Rehearsal, Dinner and Day… in Photos

(I started writing this post over a week ago. We were on the road and I had limited Internet. I am finally back up on the world wide web and have lots to blog about. Please enjoy this last post on the wedding weekend and I will try to condense the road trip into one post later)

I am tired. I will admit that this 46 year old body doesn’t travel as well as it used to. We are putting miles on ourselves, the car and our poor dogs. I’m too tired to post a real blog tonight. I owe you all photos of what I have left of the wedding weekend. This post is all about photos. You will be able to tell by the clothes we’re wearing if it’s wedding rehearsal, the dinner afterwards or the actual wedding. I don’t have many of the wedding. Like I said before, the batteries in my camera died during the wedding. Duh. How stupid is it to NOT have back up batteries on one of the most important days ever?
Anyway, here they are. Enjoy!

Nick and me with the groom.

Callie and Zach at the church.

The bride and her bridesmaids

Practicing!

Me with two of my girls at the rehearsal dinner

Pre-wedding photos. Isn’t the bride absolutely beautiful?

The groom getting ready with his boys.

One of JD’s childhood friends. I’ve always loved this kid.

Callie hanging out waiting to get things started

Wedding Weekend, Day 1

As I mentioned before, we arrived in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on Thursday to check into our wedding hotel and gear up for our fun filled weekend.  That night, JD and Meghan had made arrangements for us all to have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Uncle Julio’s, which was right in the same area as our hotel. We walked over and met JD, Meghan, Meghan’s parents, Callie and Zach, Shalynne and James (my daughter and son-in-law from Hawaii), my in-laws and Alex. Yes, we had all five kids with us! Here is a photo of just the kids.

There is nothing more thrilling for me than to have all my chicks with me. I was in heaven.

Here I am with the bride and groom.

Meghan’s mom, Meghan and me.

Nick, JD, and Meghan’s Dad.

Callie and Zach.

Shalynne and James.

Nick with the other Callie (oy!)

Alex with is big brother, the groom.
Last but not least…

Me with my boy.
I can’t tell you how pride I am of this kid and how happy I am for him and Meghan.  I was thrilled to have this time with them and share in their special weekend.
More to come….

Update

I am finally at a computer with internet and can post an update on Callie's trip.  Thanks to everyone who voiced concern, support etc.
After arriving in Phoenix yesterday, she called me and I told her I had done a little digging and her airline had ONE more flight to Hawaii but it was to Maui. I had no idea if they would even entertain the idea of sending her to Maui instead of Honolulu, but it was worth a shot. She found the gate, and sweet talked them into re-routing her to Maui where she could buy an inter island ticket and get on over to Honolulu.
I spoke to her as she was awaiting her last flight in the Maui airport. She said she was exhausted but glad to be almost there. She was so sweet and apologized for causing me so much stress. I told her it was ok, that I just felt as her mom, I should be able to take care of everything and how helpless I felt. I then told her I was proud of her and Zach for taking care of it and getting everything done. I guess I raised her right!
Then, of course, I got up this morning to the news that there was a tsunami warning for the state of Hawaii. Oy! I knew that she was staying in an area that was very high and that large waves wouldn't affect her, but I knew the potential of losing power for days and having some serious dampers put on her vacation was very high.
I've heard from her several times today and all is well.
I'm thankful to watch her become a responsible young woman and to see her make wise decisions. 
I am having a great visit with some old friends here in Texas and am looking forward to my mom and aunt arriving tomorrow. The shower is on Sunday and should be a great time.
I have a girls' night out planned for this evening and I do believe margaritas are in my future. It will be so nice to hang out and not worry about anything for a while (is that even possible?)
I apologize for the lack of photos in my posts, but like a doofus, I left my camera in Rhode Island.  JD will bring his tomorrow and I can take photos with mom, auntie, kids etc not to mention the bridal shower.
Thanks again for your sweet comments on my stress yesterday. It helps to know that my mom guilt/stress is all normal.
Happy Friday and have a good weekend!!

