It's Been Great

Last night as Sean and I were eating dinner at McCormick and Smick's (YUMMO!) I told him I think this wedding anniversary is the best one so far.

We have had some not-so-exciting anniversaries, and I guess I could consider this one of them. Nothing real big or exciting, but a reminder of how lucky we are. We have each other and two precious boys we love more than we can say. Our path in married life has not always been great or easy, but it's been united. We have come to realize we can handle anything as long as we have each other, and we are thankful!

We Are Family

What a day...Max and Myles took toys to the basement when we were picking things up after dinner. When they came up, one of them said it was wet in the basement. WHAT??? I headed downstairs to find exactly what I feared...water. Water was sitting in our furnace room, and unfortunately we have had this happen before! My handy-dandy husband is currently on a guys golfing trip, so I immediately called my dad. Seriously, my parents are by far, the best in the world. Both of them dropped everything and came over with ax and shop vac in tow!

We have a very large "mature" tree in our front yard that has long roots. They grow toward water which so happens to be our water line! They grow enough to clog the pipe and it basically cuts off all water flow out of our house. Normally, Sean would go down in the manhole in our front yard and cut the roots, and freeing the water. Since there was no Sean around, I decided I should call the city to come out to take care of it.

Long story (and way too much water) short, the city workers went in the manhole and cut the roots. They also gave me some powder to put in the toilet to flush that will help kill other roots in the path of the water. Unfortunately when this happens, the city is not at fault...we, the homeowners, are responsible.

I had also called Kelly to see if she would come pick up the boys so we could clean up the basement. After watching all of the excitement, she ended up taking them home with her which helped us a lot.

We vacuumed water for what seemed like forever, and I was at Lowe's at 9:45 pm buying a dehumidifier that has run nonstop. I've emptied it 3 times and I'm sure there will be many more. Looks like we will also be investing in new carpet soon. We need to get this place fixed up and get the &*%$ out of Dodge!!!! It seems like it's always something around here...

All I can say is: I have the best damn family. I know my brother-in-law would have been here in a heartbeat too, but he is out of town on business. I'm so very thankful I've been blessed with all of them!!

A Job Well Done

I learned a few things on our trip to Jamaica.

1. It's absolutely beautiful. It was picture perfect, the weather was perfect, and the resort was perfect.

2. I have an awesome best friend and husband...we had a great time with our friends, but it was especially fun to be able to spend so much of our time together. He's the same fun guy I met so many years ago...only we have decided we can't seem to drink as much or stay up as late as we once did...at least not for more than one in a row! :)

3. A job is worth doing well. Yes, I've known this last one, and I preach it to my students. Nothing was more clear to me than when I stopped to watch the employees on the resort. All were clean-cut and well dressed. All worked hard and were friendly. All seemed to appreciate and enjoy their job.

There were many employees who broke out in song during our stay at Secrets. I was amazed by the voices and the courage to do what they seemed to love. Why did they do it? I think they were happy and wanted to show the world what they can do! There was not a single employee, and there were TONS of them, who did not seem to enjoy and appreciate his job. Each was willing to go above and beyond the expectations and was sincere and friendly. As we flew home, Sean and I both commented about this. I know the scenery is amazing, so that is something that leads to the happiness. However, these people came from a poor, poor world. Yet, they would never let you know it by their actions. (For instance, the guy above was the cook at the Japanese restaurant where we spent our birthday evening. He was entertaining, happy, friendly, and cooked a great meal. He also told us he has to ride a bus one hour each way to work!) Here's the kicker...these employees know tips are not encouraged! So they do their job for the sake of doing their best. Amazing.

It is my hope that one day the McDaniel boys will be the kind of employee I witnessed at Secrets. No job is too small or too little. All are important. Just like human beings.

More Evidence of Growing...

Here are Myles and Max before their first Building Blocks Spring Program. (It was a western theme.)

Below are the boys before their second program. I guess I did not get one of them together.




Now look how big they are this year!! They are becoming sweet, responsible boys. We're so proud of them!

The Newest Kindergartners

These are two pictures I took of Max and Myles on the first day they went to Building Blocks. As usual, they were not excited to have me take their picture.


Here they are on their last day at Building Blocks. (Myles is standing on the sidewalk, so he looks taller!) We celebrated the last day by going to Orange Leaf.

It's bitter sweet. Max and Myles have blossomed, thanks to Building Blocks and the great teachers. We know they will do the same at Ascension, but we were sad to say good-bye to such great people. We are blessed to have had them take care of our most prized possessions for 3 years.

We're looking forward to a great summer. I know I'm going to love spending time with these NEW Kindergartners!!

Just Like Old Times

We had to visit Auntie Mae's...it's where Sean and I met!

From Denver, Texas, Georgia and Kansas City...it was great to reunite with good friends!

I've realized I am not so young...after an awesome weekend in Manhattan with many of my sorority sisters! We met for a 50th anniversary of our sorority at K-State, and we had a blast.

Friday started with lunch at Rock-a-Belly, a visit to Varney's and a night out at Kite's. I think there were more Thetas in Kite's on Friday night than there ever were at one time when I was actually in college. We could not believe our cab ride was only $5 each way, and it was even better that none of us needed to be the DD.

Saturday started with a tour of our sorority house (nothing has changed!) and then an afternoon tea with over 400 ladies. It was great! Of course, we managed to end the night back in Aggieville and had a great time. The only 'downer' was when a college punk asked us if we were in Manhattan for Mom's weekend!! We got to our hotel room at 2:30 with enough time to order a pizza from Pizza Shuttle...and of course we remembered the phone number----776-5577!

Our girls' weekend was a great escape from reality. One thing's for sure...these gals are friends for a lifetime!

So Thankful

Tonight I got a haircut. I know, not real exciting...However, there's a story... As many of you know, I am a bit cheap when it comes to cutting these curls. I go to this darling hair salon where walk-ins are welcome. It's my kind of salon: cheap haircuts with no appointments necessary AND they are a full-service salon. (Got my brows waxed, too.) Anyway, this nice girl started cutting my hair and I noticed the picture of a sweet-looking blonde preschooler on her counter. I asked if it was her daughter and she told me it was. Her name was Makenna.

I had notice earlier that the girl cutting my hair was wearing a nametag saying her name was Melanie. We talked and as she was working I mentioned that I wanted my kids to have 'M' names---and that my sister-in-laws all had 'M' names. I mentioned that I had a sister-in-law named Melaney and my boys were Max and Myles. She then tells me her daughter was a twin. The babies had twin-to-twin transfusion, and they were born at 27 weeks. One of the babies lived 9 days, and she told me she and her husband are at peace knowing that they know exactly what the baby would look like today if she were alive---her identical twin!

I'm sure you can imagine that I had tears, and I thanked her for sharing her story. I'm sure it's not easy, and the fact that I was talking about my twins did not help.

As I drove home, I was reminded for the 2,567,899th time how incredibly blessed we are.

We.have.two.miracles.