Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
Yesterday, we got family pictures taken by Tamara Dee Photography at Shelter Gardens in Columbia. Tamara is a friend of ours and we were excited to send some business her way. It was a combined shoot of family pictures and Laura’s five-year pictures. Today, Tamara posted a few “teaser” photos on Facebook. I can’t wait to see the rest of them!
I went to St. Louis to meet up with Carol Tisdale today. Carol is a great friend from college and was the maid of honor in my wedding. I left about 12:30 for St. Louis and sent her a text to let her know I was on the road. We kept the location updates going all the way to St. Louis. We went to St. Charles for a little shopping, to dinner at Zia’s On The Hill (awesome Italian should anyone every need a great restaurant!), and shared lots of great conversation.
This was our before dinner wine at Zia’s while we waited on our table. The trip was so much fun and reminded me of why I miss Carol so much. She is a true friend that you can pretty much say anything to and there is no judgement. She’s also the type of person that you can go without seeing for a year and it’s like you were never apart. We both decided that we need to do this more often! Love her!
This morning, Laura had to have her hair in a ponytail and she had to have the PURPLE ribbon. She even said, “Mommy, I promise I’ll take the ribbon out before swim lessons, but the purple ribbon matches my shirt. I have to wear it!” So, ponytail with purple ribbon it is!
I bought John some Thomas the Tank Engine pajamas and he LOVES them. He wants to wear them all the time. I actually had to wash them in the middle of the week so he could wear them again. Silly boy….
The perpetual motion machine that we like to call John has been doing lots of somersaults lately. He gets this from the weekly visit at daycare by the Gymnastics Express bus, which is an old school bus outfitted to be a gym. The kids learn gymnastics and other sports. Both of them love it and it’s always interesting to hear what they learned that day.
Today was the visitation for Jim and Eileen Hammond. They were killed in a car accident on Saturday morning. Their daughter, Deanna, was a classmate of mine at Astoria. Over the years, they often were a second set of parents to me. I probably listened to them more than I did my own parents, because, really, what teenager listens to their own parents? I got to see them in May when I returned to Astoria for my 20-year high school reunion. When I saw Deanna and her parents, it was huge hugs and time spent talking to them about life. They were curious about my life, the kids, Andy. They just wanted to know everything. It was so great and I felt like I was really home. Jim even said, “It’s my second daughter! How are you big girl?” When I saw the news on Saturday on Facebook and then called my mom, I was so sad. My heart hurts for them and their family. I may not live in Astoria anymore, but there are countless people from that small town that influenced my life and Jim and Eileen were two of the best. My last memory of them as I was leaving Club 24 was them tearing up the dance floor with huge smiles on their faces. They may be gone, but I will never forget them.