Mamma Guilt

Why is it that moms carry the weight of everything that goes wrong?  I am having a terrible feeling about leaving Callie at the airport this morning and so helpless that I can't help her get on to Hawaii for her spring break.
Let me start from the beginning.
Callie had a 6:10 AM flight to Hawaii this morning on US Airways. We were running just barely on time and hit construction and a detour. Still got her there with 40 minutes. She goes inside to check in and they won't even take her at the counter. They have a rule about being 45 minutes or so before flight time or you can't even check in.
Get this,..even with this delay, checking bags and getting a standby ticket, she STILL made it through security in time to board that flight, had they let her. But no, she has to wait and is told that all remaining flights are full. She was on standby for an 8:00 flight but it was a no go. She got standby for a 12:15 flight and just called to let me know she's on. This flight goes to Phoenix and she will take her chances from there to get on into Honolulu.
Her fiance', who booked the flight originally, is bound and determined to get her out to Hawaii for a week, so I feel like they will work it out even if it means a night in the Phoenix airport.
I am feeling terrible about this. She doesn't blame me for missing the flight but I feel responsible. She knows she should've gotten up earlier and been proactive about being at the airport early but once again, I have mom guilt. It is making me almost physically ill.  I can't help her and I need to let her be an adult (she is 20 years old, after all) but this is hard!
Anyone else know about helpless, guilty mom syndrome? 
I'm waiting around in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and postponing my trip to central Texas until I know she doen't need me to get her at the airport. I'm  little stressed!!!

Going Home

Today I leave my newly enrolled college student and fly back to Rhode Island. This is hard for me. I knew it would be but now that I'm hours away from getting on a plane, the reality is setting in.
I have been this way with all three kids.
I took my son off to college when I was a young 37 years old. Yes, I had him when I was WAY too young. I took him three hours away and cried all the way home. I wondered, "who's going to take care of him"  My middle child left home in a rebellious huff when she turned 18. She lived in town and we had a rocky relationship. She made bad choices and I grieved through it all. We managed to grow close through this, even though she wouldn't take my wise advice and come home to attend school. I left her to move to Hawaii two years later and it was the hardest thing I ever did. I cried.
Here we are, several years later, and the baby is leaving. Y'all.. I haven't been without one of my kids (the ones I birthed) in my house with me since I was 18 years old.
Callie is doing well. She's more prepared for this than the other two were and that's thanks to having a father figure in her life that the other two missed out on. She's confident, strong and oh so smart. I know she'll be fine.
She's crowded into a dorm room with two other girls and that's stressful. She's ready for classes to start so she has routine.  She has her brother down the road as well as his fiance. I KNOW she'll be fine. It's still hard.
I will cry today. (who am I kidding? I've been crying already!)  She's taking me to the airport. I'm leaving her with all the tools she needs to do well. I'm so stinkin' proud, but it's a bittersweet time.
It's a good thing I have a 15 year old boy at home who needs me. I need to get back, get him started in school and make sure HE has the tools he needs to leave home in a few years.
Thanks for letting me have a pity party. I'll be ok, I just need a moment.

On a more positive note, I am ready to be home and to sleep in my own bed. I need routine. I crave it. I haven't had routine in months now. If I don't get my routine back soon, I may lose it. Next week, Alex starts school and I can figure it all out!

Move-In Day

After weeks of preparation and 19 (almsot 20) years of growing and maturing, my Callie moved out today. I won't lie, it was stressful and exciting all at the same time.
We started out with a meeting with her financial counselor. The FAFSA application we put in for the pell grant is STILL being verified and there is no answer. The nice lady says "It sure looks like she's eligible for the full Pell, but no guarantees"  Meanwhile, the first payment of tuition was due yesterday. Guess what came out of our savings?
After that we swung over to the residence hall and grabbed the big orange bin to move her stuff in.

Clearly, she's not happy with me and the camera.

We get into the room and the reality of three girls in a room designed for two is really crowded. I won't go into detail but it was a bit stressful and we left two hours later with a dejected college student. We had to re-group and redesign our plan. We were off to Walmart to get plastic drawers and some other storage solutions.

Once again, she's not happy with me. This was taken with my phone because she wouldn't let me pull out the camera.

After we spent way too much money and had some lunch, we felt refreshed, renewed and re-energized. We hit the dorm parking lot and snagged one of these....again...

When we got back to her room, things were much calmer. The girls got together and divided up the space and were doing so well at working together. I was so proud. Callie truly is blessed to have two sweet girls in her room with her. I spent a few minutes putting together this little jewel.

Yes, I'm using baby scissors instead of a screwdriver. I didn't have a screwdriver. If there's one thing Army wives are good at is adapting. I'm not sure if my engineer husband would be proud of this or if he would cringe.

It's lovely, is it not?

