For the one or two that may have wondered where I've been lately, just wanted to let you know that my computer is in the hospital and is in very critical condition. What was suppose to be a few days work has turned into the real possibility of burying it in the backyard. I'll be back soon -- and probably with a Mac.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I was a kid, one year my Mom made 'Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf' costumes for me and my brother. I enjoyed it then but I appreciate it even more now that we did our own real constructive costume for the first time. We started by collecting various sized boxes and cannister lids. Then we measured (even protracted!), cut, taped, then spray-painted. Here's Joshua doing the coveted painting job.

 

Then we had to wait for everything to dry. In the meantime, Greg & Josh carved out our one, prized, home-grown pumpkin. Greg set it up very cute at the front door and I wish I would have gotten a picture of it! Guess I still can... You'll have to wait for that one.

 

After all our hard work, dark-thirty, Halloween night could not get here fast enough! Here's the finished product. Can you guess what he is?

 

Josh, his good friend and neighbor Bradley (the Ninja Guy!), and my neice, Kierstin, all went trick-or-treating together. They were so cute and we had so much fun! I am kicking myself that I didn't get a picture with Kierstin in it. She was the most adorable ladybug you've ever seen - very fitting for her!

 

We'll have a stomach-ache for days from all our loot. If I ration one piece of candy a day, I think I just may get us through to this time next year. And all the while we'll be thinking of what new costume we want to start working on...

Fall, I Was Unfaithful To You

 

I flirted with Spring. It had been a long winter and I was thirsty for some color and the warmth of the sun. Pinks, yellows, lavenders and delicate whites popped out on that new green canvas and I caved to it. I seriously let Spring contend with me for my favorite season spot. What can I say? I lost my head.

Oh, but Fall, you are back in all your glory! You know, you do this to me every time. Your first northerly breeze floods me with all the joys that parade behind -- vibrant colors, burning wood, football (and the food that goes with it), kids playing in crunchy leaves, scarves, pumpkins, Yankee candles, being "boo-ed" by your neighbors... (sigh)

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have winked at that 'other' season. Yeah, it's ok, but YOU are the best! Will you forgive me?

The Lake House

 

Greg's parents just bought and started fixing up a little lake house. We all christened it with our presence this weekend -- 11 of us in a 2 bedroom house. Classy, huh? There were even two of us missing! As the kids grow, we'll just stuff them all in the basement and then the adults will take turns coming in from the deck. Maybe we'll make the guys camp out in tents. I don't know. All I know is, on this occasion we managed to squish in for a good time. Josh struggled to stay up as long as he could so he wouldn't miss a single late-night joke. I remember being him a long time ago. I didn't understand half the things they were laughing about when the extended family would all get together - I just loved that they were laughing.

 

How about this sight? Doesn't Greg look right with a cute little girl on his shoulders? He does love his nieces...

 

And I just had to include this last picture because it is so Joshua. After a walk down by the lake and through the woods he is carrying a patch of moss and dragging a tree branch. (Sigh) I just love little boys...

 

Look What's Happening On the Other Side of the River...

To the wild girls of the former room E344:

 

I had to win on our very first night but I did the right thing and passed the honor on to a rookie newcomer. Won't happen again. ;)

Miss you!

We're So Bad...

I really am. First of all, I forgot my dear friend's birthday. Though I think of her all the time and she is one of the most special people in the WORLD to me, I let her whole day pass without a word from me.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

The day after her birthday began as any other day. Sometime mid-morning I happened to look at the calendar and noticed that I had also missed another important date. Well, we missed it. I called Greg at work to see if he was planning a surprise getaway for the two of us. Just like every year, he paused awhile and said, "Oh, yeah!". And just like every year, we laughed because we BOTH forgot that it was our anniversary.

So, at lunchtime Greg arrives home, steals Josh, and together they gather a delicious, romantic Chick-fil-a meal and this:

 

Perfect! I 'ponder in my heart' the thought of my two boys in the girly shop, sniffing candles and lotions together, deciding which ones I would like. Really, Greg didn't need to do anything but I'm glad for yet another sweet memory of forgetfulness over the span of our 13 years. And what dark, fancy, expensive restaurant beats chicken nuggets at your kitchen table?

