The Good and the Bad January 2022

 January is Isaac's birthday month.  We have a 17 year old.  As referenced in my last post, he is all about hockey right now.  I ordered him some pucks he was wanting for his birthday.  He'd bought some at Dunham's recently, but they don't work well on rinks.  There is hockey rink fairly close to our house.  He also just finished the Soprano's so I'd also ordered him a book he was wanting. 

Funny story...it got SUPER cold in BG the week before his birthday.  One of our pipes under the sink was leaking.  We had a plumber who unfortunately is no longer with us.  At school, Matt was asking some of the maintenance staff if they knew of anyone.  They gave him the name and number of a retired gentleman that they thought might look at the job for us.  He was available and came early the next morning.  By noon, the problem was fixed.  However, he didn't want us to turn on the water for 24 hours.  This is always challenging with four people in the house.  The next morning when Matt got up to look at everything (pretty early), a big fat mouse was running in the house and squeezed under the closet door.  We saw it two more times that weekend and knew we needed to set some traps.  Friends offered us their cats, but I found some cheap traps at Walmart.  Matt used to have to catch mice at the high school - he's sort of a professional in this area.  We set the traps with peanut butter Monday night knowing we'd most likely have one in the morning.  Matt had planned to lay a dead mouse on Isaac's desk (birthday morning) and say Happy Birthday!  From - Tony Soprano.  In conclusion, our water pipe is fixed, and we have NOT caught any mice yet.  We're thinking they may have just come in the house to escape the cold, and it was CRAZY cold that week.

 

He has first block dual credit which means he doesn't leave for school early.  We wanted him to feel special on his birthday when he woke up so we made him his favorite treat - Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls.  

 

  

 

We invited everyone to eat at Kyoto, his favorite restaurant, that evening.  I ordered him a cookie cake, his favorite.  Matt and I hit the jackpot with kids!  Isaac is such a loving person and growing up into such a cool adult.  He works hard at the car wash, school, and has a bright future ahead of him.  It's fun being his mom!

A couple of handsome fellas heading the BGHS Winter Formal.

Isaac's birthday night was bittersweet.  Matt's grand-daddy Doug wasn't doing well.  His Aunt Diane had come in town to see him, and we felt like we probably needed to go over and be with him as well.  After we celebrated Isaac at Kyoto, we spent some time at Doug's.  

Sadly, he passed the next morning at 88 (a month shy from his birthday).  Our kids have been fortunate growing up and being able to have relationships with the GREAT grandparents.  I don't know what I would've done without Doug and Lucy's help on Fridays when the kids were small.  It was a consistent pocket of time that I could take for myself to regroup, shop, exercise, and gather my bearings as a young mom of three small children.  Granny and Grandad would play with them, spoil them, give them endless amounts of junk food (good stuff too), and be an influence in their lives that I couldn't be.  Our kids have the best memories from Willow Way.  We've been super lucky having all these wonderful people shape the lives of our kids during those crucial development times and have supported them endlessly through the years.  We miss them all dearly (Granny, Mamaw D., Memaw H., Karen Lou, and Grandad).  Please continue to pray for my Poppy (mom's dad) and Mamaw Pogue (dad's mom).  They are our kids two surviving great grandparents.

In other news, I received a very special award this week at Skyctc.  I was nominated for an Award of Excellence as a supporting staff member and won!!!  I could hardly believe it.  A group of us will have the opportunity to travel to New York in the spring to attend the American Association of Community Colleges Annual Convention.  How cool!!!  Tomorrow will officially be one year with the college.  It's been such a treat being an employee there.  We have an incredible group of talented faculty and staff that I am truly honored and humbled to be a part of it.