My Cousin Joe Got Married

Doesn't that sound like it should be a movie title? Viewing the good looking people in these pictures, you'd think it was a movie. 

This past Saturday, the 26th, we drove down to Cincinnati (this was the night before we locked ourselves out of the house) to Joe & Terri's wedding. The wedding was in the evening so we started out around noon. We planned on driving back that night after the reception though so we knew to stock up on coffee, no worries. This picture is Deb and her husband Steve -Joe's mom and dad. 

Deb is my 2nd cousin's dog's owner's best friend's daughter. Okay, Deb is my first cousin.  (happy Karla??)  Though I don't have a picture, Joe has a brother Josh. I grew up with Joe and Josh and when we were little Josh made up a new word- "Donnlywashore". Joe and I

particularly found this word to be intriguing and we laughed a lot about it. We have abbreviated to spare ourselves strength and started calling each other DW. (not realizing of course, that is now Dawson's initials). Life is grand.

This picture is my Aunt Iney & Uncle Chuck (Joe's grandma/grandpa). They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on the day Jason and I got married.

Speaking of anniversaries, my sister Bobbie got to come to the wedding. She and her husband David were celebrating their anniversary!

How many years has it been Bobbie? (purely random: they had a cat named Fletcher that lived with Jason and I and he lived to be 21 years old!) I didn't know that Bobbie was going to be able to make it to the wedding. This made me very excited. Excited enough to get my picture taken with her.

Poor little Dawson got pretty wiped out by the time we made it to the reception. And boy was it an AWESOME reception. Decorated so beautifully and they had a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!

The last few pictures are random pictures of me with Joe and Bobbie.

Congratulations Joe and Terri!

Whose Fault Is It?!

We were patiently waiting for Jason's dad to arrive. He flew into Indy from Colorado Springs, rented a car and headed our direction. We knew he should get to our house pretty late on Sunday night. Boy were we excited. But, by now it's about 9:30 p.m. and I'm getting tired. So we decided to pop in Rush Hour to bide our time while we wait...It's about 11:00 p.m. Rush Hour is over and still no call from Greg and I'm falling asleep. So Jason tells me I can go ahead and go to bed if I want to. He went to go call his dad. Of course I can't sleep now! Then I hear Jason saying "Oh! You're in Avilla?" And I see 2 headlights pulling up to house!!

Then it happened...

The following transcripts are provided to you by someone incredibly...wiser

  

Joy: Look! You're dad's here! (as I'm running gleefully toward the door)

Jason: mumble mumble (I don't remember what he said because by this time I have the door swung wide open and I'm running outside, barefoot, in my pajamas to meet Greg)

Joy: Hi Greg! It's so good to you! blah blah! (I give him a hug) Can I help with your luggage?

Jason: Joy! You left the door wide open (turns off the porch light) and the porch lights are attracting all the bugs! They're coming inside! (He slams the door shut and comes out to meet us. He is barefoot also, and has on only a pair of shorts).

Greg: I only have one bag and my briefcase and that's it so I really don't need much help.

Joy: Oh, okay then, (by now I'm at the door ready to go in)

Jason & Greg: mumble mumble (I really don't hear what they're saying due to the next event)

Joy: Um... THE DOOR IS LOCKED.

Jason: What?! You better be kidding.

Joy: No. I'm not kidding. (frantically jiggling the door handle thinking it will open due to my worried tone and strain)

*EDITOR'S NOTE: Who shut the door?...

  

Jason & Joy: (angrily) This is YOUR fault! It's not My fault! YOU are the one that shut the door! YOU were the one who came outside through the front door! How are we going to get inside? Dawson is inside sleeping! (grumble grumble)

*a few moments pass

Joy: Why don't we just call the police. We'll call the non-emergency line and see if there is anything they can do...



Crime Scene Picture: Door knob after hole drilled through it.

To make a long story short..

Thank goodness for cell phones! Greg called the non-emergency line for the police and they sent somebody over to check on us. Officer K. Houser arrives on the scene. We fill him in and after determining that there is in fact, no other way in, he makes a phone call to the Locksmith.

By now, it's about 11:30 p.m.  The locksmith is going to arrive in about 10-15 minutes. After discussing the situation with the cop and laughing about it we notice all the neighbors out on their lawns thinking "oh look, someone was partying harder than us!" While Jason yelled out "it's okay, we locked ourselves out of the house!" The cop informs us that the locksmith is really good and on all the calls he has been too (this gave me some comfort knowing this has happened to other people) they have been able to pick every single lock... (foreshadowing -now our lock!) The locksmith arrives and after about an hour, determines he cannot pick our lock. So he drills a hole trough the lock barrel (see crime scene photo one) opened our door and tells us they (he and his son) will be back sometime tomorrow. It is now 12:30 a.m. I run and check on Dawson who is still sleeping and none-the-wiser.

Monday at 1:30 p.m.

(enter: Earl & Fred)

Yes, his name is Earl and he looks like he stepped out of a silent film into our home, BUT he got our door open. He son Fred, is on the left and they do all their work together.

They fixed the lock.

Thank you Earl and Fred!

THE BULLY

Meet Dawson.

Convicted of bullying in the first degree.

I am admitting into evidence Exhibit A.

(see below)

EXHIBIT A

The note in question is what I found in Dawson's diaper bag on Friday when I got home from work.

Recently I spoke with Kim, his current daycare teacher (the one who wrote the note) and she tells me the following story:

quote

"Evan (he is about 2 months younger than Dawson) was standing over there (points in general direction) and Dawson just walked right over and pushed him from behind. Then Evan moved to the other side of the room and was sitting the floor "reading" and Dawson just walked right over and SAT ON HIM."

unquote

Upon further investigation, I have come to the conclusion that I think it's a set-up. My son is being framed!