I sat as Callie was putting her clothes away and chatting with her roommate (one had gone off with friends) and I realized, I'm the fifth wheel. I need to leave her with "C" to go exploring. They had already made plans to attend the block party/BBQ and I knew I didn't need to be there. I left her and made my way to the jiffy lube to get her car serviced and inspected so I can get Texas tags for it tomorrow.

I will hit the DMV in the morning. Please send positive thoughts and prayers that the stars are all aligned and the DMV gods are smiling on me.

I'm proud of Callie, but a little sad that she doesn't need me. But then, isn't that what I've been preparing her for these last 20 years?

Cranky Pants

That’s been me the last few days. I’m not sure why that is. It could be a number of things. I’m stressed about taking Callie to Texas to start her first year of school away from home. The school informed us about two weeks ago that they had over booked the dorm rooms and would be putting a third girl in a room designed for two. Stresser! She’s not happy, and I’m not happy. Hopefully it’s temporary and she can settle into her room without being moved, which is a possibility at this point.
I’m a little stressed having the teenage boy with us when he’s never lived with us before. I knew this would be a transition and it is. I need to remember that as hard as it is for me, it must be harder for him. I’m the adult. I am supposed to know how to handle these things. He’s had a huge change in his life, definitely for the better, but a change nonetheless. He’s not a boy that expresses himself at all. This surprises me. I knew him as a child when he wore his heart on his sleeve and every emotion came bubbling up like a volcano. What happened to him to make him repress his feelings? He shows no emotion. I don’t know how to deal with that. His habits are not one of a boy that has lived with us and it irritates me. It’s a work in progress and I need patience.
My house is still not quite right. The washing machine that was damaged in the move is hard to use. My dryer went completely out yesterday. It’s been acting up for days and then finally died yesterday. Not great timing since I was leaving today and as I was leaving, we had old friends coming to stay with Nick and Alex for a couple of nights. No laundry, I need to pack and clean my house and oh my gosh, I don’t have enough groceries or beer and wine for company!!!
I walked away from it all. In my cranky state, I left knowing Nick would struggle with the washing machine and that he would have to find a repairman or new dryer without me. I relished the thought. It’s ugly and I’m not generally an ugly person.
As I sit in the airport in Detroit, awaiting our flight to Texas, (which is delayed AGAIN) I know in my heart what’s wrong with me. I’m sending my baby girl off away from home. I’m going to miss her terribly. She’s nervous, scared and unsure of herself and that makes me jittery as well. Hopefully we’ll both feel better after getting her into her dorm room and meeting some fantastic roommates. Even if there are two instead of one. Even if they are crammed into a small room.
Say a prayer for all of us; I could use one right about now.
On the bright side, I will see all three of these people while I'm here. (of course I brought one of them with me)  I won't see them all together, but anytime I can see my kids it's a plus!

More Adventures from Texas

We survived a couple of days of rain storms and are having a blast here in central Texas. Friday morning, as I posted earlier, was my hair appointment with my friend Jill. Jill was my stylist for YEARS when I lived here before. I was a single mom, just newly divorced when I found her. We were together through her second marriage, new baby, divorce, third marriage and another baby. My life went through lots of changes during those years as well. Like I said, I was newly divorced, then involved for four years with a man I thought I'd marry. There was that painful breakup that was almost like divorcing again, a series of small relationships with losers and some who were not so bad, then my courtship, engagement and marriage to this wonderful man I call my husband.
So, Jill did my hair. I'm blond again! We had a great visit then Nick and I hit the road running.
We had a list of food we wanted to eat while we were here. One was Crowe's Burger Shop. (There's no web site so I put their Yelp review here) It is a hole in the wall, walk up to the window and order your food kind of place. You will stand out in the Texas heat for a half hour waiting for your order because the burgers are just that good.
I mentioned the other day that my son and his future wife were headed out of town for a wedding. Guess where they stopped for lunch on their way through central Texas? Crowes. Guess who saw them while they were getting burgers? We did. I was thrilled to have all three kids in the same spot for a few minutes and I took photos!

How thrilled was I to have a chance to do this!?

Friday night we headed over to Las Casas for white wings.  White wings are chicken breast meat  stuffed full of cheese and jalapenos and then all wrapped in bacon. They are crispy on the outside, juicy and spicy on the inside. I have tried for four years to duplicate these with only satisfactory results. These were the real deals.

