Getting ready for a crafty weekend

Tonight the boys and I went to Michael's, Home Depot, and Walmart.  Now that spells trouble.  When we did the final clean out of the garage we found things that had been purchased but never used.  We put them all in a bag and took them back to Home Depot and Walmart and got store credit for the items.  These things have just been sitting in our garage for 4 years!  With the money, we bought some wood, some paint (on sale for 77 cents), twine and a bunch of other things.  We have a few ideas cooking to make over the weekend.  The weather is great here and Sophie and Lucy just LOVE being in the backyard.  We are spending a lot of time back there.  It is all cleaned up and rearranged.  We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.  Stay tuned because we have some things up our sleeves here at Fletcher 365.  Here is another sampling of what we will be doing tomorrow.

Time is ticking

I won't be one to say "I can't believe how fast my boys have grown up".  I know every day is precious.  I know they will all be on their own some day.  I know my job is to give them guidance to be adults I can be proud of.  We live in the moment when we are together and celebrate those things that make them independent.  They are embracing it and I'm proud. I'm proud now of the young men they show themselves to be.  As I get ready to take Alex on another college visit, it is so exciting to see the look in his eye that tells me he is scared and he is excited.  He has so many questions about what it will be like and how things will work.  He will discover so much when he is on his own.  He will be ready and so will I.  I look forward to knowing them as adults and they will still be a part of Fletcher365.

Baptism

http://christchurchplano.org/ It's official.  Chase and Sam are scheduled to be baptized on Wednesday, April 11th.  Wednesday night is the night they hold youth group at church and there are a few of the youth wanting to be baptized.  Just like with Alex, I'm going to invite the families in our lives who support our spiritual journey.  Last time, Alex was so moved by his friends being there for this great event.  It will be informal.  It will be personal.  It will be moving.  So happy to have them old enough to understand it and old enough to remember this step.  Unfortunately I travel a lot in April but it is fortunate that I am not traveling on this very important day.

We've got the fever

The boys came home yesterday from being with their dad and Chase seemed a little down.  It was pretty clear as yesterday continued, that he felt pretty bad.  Not sure what's going on here in our house but the boys and I sure have been sick this year.  Not just ill but pucky and yucky.  Here's Chase today at the Urgent Care Center.  Fever of 102.  Not the flu and not strep throat.  Kind of scary.  I had to take a half day off work today but that's okay.  With him is where I belong.  That's what we do here at Fletcher365.

Elvis is in the house

While the boys were gone, I did a lot of closet cleaning, back yard primping, talking with Alex and working.  It has been a very productive week.  The big event was going out with Patty and Will Cline to celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary.  They really did get married when they were 17.  We had such a good time and laughed so much.  During dinner, Sam sent me a text while he was with his friend Nathan in Panama City Beach to tell me about his week.  I kept answering even though I was at dinner.  Everyone in my life knows my kids come first and they tolerate this from me, and sometimes they enjoy it too.  Sam told me that Nathan's brother Eric got a tattoo.  I simply replied, "me too" and that is where it all started.  He BELIEVED me!  So at dinner we all tried to figure out how I could continue to trick him.  And since I really don't have a tattoo and really don't want one, we had to figure something out.  After dinner we went to Houlihan's for after dinner drinks and behold, our bartender was a girl with a dragon tattoo.  She also had an Elvis tattoo on her upper arm.  We took a picture of it and sent it to Sam.  Alex is going to play along too.  I can't wait to see how long it takes Sam before he figures this one out.  Does her really think I would get a tattoo?  If I did, does he really think it would be of Elvis?

Playing dress up

A while back, I took Sophie with me to pick Chase up at school.  We went to my office to pick something up.  Sophie is always welcome at the office because the boss is really nice there.  While Chase was waiting for me to do my thing, he dressed Sophie up in all sorts of costumes we had at the office.  I'll show more to you later.  For now, Sophie, Lucy, Alex and I are enjoying this photo while Chase and Sam are in Panama City with their dad.  We miss them but know they are having a fun time with Grammie.  While Sophie isn't too excited about being in a costume, she would let Chase and Sam do anything to her, except maybe put Lucy on her back.  Oh I have a picture of that too.  It will come in future blogs to show you what it is like here at Fletcher365.

Two to Panama City. Two on a Staycation in Plano.

Finally finished laundry, some dishes, and a gift for the boys to take to Panama City.  Chase and Sam are going with their dad to visit their Grammie and Granddaddy.  Alex is staying here to work at Chick-Fil-A so he can scoop up some money since he seems to be running through it pretty quickly.  I'm so pleased that Chase is going to be riding alone with his dad the whole way there since Sam is going to be riding with his friend Nathan whose family just happens to be going to Panama City at the same time.  Chase was concerned that their dad's girlfriend and daughter were going too.  While they like Renata and Mellany, they really were looking forward to this time just with family.  I'll be working this week (for the same reason as Alex) and Alex and I will hopefully have some evenings together.  It is so crazy that he is going to college in just a little over a year.  Where will he go?  It's still up in the air.  But I will take time with him anytime I can.  The rest of the world will just have to take a back seat for now.