get him a back scratcher!...

Well today marks our 7th Anniversary as husband & wife. I cannot believe that it has been SEVEN years already! Seems like yesterday he was at my work down on bended knee handing me a candy heart with the word "Marry Me" on it asking me to be his wife! WOW! See what seven years and 4+ kids can do to you! You lose your mind! LOL! We surely have been through a lot these past seven years! Including the last 4 which seem like they have been one HUGE blur! I wish I would have blogged from the beginning of our marriage. I know I would have had plenty to say!Plenty of funny stories to share. I would also tell you how that first year was the hardest by far! We were two grown adults trying to meld our wants & wishes into one healthy happy home. Oh was that difficult to do! Two STUBBORN people who lived what seemed a lifetime before me met. Oh those were the days. I would clean the kitchen counters only to have Michael come clean them after me once he got home from work. He is a MAJOR cleaner. He ALWAYS has a broom or hand vac in his hands! In fact his nickname is "Hazel" after that TV show from the 60's named the same. I have had him run into the laundry on MANY occasions to stop the dryer so his pants would not be wrinkled. Better yet he followed after us with the dust buster as we put up an artificial Christmas tree because it was dropping FAKE needles all over the floor! Yes he is THAT anal! LOL! I love him just the same. He is my ROCK & I do not think I would have been able to handle this parenthood "trip" we've been on these past few years if not for him. We balance each other out in SO many ways! In honor of today I found an old pic of the two of us from back then, back when we thought we knew it ALL! I think it was taken 6 months AFTER we were married. Again those were the days! LOL! I thought it would only be fitting in the year of Wool, aka the year of the 7 year itch to...

get him a back scratcher!...

Anniversaries are not so bad...

I could not let this day go by without paying tribute to my Dad. 9/11 meant a lot to my father & now it holds yet another Anniversary for our family, our father's death. Yes of all days to die on he died on "Patriot's Day". This anniversary sort of sneaked up on us. Life with four toddlers can be quite CRAZY so when I looked at the calendar a few days ago & saw it was almost 9/11. I realized it has been two years since he passed away! Two WILD, AMAZING, seemed short yet really LONG, sad & laughter filled years! WOW! AFTER he had his stroke I practically begged him to attend some sort of adult activity instead of sit at home in his wheelchair staring at the TV. He had certain shows that he would watch OVER & OVER again. Golden Girls, Little House on the Prairie, etc. I wanted him to get out amongst other people his age but NO he would have no part of it! He & practically half of my family fought me but in the end I prevailed & he started attending St Elizabeth Adult Day Care. For awhile now we mentioned going by St Elizabeth for a visit but it never came to fruition. My Mom & I decided today was going to be the day to visit this old haunt of his. It is this AWESOME place for seniors not far from my parents home. A bus would pick him up in the morning. He would do crafts, games, talk about current events. It was WONDERFUL! They even gave him a nickname, FPL Bob! {In Florida the power company is named FPL & they used to have a commercial with a man named Bob} He LOVED that! Once the babies were born he would go there with pictures & brag about them. My niece would say that Grandpa was at school because he rode a bus. Trust me those years after his stroke were HARD! I do not know how my mom handled him but she did. Luckily my father lived to see the first 7 months of our children's lives. They were his pride & joy. SO on the Second Anniversary of his death I knew I had to take them to see where Grandpa used to go. We talked about this the entire ride over there. The tribe exuded excitement. The sad part was that I think they really thought they were going to see their Grandpa instead of seeing where he USED to go. )= As we walked in the door the woman in charge said these must me Bob Mechtly's grandchildren! She remembered him & us! That made me happy! She even remembered how he did NOT want to go in the beginning but towards the end he wanted to go all the time! Yes that was my Dad! We brought them some medical items ie: Depends, bed liners, things they can always use. The tribe was on their BEST behavior, I was SO proud! We took a tour so the tribe could see where Grandpa used to go to "school". They even have some pet birds which the tribe flocked to! LOL!The place was decorated like a castle from the Renaissance era. SO beautiful! One of the women there decorates the place for each season. She takes whatever donated materials they get & hand paints them in a theme! AMAZING talent! She was already working on painting Gingerbread to turn the center into a Gingerbread House! TOO cool! As we left there we had such a good feeling! It seems that as more time goes on...

Anniversaries are not so bad!...