Heaven receives another angel

On October 17, 2009 our beautiful friend and neighbor lost her three year battle with breast cancer. She fought this terrible disease until the very end. She leaves behind three beautiful children: Jack, Moriah and Micah and a ton of family and friends who loved her dearly. Below is a speech that she gave two years ago.

April Cherie KrugerOctober 16, 1971 ~ October 17, 2009







WHIZZ!! That's the quiet, rushing, white noise only heard in my mind's ear as life moved swiftly into each tomorrow. But, it did not start out that way.

Kindergarten…my Mom cried as I started my first day. How excited I was to be a big girl with a place to be and something to do! It seemed an eternity I waited to break out of the single digit age group and then…it finally arrived: ten years old – double digits!! I felt older, certainly more grown up. But, still I quickly looked to the next milestone. The wait to become a teenager seemed everlasting. Oh how life seemed to dillydally as it moved at a snail's pace. I crossed the thirteen-threshold only to wait in impatient anticipation for sixteen – glorious, free sixteen! I got my first car, a used silver Toyota Corolla which stretched my confining boundaries and gave life a new momentum. Yet, it still seemed to creep as high school demanded just two more years of me before reaching the premier adult year – the coveted eighteen!

WHIZZ!! The pace of life was quickening, but I barely noticed. I needed now to be twenty one. I needed to be validated and confirmed in the age group of "real adults." I needed to proudly display my ID with an indignant, almost defiant squaring of my shoulders to anyone who dared to think my appearance youthful.

BANG!! I swung my over-sized, ego-mallet against the gong of life. I watched in adoration as the ripples of my actions waved out from me and into and through others, leaving them effected by my presence. I proudly wielded my newfound impact, looking for ways to be somebody, to feel important. Life began to truly whiz by in my happy delusion that its break neck speed would simply go on forever.

BANG!! My precious first born came when I reached the age of thirty. He was a natural pathway on the road of a life with real meaning. His presence caused the ego-driven actions of my twenties to retire in place of a reverence for that which was of far greater importance than my self-love. He inspired self-sacrifice. My ears began to prick up to that rushing, white noise of time passing in my mind's ear…it was not so quiet anymore. My second precious gift from God was born. I now had two little markers of time, growing so fast I could hardly believe I ever thought it took eternity to span two years. When my third and final child was born, time was moving with such blinding speed that it felt as if I hardly allowed a week to pass since my previous birth.

God revealed that "bang" is merely a whisper. He delivered a BOOM!! in my life that equaled a force in excess of all the banging around I ever did in my lifetime. It came crashing down on me with the authoritative destruction of an atom bomb, dropping with irregular waves like thunder.

BOOM!! came the voice of the nurse as my milk-filled, nursing breasts leaked life's liquid gold on the mammogram machine. "I'm scared with you." she said solemnly. The mammogram revealed immediately that my right breast was riddled with calcification. The doctor and nurse sacrificed their Christmas lunch party to give me urgent attention and whisked me into an immediate biopsy. So it began…a seed of fear was planted and fertilized well on that day.

My nurse case manager delivered the confirming BOOM!! that solidified my suspicion that a life forever changed was barreling down the tracks at my wide-eyed and white-knuckled self. "You have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma…Breast Cancer" she said matter-of-factly. Like the metallic scent and prickly heat that lingers after a close lightening strike, my senses over-loaded and I was reduced to paralyzed silence. A vacuum of stunned inactivity that seemed ceaseless overcame me.

The whirlwind of appointments that ensued left me feeling like I had boarded a runaway train with no scheduled stops, no final destination. I was no longer in control of my own life, no longer cruising in willful ignorance of the reality that life is finite. My oncologist and surgeons mapped out a plan. Neo-adjuvant therapy…neo-adjuvant. Neo-what? What does that mean?! I had an urge to slow everything down so I could understand it better – procrastinate myself into a false sense of comfort. But, I was on the runaway train and I certainly was not the engineer. I was the reluctant passenger holding on tightly to my dear life!

Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy was planned in order to shrink the tumor prior to mastectomy. Just the week before my first infusion, Lifetime Movie Network played a movie written by Geralyn Lucas called, "Why I Wore Red Lipstick to My Mastectomy." In it a young woman like my self was battling for her life against breast cancer. The nurses brought out an IV bag of glowing green liquid labeled with the skull and crossbones symbol at her first infusion. My scared eyes searched for the same noxious concoction to be presented as my chemical weapon. But, mine arrived in two forms – one orange and one clear…no glowing green slime like the stuff ordinary people fall into and emerge with super-powers. I cried as it began to drip – each drop stinging my heart as I was helplessly subordinate to the destruction it would bring my body. The plan was in place and underway: Neo-adjuvant chemo, mastectomy and another round of chemo followed by radiation. After that, in my estimation, life would return to something almost normal.

It began with my hair…oh my hair. I wore it long for all of my 35 years. I assigned my attractiveness to its soft, shiny length. "Not everyone's hair falls out" my oncologist said in an effort to offer encouragement. I scheduled with my hairdresser to try that edgy bob I always admired, but never dared to venture. Heck – what did I have to lose? I would certainly hate the new style and welcome the baldness, wouldn't I? Nope. I loved it! I told my hairdresser I was upset with him for giving me a beautiful style that I enjoyed…for a mere three weeks. And then it was gone. All gone.

I continued to work and made every effort to do all that I could in the name of normalcy. Never in my life had I allowed myself to slow down. I am the type that takes multi-tasking to a new dimension. Free time is an unfamiliar set of four letter words in my vocabulary. But, cancer gives no consideration to your drive or compunctions.

Breast Cancer therapy served to deconstruct all that I defined as my femininity. My long hair, my breast, my eyelashes, steroids gave me unwanted weight, my nails took a beating and I could not get pedicures due to my compromised immune system. What was left?! Would my rear fall on the floor as one more part of me waving the white flag to cancer?? Thankfully, it never did. From the destruction, a new sense of self began to form. How valuable were those things – how effective at defining me as a woman?? A new me was brewing…

Chemo ended and my mastectomy came next. They removed my diseased tissue and placed a tissue expander in its place. I derived comfort from that bag of saline. I looked in the mirror at the mound that was strangely higher than the natural breast (and conspicuously missing a nipple) and felt a sense that everything would eventually be OK. I had mapped out the descent into the pit of despair that would accompany the treatment. By my approximation, the mastectomy was the bottom of that pit. Everything from there would be on the way out, no matter how physically demanding it might be.

"Your margins were not clear, April. Your tumor had spikes into your lower layers of skin. We have to remove the tissue expander and some of your skin. You will require a skin graft from your thigh." I felt like Alice In Wonderland falling, falling, falling down an endless pit. The weeks that followed that surgery found me feeling hopeless despair. I could not look in the mirror. I felt that all I had prepared myself to troop through was dashed and I was left with a hideous skin graft that resembled an ugly mix of spam and road kill.

I sat on the edge of my bed the day I worked up the nerve to look at the wound and cried tears from deep in my soul. My daughter, Moriah, came to me with great concern, "Mama – are you sad?!" "Yes, Mo – Mommy's owie is making me cry." And she hugged me with a long, deliberate squeeze. Then she peered with conviction in my eyes and told me, "Mama – you are making Jesus cry. And you have to STOP! And that's the Truth." It was like a light came on in the darkness I had allowed to grip my soul. God is never at a loss for getting His message heard. Through my daughter, He reached to me and I grabbed His hand for the climb out of the pit that day.

I managed to get through the second round of chemo. I approached radiation with the idea it would be the cake walk portion of the treatment. I came to the hospital every day for eight weeks, except weekends, for about 30 minutes of treatment. On my first day, I met a woman in the waiting area who was nearly done with her treatments. She told me, "I'll take chemo over radiation any day!" I could not understand such a notion. But – as I entered my fourth week of treatment, I began to get it. As horrible as the radiation burns became, complete with open and oozing wounds, in just two short weeks after completion my skin was healed with only a somewhat darker shade as a remnant of the procedure. And during the treatments, my hair began to grow back! Life was going to be OK – I was going to be OK!

