My Little Girl

You know it is going to happen, you think you are prepared but BAM all of a sudden it's here. You receive your baby's senior pictures. Where did the time go, when did this happen? You think you have all the time in the world and one day you realize that time is flying by and your children are growing up. I know in my mind that she's a senior, we paid enough for the pictures and all of the "senior" things that she thinks she needs, but when you get those pictures it moves from your mind to your heart. It seems like yesterday that she was a baby and I can't remember what it was like without her. She has always been with me. We have been through some bad times (my Mom promised they would get better and they did) and we have had some great times. My Dad has been telling me for years to enjoy them being children because they grow up way too fast, and you know what? He was so right. I have a couple of pictures (you know me I love to post pictures) of her.

It's a little blurry, the real one is much clearer, but she is about 6 months old.

She was about 3 here, I loved this outfit, it was so cute. She now hates it.

The big picture is her 1st grade picture and the little one is her first day of 1st grade.

Ashleigh was 12, Wayne was 10 and Blake was 3.

This is one of the pictures we received in the mail today. I loved the flowers.

This is her kindergarten picture and her formal senior picture.

It didn't take any time to get from the left picture to the right picture. Enjoy your children, love your children and don't assume you have all the time in the world. Believe me it goes alot faster than you could ever imagine. She now wants to go to college and become a teacher. She is student teaching at the elementary school and loving every minute of it.

Congratulations Ashleigh, we love you and are so very proud of you.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. A couple little mishaps but oh well, that's to be expected, not liked or wanted, but to be expected sometimes. I always take pies to my parents for Thanksgiving, 2 pumpkin and 2 pecan. I make a mean pie if I do say so myself. Anyway, last Sunday I made a turkey and left it to cook while we were at Blake's football awards ceremony. Ashleigh brought Blake home so I could stay and help clean up and not wonder what he was doing every minute. When they walked into the house it was full of smoke. The turkey had spilled over into the bottom of the stove and there was smoke everywhere. They turkey was done, Ashleigh took it out and turned everything off. She opened the windows and aired the house out. I haven't had anytime this week to try and clean it out, it's self cleaning so that's not really much of an excuse but I am a busy person, and to tell the truth I kind of forgot about it. Wayne tried to cook something on Wednesday for lunch and he said it was smoking. So, now I have to clean the stove before I can cook pies. (If you ask Rusty when I tell a story you get all the details, some you probably don't want to hear, but it's my blog and and you are stuck reading every. little. detail) I turn on the self cleaning and as it gets hotter the stove starts smoking more and more. I figured it would burn off and everything would be fine. WRONG. The house is filling up with smoke, it is burning our eyes and throats and Rusty is convinced we are all going to die from carbonmonoxide poisoning. It was horrible. He made me turn it off, I am still convinced it's going to be ok, as long as everyone sleeps on the deck. ha ha ha We aired the house, again, but now there are no pies. I was so upset, we've never had a Thanksgiving without pumpkin pies. So my brother, God love him who has helped me more times than I can count, gets in the car Wednesday night and makes a trip to Wal-Mart in search of pies for me. It was an experience I do not care to have happen again. We did have a great Thanksgiving even without homemade pies. We went to my mother-in-laws first, everyone was there and we had good food and got to visit. Then we got to my Mom's and had more wonderful food. Wayne was at his Dad's this year and Ashleigh had been invited to spend Thanksgiving with her friend Mara's family in Georgia so we were really missing them. My Aunt and her family were there and we all had a wonderful visit. My cousin was there with her 7 month old Peyton and he is so adorable. Don't you agree?

He really is a miracle, there was a real question whether Nicole would be able to have children and look what God blessed our family with.

We had a good time all of us together, but we were really missing my Mawmaw. The holidays are really hard this year for our family. I can't imagine what my Pawpaw is going through.

Sorry about the fingers, Steven put his hand up as I was taking the picture. He claimed it was an accident.

