RIP Monterrey Pine

It's absolutely pouring here. Not in a California crybaby way, but in a genuine flood warning way. Grandpa Thiel... I mean Grizz... said that his rain gauge said we got over three inches last night - there have been some recent winters where three inches of rain didn't hit over the whole season.

And our poor old tree on the side of the house. She had a little too much to drink last night and fell over. It happens to the best of us, but sadly, when you're a tree, it means your unfortunate end.

THANK GOODNESS our neighbors didn't have any of their cars parked under the tree, so it's just the tree removal cost, and not a home owner's claim for us. I didn't hear the tree fall over, but both kids said they'd heard a boom overnight. We noticed in on the drive to school at 8am, and by 10:30 the city had been out to move the tree off the street, and I'd got the actual tree company to come out and give me a quote for the removal, which will happen in a week.

It's funny and sad that over the past few weeks I'd noticed that the bottom branches of the tree were drooping more, and I wondered if they needed to be trimmed. Within the last few years we'd had the tree looked at, and the tree guy said it was okay, that it had already sagged once, and wouldn't topple any time soon. But, hard to know with trees, hard to know with the recent spat of wet weather we've had.

The tree and I (and a very, very new pregnancy with Adam) in happier times. We'll miss you, old girl!

On The Road Again.

Sadly for us, all of our company has gone back home - though no one stays with us, so easy for us to say, right? We're just another carload of people who shows up and bothers Gigi and Grizz.

It was so nice to have so much time with Grandma Rosie. Between her bum leg and the pouring rain, we didn't get out a ton, but she did come with us to have frozen yogurt to celebrate Adam being student of the day in his classroom, went out for a lunch or two, AND she got to have Adam explain to her all about Minecraft, Beyblades, and Magic Tracks.

Ellie also did a ton of snuggling and talking about Dog Man, Captain Underpants, and the Wimpy Kid - all the new books that have taken over the market since Grandma ceased to be a reading teacher. And amazing - we bribed Adam with a square of chocolate, and he sat with Grandma and read her an entire Biscuit book (it's only 4 or 5 pages, many repeated words, but he can read it! I'm so impressed and so happy for him, as reading is the absolute best.)

Today as you may know, was Galentines Day. Over the past couple of weeks, Ellie has had some great parties with her girlfriends from school. This weekend they went to a birthday party at Bold Girlz, where the girls can do hair and make up and then a fashion runway show (correct spelling is not a part of the deal.)

Hard to tell from the picture, but they sprayed blue glitter in her hair that has still not come out.

Today her friend Anabelle hosted a Valentines party - they played Valentines bingo, ate strawberry shortcake and made a TON of slime. Afterwards Ellie told me "you know why Anabelle's mom is the nicest and lets us make slime? It's because she used to be a teacher. So she knows how to do lots of arts and crafts." It's true - Anabelle's mom IS the best. Because I do NOT make slime.

Injuries and Illness

While the rest of the United States has been trapped at home by freezing temperatures, here we've been trying to celebrate Sara's birthday through the rain, the vomit, and the flesh wounds of last week. Grandma Rosie was able to fly out to party with us, which is amazing! Except that she fell outside of the YMCA, got 16 stitches in her face, a fat black eye, and a ripped up knee. So she's been confined to an easy chair, taking it easy so she can heal. Thankfully, she's still been able to beat Ellie and I in several games of Crazy 8s, because she can be a card shark with only one eye open.

Meanwhile, we were trapped inside our own home for 48 hours after Ellie threw up at school last week. There's been a lot of stuff going around, and so I guess it was our turn. Thankfully, it seems to have been confined to Ellie. No one else in our house has gotten sick and thank goodness it didn't spread to Grandma.

The good news is that our house has a great nursing staff - they rotate in shifts, based on availability.

The other nice thing is that Ellie is now old enough to want to watch something other than Disney movies on an endless loop - we binge-watched most of the latest season of the Great British Bake Off, which we both enjoyed muchly. Also nice, drive up grocery store pick ups, for when it's pouring rain and you give your child the last dose of kids medicine in your house at 8am.

Ellie was thankfully back to her old self and back in school on Friday, with all of her weekend activities intact. We had a very low key Superbowl viewing with Grandma, focusing on pampering instead of pigskin.

With the sheet mask on, you can hardly tell that Grams looks like she lost a prize fight!