The last cheer banquet at Bedford High :(

Cheri ended her high school cheer career last night with a beautiful banquet. I fought back tears all night long. One of the coaches, Kari, made the girls a CD with pictures and music of their season. That was too much for me, I lost it. I am not only going to miss Cheri cheering, I am going to miss all the other girls and their parents who have become my friends over the years. I love them all. It is the end of an era for me. I'm not good at this growing up stuff. This year just keeps getting harder and harder for me. I still have graduation, wedding shower, wedding, and dropping Cheri at college to go through yet.

On the bright side, I have graduation, shower, wedding, 2 kids in college, 3 vacation plans (cruise, Wash DC, and Wash State), and both Paul and my high school reunions. What a year this 2009 is turning out to be.

Cheri is trying out for cheer tomorrow (Sunday) at Adrian College. She has tryouts from 9 AM until 5 PM. At least I will still be able to see her cheer. Adrian is only 45 minutes away from the house. It will just be different. Everyone wish her luck tomorrow!

The girls and their awards

The senior girls before they open their present

The cakes

The senior girls and their Bedford Cheer Alumni jackets.

I blew up that picture of them as one of their gifts.

I will miss these beautiful seniors...

Cheri and Shane

I have lakefront property!

Paul went out of town to Baltimore for a conference and it decided to rain and rain and rain and rain. I came home from Zumba class and the two sump pumps were having a hard time keeping up with the downpour. Paul called Scott Pickard and he came over and put one more pump in each of the sumps and attached hoses out the windows (thank God we have windows in the basement) and we still couldn't keep up. The water just kept coming and finally started coming in the basement. We only got about an inch, which is better than 2 years ago when we had 8 inches. Scott and I fought the losing battle for hours. We will have to move things around to dry it out but I don't think there will be too much damage. Last time we learned to put things in plastic tubs. I'm thinking tile instead of carpet for the finishing off of the downstairs though. If we get the backyard built up and put in some kind of retention area in the back, I think we may be able to solve any future issues. The poor neighbors are another story. Their houses are surrounded. Mine isn't now that the rain is gone. You don't want houses anywhere near those ditches. I do have a couple of feet of water at the end of the driveway as you can see by the pictures. My Benz is good in 3 feet of water, but Cheri and Paul are grounded until it recedes. Several road around here are covered in water and some are losing parts of the roads to the water. The road is just disappearing! It is a nightmare to say the least. I do know that Paul and I owe Scott Pickard a nice dinner out. That guy worked his butt off for me last night. Paul took an early flight home today (he was supposed to be in Thursday) because he knows I would have had a meltdown if I had to do this alone one more day. I just have to keep remembering we are all healthy and Paul and I have great jobs...keep it positive. Now I have to go get my husband and clean out my basement.

The flood of 2009