I spent the night at Mom and Dad's and Rusty took Blake and went back to his Mom's last night. Mom and I were shopping and Rusty and was hunting with his brothers. My mother-in-law was babysitting Blake. Mom and I were up at 3am and out of the house by about 3:45. We were armed and ready to shop. We had plotted our take over of Harrisonburg until we hit Circuit City about 4:15, the line was down the sidewalk with people waiting to get in at 5. I've been shopping on Black Friday for alot of years and I've never heard of people lining up at 10:00 the night before. I am sorry there is not 1 thing in any store that is worth standing outside all night to buy. We headed to Wal-Mart and had a lot of luck there. We stopped for breakfast around 7:30 and then hit the stores again. I got home about 3:30 exhausted. But there was no one home but me and I do my best cleaning when I am alone so I attacked the house and got it into order. And guess what? I got that oven clean and it is ready to cook in again. Horray for me.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and whether you stayed home or ran all over like we do, take time to stop and think about everything we have to be thankful for. We need to do that everyday of the year and thank God that we live in the country we do and that we are surrounded by family and friends that we love.

Good night.

Bridget

Another busy weekend

Well, it's been another busy weekend. Friday we dropped Wayne off with his Dad and then went to dinner at Applebee's with Rusty's mom. Saturday we had Ashleigh's powder puff football game. That was so much fun!! It was the Seniors vs. the Juniors, the Seniors lost but they had so much fun doing it. They all had shirts with nicknames on the them, Ashleigh was #7 "da Gibsonator".

Blake had a good time getting ready with her, to cheer her on.

And the seniors had their own cheerlearders. Aren't they cute? They are all friends of Ashleigh's and she talked them into doing this. They were really good sports about it and they put on a great show for everyone. Check out Donnie's white tights. They one 2nd from the left is Andrew, Ashleigh and Andrew have been friends since 2nd grade and he is like one of my kids.

Ashleigh really does have a great bunch of friends.

This is Andrew and Donnie begging me to let Ashleigh be ungrounded for the afternoon so they could go and all hand out together.

This is Blake and his best friend Christian. They have been best friends forever. Blake likes to tell people they they were best friends before they were born. We were pregnant together. Ashleigh and Christian's older sister have been friends since 3rd grade and they were in girl scouts together. Their mom and I spent alot of time together.

It really was a great afternoon, we had a hilarious announcer, someone running the time clock who had no clue what they were doing so half the time the clock wasn't even running or was running during a time out, but alot of fun was had by all the kids. As you can see our school colors are purple and white. I have a shirt that says "Strasburg, it's a purple thing, you wouldn't understand". I love our small town. If you have ever watched Friday Night Lights then you have an idea of what our town is like. The street signs are purple, not green, and our town police cars are white and purple. It's a great place to live and raise your children.

Today was the Midget Football awards ceremony and the election of the new board. They run for a term of 3 years. Rusty is a vice president and got relected. He was excited about that, he worries about everything and this means alot to him. One of the other coaches took the most incredible picture of Rusty and Blake kneeling down together. He blew it up, had it framed and gave it to Rusty. It was the nicest thing anyone, outside of family, has done. Rusty hugged him, it really touched him.

Well, I am headed to bed, good night and have a great week.

Bridget

Updates

Well, it's really happening, my parents and my brother are really moving to North Carolina. When my Mawmaw was sick I told my Mom that I would completely understand, if something bad was to happen, if they moved down with my Pawpaw. I truly feel that we will get to keep him longer with them there. But now that it is really happening, I'm not feeling so nice about them being gone. I don't want to sound selfish but I don't know what I will do with them gone from here. I talk to my Mom and my brother everyday, and I can still do that, but it just won't be the same. Steven is in Wilmington all this week, he got his job there and he starts on my birthday. I am really happy for him and he will be able to buy a house there, but I am going to really miss him. I don't want to sound whiney (I don't think I spelled that right) but I had kind of gotten used to them not being here and then about 5 years ago they all moved here to be closer to us, so I got used to having them here. Now I have to get used to not having them all over again. I am feeling very sorry for myself, can you tell?
My Dad and Pawpaw were up 2 weekends ago and we went down there for dinner and just to hang out. I miss seeing my Dad, sorry whining again. I took some pictures while we were there so you are going to be treated to my wonderful photography.