                                

My friend Tammy joined us for dinner. I have known Tammy for years. We went to church together, worked at church camp together, had many nights of laughing, eating and crying together. One of my favorite stories about Tammy is the time she came to my house when I was going through my divorce. I lived in a tiny wood frame house with the smallest kitchen ever. I had no dishwasher and a sink full of dirty dishes. I had had a particularly trying day and she stopped by. She went straight to my kitchen, filled the sink with soapy water and washed all my dishes while I talked and cried to her. I will never forget her. I have never heard her speak an unkind word about anyone. Even when she hints about something negative she is sure to "bless their heart" first. I so love her.

Today we bowled.. It was odd to leave Target today and say "Come on girls, we're going to be late"  Do you know how long it's been since I've shopped with my of my daughters and said something like that? Too long.

I will be sad when we leave tomorrow and head back to the DFW area. I hate leaving my kids.

I took a couple of photos of the girls as they spent the day together

We load the dogs up tomorrow and ride north. We will spend the night at JD's apartment then get up early Monday morning to visit my parents in Arkansas. My folks are a few decades behind. They have no cable or internet. I'm not sure I'll be posting during that week. I'll be enjoying the heat and humidity in Arkansas along with some great fried catfish! I can't wait to visit my extended family as well.

On the Road Again

We have finished up most of our time in the DFW area and traveled to the central Texas area today to visit with my oldest daughter.
Have I mentioned yet how hot it is here? The humidity is killing my hair. My hair is crap anyway.. another story. I've been waiting for weeks now to get my hair done because I knew I'd be here, in Central Texas where my friend Jill can do my hair. Oh how I've missed Jill. I made my appointment way before I left Hawaii so she could do my color and cut. But I digress. Back to the journey.
We went to see the Texas Rangers play baseball last night and had a blast. (besides the heat..I almost had a heat stroke) It was a great game and we cheered like maniacs. I forgot the memory card for my camera (left it right here in the computer) so I got no pictures. Meghan had hers so I'm hoping she'll post some on facebook I can steal.
This morning we loaded up the dogs and headed south. My son and his future wife are traveling this weekend as well and couldn't dog sit for us. We have both of them in a hotel room here. It should be an interesting weekend.
The kids' grandfather needed a favor and we were happy to help. He owns a great car and needed someone to drive it back down to central TX. I volunteered. It is an Infinity and it is NICE. Nick, Callie and the dogs were in the rental and I relaxed in the luxury car. Life was good...until this started rolling in.

It continued to get worse.

Until it looked like this:

I only wanted to be able to see the little silver rental in front of me and when I couldn't, my wise husband pulled off the road. We sat like this until it cleared up a little. I didn't endanger anyone taking these photos. held the camera up and snapped!

We are checked into our hotel now. It's not Waikiki. Check out the view from our room.

Yes, those are cows.

Here is the view when Callie is out with the dog.

We're off to eat Pizza again. So many restaurants to hit, so little time. Bostons, here we come!

Tomorrow morning.. hair appointment with Jill. Can you hear me cheering??

Time in Texas

I know I haven't posted in a few days, but it's been a whirlwind!
Sunday, we spent the day with my future daughter-in-law's family and had a blast. They have a lovely home and it was very relaxing. Our boy cooked burgers and hot dogs and we enjoyed a feast. We played games after dinner and sat out on their deck and watched the kids throw a ball around. Almost a perfect day.
I took no pictures because I forgot my camera.. way to go, mom!
Monday and Tuesday found us back at TWU getting paperwork done and looking around more. We have now finished the process to get an appeal started for in-state tuition, housing applications are done, and the vaccination required to live in the dorm has been injected into my little girl.
Today we've relaxed for the most part. We are headed to Arlington later to watch the Texas Rangers play baseball. It's dollar hotdog night. I don't think that went unnoticed when my son bought the tickets. I'm looking forward to a baseball game. It's been years since I've gone to one.
Here are some photos from the last few days.

Monday night at BJ's brew house. This pizza was delish! I wish I had a slice right now.

Here are a few photos from last night's trip to the Fort Worth Stock Yards.

I had some, and they were delicious!!

My son with the Longhorn. He's a HUGE Longhorn fan.

My little girl on a saddle. Clearly, this is not a familiar thing to her.

Brisket? On a Taco? Oh yes it is!!  Callie ordered these and said they were SO good. Notice the jalapenos my little Texas girl piled on there!!