If you have inside information, please call the hotline with your tips.

1.800.DGW.FREE

Okay, so I talked to Kim who said Dawson has only just now started exhibiting this behavior. Before, Evan and Graceson (the other toddler) both were coming up to Dawson and taking things from him, to which he would get mad -but that's about it. Finally he decided to stick up for himself and not only would he get mad, but he would take it to the next level and get his toy back! Now, I'm afraid he has decided to divide and conquer. Someone call Super Nanny quick!

At least he's not biting.

Wait a Minute Mister Postman

 My sister-in-law got me a singing Hallmark card. When you open the card it plays "wait a minute mister postman". Dawson was enthralled with the card. he would open it and hold it open walking around the house with it and swaying like he was trying to dance and walk at the same time. 

He couldn't seem to keep the music playing enough while he walked so he would get frustrated. Finally he wore the card out and we could have it laying flat on the ground and the music still wouldn't' play. I didn't figure I should teach him to trip the trigger wire for fear he would tear the thing apart and eat the whole mechanism, thereby requiring us to live with a mini version of the Marvelettes belting out wait a minute mister postman until he pooped it out.

Look at this little handsome fella! Handsome just like his daddy!

We have a box of hand-me-down infant shoes at home and I was rummaging through it trying to find a pair of dress shoes for Dawson. I found these cookie monster slippers in there so I had Jason put them on him. I think Dawson likes them!

Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's Day!

Happy Motherhood to all my mommy friends.

This year, I made Jason take 1,000 pictures of me with Dawson on Mother's Day.

Would you like to know why?

While I was working on Dawson's scrapbook many months ago, I was ready to work on the MOMMY page. The page devoted to ME, Dawson's MOMMY! I happened to remember that I was a mommy on Mother's Day 2006.

So I searched and searched and we had NO PICTURES TO PROVE I WAS A MOMMY ON MY VERY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY!

(notice the emphasis in all caps).

I don't know what we were thinking, because I remember that Jason's mom was here to visit and I know I got a mug with a picture of Dawson and I on it and a mouse pad with a picture of Dawson on it that says "I love you mommy!".

But no pictures of Dawson and I to commemorate that day signifying many hours of pain-free labor thanks to an epidural. Now I'm over it. No use dwelling on the past, right?

Anyway,

This past weekend Jason and I had a garage sale at my mom's house. That was my mother's day gift to her. Getting rid of all my junk. Just kidding. We did make some money though. Friday was a steady stream of garage salers out for a bargain. Saturday, we got no love. We even had drive-bys! They drive by slowly, scoping out the scene but turn around and drive away like we are garage sale lepers. What are these people doing, planting false hope into the minds of innocent garage sale tenders trying to make an easy buck? If they had just stopped, I could have talked them into a lovely candle holder, complete with candle! -on sale for only $1.00. Or how about a nice hand-me-down shirt for your wife?

Too bad for you!

Well...

And a happy Mother's Day to my mama and Jason's mama. We love you~

Dawson's One Year Pictures

Last weekend we took Dawson for a one year photo op. He woke up that morning whiny, coughing and sneezing but we already had the appointment and a very cute outfit picked out so I determined he would be HAPPY. ON the way to Ft Wayne I asked Jason to quickly stop at CVS so that we could pick up some cough medicine for Dawson to help him out so that he wouldn't be wheezing during the pictures. I ran in, bought the medicine and realized it's the drowsy kind. But I had already opened it and when I asked the lady at the counter if I could exchange it, she said I could but they did not have the kind I wanted in non-drowsy! Ugh. So I gave it to him anyway because I didn't want him tot have snotty pictures. WE get there and have to wait for quite a while until we're told it's Dawson's turn. So far so good.He was running around the photo store like a Tasmanian devil. We encouraged him to smile for the pictures but at this point all he wants to do is play with the equipment or props set up around the room. Just a little grin Dawson! I even brought him an extra really cute shirt with a vest to change him into. But to no avail. Needless to say we were VERY lucky to get these pictures. We threw him a ball, squeezed a rubber ducky and yelled his name in the happiest way possible until we were ready to pass out. He sure is cute though, isn't he? He forgot about his coughing fit and sneezing spasms. The big problem came when it was time to choose the pictures. Thank you to my wonderful husband for taking the time to choose them, otherwise we would have left Sears in the negative on the happiness radar. Dawson got grumpy so I had to strap him into the stroller and make the Sears appliance section (attached to the photo center) look like a child wonderland. Oooooh Dawson! Look! A refrigerator! Don't' you wish we had one like that? ...

Baby Talk

Tuesday morning while I was getting ready for work, I could hear Dawson just jabbering away as he was walking down the hallway. Soon, he arrived in the bedroom and was telling me "Ba da dada boo dao da?" I wanted to make sure he knew I was listening so I replied "Bo da dee ba boo boo da da." And Dawson starts crying and walking over to me with his hand raised wanting up!!

What did I say?

Dawson loves being outside. He cries when he can't go out and he cries when he has to come in. Last weekend Jason and I were working out in the yard. Jason was watering the grass and I was watching Dawson push his walker around pretending like he was mowing. Well he saw Jason drinking water from the water hose. So he goes walking over and Jason offered for him to try it. And he did! Then Dawson just starts sticking his hand in front of the spigot and the next thing we know, he is covered in water from head to toe. The water was actually kind of cold so I was pretty surprised he was enjoying it so much. He would feel the water, have a shocked look on his face, and then want more. And here's a picture of my little sleeping rock star...