September 11 is the day I was born as a breast cancer survivor. A day of infamy infused with brand new meaning, a day worth celebrating!

I have told you my story, the process. But what I left out must be communicated. I cycled through emotions of fear, anger, confusion and despair and spent varying amounts of time wallowing in each one over and over again.

There are several keys to surviving the battle with cancer and emerging from it a whole and happy woman:

1) Draw close to those whom you love and love you. Allow them to come and do things for you. Their acts of service allow them to feel a part of the battle and allow you to give your body the break it needs while it fights to overcome the disease.

2) Save the cards, notes, emails and gifts people will send to encourage you. It became a treasure chest of positivity for me. A place to be reminded that I was not battling alone. I had prayer warriors across the US petitioning the Lord for my healing.

3) Allow yourself to experience the negative emotions and reach out to your closest friends and family to let those feelings out. Cry, be angry, admit you are scared. Holding it in and putting on a façade that everything is manageable is counter-intuitive to the
healing your body is trying to perform. No one can endure the battle of cancer in a state of constant joy. It is human and acceptable to experience moments of defeat. The key is not to dwell there.

4) If you have a relationship with the Lord, draw nearer to Him than ever before by reading His word constantly. Just as in the book of Daniel, God will walk through the fire with you. Cancer will be the tool He uses to grow you in Him and He gives the strength you need when you keep your heart focused squarely on Him.

5) Talk openly about your cancer, even to your children. My son was five at diagnosis and we did not spare him the truth. He eagerly listened and gathered all the information we could give him. He was part of the battle and is proud to fight with me. My three year old, Moriah, found ways to be a part of the team as well. Sometimes offering me a hug and kiss out of nowhere and telling me, "That will make your cancer feel better."

6) You can't always look healthy through the treatments. Going in public bald or showing other signs that you are engaged in war can give you the opportunity to share invaluable awareness with someone. You may be the image that sticks in their head when they decide to do their first Breast Self Exam. You never know how you may positively impact someone by allowing your battle to be seen.


Crazy, Sexy Cancer warrior Kris Carr said, "Why, when we are challenged to survive, do we give ourselves permission to truly live?" Let's not spend a long time exploring the answer to that question and immediately get down to the business of living. Cancer sharpens your ability to discern what is important. Cut out the stuff that is not – the stuff that causes anxiety or stress. Life's one priority is survival! And no one can discount the unstoppable life force within each of us that finds a way to overcome, even in the face of a seemingly impossible situation like cancer.

WHIZZ, BANG, BOOM! Life is so unpredictable, crazy, fast and yet slow at times. Can it be that I have settled into a precarious friendship with my breast cancer? I believe so. It has served to slow my pace to savor the moments I used to sail through. It has given me a love and appreciation for the moments I can not control. Breast Cancer taught me to choose joy which in turn fosters hope. Breast Cancer caused a light to shine in me that was never present before. It is now my purpose in life to truly live!


Please pray for April's family and most of all please support breast cancer awareness wherever and whenever you can. Thank you!

Sunday afternoon at Roswell Mill

Sunday afternoon after church we drove back over to Founder's Cemetery to debunk what we thought was something in one of our pictures from Friday night. After we left the cemetery which is near Big Creek (used to be known as Vickery Creek) we sort of stumbled on the Old Roswell Mill. We decided to park the car, get out and go investigate further. Here's a little history we found out about the Roswell Mill and what happened to those who worked there.

Construction on the mill began in 1836 and the first cloth was produced before the Indians were forced west on the Cherokee Trail of Tears. The mill was incorporated in 1839, and at about this time "The Bricks" were built to house some of the mill employees.

Despite the economic downturn after the Panic of 1837, the mill continued to operate. Barrington King, Roswell's son, expanded the operation with other water-powered businesses including a grist mill, carding shop (where wool was processed), and a saw mill.