Some of you may wonder how a dog's birthday gets remembered but not anything else. I think I've figured out that next year I'll tell JOSHUA the pending important dates around here....that way I don't have to scare everyone half to death when I'm eating my anniversary lunch and choke on a waffle fry with a startled gasp.

Yes, Amy, that's when I remembered.

Happy Birthday, Boy!

 

It's so humiliating. The lampshade 'comfy collar' is because of a boo-boo Kodiak won't quit licking and the balloon is because our poor dog had to experience his birthday. Actually, he never before HAD to experience his birthday, but this year little brother insisted. Lucky him.

Actually it kinda warmed my heart a little because I got to see an uncharacteristically generous side of my son. There was no question that he was going to buy Kodiak a gift. Josh has been talking to me about that for 2 months now. So, on the big day, the kid who normally wants to see if I'll give him a quarter for taking my plate to the sink, shelled every last dollar he had in his wallet for a new toy for his dog. Didn't even blink over it.

And Kodiak, happily he ended up having a really great day. The dog who normally tries desperately hard to go unnoticed by Josh, LOVED his new toy and I think I even saw him smiling at the kid. I know I was.....

I can't believe it's already been a year since we went home for my youngest sibling's wedding. Sean & Amanda are celebrating their first anniversary and chose the most romantic place in the world to celebrate -- our house! Ok, we were a stop-off to the most romantic place in the world, but we were still so happy they wanted to visit us!

 

Josh was so excited, he set his watch to their ETA and went nuts until they finally came down the road (he was waiting outside for them).

 

They brought their cake to share. To make it special, I got out our great-grandmother's pink, flowery dishes to eat on and pink cloth napkins to delicately dab our mouths with. I love an opportunity to use that stuff! Greg and I didn't get to eat our cake's top layer for our first anniversary because about six months after our wedding we sat around one night craving something sweet and decided there was something really good sitting in our freezer. Please don't tell anybody that.

 

We took them all over our area and showed them why it's so great to live here. Greg put on his best sales pitch about why they should consider moving. Amanda pointed out that we tried that before, and left her high and dry about 2 weeks after she finally moved close to Memphis. Oops!

 

I'm super-proud of my sister and brother-in-law. They are really starting out right -- loving the Lord and each other with wisdom that doesn't possibly fit their age. They are swimming hard against the current of young America but are achieving the very thing that evades their worldly peers -- happiness. You go, guys!

There's something we did the other night that we talked all summer about doing. Now that the weather's cooling off and the bugs are finding other places to go, it was just perfect for......the drive-in movie theater!! The last time I did this I was 7 and we saw 'Grease'. I watched that movie again not too long ago, by the way, and found myself wondering about my mother's good judgement. Back then, all I wanted to do was wail 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' in my bedroom with my record player but, oh well. Anyway! This time we saw 'G-Force' -- not that great, but at least no hoochie-mamas come out of the closet.

Here we are with 10 different blankets and pillows in the back of the car. We snuggled all evening and enjoyed the wonder of a child amazed that the sound was coming from our own radio. Try it sometime!

 

 

Oh, and Mom, I love you! I was just joking earlier. I know I twisted your arm to take me......

Good Doggie

Give me a spider....no big deal. Crickets? Anything amphibeous? Bring 'em on! But put a praying mantis near me and I'm gonna come out of my skin. WHY do their heads have to swivel?!? Ooaueh!! I'm creeping out just thinking about it. Not too long ago I almost wrecked the car when Joshua screamed, "LOOK, MOM, WHAT'S OVER YOUR HEAD!!". Yep. I pulled right over, jumped out of the car and had a head-swivelling battle with that thing MUCH to my son's delight. I looked at, it looked at me, I whipped my head away trying not to gag, it turned back to it's business as well, I went back to it, it looked back at me......and so we went.

Back in the car a few minutes later (without the bug) I did have to ask, "Josh, sweetie, how did that thing get in the car?" Hmmmm.

