeing their reaction when we told them made it all worth it. The girls were both so well behaved on the airplane and pretty much the whole trip. It was great to get out of town with Ashley too! We don't get to spend as much time together these days so we had a good time catching up.

Bailie is getting very close to the end of her first grade year. Wow. Where does time go?! She is 7 already and man does that make me feel old. Last week I had a conference with her teacher and walked away feeling so, SO proud of my little girl. It was such a blessing because after the last two conferences I have walked away fighting back tears. She had such a rough start to this school year but she has worked hard and it shows in all areas of her life. Socially, emotionally, academically. Bailie is such a strong willed child and she always has been. It makes life challenging sometimes now but she is going to go places in life.

You know, God really does have a sense of humor. And you know that saying... God only gives you as much as you can handle? I have come to know this is true. When one of the girls acts up, the other one behaves like an angel. Then she shapes up and it's like the other one starts up where she left off. I mean, Thank You God for not letting them both be totally defiant at the same time but couldn't they just both be angels every once in a while? lol

Taylor has been SUCH a handful the past few weeks. Anybody with young children (under 2) who has been warned about the Terrible Twos... Get ready! Two is nothing compared with Three. (And unfortunately, I know that four isn't a whole lot better. lol) Anyway, I just have to constantly remind myself that she is only three years old. She's testing her limits by pushing my buttons. However, she is still doing wonderfully at preschool and she's learning lots! She only has a month left but will be returning next fall, three days a week. It's funny also, how she has become quite the little snot lately but she's been so sweet at the same time. For a couple weeks everytime I would pick her up from her dad's house she would cry (real tears!) that she didn't want to go home with me. Even at daycare, she would not be excited to go with me. I tried not to take it personally but it really hurt my feelings! Lately though, she's been running to me with arms open wide. She's all about the random kisses and I Love You's. This is the sweet little girl that I know... except with a weird defiant twist. ;-)

Next up... I am excited to tell you all about the new special person in my life. Matt and I started talking just over two months ago and we've been pretty much unseparable since. He is a truly amazing person and I really don't know how I got so lucky to have found him. Two months doesn't sound like very long but it feels like I have known Matt my entire life. You all know, if nothing else, about my previous marriage that it obviously did not end well. It's made it difficult to not only trust another person but to find someone who meets all my expectations. Hey, I'm allowed to be picky, right? It's safe to say that Matt's not only met but surpassed any expectation I had and he has proved himself to be very trustworthy... which is huge for me.

You know, my theory on happiness is that you determine your own. If you have a positive outlook on life and surround yourself with good (people, things, etc.), you will be happy. If you are always thinking the worst, chances are you won't be happy. I thought I was happy two and a half months ago... and to some extent I was. But today I can say that I am so happy with my relationship with Matt that it really reflects on the quality of all aspects of my life. I can be having a bad day at work or having a hard time with the girls, and all it takes is a simple text message to put a smile back on my face.

Ahhhhh...... Anyway, at some point I need to stop typing so that I can go to bed!

I guess I'll finish up by saying I am soo excited for summer! The weather last weekend was so awesome but it was really just a big tease! lol. We have some fun plans for this summer. Lots of camping, some white water rafting, spending time with my sister and her family (who we haven't seen since last summer), seeing extended family who we haven't seen in much longer... Good times, good company... Just good. Hope you are all doing good too. ;-)

Back to Blogging!

I've been on hiatus in case anybody noticed. Sometimes I get caught up in this thing called life and forget about the small things like blogging. I love reading other people's blogs though and think maybe one or two people might enjoy reading mine. :-) So I'm book marking this thing and am going to try so very hard to keep it somewhat up-to-date. No promises though.

Lets see... Where do I even begin summarizing the last 6 months?

Bailie is halfway through her first grade year. She had a bit of a rough start in the beginning (I think a lot of it had to do with the transitions with seeing her dad more during the summer to not so much during the school year and some relationship issues he was having at the time), but she has come SO far. I am very proud of her for all her hard work... She received an excellent report card a couple weeks ago and it made me tear up. Her teacher has been wonderful this year... She's one tough cookie but she pushes Bailie to be the best that she can be.

Bailie played soccer last fall and although she hates running, she's pretty good. I'd love to take credit but I think she inherits the athletic gene from her dad. ;-) We're starting up spring soccer this week. She's been losing teeth like crazy and has most of her permanent ones coming in at the front of her mouth... she has the typical toothy grin. She is also quite the fashion diva. Loves to pick out her own outfits (gets mad if I do it), loves all the pretty little accessories, etc.

Taylor has grown SO much since August. Just looking at the pictures, she looks much older now. Her vocabulary has probably tripled since then and so has her coordination. lol. I put off enrolling her in preschool last fall because I felt she was still a little young and was discouraged by the fact that a few of the preschools didn't want to enroll her early (her birthday is a week after the cutoff). However, I was calling around looking for schools for next fall and decided to just go ahead and start her at the Amity Preschool now. She started at the beginning of February and she absolutely LOVES it! I was so proud of her on her first day... Even at church she cries a bit when I leave. At school, she gave me a kiss and said "Bye Mommy" then went off with her teacher. Didn't even look back. It was a bitter sweet moment. Her teacher gave rave reviews at the end of the day. She thought for sure Taylor had been in preschool already - she settled in so nicely.

Both girls have recently been sick with colds... but poor Taylor really got the brunt of it. That kid is almost too tough for her own good. One day she had a very slight fever of 100.1. I am very hesitant to give medication unless absolutely needed so without any meds the fever went away and she slept great. Next day she woke up from a nap crying that her ear hurt. Cried for all of 2 minutes. I decided to take her to the dr just to get it checked.... Sure enough, one "bad" ear infection and one "horribly bad" ear infection PLUS bronchiolitis. After a few days of antibiotics and an inhaler, she's doing much better...

We have a very special trip coming up very soon but I can't reveal details because it's a surprise. So stay tuned for pics in the next couple weeks!

(Oh and as for me... I've just been working away. My job is going great and I'm still loving it. I've been really blessed that during this tough economy, my job is not at risk. **knock on wood** lol. Spending time with the girls when I have them; relaxing and recouping when I don't.)

Until next time...