When the war began Roswell Mill produced the famous "Roswell Gray" that is so closely associated with the Rebel troops. During the Atlanta Campaign, Roswell Mill was a major target for William Tecumseh Sherman's forces. He ordered Brigadier General Kennar Garrard to advance and take the mill and attempt to secure the bridge across the Chattahoochee River south of the mill.

In July 1864 during the Atlanta campaign General William T. Sherman ordered the approximately 400 Roswell mill workers, mostly women, arrested as traitors and shipped as prisoners to the North with their children. There is little evidence that more than a few of the women ever returned home.

As the Union forces approached Atlanta in the early summer of 1864, almost all the members of the founding families of Roswell—aristocrats from the Georgia coast, most of them owners and/or stockholders of the Roswell Manufacturing Company mills—had fled. The remaining residents were mostly the mill workers and their families. The two cotton mills and a woolen mill continued to operate, producing cloth for Confederate uniforms and other much-needed military supplies, such as rope, canvas, and tent cloth.

On July 5, seeking a way to cross the Chattahoochee River and gain access to Atlanta, Brigadier General Kenner Garrard's cavalry began the Union's twelve-day occupation of Roswell, which was undefended. The next day Garrard reported to Sherman that he had discovered the mills in full operation and had proceeded to destroy them, and that about 400 women had been employed in the mills. On July 7 Sherman replied that the destruction of the mills "meets my entire approval." He ordered that the owners and employees be arrested and charged with treason, elaborating, "I repeat my orders that you arrest all people, male and female, connected with those factories, no matter what the clamor, and let them foot it, under guard, to Marietta, whence I will send them by [railroad] cars, to the North. . . . Let them [the women] take along their children and clothing, providing they have a means of hauling or you can spare them."

The women, their children, and the few men, most either too young or too old to fight, were transported by wagon to Marietta and imprisoned in the Georgia Military Institute, by then abandoned. Then, with several days' rations, they were loaded in boxcars that proceeded through Chattanooga, Tennessee, and after a stopover in Nashville, Tennessee, headed to Louisville, Kentucky, the final destination for many of the mill workers. Others were sent across the Ohio River to Indiana.

First housed and fed in a Louisville refugee hospital, the women later took what menial jobs and living arrangements could be found. Those in Indiana struggled to survive, many settling near the river, where eventually mills provided employment. Unless husbands had been transported with the women or had been imprisoned nearby, there was little probability of a return to Roswell, so the remaining women began to marry and bear children.

The tragedy, widely publicized at the time, with outrage expressed in northern as well as southern presses, was virtually forgotten over the next century. Only in the 1980s did a few writers begin to research and tell the story. Even then, the individual identities and fates of the women remained unknown.
After the war portions of the original mill were rebuilt. In 1872 a new mill wheel was added, but it was difficult to rely on water power. In 1897 the mill wheel was replaced with a wood-fired steam generator, and in 1947 the mill was purchased by Southern Mills, who updated the buildings and began to purchase electricity from Georgia Power. The mill produced its final bolt of cotton cloth in 1975. It was a victim of foreign competition.




The machine shop. Part of the Mill complex that runs along Vickery Creek. The water was high and muddy from the 10 days of rain that we had recently had.


What would a day out with one of my besties be if we didn't take one of these?


The covered bridge that leads across the creek to the steep hiking trail on the other side.


The remains of the 1849 mill burned down by fire in 1927.


The back of the machine shop seen from the other side of the creek.

Bowling & ghost hunting

After a whole year....a very, VERY long year, Skylar's Nanny finally came back to see us after moving far away to Indiana last fall. While she was here we didn't do too much but we did manage to go bowling one Friday night after I got home from work. We had dinner at home and then went to the Brunswick Zone over in Roswell since we had a coupon for .99 cent games. Robert and I have our own shoes (because of the bowling dorks that we are) so we just paid for Victoria's shoe rental and two games each. I totally kicked their butts in the first game and Robert wiped the floor with us on the second. He claims it takes him a game to warm up. I guess he was right. After we left the bowling ally we drove over to the Founder's Cemetery where the Founder's of Roswell and their family and slaves were buried. It's supposed to be haunted but we didn't see anything or catch anything on camera. We did see something in a picture that we thought was something but we were able to debunk it a couple of days later. After we left Founder's Cemetery we went and took some pictures at the Presbyterian Cemetery. We didn't catch any ghosties there either. Roswell is one of the most haunted cities in the U.S. and they have a ghost walk every week so one night we're going to try and do that.



