The Crawfish Did It!

We are in Louisiana and just finished dinner where Emyley had Fried Crawfish! When we got back to our hotel room, her "loose-for-about-6-months" tooth fell out with just a little pulling on Em's part! And it is her first! YAY Emyley!!!!

And Sunday at the Lake

Sunday we continued our busy-ness with a trip to Nana's. We started with a cookout and great visit with Bill's sister, Annette before she and Proctor took off for Okla. Much to the torment of the girls, this visit lasted a little longer than expected, but for Bill and I it was very nice to sit down and talk with her.

We did finally head to the lake around 3:00. Nana and Joel have a very nice pontoon boat that they bought last summer. We only got to take one trip out last summer though, as the lake severely flooded, and no boats were allowed on the water. The girls were so excited to be on the water!

We got to enjoy the sun & water with a little swimming, boating and fishing. We had a really great time and spent about 5 hours on the water. We did get a little burned, but it was worth it. With the promise of chocolate cake and ice cream when we got back to Nana's house, we finally persuaded the girls to head back to dry land.

Unfortunately, the boat had other ideas, and started to act up once we started back to the slip. We were a couple miles from our destination, and the boat seemed to have lost power in the transmission. So, we floated for about ten minutes before some wonderful people came along and "rescued" us!! They were so nice and towed us all the way back to our slip. Joel offered to buy them a tank of gas, and they declined with only the promise to return the favor some day.

We made it back to Nana's and scarfed down cake and ice cream. We got back home around 10:30 that night. We had a great time and the girls were actually not too cranky with it all. Well, until I told them we all had to have showers before heading to bed....that wasn't a very popular statement! LOL! Enjoy this movie of our pics of the day!!

The Weekend Update.....Saturday Edition

It seems that for us, it is either a weekend with not much going on except for cleaning or mowing, or it is a weekend jam packed full of stuff!!! We have got to figure out a way to balance this stuff out. LOL!!!

Friday's meet with Janet was just the tip of the iceburg for us this weekend. Saturday, Bill's dad came down from Okla around noon. We went out to eat, stopped by the store and then Bill and Proctor headed to the garage to try and move the pool table out! I was very, very skeptical, as I was here when Steve and Bill moved the pool table into our garage. It was quite a scary feat! But then a light bulb blinked on over my head (it takes time these days), and I remembered that Proctor used to work for Memorial Works in Chandler and had lots of experience moving heavy stones for headstones. So, I was a little more optimistic at that point. I think it took about 4 hours total, and with no lifting, they were able to get the pool table on it's side on a trailer and shrink wrapped for transport to Okla and then finally on to Missouri to Steve. Whew! I was so excited to be getting my garage back....don't know why as it will just be antoher weekend chore for us to clean up!! Sorry I didn't get any pics....wish I had. It was quite a sight to see!

After dinner, we all settled in to watch the Women's Gymnastic Olympic Trials. The girls were excited to see this. Hayley has been wanting to try gymnastics, but she may have changed her mind a little after watching the balance beam! LOL!!

Amazing, Awesome, Stupendous, Crazy, Magnificient!

Yesterday was the day I had been waiting for...."Janet Day" and the signing of Fearless Fourteen! We had our plan all mapped out:

1. Drive down to Plano in the early afternoon
2. Buy Fearless Fourteen
3. Get in line by 4:00ish
4. Bill arrive and take girl duty
5. Call Bill when I am a few people away from Janet
6. Bill take video of me charming Janet with my sparkling wit & personality
7. Bill take my picture with Janet
8. Janet sign my new book
9. Leave the store by 8:00

As with all best laid plans......

I wake up yesterday morning so excited and very nervous. I get online around 10am to try and scope out some tips on what time to actually arrive at the bookstore. I stumble upon this website that lists author visits around town and discover they started handing out tickets to see Janet at 9 that morning! I immediately email Bill and beg and plead for him to go pick up my ticket, since he is closer to the store than I am....well, that, and the fact that the girls and I were still in pjs...oops! Actually, I didn't have to beg much, he was happy to do it....Thank you, Dear!!! He calls me after he got our tickets and says, "The tickets have a time for when we get to meet Janet.....8:10pm. Oh, and I already bought the book."! Here's me: "WHAAAAAATTTTT, but all my plans......oh, you got the book. Okay.".

Side note: Also, while browsing the net, I discover that I have been mispronouncing Janet's last name. This is going to show my southern roots, but here goes. I have always thought her name was pronounced E-van-o-vich. Actually it is E-von-o-vich....where the "van" in her name sounds like "von" or "vaughn". Crazy!!! LOL!!! Okay, back on track........

