Easter Undies

Addie was so much fun to watch experience the fun of Easter. At first I wasn’t going to get her an Easter dress, basically because I’m cheap and I hate shopping. But I did end up finding her the sweetest little dress at TJ Max. And she LOVED it! Dennis and I often err on the side of excessive practicality, and our poor daughter suffers the consequences. I need to remember that sometimes the frivolous accumulation of material goods is just plain FUN, and that’s OK. Sometimes that’s hard for us bleeding heart liberal tree hugger types! :)

She just loved her little dress. She would twirl around in it and say “I have a PREDDY dress, mommy!” Then after church with Uncle Derek and Aunty Malia we hit the road for Grandma and Grandpa’s. Addie immediately saw the bunny cake grandma had made and beside the cake was an Easter basket full of goodies.

I guess it was a tradition when Dennis was growing up that every year in their Easter baskets all three Pope kids would be given new undies and socks. Not breaking with tradition - and to celebrate the fact that Addie is now wearing undies - she had a package of bran new “My Little Pony” underwear along side her chocolate bunny.

The most exciting part of the day for Addie was the egg hunt. Since she was the sole egg-hunter, her basket got really full. By the time the egg hunt was nearly finished, her basket was overflowing. Whenever she’d run ahead to the next egg she’d spotted she’d leave a trail of eggs that had fallen out of her basket in her wake. It was pretty cute.

I know I keep saying this, but I love the age Addie is right now. She is just so expressive and funny. We often crack each other up at the dinner table while daddy looks at us in quiet puzzlement. The funniest things pop out of her mouth. The other day she out of the blue said “I’m obnoxious!” in a very enthusiastic voice. (I swear on a stack of bibles that I’ve never called her that, BTW.) My favorite quip so far has got to be when she - bear with me. It’s a potty story - after several minutes on the potty climbed down, turned around and peered into the bowl. She turned her face up at me and said, “WOW! That’s a MAN poop!” Now isn’t that – um, sweet? Anyway, my little girl is such a joy. She’s a complete drama queen and a ham who doesn’t know a stranger. I love her.

New Kitchen

The kitchen is done!!! It is soooooooooooo nice to have a modern, sleek, kitchen. Which, trust me folks, I did not (see the Jan. 21, 2008 entry as proof). When we started our first load in the dishwasher I nearly burst into tears of joy. I have to send a completely inadequate and overdue shout out to my amazing husband who did – let’s face it gentle readers – ALL of the work. He puttied, sanded, primed, painted, pulled a bazillion staples out of the floor, and probably inhaled countless carsenogens. God bless you Dennis Pope!! You are indeed Dah-MAN! Here are the final results . . .

The Boss

Dennis and went to see Bruce Springsteen Friday night in Omaha. Mom had bought Dennis’ ticket to the show for his birthday, and of course he couldn't go alone, so I got to come along! (Click on this post's heading for a link to the review.)

We both enjoyed the show, but were a little annoyed that it started over an hour late after rushing around like fools to get there. As we sat, and sat, and sat, waiting for the show to start, Dennis kept wanting to go get something to drink and some popcorn. But he knew if he left his seat the show would start. After he sat there for nearly an hour he finally got up. Sure enough, as soon as he was gone the lights went out. When he rushed back in in total darkness and tried to sit down there was someone in his seat. He thought it was me and tried to get “me” to move over. He finally realized he was in the wrong section! Luckily the crowd was extremely nice, and that woman didn’t deck him!

As for the show I loved the very beginning and the very end. But I thought there were portions in between that lagged just a bit (see the set list below). That was probably my fault for not being more familiar with his stuff. But I wish he’d played more hits, and I bet the majority of the audience felt the same. The crowd was fairly lame, and would only really get into the show when he’d play top 40 stuff. They stood when he came on stage, but sat down when they started to play (what the?!) I was the only person who stayed standing in my entire section. I stood for the first three songs, but then feared having a beer lobbed at my head, and sat down. Who sits down through an entire concert?! This isn’t the symphony!! No one around us really got into it until he played Born to Run, and then the place totally erupted.

Dennis said he had a good time, but he was even less familiar with his stuff, and he mostly owns non E Street Band Springsteen records, so that didn’t help. But he still appreciates an amazing group of musicians when he sees them, and he had a good time. This was his first major rock concert, so that in itself was fun.

We dropped Addie off at our friend Julie’s house before the show. Julie used to baby-sit Addie one day a week while she was in grad school at UNL. We hadn’t seen Julie in nearly a year, so it was fun to finally get together. I was looking forward to that as much as the concert. I was a little worried Addie wouldn’t remember Julie very well and would be upset when we left her to go to the concert. But they had a blast, and Addie stayed up way past her bedtime watching her favorite movie “Mary Poppins”.

Julie works for a nature center in Omaha and lives on the nature center’s property. It’s right on the river and surrounded by hiking trails. It’s a lovely place. The next morning Julie made us a big breakfast and we all went on a long hike down to the river.

It was a perfect weekend. A fun night out with Dennis and a fun night out for Addie with her good friend Julie. And I finally got to spend some time catching up with Julie. It had been WAY too long! We’ve got to schedule another visit to her little paradise soon.

