Week in Review!

It was another busy week here in Indiana ... it doesn't seem as though it's already been a week since I posted last time!

Meggan dressed up in her Hannah Montana outfit and smiling with her cake (this was just before Jordan decided to put his hand in it right there at the bottom where the writing is - WHEW!)

We geared up for the long weekend and another busy few days. Jason's parents got here about the middle of the afternoon on Thursday and walked up to Nancy's house to pick up the kids. They chatted for a while and stopped at the playground on the way home, and the fun weekend was under way!

Friday morning we went to walk on the Canal downtown (Jason had to work both Friday and also on Saturday morning, so he had to miss out). It was really fun, and the weather was beautiful! The kids sat in the strollers for a while, but then they had to get out and run (literally) down the Canal. They had a blast though - and we were in no hurry and just let them go up and down each staircase and stop at all the water fountains and "talk" to the ducks and geese that were not too shy when you got up close. (We didn't even think to bring some bread along with us, which I'm sure the kids would have loved to throw out there!)

The kids and Jason's parents at the Canal!

Friday evening we met Jason after work at Cheeseburger in Paradise for some delicious supper! This is where Jason's parents wanted to go for their anniversary dinner (33 years on Friday ... WOW!). It was really good and everyone had fun!

The kids and Jason's parents at Cheeseburger in Paradise!

Saturday I went to the Y and did the aerobics class while Jason's parents played with the kids here at home. They met me at the mall to make Meggan's bear that she needs to have for her dance recital next month. Then we grabbed a bite to eat and they headed back home with the kids while I went to Sam's Club and got the sandwiches and cake and all the fixings for Meggan's birthday party. Then it was home to relax (at least a little bit) before the big party!

Meggan had a blast at her 5th birthday party! She and her friends played so hard, and it's always just fun to have our friends over and get to chat while the kids have fun! We even managed to squeeze a little game of Red Rover in there. We've always gotten really lucky with beautiful weather for her birthday parties (knock on wood) and at one point it sprinkled for about 2 minutes and then was nice again the rest of the evening!

With some of her new makeup on from her friend, Maggie!

By the end of the evening, a few of the kids were dunking their head into the big bucket that was holding bottles of water (yes, it was ICE COLD) and thought it was just the funniest thing ever! Meggan got in on the action too, but Jordan was even bolder...

Is this what little brothers are supposed to spending their time doing at their sister's birthday parties?

Sunday the boys went to the Indianapolis 500, so it was just us girls and Jordan for the day. We ran a few errands, grabbed a bite to eat, and then came back home to play. It was another beautiful day, and the kids just love to play outside!!!

After the busy day Sunday (the boys were pretty wiped out), we just chilled yesterday after a run to Kohl's to see what was on sale that we couldn't live without. It did rain quite a bit, but we made the best of it and did get to go outside later on in the afternoon and evening to enjoy the last evening Jason's parents were here for this trip.

It was a great weekend and so much fun to have Grandma and Papa here with us to help celebrate! They took off this morning as I was heading out to take the kids to Nancy's, and Meggan CRIED hard. She usually just tears up and tells me how her eyes won't stop watering or how she doesn't want them to leave, but she was crying. I felt so bad for her! They all do so much enjoy each other's company...

Jason and I are off to New York City on Thursday and will be there for a long weekend and come home Sunday evening. I have to work on Friday, but the rest of the weekend we will just get to be together and have a nice weekend getaway - I can hardly wait!!! Pray for safe travels and for Dawn and Jer to have fun with the kiddos! (THANKS YOU GUYS, BY THE WAY!)

Upcoming Birthday Party...

Meggan's birthday party is quickly approaching (we're going to have it this weekend since it's Memorial Day weekend, which seems a little weird because it's so early this year). It's so hard to believe that she's going to turn 5 already! Although she won't officially be 5 for almost a week after her party, she is telling everyone that this Saturday she turns 5 ... I want to tell her to stop rushing it and that we need to just stop time.

Meggan at about 2 1/2 years old! (Wow! Looking back through these pictures of her was almost like looking at Jordan now ... without the long blonde hair, of course!)


