Moving My Blog

If you are one of the lovely folks who reads my blog, you will need to go here from now on. I've decided to blog in a new location!

Weeds

At our house a flower is a flower. Even if the plant that is producing a flower happens to be a weed, we still enjoy the flower and let it live. Jackson enjoys picking them and bringing them in for his Mama, and I enjoy the pleasant surprise of a flower being given to me from my son.

Today, my nephews came over for the day. While they and Jackson were playing Batman in the back yard, my weeds with flowers were subjected to many vicious slashes and chops with their swords. Bummer.

From inside I heard a very upset Jackson telling his cousins to 'stop killing his Mommy's flowers!'

What a sweet boy.

High Five to Single Parents!

Seriously, how do they do it? I've only been without my husband for 4 days, and I am soooo ready to get John back home! I didn't even go one day without visiting family. I knew that while John was on this trip I would have a new found appreciation for single parents. I had a moment at dinner that surely arises in every household; a child refusing to eat dinner. After a near meltdown--for Jackson and me--the thought crossed my mind to just let him get his way so that I could have a peaceful meal and put an end to the madness. But, that was a quickly passing thought. Instead, I decided to persevere through this tantrum and convince Jackson that he does like the meal I made. He ended up eating it with some bribery involving chocolate chip cookies.

Bribery is ok, right?

The Ripe Old Age of 5 Months

Over the course of just 4 days, Archer has grown so much. He started taking naps longer than 20 minutes! He actually let me lay him down for an hour or more! This was amazing. Arch also dozed off a few times with my Aunts. He has hardly ever fallen asleep without me.

And now for the food news. Archer LOVES food. I let him try green beans, spinach, banana, apple, and watermelon. He loved all of it. I was so excited for him.

My Archer is growing so fast, in 3 days he will be 5 months!

My Hiatus

I just got back from a 4 day reunion with my extended family that came from Louisiana and other parts of Indiana. We all stayed at my mom's house, which has been the tradition since my grandmother was the matriarch of the house. The house is on the lake, and is large enough to cram a few families in to stay for a few days. Playing on the lake with my crazy family is one of my fondest memories and most favorite things to do. We ski, we swim, we throw each other off of wave runners ... fun is had by all.

Another activity that my family enjoys is a good debate. I sometimes participate, but it's usually a discussion that involves my Uncle Irwin, Uncle Bill, Aunt Peggy, and my cousin Kevin. You would think that after all these years they have already said all there is to say about their opinion on abortion or war or WHATEVER, but they have not. These debates will go on until the end of time! Sitting down to listen to them is another one of my favorite things.

This year was a little more hectic than prior reunions; we had a FULL house! To give you an idea of the insanity I just endured, I will list off who stayed in the house and where. My mom and her husband stayed in her bedroom, my brother slept on a blow up mattress in the sun room by the deck, an Aunt and Uncle stayed in my brother's old room, my cousin and his girlfriend stayed in the living room, John, Jackson, Archer, and I stayed in the front porch area on another blow up mattress, and upstairs in my old room were my cousin and his wife with 2 little ones, and my other Aunt and Uncle. Oh my GOD was it crazy! But, it was fun and wonderful to see how the family has grown.

Now, I am back home getting our lives back to normal. John is on a business trip and won't be home until Friday. So, I'm trying to keep busy and sane with my boys before he returns. I am going to attempt to get groceries soon. That should be a good time ... or really stressful! I could wait for other family members nearby to get off of work to watch Jackson while I shop, but we are out of so many necessities, that I can't wait.