So, it was time to regroup, and actually the new time was better anyway. The new plan:

1. Leave the house around 6pm
2. Eat dinner near the bookstore
3. Arrive at the bookstore just before 8pm
4. Me get in line while Bill and the girls browse
5. Call Bill when I am a few people away from Janet
6. Bill take video of me charming Janet with my sparkling wit & personality
7. Bill take my picture with Janet
8. Janet sign my new book
9. Leave the store by 9:00

And actually that plan almost worked out! We did accomplish numbers 1-3! LOL!!

The signing was actually a much bigger deal than I had realized. Silly me, I thought I was the only Plum fun out there. LOL! People showed up in droves! There was even a group of about 20 "Bat Babes" with matching shirts and a baby with a batman mask. It was nuts!

The tickets they handed out were actually like airline boarding passes....everyone had a Group that was printed on their ticket. We were in Group 4, so our signing took place between 8:10 and 9:00. Just before 8, they announced for Group 4 to get in line, so we all did. It was just easier to stick together at that point. And we had pretty much worn out the children's section. Hayley had found a book called Coke or Pepsi that had fun questions that you would ask your friends. So we all took turns answering questions, and that helped pass the time. The line wound through the fiction section, so I took some time to browse new titles. I didn't find anything nearly as exciting as Janet's books, but I did find Christy by Catherine Marshall, which I had read many years ago. I showed it to Sydney, and she was immediately hooked!

So, we are standing in line and guess who I see out of the corner of my eye......Alex!!! For those who don't know, she is Janet's daughter. She takes care of the website, store, answers reader's questions and was recently married at Disney World! She was going through the line talking to the guests and handing out stickers. So, she gets to us and says, "Morelli or Ranger?". I blushingly answer, "Ranger" (Bill is standing right there...come on!), and she hands me a "I heart Ranger" sticker! I was so excited!!! LOL! Then, she sees the girls and asks if they want balloons. Of course I do, I mean they, do! So, off she goes and comes back with a handful of balloons. We got one of each color, and we were really getting excited now!! ;o)

Then we turn the corner and see Janet! YAY! Okay, so she was still about 40 people away....the "Bat Babes" were ahead of us, but we could still see her. It was around this point that Hayley starting getting just a tad tired and cranky. But, along came a Barnes & Noble employee with free Starbucks chocolate cake, and she perked right back up....until it fell in the floor. Oh, well only a few more people to go......

After watching a few people meet Janet, it was suddenly clear that:

1. If Bill was to get video of me talking with Janet, there was no way that you would be able to hear us!
and
2. Her Publicist took pictures for everyone....."because I am really good at it!".

And our plan was altered (again) at that point, which was fine. Her publicist took our camera, Bill showed him what button to push and then we were off.....all of us! LOL!! I greeted her and asked how she was. She greeted me and asked how I was. She signed my book and a couple of surprises. We got arranged for our picture, smiled, and verified that the picture was good. Bill shook her hand. She thanked us for coming and I thanked her for coming down to Texas.

And we were done. No sparkling wit or personality, no high five (sorry, Danielle).....just about 1 or 2 minutes with Janet. But, let me tell you......I was on cloud nine for the rest of the night!!!!! I was sooooo excited, I even asked if we could go to Wal-Mart on our way home to get some groceries (9:30 at night)!! LOL!!! Anyone who knows me, knows that is a big deal! LOL!!!

All-in-all, I loved every minute of it! We ALL got to meet Janet, the girls were great the whole night and I have her new book signed! Can't beat that!

An Old Favorite Rediscovered

We have rediscovered an old favorite game of mine....Mad Libs. Do you all remember these? I was in the 5th grade and my older sister, who was a senior in high school, invited me and my cousin, Jason, to a halloween party at the school. Jason and I thought we were hot stuff being invited to a high school party! LOL!! I remember our costumes well....he was a hobo and I was a punk rock bag lady with a real live black trash bag for a dress! LOL! There are pics somewhere in my house, but I think we will just leave those be! Anyway, one of the games we played was Mad Libs. From then on, I was hooked.....until I grew up! ;o)

While we were at Wal-Mart the other day, I saw a Mad Libs book for Speed Racer, and the mania started up again. Sydney and I scoured the internet and found an auction for 12 books and we won it! Our books showed up yesterday and now the girls are hooked! Especially Hayley who is a puzzle book fiend like me! We have had a lot of fun with these books so far! So, if you haven't checked them out in awhile or don't know what they are, I highly recommend picking one up at the store. They are a great source of family fun and help kids learn parts of speech as well as increasing their vocabulary!

Happy Father's Day, Bill!

We love you!!

Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh!!!!

One of my very, very, very, very favorite authors, JANET EVANOVICH, is coming to Plano for a book signing!!!! I just got the newsletter in the mail today, and there it was.....June 20, I will be meeting her and having my picture taken with her!! This has absolutely made my day, week, month...... EEEEEKKKKK!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!