A Visual of Our Economic Stimulus

$780 billion. Can you really grasp it? The figure is tossed around on all of the news channels but when I saw this it stopped me in my tracks.

33rd Annual SaPaDaPaSo Parade

The best weather ever for the SaPaDaPaSo Parade - 72 and sunny

Bubba even got a few new freckles. There couldn't have been a better way to welcome spring!

Here's the parade banner. Note the people in the white coats - they are members of the official parade committee and keep things moving smoothly

Nanny saved the day once again by staking out a great spot an hour and a half ahead of time. By the time we rolled in after preschool pick up we would have been 4 rows back it not for Nanny's great space saving. The crew included: Lee, Lance, Mom, Tara & Holly, Jorie, Joel & Silas, Me & kids and later Papa cruised in on his trusty 2 wheeler :)

Just couldn't pass up this "Sham-Wow" float from the Irish Heritage Club"Candy! Please Candy!" the only negative about our spot was that we were at the end of the route and since the great weather brought out an extra large crowd most of them were out of candy by the time they got to us. Don't feel too sorry for them though - we made sure each kid got a few tootsie-rolls and then Nanny & I took them to DQ afterwards. SBG loves her cool hotpink shades

Silas wanted some shades too so Jorie shared with him

Bubba's fave float

Holly and Bubba in a "date pose". I asked him to give her a hug for a pick and this is what I got.

Aunt Katie's Date with 3 Cute Boys

Aunt KT took my sweet boy on a "date" on Monday morning to PumpItUp. What a cool aunt (and Mom as she had her 2 boys too)!

Her plan was to chill with a trashy magazine while the boys played their brains out. Little did she know that her favorite nephew would put up with that about 2 minutes. "Hey Aunt KT - aren't you going to do the slides too?" Too bad there was no one to get some pics of her hauling Macky up the slides and being the coolest aunt ever! Thanks for an awesome 1 1/2 hours Aunt Katie! We are praying you are better soon :(

Hope Macky doesn't get bumped by a puck.

PumpItUpAction

Sister Christian

Coming up from the basement this afternoon I spy this -

Me: Hey Hadd - what are you doing?
H: Weeding Gowiwaff (Reading Goliath)

Thad calls her little Billy Esther Graham because she loves this little leather bound Bible that's just her size. She carries it around the living room and tells us just like her Bible School

(that's what she & Hank call their BSF with Nanny on Wed. mornings) teacher, Miss A-wice (Alice) - "It a good thing Mom. The Bible is true."
Hope she loves reading it her whole life long.

Interview with Bubba

(Bubba in his specially designed homemade pirate hat - note the prize fighter scar under his right eye from his loss in a battle with a picture frame)

My friend Sarah did this Facebook quiz on her blog the other day and I thought it would be kind of fun to do with my "four and three quarters" boy on this chilly Monday. I bribed him with getting to play a computer game to get him to play along with me but after a few questions he got warmed up and really like our "quiz". He couldn't believe he answered all twenty so quickly. So here's his answers to the MY MOMMY quiz...

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "Jesus loves you the most"

2. What makes mommy happy? "obey" (can you guess the focus of our conversations lately?)

3. What makes mommy sad? "that I disobey" (well, atleast he's getting it)

4. What does your mommy do that makes you laugh? "by doing silly stuff like...saying Hanky Ranky Roo"

5. What was your mommy like as a child? "a little girl" (well -duh)

6. How old is your mommy? "this is a hard one - I think 'firty' " (gotta love that little boy lipse)

7. How tall is your mommy? "super duper tall"

8. What is her favorite thing to do? "spend time with me" (he's pretty much right)

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? "play with my sister" (pretty much right again)

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "being good" :)

11. What is your mommy really good at? "gum chewing" (I think he said that to encourage my gum chewing because he loves to dig it out of my purse because it's his favorite)

12. What is your mommy not very good at? "I can't 'sink' of anything"

13. What does your mommy do for her job? "take care of me"

14. What is your mom's favorite food? "meat loaf" (really it's ice cream but we are having meatloaf for dinner tonight)

15. What makes you proud of your mommy? "that she helps me"

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Scooby" (it's his favorite so I suppose that is a great honor for him to equate the two of us)

17. What do you and your mom do together? "have dates" (our last one was to the Children's Theater production of Beauty and the Beast and a stop for M&Ms on the way home)

18. How are you and your mom the same? "our hair kinda matches up"

19. How are you and your mom different? "our eyes don't match" (he's right - he's brown and I'm blue)

20. How do you know your mom loves you? "because you hug me and snuggle me" (he's right again!)

My Neighbor Jill

Jill with Alex and Brian

My neighbor Jill died on Saturday afternoon. She was 41 years old. Vibrant, healthy, full of life and unforgettable if you ever had the occasion to chat with her. She left on Earth her husband Brian and the light of her life - 10 1/2 year old Alex.

She was just 6 years older than me and her precious only child is 6 years older than my sweet boy. Maybe that's why I can't stop thinking about her or the fact that I've been her neighbor for 8 years and I didn't title this post "My Friend Jill" but "My Neighbor Jill".

When we first moved here she was an at home mom of a preschooler and I was working long days driving many miles. Then when I became an at home mom Alex was in school and she was back to the work world. Six months out of the year we have chatted across our yards as she worked so hard on keeping hers up to Master Gardener standards and I watered my one token pot and kept Hank from riding his bike into the street.

She doted on my sweet boy and loved passing down "treasures" hers had out grown. She tactfully questioned my husband's unconventional backyard landscaping as she weekly edged her over 1 acre lot before getting out her riding lawnmower :) Less than two weeks before her death, she giggled as Hank sat on the end of her couch and explained the importance of his pajama-clad visit to her house in search of his Dad to turn on another Scooby-Doo (that's a story for another post).

Maybe she was a friend and I never realized it? All of those chilly mornings waving as we shivered and pulled out of our driveways to take our kids to school, the special Halloween treats she saved for her "favorite neighbors", her great lasagna recipe, the tour of her "camping bus" (Hank's name for their big RV). I'm so sad I took for granted her joyful smile and her straight-talking take on life.

As I did dishes this afternoon, I couldn't stop gazing out the window at her beautiful Earthly trappings and it hit me once again that she's never coming back to them or the people that she loved. I cried big crocodile tears at thought of her son growing up without her and life as the Gibson and Karr families knew it forever altered. A reminder once again that when life is getting me down - my focus needs to be on what will last and will go with me when I pass away from this Earth. The people in my life. From those who I impact daily to those whom with I've had just brief encounters.

So many sermons I've heard with this same message but a young mom thinking she had the flu one day and being in a coma with a brain aneurysm the next has driven home the point in a way those sermons never could.

As I again consider the word neighbor I remember the parable where the man asks Jesus - who is my neighbor? My prayer tonight is that I can be a true neighbor as Jesus calls us all to be. Right now there is a hurting family in my neighborhood who truly needs God's love but in the future may I see those that God brings across my path as an opportunity to be a neighbor - to pray for, care for and share with them the reason for the hope within me.