Dinner with the Russells

Dade & I picked up Drake & Ashtyn and went to the VFW to have tacos with the family. Bridget and the boys stopped in, but had to get take out because Jax was not feeling well. Everyone was happy to be together and we had a nice visit. Our blogs were a hot topic of conversation. The gecko especially was a hit. Drake thinks Brent should get glow in the dark marker to stripe their backs, so we know which one is which. Jeri has dubbed the gecko "Gotcha Gecko." I'm glad everyone enjoys reading what we have to say. I got some peaches and cream corn from Jean to send to Brent. Drake thinks the crops will do so well over there, that the base will be over run with corn, lol. I'd have to see that to believe it.

I met a friend of the family tonight, Judy Myers, who was home visiting from Arizona. Denny & Jeri were there, too. It's always nice seeing everyone. It sure seems like we don't have long to visit, but I have to get Dade home to start his bedtime routine. He completes a checklist every night before he goes to bed in order to make the mornings easier. He IS NOT a morning person.

Ashtyn was doing well. She had a stomachache last Thursday, she said. I don't know if that is true or she was left out with everyone else being sick, lol. She's been doing testing this week. She's starting up dance again for the Spring & Summer. She & I are going to a "Crop for a Cause" at a scrapbooking store on Saturday. All proceeds go to benefit Easter Seals. For those who don't know, a crop is where a group of scrapbookers get together to work on their scrapbooks.....well, and buy a few things, too. :)

Drake still says he's doing well in school. He started explaining his current grades away, but Grandma Jean called him on it. I think he forgot she was once a teacher, lol. We're trying to stay on top of him anyway. He's back in Tae Kwon Do on a limited basis and is helping to teach the other kids. He's even learned to run a little with his brace on. Dade & I are going to his Scholastic Bowl meet in Avon next Tuesday. He has a tournament Saturday, but I'm spending the day with Ashtyn.

Dade has been in a little of a funk. He has been pushing the limits of Mommy's patience lately. He seems to have forgotten the rules of the house since Brent left. He came home today with worksheets on counting money. Then he read me two books on the way to Bushnell. I can't believe what they are teaching in kindergarten! He woke up while I was writing this with a pain in his knee. I gave him some motrin & explained growing pains to him. Heaven knows he could use a little growing.

I found a solution to "Are we there yet" in the Infiniti. Dade has that habit, along with what town are we in and are we in the middle of nowhere? This can get rather old with as much time as we spend in the car. I showed him the arrow and mapped route on the navigation system. The arrow is the car and the route is in a different color. That way, as long as there is yellow still left on the screen, he knows we still have a ways to go. He is beginning reading, so often times he can sound out the names of the towns either on the system or the sign. He know how to spell Farmington all on his own now. (He went to preschool in a town called Armington, so that helped it stick in his head). He loves that there is a checkered flag at the finish line and a picture of a home. If I could only teach him to read and understand the scale of the map now, lol.

When we first bought the Infiniti, the dvd for the navigation was not included. It took several weeks for the dealership to send us a copy. So, we had been in it awhile before we got to start using the system. The first time the woman on the system began talking to us, Dade was soooo shocked! Who is that lady? Brent, ever the jokester, said that it was Kim and she was a woman that the car place shrunk down and put in the dash of our car. Dade, the wide eyed five year old, was trying hard not to believe it, you could tell. But he really wanted to, lol. Then, fast forward about two weeks. We really hadn't mentioned the navigation any more. Dade walks in from school and wants to know who the lady in our car was. I have to think a little on it before I realize what he's talking about. Kim, I say. Well, in centers today we read a book by Kim Wilson, I bet that's her. ROFLOL It's important to have another Wilson around, I guess. He did have a terrible time with my name change.

Good news about Granny! The doctors in Iowa City said everything is pretty much status quo and they don't need to see her for 3 months. This is a day after we were told, yet again, that she was at the beginning of the end. I still don't understand exactly how opinions can differ so greatly from day to day, but I'm glad to keep her a while longer. Pa and her celebrate their 56gh anniversary on the 13th. I'm looking forward to spending AT LEAST the next fifty six years with my handsome husband! :D