Howdy Y'all!

I don't think I looked at the calendar in my home office once during the whole month of May. Had I, I would've seen this wonderful quote:

Walk SLOWLY. Don't rush. Each STEP brings you to the best MOMENT of your life. The PRESENT moment.

Perhaps I would've stopped and taken a breath and glanced around a bit. (Only to see the stacks of papers lanquishing next to my dusty laptop...)

But no, alas, I was in the midst of a huge implementation at work. An implementation that should've taken three months and a team of 4 people, but took 6 weeks with just my boss and I. Needless to say, I've been away. Rather, I've been here, but our home-life schedule looks something like this:

I get up at 6 and am out the door at 6:30ish. David and Sam are still sleeping. I go to work. Get home at 6pm-ish and eat a wonderful dinner with my loving husband and brilliantly beautiful daughter. David then leaves at 6:45 to go play his horn (a FANTASTIC show, Tommy, at the Village Theater. Go, you really shouldn't miss it!). I put Sam to bed around 7-7:15. Then I get on my laptop (my work laptop, mind you) and work until 11 or so - when David would roll back home. Repeat the next day. And the next. etc. etc.

After three one week to ten day stints in Texas, I am pleased to say that our implementation has "gone live" and the good folks in Tyler, Texas are now on the same accounting/inventory/manufacturing/and distribution software that we are on. Whew. Luckily this was enjoyable work and I didn't mind putting in the hours...much.

I got back on Friday June 8th and have been trying to slide back into a more relaxed state of mind. The quote on my calendar for the month of June should help:

YESTERDAY is already gone, TOMORROW is not yet here. TODAY is the only day available to us. Today is the most important DAY of OUR lives.

(I don't necessarily understand the logic of their capitalization...)

The few bright spots in the month of May were Mother's Day - my parents and I got to go see David perform in Tommy - it was great! After that we picked up Sammy and we all went to Indian food for dinner. Yummmm.

On Memorial Day my parents, David, Sam and I went to a local park and had a picnic. We played frisbee, Sammy slid and threw rocks in the water. Lots of fun.

One of the days was my dear friend's 40th birthday so Sammy and I went to her party and David was able to meet us during the break between his two Saturday shows. It's hard to believe it has been twelve years since I met Steph!

Sammy and I also got to go to a "goodbye brunch" with Auntie Yaya (otherwise known as my good friend Lara). Her cousins and niece and nephew are all moving back east, but Sammy got to run around and play hide and seek with Lara's three year old niece one last time. It's a hoot watching Sam play with older kids.

Last Monday was the only evening David and I could've celebrated my birthday - and Bob and Janey made it possible: thank you!!! They came over for our 'cuzzin night' and we all had dinner, then they offered to stay with the kids so David and I could go out for a bit. We had a great time having a cocktail at a new (to us) place. Then we went and played some pool. Ohmigosh - it has been *years* since we have played pool. Much fun.

For my b-day, David and Sammy came down to my work and brought me flowers and we went to lunch together. He thoroughly won some major husband points with the day-long-pampering-session-at-the-spa gift certificate that he gave me!! Later that evening, Lara and I got to go to another new establishment and wine and dine. Some of the food was horribly overpriced, but the cheese plate with the St Agur blue cheese was amazing! Then we saw the sweet and charming movie Waitress. A wonderful birthday.

In case I don't write in the near(-er) future, we are planning on celebrating father's day with my parents, and hopefully David will be able to make it for awhile before he has to run off to his show. And then in a week we get to go to a Mariner's game. And then the next day, I am back to Texas for 4 days. A short and sweet trip so we can be there for month end. And then I plan on being in Seattle for a long while. David's show will be ending mid-July and then I am looking forward to some summer family time! Woo-hoo.

Thank you for sticking in there and reading this long novel of a post. As a reward you can see two of the eleven (only eleven!?!) pictures we have taken since we got back from Mexico, oh so long ago...

Wait! I must give a quick update on Sammy news. She is just a ball of fun! She is chatting constantly and we can understand about 25 % of it. She has such a cute way of saying some words: "Grandma and Grandpa" are "baka and baka". She has got "cookie, more please" down pat! And if you don't give it to her she will point and say "one". As in, "oh come on, what is one going to hurt? I'll still have room for dinner!" She is running and walking and kinda climbing and just moving with her little step-step-step marching dance. But she is still very deliberate. When we went to lunch on Thursday, she was introduced to shelling peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor. She would hand me a peanut, I would crack it open a bit and then, very carefully, she would take one peanut half out at a time and eat it. Then she would, very carefully, take the shell, lean over, and let it drop to the floor. It cracked us up.
Aw, Sammy, you're a keeper!
Y'all take care now, ya hear?