Super Saturday update

I wrote yesterday while kids were resting before heading to a family barbecue. J's aunt and uncle wanted to honor their son and his family before he gets deployed to Afghanistan for a year. Whew. I am so thankful to know a soldier like Hank, he is so determined and takes our protection so seriously, he is the kind of soldier we want over there. We were so grateful to gather to send him off. J's parents were there, J's cousin's sister and her family, and J's cousin's best friend and his family. Ok so this is where it gets soooo funny. The best friend's wife's name is Kathie. She is the vice chairman of the St. Patrick's committee and will be the chairman next year. She had been so busy all day and had so much to tell; we had the most fun listening and encouraging her to talk more and more. Her 2 children were with her, one being her daughter Sheila. At one point she refers to Sheila and Lucky within a sentence or 2. I said, "Wait a minute, are you telling me that Sheila was Lucky?!?" Kathie said yes. me, "So Sheila was Lucky at the Pancake supper, the race and the parade?!?" Kathie said yes, if it was Lucky, it was Sheila. I about fell out of my chair, I was so excited. Ek and H came in for a sip of water and I said, "Oh kids, you will not believe, Sheila (who was sprawled out of the couch, exhausted) was the one who was dressed up as Lucky!!!!!" They stared at me blankly. I tried to get more emotion out of them, but only got minimal responses. The suit was in the truck of the car. I was so excited. We take the kids out there when they are leaving, oh wait, did I say 'kids?' I mean Ek, H was scared. Yep that's right, he was scared to see a dress up costume that a 15 year old girl had been wearing. giggle. Ek was even a bit scared to see it. I asked her to try it on but she wouldn't even get withing 2 feet of it. Hi-larious. I just couldn't believe after all the Lucky talk of the past few days that here we had a behind the scenes tour that we didn't even pay for. It was a fabulous ending to the day. And a great day at that. Beautiful skies. Beautiful time together. Thank you God for health, for time, for freedom, for family.

This morning H hobbles downstairs and says his legs hurt. We can always hear him coming down the steps, usually not Ek, she is a bit more graceful, but you can hear every step of H and today it was even a bit louder. He was walking without really bending his knees. oops. Remember that part about not letting them stop? Well we didn't alright. Ek reported that hers hurt too, about a hour and a half later when she woke up. We gave them both some Tylenol and told them they were all stronger because of it. That meant next time they would run even faster because their legs were stronger. I told Ek she would be able to catch those boys even better. I didn't hear another word about sore legs. I already can't wait for next year.