Tuesday

Today has been a very hectic day for some reason and I'm not quite sure why. I went and had two tires put on my car since they were nearly bald, so that took awhile. All day long, Nicky was working on his truck, doing an oil change among other things and then he began gathering stuff for his hunting trip tomorrow. The boys were playing with the neighbor boy, Zeke. Mamo was packing. The girls were both sick, thus laying on the couches all day. And the worse news of all was that Savannah's kitten, Tigger, who went missing on Sunday night, was found dead today in our back yard by Levi. The dogs had "played" with him so much he died from internal injuries, I'm sure, as there were no external wounds. Such a shame, too, cuz he was a really sweet cat. And, he constantly played with my mom's dog. They were so cute together! So sad. And, of course, that put a real damper on the day....kinda just hung over my head (and others I think) all day.

Tonight my mom and I went out to dinner at Outback, just the two of us, which is always a nice treat. We also stopped by my friend Sandy's house to get some avocados for mom and then to the Hallmark store to get some cards. It was a nice time we had to visit without the chaos of home. I'm glad we did it on the last night. It gave us something to look forward to and by then we could really savor it.

Though I love my mom visiting, I'm always glad to get my life back to "normal" after she leaves. I don't wish her to leave at all, but I kinda put my life on hold while she's here, doing just the necessities. That gives me more time with her, but it also causes my routines to go out the window, which can be difficult with children and so many different schedules. I'm really glad she was able to be here at Christmas when the kids had no school, sports, clubs, park meetings, etc, so we had the freedom to do other things and not be tied down by our schedules. Now, the next time she comes in March, it will be different. They will be nearing the end of basketball, but still doing school, Scouts, park, enrichment classes, etc. So, that will be a little more hectic, but at least she'll be able to see them participating in these things, which will be nice for her. So, until 10 more weeks, I will be busy with my normal life, savoring memories of her Christmas visit. :-)