Meggan is so not a baby anymore, but she's still my baby. When people ask about my kids and I say the words "My daughter is almost 5 years old" - it just seems as though someone else is speaking and it's not really me. I really can't grip the thought that almost a full 5 years have flown by so quickly!

Meggan a couple months ago!

All is going well here this week. Just enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather, taking some deep breaths, and looking back..........

First Graduation!!!

Meggan is officially a kindergartener now!!! They had a little ceremony this afternoon and presented each of the kids with their diploma ... how cute is that?!?!?!?!

It was sad to see her leave Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Janet and their classroom behind, but we look forward to another great year at Gray Road next year! What a blessing they were to us! We love her teachers - they were just so loving and caring and supportive of our little girl!!! :)

Meggan, the preschool graduate!

Meggan and Mrs. Phillips!

Meggan and Mrs. Janet!

What a fun time!

Great Blessings!

What a beautiful day it was yesterday for Mother's Day! We got a few flowers planted ... the kids were great helpers!

Helping Mommy plant some flowers!

My 2 most treasured possessions!

"Jordan, say cheese!"

Meggan showing him how to do it the "right" way!

How blessed I am to have two wonderful kids and a wonderful husband!!! They're the best!!!

Long Week!

It's been a little over a week now since I last posted. The days and nights just seem to fly right by us!

This past Saturday I participated in my first half-marathon. Dawn and I walked the entire 13.1 miles and finished in just under 3 1/2 hours! That is a LONG time to be walking. I'm thinking next year I will probably try and run it and see what kind of time I can finish in. Jason finished it in 2:17 and Jer finished it in 2:23 - so I guess that's about the pace I would aim for. I think that Jason's was about a 10-minute or 10 1/2-minute mile. We were just out there to say we had accomplished it, and we were pretty proud of ourselves when we crossed the finish line and got our medals!!! :)

Other than that, we had a nice weekend with BEAUTIFUL weather and have been back to the grind this week with dance class Monday and choir practice tonight. Meggan's dance recital is coming up in June, and we're looking forward to watching her on the stage (and hoping she doesn't develop stage fright while she's up there in the bright lights)! Then we will be taking a break from dance class for the summer and just enjoy the nice evenings. She has been wanting to try a gymnastics class, so we'll see what we go with there...

Jordan is home tomorrow with me since Nancy, the baby-sitter, is taking the day off, so that should be fun to hang out with him! Usually when I'm off I'm also worrying about work, so this will give me a chance to not worry about it because I have no other option than to be hanging out with him and can only work while he's resting tomorrow afternoon. He's such a funny little guy and is busy these days testing his limits as only a 1 1/2-year-old can do!

We hope everyone is having a nice week so far! We're looking forward to the weekend already!

Final Resting Place (at least the last place we'll see it)!

This afternoon Meggan and I went downtown to the City-County Building (which is always just such a joy) to get a release from the Police Department in order to be able to view the Jeep at the towing company it was taken to after the high-speed chase on Saturday. We could go and look at it and also retrieve any personal property that was his (fat chance, but it was worth a shot). Plus we just wanted to see it...

I could tell it was really hard for Jason to see it when we first drove up to it, but I think it was also therapeutic in a way for him to have some closure in his mind. I truly do believe that he felt more violated than I did when we walked out 4 Saturday mornings ago and the Jeep had disappeared from the driveway, just because it was HIS baby and it was HIS car (I get to drive the soccer mom minivan...). So this was a way that he could truly close the book on it and move on and know that at least it had been located and the jerk got caught!

We had to take our camera so that we had some pictures to show everyone how bad of shape it was in. After seeing the Jeep and smelling the ashtray-like odor that was eminating from it, I suppose we can suffice it to say good riddance and just put this whole experience behind us...

These are NOT Jason's pants, nor his gallon-size bottle of PineSol (whatever that's used for)!

For those of you that know anything about Jason, it was hard enough for him to see the outside appearance of the Jeep but may have been even harder for him to see the inside. His Jeep never really had so much as a little bit of dust on the dash. It smelled so bad (neither one of us smoke, so that smell is quite distinct when it's flowing from what used to be your vehicle).

