Family & Friends

The past 8 days, a whirlwind of sorts, have been SO FUN! As I sit here sorting through these memories, I am feeling very blessed. What an honor to share our home and lives with friends who feel like family, and with family that are great friends! Derek and the guys made great memories during their deer hunt, and I cherish the times I had with Rebekah. Since we've been friends our whole lives, she is the sister of my heart. It takes a lot of work for them to come out and visit us for 5 days, but I am thankful they think we are worth the effort. When they have a home that can handle our crew, we look forward to visiting them!

Shawn teasing Rebekah with the doe's tail

Yesterday we welcomed our next houseguests. My cousin Nick and his wife Alyson are in the process of moving from California to Massachussets. Wow! At their wedding in California last month, I offered our place to them, as we are right on the way. He called me up and said they'd be coming through, and I was sure glad the timing all worked out. Derek and I learned lots about oceanography, and they learned lots about deer hunting and our daily lives with our boys. Alyson's doing her post-doctorate in oceanography and marine biology, and she even had some coolers of her sea experiments with her. Nick is finishing up his doctorate in the same field, and I think their lives just couldn't get much busier than they are right now. I loved having Nick here--we have fun memories together as kids, and I feel blessed to get to know him better as adults.

Our family with Nick & Alyson

Nick & Alyson

So now we look forward to Thanksgiving and to Kaleb's 7th birthday. But I think I will take a deep breath and try to relax for a little bit. "TRY" is the key word. :)

Oh Deer

A lot is going on at our house these days. One not-so-fun thing is I was sick yesterday, the day our friends were due to arrive for a 5 day stay. It lasted overnight and half of today. Thankfully that didn't scare them off, and we're having a fun visit. I'm enjoying it even more now that I feel better. Braylen took excellent care of me this morning. He fed his brothers their breakfasts and everyone got dressed and I didn't even hear any fighting and whining. Amazing! He even helped me with my slippers and called Grandma (with my permission) to ask her to pray for me to get better. Grandma saved the day too by taking the boys out of the house for the afternoon. I was so thankful I didn't have to make lunch.

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Derek went on his much-anticipated deer hunt today. 5 guys came back with 6 deer! They are all on an adrenaline rush--something I will never understand but I'm happy for Derek. The boys sure enjoy watching the process out in our garage. I will spare you the pictures and details, but I'll share this. While putting the boys to bed tonight, Kaleb hung his stuffed animals from the upper bunk bed and called them deer. Braylen joined in on the fun and I just had to take a picture of that. :) They are worlds cuter than the actual deer in our garage tonight!

Made Me Laugh

Today in the van, Aaron and I had this conversation:

Aaron: "How can people see so far away?
Me: "With binoculars."
Aaron: "No, I mean WITHOUT binoculars."
Me: "With their eyes of course!"
Aaron: "I think God made them that way. I can see really, really far away. I can see the ocean!"

I laughed out loud, and told him if he can see the ocean, he must have the best eyes ever. We live as far away from the ocean that you can possibly live in America! :)

Thoughts & Quotes

Now that our jack-o-lanterns are put away and our turkeys and pilgrims are on display, I am looking forward to these next few weeks. Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday--no presents to buy, no commercialism to wade through--just thankfulness, family, food, and football. :) Last year our Thanksgiving was one I hope to never have again. Stomach flu and hernia repair surgery sharpened my nursing skills and I earned the title in our family of "the only one who didn't throw up" during the Thanksgiving weekend. I also was the only one to eat all the turkey and fixings from my in-laws' meals-on-wheels service, while the others got by with crackers and 7-up. I will never forget standing in the middle of the hallway and not knowing whose room to go in first, since I was needed in all 3! Anyway, I have much better hopes for this year's celebration. Kaleb's birthday falls on Thanksgiving weekend this year, and I'm looking forward to that too.

Now for some fun Aaronisms I'd like to remember. Helping Daddy change the oil this past weekend, Aaron found a dried up worm on the driveway. He asked Derek, "What's inside a dead worm?" He had to break it into pieces to find out. Then he wanted to bring them inside to show me the dried up worm guts. Thankfully Derek said no to that idea. :)

While fixing lunch the other day, Aaron started thinking of all the things he can do now that he's bigger. He said, "I used to not do those things because I was too scared. But now I growed up, because things don't stay the same, right Mommy?" Sometimes 4 year olds can say the wisest things. :) Then at bedtime he says to me, "You know the girl who I love most in the whole world? You, Mommy. You are mine." I was a puddle on the floor at that point. Derek wanted a boy with each of my pregnancies, and he got his way every time. But what he didn't know was that all 3 of our boys would be mommy's boys. :) As they grow older, I am hoping to nudge them to Derek more and more. And they sure do love their daddy. But deep down, they are still mommy's boys. Even my oldest son.

Speaking of my oldest son, he is throwing me a curve ball these days. He won't wear certain pairs of pants because, "I don't like how they look on me, Mom." What is with that? He's always worn whatever I give him. He also won't wear a coat. If I make him bring one to school, he leaves it in the back of the minivan where I won't find it. Well, today it is in the 30's and windy/rainy/snowy outside. I played my Mom card, and MADE him wear his coat. I had a grumpy boy all morning. He finally cracked a smile for me when at school drop-off I said to him, "Braylen, you have a cool football coat. It's not like I'm making you wear Dora the Explorer..." Ugh, my 9 year old is officially in his "tween" years and he's letting me know it.

After Cub Scouts on Monday, Derek fingerprinted all 3 kids and filled out child ID packets for each one. It's been something he's wanted to do for a while now, and Aaron had the most fun with it. We realized that Aaron thought he didn't have any fingerprints until Daddy "put them on." Aaron kept saying, "My fingerprints stay on now!" Braylen had fun with Daddy at Scouts that night, since Derek taught his den how to lift footprints from a crime scene and other exciting police investigation techniques. Braylen said, "How could I not have fun at Cub Scouts with a daddy like mine?"

Last but not least, Kaleb has been "Top Frog" in his classroom this week, also known as "Student of the Day" for an entire week. His teacher posted pictures and fun facts about Kaleb on the bulletin board. One I'd like to remember was Kaleb's answer to the question, "Who do I admire?" He picked his older brother Braylen. Nothing makes me happier than to see my sons love each other like that. I hope they are best friends some day, just like their daddy is best friends with his brother.