I'm Back

I have been thinking about updating my blog for quite awhile. When I have had the time, I have not had the brain power to put coherent thoughts on paper. When I have had the brain power, I have not had the time. Finally, life is working itself into a nice little routine and I am able to think...and even express those thoughts to you. :)

I noticed my last post was before the craziness I call summer really began. So, first, both of my sisters and their families came to visit. Well, except Chris, he had to work back in NC. Penny and Olivia came and then Patti, Bill, Jared, and Caden all came to stay for 10 days. And the kids all had swimming lessons together! They all did really well at swimming. Each of them did have their moments of whimpering, grumping, whining and/or outright yelling as I recall. They gave Ms. Jayne a run for her money, but she conquered them all. The days were mostly taken up with swimming lessons in the morning/early afternoon. One day we went to Boomerangs, a big place with tons of bounce houses. The kids loved it! Another day we took them to Going Bonkers. Both the kids and adults went Bonkers! It is a huge indoor playplace, the kind you see at fast food places, but it's cleaner. :) And goes up 2 1/2 stories high! The rest of the time the kids swam and played and all had their fair share of arguments too. I think they made some great memories. It was fun to spend all that time with Penny and Patti and Bill, too. Patti and Bill amazed me in the kitchen! They are quite the team! When they go to clean it up they are machines! Unfortunately, towards the very end, Penny and Olivia started to get sick. O woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. We attempted to quarantine her for the day, but that was just impossible. Miserable for her and mommy and well, since she seemed just fine after a little rest she came out to play with the rest of the kids. It was torture to Olivia! So much fun to be had and she had to stay in her room. But they both got better in time to fly home.

The next week I spent winding down from all the excitement and then gearing back up for another visit. :) My parents came to see us/work for us for 7 days. I didn't quite intend for that to happen...them working and helping me out. I hadn't made any list at all for them unlike previous years! :0 No, I thought, they should just come and relax and enjoy their time hanging out. Well, my mom just can't do that. She will just find things to do, which was GREAT! My laundry room shelves, pantry, under the kitchen sink all got cleaned up and at least 3 kitchen bags of stuff was throw out! I never knew I had to much stuff in there! My mom also took care of the trimming of the bushes and the palm tree. I think there were about 15 bags (at least) of trimmings ready for the garbage man that next week. We also did some planting of flower pots. Then came the garage. What were we thinking??? Matt had been talking about replacing the shelving in the garage. So while Matt was off to Home Depot to get supplies, mom and I were busy unloading the shelves so they could be taken down. So, can you see piles of wood and 15 bags of garbage all lined up along the side of our driveway waiting for Thursday? And it was only Monday! I was slightly concerned that the grass underneath might die! No, not really, but it was a ton of stuff! Just for the record, Matt did finish the shelves in 2 weekends, but they have not been restocked. Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. Give us a year. Maybe we will have it taken care of by then. ;) Then I put my dad to work by asking him to do all sorts of little projects around the house that I just never could get to. Things like, handing up hooks to put our pool equipment on, putting up hooks in Emma's room that I have had for several months just never got them up, and other things like that. He was busy every day! So helpful! I can't tell you how they inspired me. I just felt so bogged down by all these little things I just could not get to and felt bad about it. But after my mom and dad helped me get things under control and organized again I was inspired to keep it that way. And I'm doing a pretty good job! Not only is it easier to maintain and do the basic things, but I have even managed to fit some exercise in. Yay! And I think they even managed to have fun while doing all their chores. :D

After my parents left I decided not to think for about a week. I was just going to relax and get my kids back in line. After that week, I was looking at the rest of the year and remembering that I had been wanting to get the kids up to MI in the summer, it was clear that we needed to take our MI trip very very soon. In two weeks soon. So, we told them we were coming and drove on up! I will tell more details in my next post. Been a long time since I've thought like this....my brain is starting to hurt. Which reminds me, After day 1 or day 2 at school, Ethan said, "Mom, I think school is making my brain work too much. It hurts!" I feel your pain, son.