I'm back!

Well, it has been a while. What have I been up to? Quite a bit. Last week I went Up North to take care of my mother, who is very sick right now and no one knows what is wrong. She is waiting for tests and is slowly getting her strength back now. While I was there Emm and Char visited my Aunt, Uncle and cousins Down South. Emm ran outside on their acreage for two days and had a blast. Char was spoiled rotten--she got to snuggle between my aunt and uncle in their bed when she woke up at night. My aunt did the impossible and weaned Emmett off his bedtime water bottles. I really must send her flowers for that. My van took some damage when a tree jumped out into my mom's driveway--the driver-side window exploded all over me. Amazingly, I only ended up with a very tiny scratch. I got the pleasure of a 4-hour drive home with a sheet of plastic flapping in my ear since it was a long weekend and Richard wanted to replace the window himself when I got home to save some cash. The autobody shop guys Up North were super and vacuumed out my van and taped up the window and didn't charge me a thing.

I got home just in time to throw my bags in a corner and get ready for two Easter celebrations. Here are some pics from the Easter-egg hunt at Grandma Lynn's:

It was the first sunny, hot day of spring .
Char hates wearing a sun hat, but you can still see scalp through her hair, so she will just have to get used to it! Emm wouldn't look up at the camera until he had eaten all of his Easter eggs.
How nice that Grandma has a sandbox in her back yard!! (Emmett is still chewing.)
We all came home a little sunburned. (Where did I put the sunscreen???)

Sunday was spent with Grandpa W, Grandma Holly, Uncle Devon, Auntie Steph, Auntie Rachel, Nanny Mabel and Uncle Bill. (whew!) We had brunch, played in the park and ate pizza and birthday cake (it is Richard's birthday) Grandpa W and Uncle Bill put together Richard's birthday gift: a spanky bike trailer/jogger Emmett sat in it to eat his dinner last night. We couldn't get him out of it. We took it for a test drive today and the kids love it. I do to--you can pack a lot of groceries in the back and around the kidlets!!

We are not going to talk about what these past two days are doing to my Weight watchers journaling. I lost 4 pounds last week so if I don't lose any this week it won't be too bad. I am just hoping that I didn't gain. I am working very hard at getting right back on track.

In bridesmaid dress news, I sent my measurements in so that the dresses can be ordered. I got a call from a salesperson at the bridal shop. They wanted to ask me if, based on my measurements, I was PREGNANT and that they couldn't figure out what size to order me. What the F@#& is wrong with these people???? It is their job to know what dress to order. I cannot be the first woman in the history of bridesmaids to not have model-perfect measurements. I had to assure the twit at the bridal shop that I was losing weight and would be able to fit into what ever dress they ordered. Between having samples with ripped zippers and clueless salespeople it is going against everything I believe in to give my money to this store.
Note to those readers who have not met me in real life: I am not morbidly obese. I carry my excess weight around my waist. My arms and legs are relatively slender and since I have upped my exercise and dropped a few pounds I actually have muscle definition in my legs. My belly is just quite poochy. I had two babies 23 months apart--what do you expect??

Since coming home from my Mom's house I have been keeping myself busy re-organizing and purging my house of excess junk. I have quite a sizeable pile of stuff in my basement to give away. I am trying to decide if I should just donate my junk or if it is worth the trouble to have a yard sale myself. How much cute new clothing (in a smaller size) can I get for my old stuff?