Home Again

Grace and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip down to Louisiana to visit my family.  It was so good to see my sis-in-law and nieces before they traveled back to Hawaii.  Grace and the girls played together the whole time they were together!  And time with Mimi and Granddaddy is always exciting for us!

Unfortunately, when my sis-in-law arrived home to Hawaii after a long plane flight over the Pacific with two little ones, she discovered that her home had been infested by rats.  Several things were eaten up and ruined including:  a leather couch, mattress box springs, kitchen cabinetry, toys, shoes, and many other things.  Apparently, paradise has it’s drawbacks.  After Terminex, a cleaning company, and several nights in a hotel, they are safely back in their home…sans creepy critters.

The 9-hour drive back to Texas was uneventful, and I came to realize that long periods of time spent alone can be beneficial.  (Grace was virtually invisible and stayed quiet with her movies and books).   In addition to counting all the dead animals on the side of the road…109 to be exact…, I had time to ponder and think on things.  Some of eternal significance, some petty.  One of things I thought about was the direction I want to go with this blog.  In addition to being a written scrapbook of sorts for my family, I’d like to do another book study or series of some kind…something about family, home, and/or parenting.  I’m still trying to decide what to pick!  Suggestions are welcome!

It took me several days to unpack and get back in the swing of things.  I’m taking a Wilton cake decorating course right now which requires a lot of homework.  Ironically, I’ve also gotten a sudden influx of cake requests.  As we speak, I’ve got a cake the oven for a church anniversary party on Sunday.  It’s the biggest order I’ve gotten…a sheet cake to feed 100 people!  Next week I’m making a fancy baby shower cake and a 3-tier fondant cake!  It’s a lot of work, and I’m not sure yet if this cake decorating endeavor will be worth the money, but it sure is fun!  I’ll post pics as I finish.

Grace is under the weather.  She woke up today with a nasty cough, fever, and vomiting.  She also literally fell on her face yesterday while pretending to be a kitty cat and injured her front tooth.  There was so much blood that the boy I babysit turned white and ran in the next room!  After I got her cleaned up,  Barbie and the Three Musketeers took her mind off the trauma while I called the dentist.  Basically there’s nothing to do.  Since the tooth is now pretty loose, it will probably fall out soon.  She’ll get an x-ray in a couple of weeks at her next check-up to make sure there’s no damage to the permanent tooth underneath.  I’m really looking forward to the sideways glances in the McDonald’s playground, “Don’t you take care of your kid’s teeth?”  Ahh, parenthood.

This morning, despite the coughing, fever, vomiting, sore tooth, and swollen lips, she was the most dramatic about a hangnail.  A hangnail.  After she threw up for the third time in an hour, I asked her how she was feeling, and she said, “My finger still hurts, mama.”  Bless. Her. Heart.