Family fun time! Momma, Daddy, Pootie & her Ritz cracker.


Pootie's first trip to the bowling ally.


Waiting for Momma to take her turn.


After bowling we went to the old Founder's Cemetery in Roswell. The founder's of Roswell and their slaves are buried here. Scarlet fever killed quite a few children and the first grave was that of a two-year-old.


This is Victoria's "scared" face.


Leaving the cemetery. Hope we didn't bring any ghosties home with us.


Roswell King's grave.


Graves at the Presbyterian Cemetery downtown.

Pictures from Skylar's birthday

Two days before Skylar's first birthday we had a party for her at Dave & Buster's so that not only the little kids could have fun but the "big kids" too. Grammy and Grandpa came down from Blairsville the night before so they could be here for her party on Saturday. Everyone who was invited showed up. We had a great time eating yummy food and playing games on the midway. Skylar made a mess with her cake but I guess that was to be expected. After the party Tara and Roger came home with Momma and Skylar to help us open the presents. She got a Radio Flyer wagon with big fat all-terrain tires from Grammy and Grandpa, a pretty singing purse from Miss Tina, Miss April and all the kids, jammies and a toy from Tara & Roger, a singing shape spinner (another noisy toy) from Kim, Cory & the girls and some Fisher Price Little People from Ed and Stacy who live next door. She loves all her toys....including the four toys we gave her the week "before" her birthday. I just couldn't wait to give them to her cuz I loves my big girl!

Here are some pictures from her party.


Jada just LOVED Skylar....she wanted to hold her and touch her and eventually ended up riding around in the stroller with her!


Kim, trying to hit the jackpot for the second time.


Tina helping Moriah spin the big wheel.


Moriah, Skylar and Joshie.


Momma, Auntie Kim, Jada & AhNeelah.


Look at Momma's pretty girl eating french fries with the BIG kids!


Skylar's cake. It was Winnie the Pooh....I guess you can see that huh?


Micah, Joey, Jack, Jada, Josh & Moriah.


She reached over and dug her hand in the cake.


She played with the frosting and then smeared it all over the table and high chair. She never did stick it in her mouth to taste it. How weird.


What's that up there? And is Mo laughing or crying?


Jack & Joey...best friends forever.


Josh, all wet from the spilled drink, Moriah still smiling and the birthday girl reaching for a balloon.


Micah was playing with the power cards.


Moriah told Skylar that she was "this many"

Can hardly believe it's been a year

I am going to try and pound out a quick entry before my lunch break is over. I am here in the lunch room at work. I usually leave the building on my break and go park down the street and take a nap in my car but today Robert needed the car to take Skylar to her 12-month check-up. I dont remember the statistics he read off to me but he did say she's in the 90th percentile for her weight which means she's not the little cow that I thought she was. The doctor said she looks good and that we can go ahead and start her on whole milk.

On Saturday, the 5th of September we had her birthday party at Dave & Buster's. We got her a bunch of balloons and a cake from Publix (I was not a big fan). There were seven adults and seven children at her party so I would say it was a pretty good turnout. She sat at the big kids table and ate french fries. She loves being around other children. After we had lunch we went to the midway to play games. All the kids had fun and got goody bags at the end of the party before they left.

On Sunday Skylar cut her first two teeth on the bottom. No wonder she has been acting like a crabby patty lately. She started crawling two weeks before her birthday. I thought she would never do that but she surprised me. Monday was her birthday and also Labor Day so after we went to IHOP for breakfast and then took her to get her portraits done at Sears we drove up to my Aunt Sharon's house for a cookout. It was nice to see some of my family. I got to see my cousin Alaina who I haven't seen in two years and she looks really good. I think she wants to have a baby girl from hanging out with Skylar. Well, who wouldn't want a cute baby like Pootie?