So yesterday, Kodiak's got his vicious growl and bark going and I had to see WHAT we were being so threatened by (keep in mind that the day before it had been an unfamiliar flashlight). But, oh, how I thrilled to see that he was saving us from a very large praying mantis on the window!!

 

If Kodiak was so brave then I could be too! So I swiped the nasty thing down for him and that was it. It had no chance. Whew.

 

Anyone else want to come pray and swivel on my window???

I've been pondering alot about something lately. I'm not confident I'll be able to word my thoughts correctly so I hope I muddle through it half-right. It's about being a mom. When I was pregnant, every other mother that saw my belly told me to enjoy every moment of motherhood because it would all fly by way too soon. The most alarming was from my own mother who said, "Jenny, now it seems like it was all in the span of a good night's sleep". That's alarming because she had 3 of us well-spaced in age, so she was doing this for a "long" time. I heard this enough that I did take it seriously and vowed to never take for granted a single moment. A vow like that requires a self-check every now and then and for some reason, catching sight of this collection of stuff on my kitchen floor did it for me.

 

So big deal, huh? Well, I guess God can use whatever He wants and He used this to stop me in my tracks and remember who I am and why I do what I do. I am Joshua's mother. When I wonder what I'm suppose to do with my life, right now I need not look any further than that. Of all the people on the planet, God put this person unmistakably in my home. Is it any wonder that I should be about the business of raising him -- purposefully? How is it that we get so distracted about that?

I have my theories.

For one thing, it's not very glamorous. I don't see the covergirl of 'Vogue' with the subtitle of 'How does this stay-at-home-mom teach Bible verses to her little ones?'. But maybe, instead of hours in the gym, I should be showing my son what Jesus would do in our home and community.

Another thing is, this job doesn't pay much. I've heard many moms say with guilt that they don't feel like they're contributing equally to the home. Wow. I say without throwing a stone that, unless the situation is downright dire, this is a sad sellout. Is there a price to putting your life into the next generation? For millions of dollars, no one could do what I do because no one else loves my son the way I do. Goes back to that 'specially placed in my home' thing....

Third, but not lastly, I think there is a very strong message out there that this job is not a very smart one. Are you intelligent? Do you have a college degree? Then why are you wasting all that at home? I know women with graduate degrees and beyond that are choosing to lay that aside for awhile to make home their place of career and I want to cheer for them! With that kind of resume, isn't she even more qualified to raise a child in the way he should go?

The truth is, and this is what sobers me, on the timeline of the average 80 years of life, our kiddos are in our home only 18 of those. For me, having a son with a backpack THAT full, it's a bittersweet reminder that my time is getting shorter. Did I waste precious time on anything that doesn't go into eternity with me? Is HE going into eternity with me? Thankfully, I can answer yes to the second question but, unfortunately, I can answer yes to the first one, too. I have a vow to myself that I need to keep so thanks, God, I needed to know that.....

Happy 40th, Shannon!!

 

Though bowling wasn't as fun as our original plan of boating (thank you rain), I am seeing in retrospect why it may have been a good idea. First of all, you know you have a group of GIRLS when all we are doing is standing around and gabbing. If pins could talk they would have shouted, "Hey, who's next? We've been waiting to get hit for ten minutes now!" If we'd been skiing, the man down would have drowned waiting to be picked up again. Next, I noticed that more balls than not went in the gutter. And if this was a sign of our aim, it's very possible that the boat may have ended up in the trees. Then last of all, peculiarly, Shannon, the birthday girl, produced her own cake, the candles upon it and the lighter from which she lit them. She was singing to herself very briefly.....

I have no boating analogy for this but it was pretty funny.

Thank you, Shannon, for being my good friend -- and thanks for having a birthday! The cake was delicious.:)

Not So Fast, Football Season!

I did say that our pro baseball team was a little less exciting than our Little League but I do still like watching a really good game. Saturday night was perfect weather and the home team was smokin'! We had no idea Greg's parents were there until they showed up on the big screen - hand-over-heart, singing the National Anthem. According to me, the real bonus of the evening was the fact that they had extra good, extra seats!

