Water logged

Over the last two days, we have been waterlogged.  I know, sorry - the last few posts have been sans pictures.  Well, this one has tons.  So... read on.

Last night, the extended family went to Pineview for FHE.  Two toll booths to get to the lake?  $13?  WHAT?!  But it was fun. And Cold.  We FROZE and it rained, but it was Aiden's first time on the boat and he loved it.  For many reasons, I didn't get pictures of him in his life vest, but he was cute.

It is hard to tell, but it is raining!

Then, today, we went to Cherry Hill with the Smedley kids and other people from their karate studio.  It was a fun, children's fair at Cherry Hill and the karate kids were doing exhibitions.  BUT!  There were many fun things to do... including a snake petting zoo...

Yes, that is a huge Burmese Python.  Aiden thought it was AWESOME!  

This is my baby blue with a sun hat and a sucker.  See the fingers that would not unstick?  Nice.

Jessica was so cute and took Mister on the Lazy River.  Paranoid Mom has UV swim shirt, sun hat and SPF 5000000.  There are lots of health problems I can not prevent, but I do my best to prevent skin cancer!

Mister had so much fun and he loves the water!

He played hard, splashed hard, then crashed hard.  He spent an hour in this position and Mom loved every minute.

When he woke up, he played with Aunt Kari!

It was so fun to take my little man swimming!!!

My Friend

One of my best friends came by tonight.  He is awesome.  He is one of the most interesting people I know.  He used to be Catholic... now is Agnostic, but does not push it.  He is the least mechanical man I know.  He drinks saki and loves sushi.  He loves philosophy and Bach.  More than anything... he is an artiste.  The ponytail is getting longer every time I see him.

Tonight we talked about contemporary cello music (okay... not my favorite, but he is into it...) and graduate school (for him, not for me...).  Then we sat in silence watching My Name is Earl and drinking Diet Pepsi while Aiden played on the floor.  It was the comfortable silence of friends who don't need to say anything and we have less and less in common, but it doesn't mean we aren't still good friends.

And no matter how bad I look, Sam will always look worse.  *sigh* I love friends like that.

Living Alone

I am learning to live alone again.  I guess alone is not the right word since I am living with my beautiful boy and the dog.  But alone, nonetheless.

I am remembering quickly what makes it ok to be alone.  I don't mind it, but it can be easy to get into a rut.

I have learned that having a schedule is important.  Ours goes like this:

2:00ish - pick up Mister from Kari's house.
2:30pm - lay down with Mister for a nap
4pm - play with Mister and put in a load of laundry
5pm - take Mister for a walk.  Change laundry
6pm - eat my dinner and clean it up
6:30pm - play with Mister.  Usually this is our book time.
7:30pm - bathtime.  This is imperative.  If Mister doesn't get a bath, he does not sleep well and Mom feels like a bad mom.
8:00pm - the remainder of the 5 B's (we have already done the first - bath...)  Then comes bottle, brush, books, bed.  We read a lot of stories and it helps to slowly lower my voice until we read Nigel the Sneaky Sheep in a whisper.  Luckily, Mister loves to bathe, brush his teeth, and read books.
9pm - Change laundry, iron, clean dishes, sweep, scrub, wash, dust... anything that needs to be done around the house...  This is my time.  Blog.
11pm - bedtime for Mom.

The other part of living alone that is important is to take pride in the home.  I know that no one ever really comes to see my home, but I love to take pride in my home.  More and more now that I have a little Mister.

I have learned that I have to learn to love being by myself.  I used to see movies alone, eat out alone, and other things that usually are done with more than one person.  I loved it.

I love being alone, but it will take some getting used to.

The weekend

Sorry it has been a while.  It has been a long weekend.  I moved and unpacked all weekend.  The good news is that I am in my new place.  And I like it.  The bad news is that it is really quiet without Chris - and I worry about him - and my boys haven't found their schedule and haven't figured out this is their new home.

My family is the most amazing team I have ever known.  Between Thursday and Saturday - between the Smedleys, Chris, and Mike and Amanda (and Gracie helped too...), everything is in, most is unpacked, and I am ready to begin a new chapter of life here.

I don't have curtains up nor pictures hung, so I will wait to post pics, but there were plenty of other things that were wonderful this weekend.

The dishwasher overflowed with bubbles.  Aiden was so lucky!!

My two boys getting used to their new home!

Saturday was my birthday - and "heavy thing moving day".  It started off with me getting everything moved in with my family.  Then a shower. Then the afternoon with Kari - including new knives and Thai food.  YUM!!

Today was grocery shopping at 6:30 (because Aiden woke up early...), a trip to the cemetery to visit Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa... then shower and dashed off to see Shiree play in her pipe band for a Memorial Day program.  Wow.  It was so cool.

See Shiree?  Sweetness.

Aiden and Jessica having a great time at the Memorial Day ceremony.

Then we had a nap.  Much much needed nap - for 2 hours.  Didn't even phase my fatigue.  Then off to Mike and Amanda's for a great barbecue and time by the fire pit.  Aiden had the treat of a animal cookies.  It was great.  He was FILTHY!  He loved it.

Now off to bed.