Okay, so first of all…this week went by so quickly I can hardly believe it is Friday already. And secondly, my This & That Thursday – now Friday needs a new name. Nothing sounds as snappy as T&T Thursday. But, I don’t have time to work on it now, so that will be our mission for next Friday, I suppose.

For anyone who didn’t get our theme yesterday, it was indeed blue. Kimberly’s shot was the cool straws and my shot was the vase of flowers. Although, they are not really flowers. I mean, they are flowers, to Addie – but they are the little blossoms that grow out of the middle of the clover patch in our rose garden. They are essentially weeds. But every morning Ad will walk out when we are getting ready to leave and nearly fall over herself with glee, “More flowers, Mama! We got more beautiful yellow flowers!” And she picks all of them and put them in little cups all over the house. The other morning there was a very big clump and so it required THE vase.

That blue vase is my favorite vase of all time. J. brought it up to the hospital with a gorgeous bouquet of yellow and orange roses when I was admitted at 28 weeks pregnant with little Miss Emma. She thought it was a good time to try to come out. We all did NOT think it was a good time. So it is my good luck vase, reminds me of being pregnant to my Peanut and has become our “go to” vase. Whenever any of us get flowers we all kind of fight over the “pretty blue vase.”

Besides flowers, Addie has been obsessed with hearts. Paper, cut-out hearts. For every flower in our house there are at least five paper hearts. This one came home from school yesterday.

It is for her Daddy. How sweet is that?

Meanwhile, Emmy is missing her Daddy as well, and sending him all kinds of love…

…but she absolutely cannot wait until I finally leave because she gets to spend the weekend with her very bestest friend and they have some very big plans, or so I hear.

Other “noteable” moments for Em this week. Our Daisy troop delivered over 500 pairs of shoes last weekend to the Soles 4 Souls program to be sent to the victims in Haiti. 500 pairs…that is a.lot.of.shoes!

And…we also wrapped up taking orders for the GS cookies. Em is so excited, she gets a patch AND a t-shirt. Mommy was so excited because Em was a fantastic cookie salesperson. She helped come up with her little speech and she delivered it many, many times to family, friends and neighbors. And she just kept getting better and better. It was so awesome to watch her confidence grow as more people bought cookies. And it also made me even more determined to make sure the girls in Em’s troop get everything they need. Girl Scouting does indeed build strong girls. I see it every time our troop meets.

So thank you very much for all of you who supported Em and bought cookies and helped make her just a little stronger this week.

And finally, I am praying for strength for my mom. My mom’s aunt died yesterday evening. She was the last of my Grandma’s siblings left. As we were talking about our memories of her, it came out that my mom feels badly about not calling and talking with her before she died. But then it hit me. How many of us have had, or will have at some point in our lives, this same regret? Something happens and we are left thinking, why didn’t I just call to say “hi” or “I’m thinking of you.”

We get so wrapped up in our lives and the days just slide away. Then more and more time goes by and we feel like it has been too long, it would be awkward to call. Or maybe we just take it for granted that our family and friends know how we feel. And then it is too late. I know I am guilty of this.

Last night was a wake-up call for me. I am not going to let another day, another week, another month go by without calling or writing to those I care about. I’m generally a “it is what it is” kind of girl. But I think that this is one of those things that shouldn’t be “what it is.” This is not something I want to leave to chance.

(Just a little Addie sweetness to look at while you think about all that “heavy” stuff over the weekend. Our hearts and prayers are with you, Mom!)