We got a wonderful call this morning at about 5:50 am. My SIL and BIL welcomed AUDREY JOY into our family! Yeah! Another neice. I woke Maddie up by telling her she finally had another girl cousin. The funny (OK, not funny haha) but both of the Norman girl babies have been difficult - Maddie was a frank breech (bottom-first and feet up near the head) and Audrey was transverse (she was laying sideways). And both girls were born in "Washington" - Maddie in Seattle Washington and Audrey in Washington D.C. Actually I don't know if she was born in D.C. proper.

Can't wait to see pictures of the newest addition to our family. We having been praying for her for years and are so thankful for her safe arrival! Isn't our God amazing?

Where has this week gone?

Today I went in and had lunch with Ian - because he asked me to! They were all lining up at the door when I made the startling observation that my son is not the smallest child in the room. For a LONG time he has been on the short side of normal and definately on the skinny side. We call him Sméagol when he is naked. You know - the character from Lord of the Rings. Anyway...here is my big boy - several inches taller than the boy he sits next to. His birthday is in May so he is at the younger end of his class. But somehow he has suddenly decided to get taller! I was looking at his bare feet the other day and thought to myself - he is going to be a big boy someday.

The otherday I made a comment to a friend about how little the kindergartners looked to me this year. They looked like such big kids when Maddie was there two years ago. My friend pointed out that when Maddie was there, I still had my 3 year old boy at home. And now that my baby is the one who is there, they all look like babies!

Ian is really enjoying getting dropped off in the drive through. He asked me to take him this morning, but I said no. I don't think my heart is ready for that again yet!

Some sort of alien life form has taken over my son's body. All weekend long we worked on preparing Ian for getting dropped off in the drive-thru line at school. Stacy said that when it was Ian's turn to get out of the truck - he nearly jumped out. The person who was supposed to be helping him get out said "wow - he's excited to be here." He made it down the 1/8th of a mile (yes, really) hallway to the front of the school to his pod, all by himself. A friend from church saw him when he was about to his pod and said hello to him. He just kept walking!

When I went in to pick him up at lunch time (you can read my previous entries for an explanation of the use of time in the afternoons at school) - his teacher said he did great today. She said he willingly talked and was answering questions! Usually he is VERY quiet in new situations. So maybe he is getting used to this whole school thing. Now if my heart would get used to it!

When I was tucking him into bed a few minutes ago, he told me "Tomorrow will be funner" Hmmmm....

This is Madeleine - all cleaned up for services this morning. Because she went to bed last night with damp hair, it was sticking out kind of wonky this morning - so she let me curl it for her. Only she wanted it curled UP, not under. This was the result. Thankfully, after walking in and out of Alabama's lovely 100% humidity, her hair calmed down a little bit!

Tomorrow we (& by that I mean my hubby) is going to try dropping off in the drive thru. Of the school, not at McDonald's! His teacher suggested we drop him off outside his pod (group of 5 classrooms) but we are going to take it a step further - so that daddy doesn't have to try and find a parking space. The school has about 425 kindergartners but only has parking spaces for about 35 cars (besides the teachers). Not very good planning.

Time to go to bed!

She is out there. Lurking. Reading my entries but never posting. Today she admitted to sometimes signing in as one of her sons in order to leave a comment - but so far she hasn't done this to me!

I discovered that she is a lurker because I finally got around to calling her today. As I was in the middle of telling her about Ian and his breakdown Tuesday morning, she breaks in to say "I know. I read your blog on pleonast." We both have a blog over on blogspot, mostly talking about our quilting. I think being able to read each other's blogs makes us feel like we are not so far apart.

She is the kind of friend that you know will always be there when you need her. She has been there many times for me and I hope I have been a little comfort to her these past seven years. We met when we both moved to a small town in central Indiana. We both had 5 month old baby girls (born 5 days apart). She is the one who introduced me to quilting.

Good friends are such a blessing. I hope you all have at least one special friend in your life!