My Mom in her dining room. Don't you just love the witty comments that go with my pictures?

Ashleigh, Blake, Aspen (my Mom's dog, on the left) and Abby(our dog) outside at Mom's house.

This one doesn't really need any explanation, just my kids doing what they do best, being silly.

This is Mill Creek, it runs right through the front on my parents yard. It's beautiful, except when it rains alot. Then it floods and we've seen it up to the steps at the front porch.

Ashleigh and her Grandpa. All of my kids are really close to my parents but Ashleigh especially. I guess it's because when Rusty and I were divorced (many years ago) Ashleigh and I lived with them. She was the first grandchild and the only girl. She has a very special relationship with my parents. My Dad taught her to drive, the brave man that he is. Ashleigh is staying with my Mom this week while my brother is gone.

My Pawpaw trying on Steven's halloween costume. Isn't he cute?

Well, now that I have whined and posted my pictures I guess I better go check my laundry and tuck Wayne and Blake in for the night. Good night.

Bridget

Voting

I was reading on Melissa's blog about her voting station and it sounds alot like ours. It's held at our Town Hall and there's 2 little old ladies checking you in, very official and all that. We have 4 voting stations (still done by coloring the circle in on the paper) and 1 electonic voting station. People were standing in live to vote by paper instead of having to use the new electonic voting, I love living in a small town. I was there at 6 am when they opened and I was the 19th person to vote. They also have the kids voting station. I love that, they get voter registration cards at school and then they get to vote on a computer at the voting station. I was a little upset this year with Blake's teacher. When she was telling them to make sure they went and voted she also thought she should tell them who they should vote for. Wait a minute, she's not supposed to be influencing the kids on who to vote for, just that it's very important to get out and vote. I will be sending an email to the principal about this, especially since she was pushing the wrong candidate, as far as we are concerned anyway.
Steven came and took me to lunch today at Red, Hot and Blue. We had such a good time. Steven applied with the Sheriff's Department in New Hanover County and they called him today. It looks like he will be moving to North Carolina along with my parents. It's going to be really lonely without my parents or him here. I talk to them everyday. I had gotten used to them not being here, but they moved here a couple years ago and now I don't know what I am going to do without them.
Wayne has been busy making deer jerky and he can't keep up with everyone eating it. He makes wonderful deer jerky. His friends at school beg him to bring it with him and then offer to buy it from him.
Ashleigh and I went to the Redskins-Cowboy game on Sunday and had a blast. Ashleigh had never really been very interested in going to the football games but this year she decided she wanted to go and she wanted to go see my favorite game. Rusty was supposed to take her but they rescheduled the midget football games for Sunday, I thought he was going to cry. He doesn't miss many Redskins games for anything, but he is very committed to coaching the kids so I took Ashleigh. Ashleigh loves sports and as she pointed out she has been to every kind of professional sports event except the WNBA. That is next on her list. It was the most exciting game I have ever seen. We had so much fun.
I am off to chase Blake to bed. He has to read every night before he goes to bed and then he begs for more time. Wednesday night is Lost night, I have to make sure everything is done so I can sit down and enjoy that without thinking about what I need to get done.
Good night.
Bridget

Things I've done

I got this from Emily, this was alot of fun. The things in bold are things I have done.
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula-NEVER
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow-does a goat count?
56. Alphabetized your CDs- sadly, more than once
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke-horribly I might add
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days-are you kidding?
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet-my brother did
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eatingDo fish count?
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life