He did find his bank keys - so that was worth it all in itself and gave him a sense of relief, I could tell! We didn't find his briefcase for work in there, nor his CDs, but we weren't really expecting to either. That is our garage door opener sitting on the driver's seat there, but we bought a new one and de-programmed that old one merely a few hours after we realized the Jeep was stolen.

What an ordeal. We are just glad we all came out of it safe and sound and that it's over with. We are enjoying Daddy's "magical" car, as Meggan puts it (kids are so darn funny)!

Good night! I'm off to sunny (I hope) Palm Desert, California, bright and early in the morning for my third work trip out of four. Should be kind of fun! :)

May the Jeep Rest in Peace...

As many of you know (and many of you may not know since I can't remember if I ever even included it in my posts), Jason's Jeep was stolen right out of our driveway just over 4 weeks ago. I will set the record straight right now and say that yes, the keys were accidentally left in it, but that still doesn't give someone the right to steal your vehicle.

Jason has been driving a rental car since Saturday, March 28, which the insurance company does pay for since we have that coverage. On Friday he called to see what we needed to do next, as they had told us we would need to wait about 30 days and see if the Jeep is found. They told him that since there had been no activity on his case that the rental car coverage would end on Saturday and offered him a settlement for the total loss of his Jeep. He accepted it and they would be sending a check to our insurance agent's office overnight so that we could pick it up on Monday.

This meant we needed to buy a new car ... NOW! We didn't want to pay for the rental car ourselves and were actually somewhat excited that the waiting was coming to an end and we would just be able to put it behind us and just go purchase another car. My mom came over around 2:00 on Saturday afternoon and stayed with the kids (Jordan was sleeping from 1:30 until about 5:30, so it was just her and Meggan for the most part) and Jason and I took off to the dealership to see what we could find.

We ended up buying a 2007 Toyota Camry, tan in color, and it's a really nice car! It's used but it's new to us, with only 28,000 miles on it. A few hours later we were finally signing the papers and I followed him to Enterprise to drop the rental car off. We were so excited -what a great feeling to just be able to move on!

Even longer story short, I saw there was a message on our answering machine at about 10:00 on Saturday night. It was left at 6:00 and it was the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department trying to get ahold of Jason Dew and let him know that his 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee had been recovered and towed to Hick's Towing and that he needed to call them and they would let him know what he needed to do next. I WAS FREAKING OUT! What would the insurance company do? We can't return this car we just bought. Oh, man, are we going to be screwed...

I called our neighbor (yes, at 10:30 at night), who is a police officer, and he went out to his car and looked up the report on his computer. The report listed the incidents of the attempt to pull the Jeep over, the kid (yes, some 18-year-old kid) deciding to lead the police on a high-speed chase, hitting 2 parked cars and side-swiping another as he tried to pass it on the right shoulder of the road, and ultimately running into a chain-link fence in someone's yard. At this point he decided to get out and take off on foot, at which time the officer released the K-9 dogs to track him down. They found him hiding in a house somewhere nearby and he was arrested. Let's just say this isn't his first run-in with the law, or even his first vehicle theft... It was nice to know that he had been caught and was arrested, nice for us personally!

So yesterday I headed to the insurance agent's office and picked up our settlement check and gave them the title to Jason's Jeep. They handed me the check and said they would take care of us. Since the Jeep is now most likely pretty much totaled anyway, I'm sure there would have been a settlement either way. So our nerves were settled down and we were just happy, again, to be able to have this whole horrible experience behind us.

I'm sorry that was such a long post, but it's a long story to tell. I just pray that nobody else ever has to go through this experience. The good news is that we were not hurt and they didn't attempt to come in and rob us or anything like that (he has a few robberies on his record as well). He very easily could have opened up the garage door and come in, and we are so thankful that we were all safe!

Thanks for listening. I'm gearing up for my last work trip until the end of May and getting ready to head out to Palm Desert, California, tomorrow. It should actually be a pretty nice trip, even though I have to work! :)