I think when Robert picks me up today we'll go have a little D&B before we go home because once we're there we've got a ton of house cleaning to do. Fall is coming quickly and it's time to pull the furniture away from the walls and start cleaning all that hair bunnies out of the corners.

Better go for now. I'll post pics from last weekend later.

Skylar update

I really do need to get back into the habit of blogging more often. I promised my dear friend Victoria that I would make a conscious effort to try and post more often but sometimes I just never get around to it because of cooking, or laundry or taking care of the baby.

Speaking of the baby....Skylar will be one year old a week from today. I just can't believe that it has been almost a year since God blessed us with that sweet angel. Now that she is a "BIG GIRL" (you know....being almost one and all!) her little personality is truly starting to emerge. A couple of days ago she woke up on the wrong side of the crib. Even though she had slept for about ten hours she was just cranky and miserable. When I was getting her dressed she kept pushing me away. She just did not want to be messed with. After she had her Very Berry fruit cup and a NutriGrain bar she was a little ball of sunshine so we went and did our grocery shopping. This child absolutely LOVES to go shopping. She gets lots of attention from strangers because she is so dern cute but sometimes it gets really annoying. Especially when that person wants to stand there in the store and chat. Ugh!

At almost a year old Skylar has no teeth. Nope...not a one. Not even a tiny white glimmer of one just under the surface. She does have a little more hair though. Not much, but enough to put a little clip in. She just started crawling two weeks ago. It took her strong desire to slobber all over her daddy's cell phone to move her big juicy butt across the floor to get it when he laid it down six feet in front of her. She crawled to it, chewed on it for a minute and now a couple of the keys won't work. Sweet baby slobber must act as a cement or something. Who knows. She is in her walker most of the time lately. She runs through the living room, around the dining room table and into the kitchen...trying desperately to run down a dog or a cat. The day before yesterday she actually did pin one of our cats between her walker and the sliding glass door. That child is hell on wheels. I have to wear shoes when I'm in the kitchen making dinner because if not she bangs into my heels or runs up over my toes.

I have an appointment on Labor Day (her birthday) to get her one-year portraits done at Sears so I'll be sending those out to everyone. I just wonder if I should wait and send them out at Christmas with the Christmas cards. It would save money I suppose. I just get anxious though when I get really great pictures of her. I'm just excited to share them.

Well, I think I will close this for now. I am upstairs and the baby is downstairs sleeping in her crib. I think I need to check on her. Nitey nite.



Eating a french-fry at the Gwinnett Braves game on August 22nd.


Daddy was helping her clap for the team.


Our back porch. It looks nice and big when it's clean. Daddy and Pootie were both swinging. I didn't have to push him though =O)


Crawling to get to her Daddy's nasty funky "taking out the trash" shoes.


This pic is a cute one. She was moving so it came out a little blurry.


Hanging out with Miss Tina again.


Sweetie Pie and Smokie Joe absolutely love the new washer and dryer. Before I grabbed the camera Sweetie Pie was actually in the dryer.


Sitting on Momma's desk - looking at pictures of herself on the computer. Aunt Lovely, notice how her sock is half-hanging off her foot!


She had such a good time in her new ball pit/pool


See, she has enough hair to finally hold a clippie!

Summer Happenings

It occurred to me about a week or so ago that it has been four months since I last updated our blog. I knew that it had been awhile...I just hadn’t realized how long of “a while” it had actually been. I get online periodically and read updates on other blogs I am following but yet I didn’t take the time to type out an update on ours. I think I keep this site as more of a record for me to keep of some of the things we’ve done and the changes taking place in our family on a semi-regular basis. Even Robert doesn't keep up with my blog. I want to say that it's because he's here with me living out each day and experience and already knows what's going on but that's not it at all. He hates to read and it would be too much for him to read my sometimes lengthy and wordy posts so he just sits back and lets me deal with what's going on. No one else keeps up with our site so again....this is pretty much for my eyes only. I send out pictures of Skylar with the web address to this page and hers and no one pays attention and visits the site and/or leaves us comments.

*** IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME VISITING OUR SITE AND YOU ARE FAMILY OR A FRIEND THEN SHAME ON YOU! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME???? I FEEL LIKE I'VE BEEN POSTING FOR NOTHING. ***

Let me see if I can catch everyone (dare I hope it?) up to speed on what is or has been going on. In June we took a vacation to Florida to spend time with family. We stayed for a week with Robert's sister, Regina and her two girls, Rose and Sarah. We left here on Saturday morning at 5:30am and got to my Aunt Jeannie's house by 2:30. I think we made pretty good time considering we stopped to eat at the most disgusting Denny's ever (in Cordele, GA just off of 75 - don't ever stop there) and we stopped to gas up and let the dogs out to pee a couple of times. That evening a whole bunches (yep, I said "bunches") of us went out to eat at Bob Evans. It was me, Robert and Pootie (Skylar's new nickname), Jeannie and Byron and Steven, Regina and Rose and Sarah and also James and Alacia. We had such a nice time and the food was great. I miss Bob Evans. I have yet to see one here in Georgia in the three years we've been up here. That and Denny's and since the Cordele incident I don't think I care to ever eat at another one. Since I am on the subject of restaurants and food (isn't it every fat person's favorite subject?)- there is this Chinese buffet that my mom and Robert and I used to always go to in Lake Mary that I swore up and down we would make it to while we were in Florida this summer. Never happened. There were just too many people we wanted to spend time with and just not enough time. Now if the rest of the family would just move their butts up here I wouldn't have to vacation in the sweltering hot sticky heat that is Florida.

Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah....Bob Evans. Well, we did that and went back to Regina's and crashed. On Sunday we went to Lake Monroe in Sanford and had a Father's Day get-together with my side of the family. We knew about four months in advance that we would be in Florida that week so I asked my Aunt Jeannie to plan a gathering for the family and just lie to everyone as to why they were getting together. I know....lying is WRONG. Anyhoo...it dawned on me that we would be there for Father's Day so that was the "reason" we went with. I talked to my sister, Becca a few weeks prior and she was telling me that they had planned this big party and everyone was coming and couldn't we just come down for the weekend? I told her Robert was working and that we just didn't have the money to make the trip. She was sad but accepted it and that was that. Rosie went with us to the party since she really didn't have anything else to do. Gotta love summer vacation! Anyway, when we got to the lakefront we circled the block a couple of times so we could see if we could spot the family's picnic site. We found the pavilion they were at so we circled the block and parked our car really far down and out of site. We got the baby in the stroller and packed up all her junk and turned the video camera on and started walking down the sidewalk towards the pavilion. You may wonder why the video camera? Well, if ya know my sister Becca and how dramatical (Rosie, isn't that your "ism") she can be you'll understand why I wanted the camera rolling. Well, as we started to get closer my cousin, Gloria looks up from tending the hot-dogs at the grill and just stares...like she's not quite sure what she's seeing. When I raise my finger to my lips to shush her she started waving her arms or maybe it was more like a bird flapping it's wings. (LOVE YOU GORLIA) <~~spelled wrong intentionally - long story. So Gloria starts running towards us and this catches my sister Krystal's attention and she starts flipping out. Then Becca saw us. She was sitting on a bench and stood up to come towards us and then had to sit down....head and hands between her knees to keep from passing out. Becca said, "I'm SO glad you guys were able to make it!" Robert and I informed them all that WE were the reason the gathering was even taking place...that it was all planned months before at my request. They were shocked. Gloria and Becca blubbered like babies and that's the reaction I was expecting.....gosh you guys are so predictable! Everyone was surprised to see us...I got to see all my nieces and a couple of nephews....cousins, aunts & uncles. It was great. Everyone LOVED my daughter....naturally....because she's so yummy delicious! We put Skylar in a bathing suit and she played in the fountain with her Daddy and cousin Vonnie. A good time was had by all. After that we went back to Regina's to relax a bit and then went to Jeannie and Byron's and visited with them and my niece Amanda and her kids.