 

To Joshua, however, the highlights of the night were of entirely different matter. What's that he's looking at, you ask? The crickets he found, of course.

 

And then there was the petting zoo. Of the exotic birds, the monkey, the lemur, the pigs, and the snake, the dearest of all was this tortoise. I really thought he was going to fall on his knees and beg me to bring it home with us. Missed a good homerun hanging out here watching a turtle.....

 

By the end of the night we'd had a few juicy, carcinogenic hotdogs, yelled and laughed, and won a really fun game. Oh, and PaPa also caught a t-shirt from the mascot.

 

It ALMOST fits -- could've probably stashed a good turtle in there, come to think of it.

Last Minutes of Summer

As fall approaches you commonly get asked, "How was your summer?". And I've been honestly answering that it's been just right. Doesn't it always seem that you either overbook your summer or don't plan enough? You either do so much that you miss all summer is suppose to be, or you're pulling your hair out by July wondering if school is ever going to start. A little something adventurous and a good amount of nothing seemed to find us every day this time. Perfect!

Last minute savorings have included:

Doing a little card-trading in the neighborhood (with big brother standing guard).

 

Going to a back-to-school party with the greatest 3rd grade class ever! We missed you, Jordan.:(

 

And harvesting a pumpkin! Yes, we grew A pumpkin. All along I've been praying, "Please, Lord -- one pumpkin. I'm a terrible gardener but, please -- one pumpkin." Yes. And that's not a pointy head that Joshua also grew. In fact, he's been traveling around with 3 bouncy balls and one inside door key in his hat. Explanation for the key? If someone comes over and wants to play hide & seek and locks themselves in one of our rooms.....well, they will not have outsmarted Josh.

 

He is going into the 3rd grade, you know!

Hmmm.....

The windowsill in my bathroom has become the collective spot for all things 'shell' over the last year or so -- including snail shells. Nothing alive is suppose to go there. The other night we caught Joshua going into the bathroom with a fresh whole piece of lettuce. He just wanted to see.....

 

This is what I found the next morning. Think one of these snails is still kickin'?

Needing a Building Permit

The summer is almost over and there are still some VERY IMPORTANT things to do. Constructing a giant fort in the living room was apparently on that list. When Josh asked if this was an ok project to work on I said "Sure!" and gave him 2 chairs and a blanket. All my dining chairs and blankets later, we finally had a respectable hideout going. I left Josh to the interior decorating and felt like I needed to probably do some building inspecting after hearing him call out, "Good thing I have a large collection of key chains!". Turns out, they are handy in securing your lighting. Who knew?

I know Greg is going to love this when he walks in tonight!

 

 

 

No, Greg probably won't love it but after he gets the tour he'll be like I was -- fondly sentimental of when I was a kid and use to do this stuff. DO put this on your 'must' list soon.....even if you don't have children! Your inner child will thank you for it.

Happy 1st, Ladybug!

I love these two pictures.

 

 

Here's why. It was my niece, Kierstin's, birthday yesterday and a very large crowd (much like the one taking pics in the nursery window exactly one year ago) gathered to celebrate. Poor girl, you just wonder what little ones think at that very first birthday party. What a bizarre series of events. First, everyone gets in your face and screams "Happy Birthday!" the moment you wake up from your little unsuspecting afternoon nap, then they all eat a big meal of yummy stuff that you can't have, but 30 minutes later they put this gigantic, lit up, squishy thing in front of you that ONLY you can have. It makes them laugh hysterically and also sing very loudly. Later, after a very obnoxious cleanup with a dish rag, they set you in the middle of all these BIG, BEAUTIFUL boxes and bags that look like so much fun to play with......just to end up throwing the great stuff away while sticking you with the -- what do they call it? -- toys!

And all the while, what a girl really wants......is to swim with her cousin!

 

On another note, here are all my Banks family sisters-in-love (preferred over law) at the party. They're sweet and beautiful and wonderful, I must say!

 

Among the other guests from the day, these girls above gave their share of slobbery birthday girl kisses. Another bit in the bizarre, but not so bad afterall of a thing called a "birthday".:)