My cards are now in stores (well, one store...)

If you are in the Southern Indiana area, check out Nancye's Nail-Spa. She has some of my cards in her shop for sale. Make sure they say Paula's Handmade Memories on the back or they are not mine.

Thanks

Nancye's Nail-Spa
(812) 945-6245
224 E Elm St, New Albany, IN 47150

Memorial Day Weekend

My mom drove down to spend the weekend with us so we tried to do a lot. Seems like every time she comes down, we don't have very nice weather. Well, this weekend was great, in the 80's every day and sunny. And we ended with a nice rain shower Monday evening which we really needed.

Saturday Millie had a gymnastics class to make up so we all went to that and then went to the Apple Cake Tea Room for lunch. I wanted to take mom there and this would be her last trip before Reed is born so I figured we needed to do it now. It was VERY good, I really like that place. That afternoon we went to look at a house for sale but decided against it. We would really like a bigger yard but we did not care for the house too much so we will keep looking. The good thing is we are happy where we are so we are not desperate to move unless we find the perfect place.

Sunday we went to church and later we went down to the river so Millie and Rick could ride bikes. When Millie got tired, Rick took her for a ride in her 'Rocket' (the bike cart). She really likes to ride in it because "Daddy goes super fast!". Mom and I enjoyed resting by the river while they rode.

Unfortunately, on Monday, Millie started getting sick so we just took it easy while Rick went to North Carolina to mountain bike with a friend. The last time he rode with this person, we ended up in the emergency room so I was a little worried but he came back all in one piece which is my goal when he rides.

Election Victory!

Millie and I were back home again in Indiana last week for several big events. Saturday we had a baby shower for Rick's sister, Chris, via video conference in Abu Dhabi. Then Tuesday was the big election. You may be thinking I am talking about the presidential race since Indiana's was such a big turning point with Obama and Clinton. But, who cares about the Presidential race when the Floyd County Treasurer's office is on the ballot? Rest assured that my mom, Bette, won. Granted, she did not have an opponent this spring but she will in the fall and she did great. Thanks to all of you who came and voted for her and put her signs in your yard. Click here to view her blog. Friday night I headed to Evansville for Rick's brother's, Brian, Engineering Ceremony. The University of Evansville has had a Meunier in the Civil Engineering program for the last 12 years so this was the end of an era and I wanted to go. I could not make the graduation on Saturday because it was my nephew's, Jacob, 4th birthday party. Sunday, of course, was Mother's Day so we had lunch at my Grandma's house and then we headed back home. It was a long and busy week but I think we visited most everyone we could while we were there as this will be the last trip before Reed is born this summer. Speaking of which, I had an appointment this morning and everything checked out fine. He is very active and seems to be doing just fine. And on to Millie, she had a great time visiting all her grandparents last week but was happy to get back home. Rick took off today and he and Millie had fun riding bikes and making chalk drawings in the driveway. Millie was doing great writing her letters. She was writing O, Q, T, I, H, C and A all by herself. I was impressed, we only had to show her once and she just kept writing them. She has been able to recognize all her letters for awhile now but we had not really tried writing any. I guess we should continue to work on that more. She never fails to amaze me at how quickly she catches on to things and seems to be able to do anything we show her. She also told me that when she turns 3, she is going to take her training wheels off and ride her bike all by herself. I have no doubt that she will be able to do it, I will keep you all posted!

Thomas the Train

This is a great adventure for any child who loves trains and Millie and Jacob were no exception. Thomas the Train came to Chattanooga, TN to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. In addition to the train ride, they had a bounce house, a tent full of train tables to play at, story time and shows, live music where the kids got to play along, a petting zoo, tattoos, putt putt and lots of trains and great photo ops. Needless to say, Millie loved it and Jacob did too and he really did not know anything about Thomas but he did like trains. It was a beautiful day and the trip to Chattanooga was not bad at all. And if you ask Millie, the best thing was when she got Gordon and Gordon's Tender at the gift shop on our way out. We went to eat at the Boathouse on the river after we were finished partaking in everything Thomas and then both kids were asleep about 10 min. after we got back in the car to head to Knoxville. It was a great day and I am sure if Millie likes Thomas half as much next year as she does now, we will be going again. Then Reed will be able to actually see what we are doing and not just listening.