On Monday we went to the Sanford mall and had pictures done at Sears of Skylar and Rose and Sarah. After hanging out at the mall for a while we went and got a few groceries at Wal Mart and went back to the house and I made a spaghetti dinner. Tuesday I made two pans of Shepard's pie and a German chocolate cheesecake (from scratch) for the company we were having that night. Jeannie & Byron and James & Alacia and Ernie (my dear old friend who is like family) came over for dinner and dessert. We hung out and talked for a while and then everyone went home. On Wednesday Robert & I and Alacia took the girls to the Magic Kingdom. Sarah slept the first half of the day. Skylar was awake the whole day until we got to It's A Small World. She was so exhausted there was nothing waking her up. We stayed for the fireworks and got back to the house really late. Thursday afternoon Jeannie came over to visit while I did some laundry and packed a bunch of our stuff to leave the next day. That evening we went to my best friend, Leslie's house for dinner and a movie. Pootie and I passed out during the movie. What a terrible guest I was. It was good to see Leslie and to have her meet my daughter for the first time.

Friday we made the very long drive back to Georgia. We brought Rosie with us and we played a travel alphabet game on the way back a few times. It kept us busy. Pootie was content in the back seat with a Twizzler for a couple of hours at least. She kept swinging and shaking it and whacking the dogs with it. Then she stuck it in her mouth and realized that it tasted good and so we had to take it away from her as she had a thick line of red drool dripping off her chin and onto her chest. It was so great when we finally got home. Our cats were glad to see us. We had friends house sitting while we were gone so they weren't totally alone.

While Rosie was here we went to the YMCA a couple of times, made several trips to various malls and went to Chattanooga and went to Rock City at Lookout Mountain. Grandma and Grandpa eventually came down to get her and then she stayed a couple weeks with them.

The last Monday in July Robert ran a red light on his way to work, totaled our Durango and another car and sent him and the other guy to the hospital. The ER kept him off work for three days and because he wasn't able to lift Skylar I had to take the week off of work. He takes care of her during the day while I work and I take care of her at night while he works so thank goodness we won't have to get another vehicle right away. State Farm gave us $4000 for the Durango and I meant to save every dime but we ended up spending $1200 on a new washer and dryer since the dryer on our old stackable unit quit.

Well....I think that's just about everything. For now anyway.


Dinner at Bob Evans


Robert, Pootie, Becca, me & John.


Pootie and her daddy playing in the fountain.


Anna, Ryanne & Vonnie at the Father's Day picnic.


The Fathers being honored for the day. Robert, Kevin, Terrance and Byron.


My gorgeous nephew, David and his beautiful mother, Becca.


Skylar and her Uncle John. He was commenting on how heavy she was.


If looks could kill. Skylar didn't like her Dodie being swiped by her cousin, Valeria. "Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping!"


Sarah looked like she was either leaning over to toodle or to get away from Uncle Robert.


Sarah Elizabeth & Skylar Isabelle watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Monday morning before going to have pictures done.


Rose and Sarah at the mall. The look on Sarah's face is priceless!


The german chocolate cheesecake that weighed at least 8 pounds.


The girls in the stroller right after we got to the Magic Kingdom. Sarah hadn't yet passed out.


Boy that castle sure does look small behind us!


Pootie Roo McTureous - sporting her very first pair of mouse ears. They stayed on her a full 15 seconds before she ripped them off her head.


Sarah, Alacia, Rosie, Skylar & me waiting for the Philharmonic show to start. Note our fantastically cool yellow 3-D glasses.


Aunt Jeannie was having a conversation with Sarah.


Skylar and her Aunt Lovely.


Pootie and her daddy in the pool at the Y.


Food Court Pootie!


I love taking pictures of flowers! This was at Rock City Gardens.


Rosie and I - Rock City, Lookout Mountain


Another great picture of me and my better half.


Rosie in front of Lover's Leap.


How serene.


The rainbow tunnel.


Lover's Leap


I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sweet old couple. I hope Robert and I are still holding hands 50 years from now.


Pretty, pretty....


flowers.