Four Years

Jim's funeral was four years ago today.
I always thought a broken heart would heal with time. Now I know the hurt only gets deeper with each passing day.

Sleeping In

Allison: "My favorite place to sleep in the whole world is your bed."
Me: "Really? Why is that?"
Allison: "Because you're here."

Go Me!!

Just made hotel reservations in the heart of Charleston, SC's historic district for our pre and post cruise stay in March. Can't wait to meander around Charleston!!

BOYS!

Why would a 5 year old put two matchbox trucks on a toilet lid and pee into the boxes of them??
He didn't think it was a such good idea any more when Grandma made him clean up the toilet and wash and dry his trucks. Little SHIT!

His Name Is Bruce

Allison set me up with the father of one of the nurses she works with. We had drinks Saturday night and I really liked him. He even brought a bouquet of flowers when he came :)
I was making dinner for Allison and her gang yesterday and invited him to join us. Amazingly, the threat of the boys didn't deter him and he showed up right on time. We had a nice evening and I'm hoping he'll call again.

Lists

I'm a list maker and I get such a sense of accomplishment when I can cross things off my list. So far, since Sarah and her gang left, this is what I've accomplished!

The Dawn of a New Revelation

On my hands and knees at 8:30 this morning, scrubbing my kitchen floor, it dawned on me that I've lived here for 8 years and have never once scrubbed the kitchen, bathrooms or laundry room floors.

Not that they have never been scrubbed, they've been scrubbed on a regular basis for as long as I've lived here. I just have never done it myself.

On to the vaccuming, which I've done before but rarely. Oh, what a sheltered life I've lived!

Parting Shots

Sarah, Allan and the boys left today.
Fortunately for me, Sarah always leaves my house in the same condition she found it in. Bless her heart.
Unfortunately for me, it needed a good cleaning when she got here.

Fortunately for me, everything is put away and in it's place. Thank you Sarah :)

Unfortunately for me, I fired my cleaning lady of 18 years last month :(

I'm gonna miss the boys.

Stella's in mourning or so it seems. She's been laying at the top of the stairs most of the day. I think she's waiting for them to come upstairs again.

Me? I'm going to miss all those pairs of brown eyes looking at me :(

Mother Goose's Meandering Mind

Mother Goose's Meandering Mind
Sarah, David and Thomas joined Alex here on Monday and Allan is due in tomorrow morning. It's been busy trying to see everyone, do everything and eat all the things from home Sarah craves. Fun, but busy :)

Just So You Know...

I suck at miniature golf!

My Poor Baby

On Wednesday when we went to Bismarck, my Mom stayed with Stella. Wednesday night, she woke up puking three different times. Yesterday morning she was pretty lethargic and puked quite a few more times. I assumed it was caused by the chewed up mechanical pencil I found under my bed.
Last night I was looking for her and I found a chewed up bottle of children's Tylenol. The little scamp had gotten up on the bathroom counter where it was and took it under my bed to destroy while my Mom wasn't paying attention. There were quite a few tablets in the bottle and she ate every last one of them. Thankfully she was acting more like herself by then so I didn't have to call the vet.
I guess I'll have to check to make sure everything is out of her reach when my Mom babysits. She's like every little kid I know, she gets into things when Grandma's here that she'd never dream of doing when I'm home. Little brat!
It makes me sick to think that it could've killed her. YIKES!

Big Days

We've been doing lots of fun things since Alex arrived in North Dakota... or Oaf Dakota as David calls it. Wednesday, we drove to Bismarck to go to a water slide park. The weather was shitty so we rented a hotel room with a three story water slide. Jameson, Gage and Alex had a blast. After dinner, we did a little shopping and arrived back home at 10:45PM with three sleeping boys in the back seat. Alex spent the night with Allison's family again.
On Thursday, Jameson, Gage, Alex, Allison and I went to Planet Pizza where they played arcade games, ate pizza and jumped in the bounce houses until all three were sweaty and stinky.
Alex and I picked Matthew up at 3:30 and I took them to see GI Joe. I didn't have the wherewithall to sit through that so I went to see Julie & Julia and we met after the movies were over. Back to my house to play Wii until 10PM. It's now 8:10AM and Alex is still sleeping!
Today we're going to get groceries and visit my Dad and Grandma at the nursing home. We'll pick Matthew up later this afternoon and he's going to spend the night here. I'm so glad the 3 year age difference between he and Alex hasn't ruined their enjoyment of each other. And I'm thrilled Alex is able to spend the time getting to know his cousins here in Oaf Dakota.

The Chubby One :)

My Three (grand) Sons

Chilling

Allison picked Alex up around noon today for a picnic and then a trip to the zoo. He's then going to spend the night with her family.
After being with kids for 2-1/2 weeks, I'm taking full advantage of the quiet, empty house. Stella's relaxing right along with me.
I love being with my grandsons but man, am I getting old. I don't know how young mothers do what they do and I'm soooo glad I'm not one anymore :)

Poop in the Potty Party

While I was in Massachusetts, we potty trained David. Sarah promised him a party at Chuckie Cheeses complete with cake when he went poop in the potty. Unfortunately, during the celebration, the guest of honor, peed his pants :)

Oh well, he actually was completely trained for both poop and pee in less than a week. And, he goes all by himself when he has to go. Mr. Independence is just like his mother was... "I can do it myself!"

Now You Know

I've really lost my mind! But, I have to make sure Stella has enough money to fly to Boston to visit Nugget even after I'm gone. Any and all contributions would be greatly appreciated :)

Wii Play

SCORE!

A Well Deserved Night Out

Cooling Off

I Scream

You Scream