Set List: No Surrender, Radio Nowhere, Lonesome Day, Gypsy Biker, Magic, Reason to Believe, Because the Night, She's the One, Livin' In The Future, The Promised Land, Waitin' On A Sunny Day, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, Devil's Arcade, The Rising, Last To Die, Long Walk Home, Badlands
Encore: Girls In Their Summer Clothes, Thunder Road, Jungleland, Detroit Medley, Born To Run, Dancing In The Dark, American Land

This past weekend we went to hear my oldest and dearest friend, Kjell, play his music at a house concert. It was hosted by his mom, Karna. Going into Karna's home feels a lot like going home. It is full of huge, beautiful plants, interesting artwork, and it smells like Kjell and Karna - oil of patchouli. It was a wonderful evening. Just seeing Kjell cracking jokes and singing - doing what he's always loved most - was a blessing and a gift.

He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in August of 2006. After radical brain surgery and several months of chemo and radiation at the mayo clinic he's back pickin' and singin'. I swear his memory is sharper than mine, and I haven't had part of my brain removed or radiation shot at my head for several months. In the words of Johnny Cash he's a "walkin', talkin' miracle. Walk on."

Florida Fun

We had such a wonderful trip to Florida. I can't believe it's over. We've been looking forward to it for ages. We were really starting to miss Grandma and Grandpa, and we SOOO needed the break from this endless winter. The only bad part was coming back to extremely cold temps. For the next few mornings Dennis and I bitterly thought about Wes and Carol sitting on their deck drinking coffee and watching the sunrise while we bundled ourselves up in goose down parkas and warmed up our cars in the driveway. Burrrrr! When we landed in KC it wasn't so shocking - like maybe 40 degrees. But when we woke up the next morning it was minus 50 wind chill. That's freeze your face off in 20 minutes cold! Going from 70 to minus 50 in 24 hours can't be good for a person! In fact, I got the flu the Sunday after we landed. Thankfully Dennis and Addie haven't got it. For photos of our trip click on the title of this post and enter in the password "adeline".

A Super Super Bowl Sunday

Addie and I decided to head home to Cozad for a quick visit on Saturday. Dennis had flown to Portland, OR, for a conference on Thursday, and we were feeling lonesome. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive.

When we arrived we found dad and David out at the warehouse busily preparing the camper and truck for Dad and Cynthia's 3-week trek south. David was installing Dad's new satellite radio. There's an all Elvis station, so I'm sure that will be getting a lot of use. I just hope he doesn't drive off the road trying to figure out all its buttons!

That night Cynthia whipped up a yummy dinner and invited the Bonds and Anna and David over. Addie and Katherine played together really well. I think they giggled for a solid hour.

Dad and I left the dinner gathering a little early to go in and visit Mamo and Papo. They have moved out of assisted living and into the nursing home. They've been there for just over two weeks now, and the transition hasn't been easy, esp. for Papo. It's harder for him because he physically doesn't need to be there. Mamo really was needing that level of care. She can hardly walk anymore, and was really struggling to care for herself. So Mamo seemed much better than she did at Christmas, but Papo seemed a little blue to me. I'm sure it's soooo hard for him, but I know he wouldn't want to be separated from Mamo. What's also hard is that since Mamo is immobile they haven't been to church for the last two Sundays. It was really strange and sad not to see them in "their" pew - second from the front on the right hand side. I just hate that, but dad says they're looking to find a handivan that can take them to church. I hope and pray they can locate one soon.

Addie and I hit the road shortly after church to drive back to Lincoln. Dennis was scheduled to land in Omaha around 5:30, and we had been invited to a Super Bowl party, so the plan was to just meet up there. Unfortunately, Dennis' flight was delayed. Word to the wise - NEVER schedule your fight through Las Vegas on Super Bowl weekend. Who knew how many fools fly in to Vegas to bet on the Super Bowl? Or maybe we're the fools for never even thinking about that! Anyway, he left Portland at 7a.m. PST and wasn't home until 10:30 CST. It was a LONG day.

I'm glad we had a Super Bowl party to attend while anxiously awaiting Dennis/Daddy's arrival. Addie had a blast with her friends at the Super Bowl party. Within about 5 minutes of our arrival Addie was running through the living room in a purple tutu and beads pushing a grocery cart followed by 4 other little girls all similarly adorned (Erin isn't in the photo). They were much more entertaining than the game or the commercials. I LOVE little girls!!

Maybe just a tad distracted?

My poor husband has to frequently deal with my bouts of absent mindedness. But this morning something happened that made me feel like I was in good company. Dennis comes in this morning and had a sheepish look on his face. "Um, honey" and he bagan to tell me that when he went out to start my car this morning (yes, God bless him!) he noticed that I had left my car door wide open and the check book sitting on the roof of the car. But then he went on to say that he then noticed that he had left the shop unlocked - which is currently storing our new dishwasher, microwave and fridge for our kitchen remodle, not to mention several other valuable tools and implements - AND he had left the keys to our house hanging in the lock on the outside of our back door. Boy, the theves REALLY missed their chance!