A few more older photos

Here are a few photos from last summer that Rick's Aunt took for us. She did a GREAT job!! (Caroline, if you have a web site and want me to reference it, let me know) Millie had just turned 2 in all of them. One is a photo from our church directory pictures. I finally got around to scanning them in my computer. I don't like to scrapbook my originals so this gives me a way to crop them for my scrapbooks. I hope to be caught up with Millie's scrapbook before Reed gets here, I better get going.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Millie and I had just gone out to ride her bike and it started raining, again. It only rained for about 30 minutes or so but we stayed in the garage until it was over. She had her umbrella until it started raining too hard for that and then we stayed in the garage and watched it rain while she counted between the lighting flashes and the thunder (like Tigger and Pooh did). She took her hand and put it on my belly and said she had to keep Baby Reed safe because babies are scared of thunder, ahhhh...so sweet. When the rain slowed down, the sun came out so we went out back to find a rainbow, and there was one. So April showers also bring rainbows. While the last raindrop was falling, she was already on her bike ready to ride through the puddles, she had a great time.

Millie is Rick's Daughter

I have been going through all my old photos, fixing flaws and red eye, and I could not resist this photo of Millie from Easter 2 years ago. I have to share a story from today. I had some errands to run and when I got home Millie told me she was going to get a treat because she helped daddy cut grass and sweep the driveway. I asked if she would rather have money instead of a treat and she looked at me like I was crazy and said she wanted a treat. Well, Rick has a sweet tooth the size of Texas and I have an equally sized tendency to save money, I guess I now know whose footsteps she will follow. Oh well, maybe Reed will be my little saver.

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

We discovered flying a kite and getting a picture of it takes more than just a 2 year old and a Civil Engineer. Once I was able to get the kite flying in the hit and miss wind we were experiencing, it would not stay up long enough to hand it to Millie to get a picture. Oh well. She had fun watching me try although I am really surprised she never got attacked by it. It would dive down really quickly when it came down and she was always trying to catch it when it did. Well, we both had fun trying and I am sure the neighbors enjoyed watching me try to figure out how to fly a kite.

Easter, Shingles and Pink Eye!!

That about sums up our weekend. We headed for Indiana on Friday to spend some time with Rick's family. Grandma Lucy had a gift for Millie consisting of several little things but the bubble bath and finger nail polish were a big hit. The next morning we were going to go to an Easter Egg hunt but ended up just staying at the house visiting with Great Grandma and Grandpa and having a video conference with Rick's sister and her husband in Abu Dhabi. Millie thought that was pretty neat too. After a stop by the nursing home and a quick baby shower for Rick's cousin Dawn, we headed to my parents house. Well, I could not go in the house because mom informed me last week she had shingles. Me being pregnant, could not get around her but at least Millie could or neither of them would have been happy about that. Rick and I had to stay with my sister who lives next door so it worked out. Rick and I met up with Michelle, Kelly and Todd for supper that night at the Speakeasy in New Albany. I had a great time and I hope we don't wait another 10 years to get together!

Sunday morning we left Millie with mom (who is still contagious) and Rick, me and dad went to sunrise mass at 7:30. They dropped me off at my grandma's after church since I could not go to mom and dad's house. Later we went to my other grandma's for lunch which was delicious and I defiantly ate enough for Reed and myself. After a few hours we headed back to Tennessee where Millie and Rick dyed a few more eggs. To end the weekend, Millie woke up this morning with Pink Eye so we are treating that now. Talk about a fun and virus filled weekend...

Easter Eggs

Millie has been eating a lot of hard boiled eggs lately so I thought we would color some today since we won't be home over Easter. She was pretty excited about it. After the tablet dissolved, I gave her an egg to put in the cup of yellow dye. Well, she dipped it, pulled it back out and before I could stop her, tried to take a bite, whoops. The vinegar did not seem to bother her but I had to explain that we did not eat the colored part and we still had to peel them. She seemed ok with that and handled the rest of them just fine. Afterwards she put stickers on them and also learned that pushing too hard will break the egg. She did prove, though, that she is my grandpa's relation, she agreed with him that colored eggs taste better.