Rheganisms: 5 Years Old!

My darlin' baby grand-girl, Happy Birthday! I missed you like crazy all day long, and was excited to meet you for pizza after work! I'll have you know that your momma and daddy are the only ones I would trust you to, especially in a family where birthdays are king. All day long, I felt like confetti with no place to blow. But we're all grown-ups here, so I tapped my fingernails on the desk counting down the hours till your pizza party. Five things about your 5th birthday:

1. You were dressed so cute that I honestly could not bear it! Score. Child. Score. And I'm relieved since your best shopping buddy didn't buy it.

2. On the eve of your birthday, we asked "How old are you?" Four! So we asked, "How old will you be tomorrow?" Five! So we told you we were giving you mustard for your 5th birthday, with a squirt of ketchup, of course. I saw your nose squiggle up right through the telephone.

3. Grandma: "I remember the day you were born." Rhegan: "Me too!" Grandma: "Tell me about it!" Rhegan: "Well, first, we all gathered ...." Grandma: stunned. Rhegan, struggling to think of where we were gathered: "Well, I wasn't born at McDonalds!"

4. You told me about camping and swimming around fish poop in the lake. At first, you were not going to swim in the fish poop lake. But then you decided you could simply swim around it.

5. Growing up in church is the best birthday present your momma and daddy will ever give you. I pray with all my heart for your little 5-year old frame. Kindergarten is coming. Persevere my sweet sweet child. Getting up early to catch the bus is only for a season.

School Bus Conversation between brother Clayton (9) and Rhegan (then 4):

Clayton: You will ride the bus with me every morning.
Rhegan: Yeah, some days I will but some days I won't so I can sleep in.
Clayton: Well, I'm sorry Rhegan! When you go to school you can never sleep in! Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, you can never sleep in. You have to get up early to catch the bus.
Rhegan: (wailing) Ohhhh, I don't think I can doooooo this! (hand over head, running into the wind as if to get away from the biggest problem on the planet earth).

Grandma can relate.


We hope your birthday was everything that's fun and nothing that isn't! I'm thankful for the day you made me your grandma who rocks. We're all wild about you!

Post Pizza Party Pic: Parker! (SO many "P"s) Baby bro Parker is already a biker dude. He crawled up there his-self, much to Paw-Paw's delight! Pretty shiny new bike, Paw-Paw!

Laundry Helper

Look at who was a "load" of fun during this week's laundry exercise!? Laughter is an instant vacation, and off we went! Lately, we've been introducing O'Malley to the entire first floor and oh how big his world is now. He believes that every sweet precious waking moment of our time should be spent with him! Funny cat.

My mind and things of late:

1. Kevin made a down payment on a new knee, which will be installed on August 24. He really needs two new knees, but Dr. VanMeter said "one at a time" will do. I do not know (nor does anyone else, including Dr. VanMeter) just how Kevin has been able to walk around, bend, sit, stand. High pain tolerance is a gift to some .... I just have tolerance, not necessarily for pain. So they laser-measured his knee and are making him a new super duper biomet tailor-made knee for the low low price of $19.95. Praise Dee Lord!

2. Other than a re-check on my cholesterol level in 90 days, my recent check up was good. Mammogram was good. I even got to spend time visiting with my ex-neighbor during the mammogram! Reta and Mike had the nerve to buy a new house - harrumph. A beautiful one at that. The hood attended their open house a few weekends ago, and we're negotiating a deal for all of us to move into their lower level (they wouldn't even know we're there)!

3. Big doings on my plate at work! Every year, for 12 years, I have planned the Indiana Energy Conference in conjunction with government, policy makers, regulatory heads, and academia. I'm well behind schedule this year. Anxiety has replaced cholesterol. Pray for me.

4. About this time last year, we were "Momma Mia" crazy! Loved that movie. It's a big dose of song and dance and pure fun. A mid-summer shot in the arm. We haven't seen the likes of that this summer ... I guess that's why we have O'Malley.

5. We recently attended the most beautiful wedding! Good friends, Tim & Debbie, married off their darlin' sweet daughter to a fine young army man. SO many wedding highlights not to mention getting to hang with the old church gang from 20 years ago ... but the best was this. Tim presented a musical gift to the bride as he gave her away ... he plays the piano beautifully. As father & bride sat together on the grand piano bench, he playing music softly, he spoke of their blessed family life together and reminisced how she grew up listening to him play. So he presented a special musical gift to the happy couple, and there was not a dry eye in the place! Amen to close families!

6. Speaking of crafts, my Summer Scripture Challenge has 3 weeks left and I've been a busy little bee claiming, memorizing, and faithbooking my chosen scriptures each week. Pictures here. And by the way, I WAS stung by a bee and lived to tell about it. NO pain tolerance, remember?

7. Did you know that Christmas is closer than New Year's Eve?

8. I believe Math Teacher Extraordinaire' is sleeping half the days away, and staying up half the nights. I think they call it "summer vacation" for a teacher, but I'm not exactly sure. I do know that he took a hamster to Disney World and the poor thing died of heat exhaustion. But I did raise an honest youngster, because he quickly fessed up to its owner who wasn't mad since someone just gave it to her anyways. A proper burial was held.

9. Brandt & Sara B. went down the Lazy River in Virginia, which took 3.7453829 hours. Ahhhhhh. I gotta do that someday! Kay Lazy = want. I digress. The point is, Brandt & Sara B. are enjoying the lazy hazy days of summer, to which I say hear hear. Brandt's mom is wondering if he has been reading the Max Lucado book she gave him, entitled Cure For the Common Life? Good for any age -- finding and living out God's purpose. His highly personalized plan for each and every one of us.

10. Gotta go eat oatmeal ... cholesterol food.

O'Malley the Alley Cat

Welcome O'Malley! He's a super cute little fuzzball originally named "King Tut" by the Hamilton County Animal Shelter where we adopted it. {King Tut is a very big name for such a little guy!} Our baby is 8-weeks old and weighs in at 1.9 pounds .... that's like a clump of banana's or something! When Keaton was home visiting last week, we made a trip to the animal shelter "just to look around" of course. Can anyone say naive'? Little O'Malley looked at Kevin and made a big impression! After a short debate, we decided he was just too cute to not get. We spent the next few days building a cat name directory, when all of a sudden it came to me ... O'Malley! Ohhhh-Malley, you are so cute! Ohhhhh-Malley, move out of the way! Ohhhh-Malley, get out of there! Ohhhh-Malley, you're a good boy! It works!

He wasn't entirely pleased to be here at first. We spent the first 24 hours trying to coax him to come out from behind the washer/dryer. After Kevin made some panels to fix that little problem, O'Malley showed bravery and is now a little lover! Winner winner chicken dinner! I am currently arguing with him over wanting to play with my necklace! I wonder what's inside that fuzzy little head?! What is it like to just sit there and be cute and tiny? I think we're all gonna be one big happy family, and rub tuna juice around! I just know this much: when humans are owned by cats they live longer.

Family Reunion

Ever heard of Sulfur Well, Kentucky? That's okay, nobody else has ever heard of it either! But our bunch has been going there for many years to play and eat and laugh and do the reunion thing. Rook games are big in this bunch! This year, we ordered $100 worth of pizza and said "Let the games begin!" I love getting together with this wild bunch of hoodlums!

I'm a little late posting (Reunion was mid-June) but them's the breaks bucko! I'm just now getting around to the lazy hazy days of summer! Thanks, my family, for being the funnest bunch of hoodlums in town (well - did I mention that Sulfur Well, Kentucky isn't that big of a town?!) Okay, I'm kidding! We come from all over the globe, but whose watching?