Toadfrogs and Elephants

Jack seems to have finally settled into the household. He no longer goes 90 mph all the time. I think Madison taught him to play while outside and take naps while inside. Thank goodness!

I am writing this post strictly as a reminder to me. Wade and I have been using up all the small tubes of toothpaste we tend to accumulate. I don’t like mint toothpaste so I am using the regular paste and he has a mint flavor. We are on the last two tubes. I have just enough to brush my teeth tonight. The problem is I have been trying to remember to buy toothpaste for a week. If I don’t remember to get some today, I’ll be in trouble tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is church and we have to get up very early – too early to have time for a toothpaste run. If anyone happens to read this and wants to call and remind me to buy toothpaste – that would be awesome!

Wade drove home for lunch on Thursday and the serpentine belt in his engine slipped. Wade knew what was wrong, bought the necessary part, but couldn’t get the new belt in place. He was getting very frustrated (not so much fun for me). Then last night Michelle and Nate came over for dinner and Nate helped Wade fix his car. I walked outside to see why it was taking so long to BBQ the chicken and saw both of them covered in grease and under the car. They timed it perfectly and finished work on the car about the time the chicken needed to come off the grill. We enjoyed dinner and dessert (banana pudding for the boys and cookie dough for the girls). The boys played Nintendo for awhile and Michelle (with Jack in her lap) and I talked.

Jack is still with us and looking for a home. We’ve had lots of people interested, but no one has completed all of the paperwork yet. Jack has also become more adventurous. I let go of his collar a moment to unlock the back door (shock that it was actually locked, I know) and he darted. Then Madison quickly followed. I got Madison to stop fairly quickly with voice commands, but Jack just kept going. I took Madison home and then drove around to look for Jack. The nice policeman that was looking for speeders agreed to keep a look out for him. I finally happened upon him on a side street and he came when I called. Thank goodness – I was getting worried.

My favorite flowers are tulips. This is the first year I have been able to plant and have tulips bloom. If we’re still in the house next year, I plan to plant even more!

I also planted a few flowers in the front yard.

I drove up to Paducah on Tuesday, but Wade didn’t come till Thursday. His parents drove up to visit his grandparents in Paducah on Saturday morning. We decided to see everyone while we were in town and stopped at his grandparents’ house for lunch on Saturday. Then we continued our drive to Atlanta and met up with Laura and the other people attending the SEC for dinner at Morton’s. We spent the night in Atlanta and then had brunch with my dad and Laura before the championship game. The game was Arkansas versus Florida. The first half was kind of close and then Florida dominated. It was still a good time. Did I mention we had second row seats?

Funerals are never happy occasions, but being in Kentucky for so long allowed for lots of family time. Melissa and I live the farthest away – most of my mom’s family is within a 20 minute drive of Paducah. Most of the week was spent with at least part of the family. Addi is my cousin’s child and definitely got a lot of attention!

Here is a picture of my Grandma and me.

I got a call from my mom early yesterday morning that my grandfather had died. He and my grandma had been eating breakfast when he evidently had a heart attack. My grandmother got in touch with her sister who lives next door. Then they called the rest of the family. Thankfully, my sister was in town for job training. I drove up yesterday night and plan to stay through the weekend. Wade is coming up tomorrow. The visitation is on Thursday and the funeral is on Friday.

My granddad was a college educated dairy farmer. He and my grandmother continued to live on the farm even after the cows had all been sold. My granddad would have been 90 years old this Friday.