Memorial Day

Today we remember. Today we honor. Today we pray. For those fallen, and for those they leave behind. We ACTIVELY do these things today. I was researching Memorial Day this morning, and I learned that it used to be held on May 30, but it was changed to be held on the last Monday in May. There is still a push to change the date to its "traditional day of observance". There is so much more I would like to write about it, but instead will just put this link here if you are interested in learning more: http://www.usmemorialday.org John was to be on call today, but his buddy and co-worker Jeff took the day in exchange for John taking this coming Saturday for him. It is nice to relax and know he won't be needed today! Friday evening was Asher's Kindergarten Cookout at a local park. I only took a handful of pictures. Allie hadn't napped for the third day in a row, and John agreed to stay home with her, and get her in the bed early, since we would only be about 10 minutes away. Ash and I arrived at the park a little after 6p, and stayed until almost 8. It was a beautiful evening, the rain held off, and he enjoyed playing with his friends and I enjoyed visiting with the other parents. Meanwhile John got Allie into bed at 7 and then fired up the smoker. He was smoking the meat (pork butts/shoulder and a brisket) for Jeff's daughter's graduation party to be held on Saturday afternoon. He had to get up once during the night to add another "chimney" of coals, and then he got called in at 5a for a c/section. He didn't even make it to the hospital and they called him back saying never mind, she had delivered, so he turned around and came back home. He pulled some of the meat off at 6:30a, and the rest off around 9a. Since the smoker would be going, we had decided on Friday that we would put some ribs on for us. So he got those on around 11a and we headed over for the grad party at 1:30p. We visited there until 5:30p, and Allie did amazingly well for her FOURTH day in a row of no nap. Thank goodness for early bedtimes!!!!! When we got home we feasted on ribs, which were the best John has made yet! The flavor was excellent and the meat was falling off the bone. The brisket and pork at Jeff's got great reviews as well, so all in all it was a successful barbecue weekend! lol That night, John got called in maybe around midnight and worked until 4a. He stayed at the hospital and slept until noon. The kids and I worked/played outside that morning and then Allie thankfully took a nice long nap while John watched the Indy 500 and Asher and I were in the craft room. He finished all the thank you cards for his party gifts, and I started and finished another Caroline dress for Asher's teacher who ordered one. I haven't taken pictures, but it is the same fabric as the one I finished on Friday. I had taken it to the cookout to show one of the teachers, who wants one for her little girl, and ended up with more orders! LOL. The dress is so fun to make, and on Sunday I cut the sewing time in HALF just simply because it wasn't my first time following a new pattern. And I just had to make a little hair clippie bow to coordinate with it as well. :) Even John thinks they are adorable. I also cut out the pieces for 2 more Caroline dresses before it was time to get Allie up. I have 2 birthdays coming up, a 2 yr old and a 3 yr old, that I want to make dresses for, plus I have 3 orders pending for them. My fingers will be flying this week! :) I also want to experiment with the new Kyla dress pattern, but that may have to wait another couple of weeks. Not sure what our plans are for today. Asher has been wanting a new toy at WalMart with some of his birthday money, and has been asking to go for days. So maybe we will do that! Our pool is all filled up with fresh clean water, but of course it is FREEZING so we will not be swimming. I did get the kids a cool wiggly water hose sprinkler thing, and they played in that for an hour yesterday. I have ordered a new solar blanket "cover" for the pool but it may not be here until next week. That will help warm up the temp. The one we had used for 2007 and 2008 fell apart! Our local water park is also open this weekend, not sure if they heated the water or not though.