It's Friday. I taught class at the gym, came home and straightened the house, mopped the floors, and cleaned the bathrooms. Then, I took a long shower wherein I shaved my legs, deep conditioned my hair and even applied a bit of self tanning lotion afterward. What in the world you may ask? How is this done with three kids in the house? Well, they are not here. Folks, I just sent them off with Seth to see his family for the weekend. ALL THREE OF THEM! We were going down last weekend but the boys had a baseball game that was rained out and rescheduled for Friday evening so we changed the trip to this weekend. However, I couldn't find a sub for my Saturday morning kickboxing class so I suggested they just go without me. Low and behold, they did just that. Can you sense my excitement? If not, let me just say that I am stoked to have a couple of days all alone. I certainly don't mind to go visit with the fam, but I will gladly take some quiet and solitude for a day or so. Nana is surprising the boys with a very special over-night zoo trip. They spend the night there or something. I guess I will hear all about it on Sunday and will report back later on all of that. Annabelle didn't mind at all that I wasn't going along because she was so very excited about playing with Amy's dolls, strollers, and jewelry.


All of this quiet gives me more time to think, clean, read, sing, and blog.........A friend of mine is having her first boy in a couple of weeks and it made me think of something someone told me when I was pregnant with Caleb. First let me set the scene. I was just 22 years old, struggling through a pretty rough first year of marriage and was working my first full-time job when I found out why the heck I was barfing all day. It certainly wasn't the time frame I had planned out but I embraced it and was quite happy at the thought of a little sweet baby of my own. I would give her an awesome name and dress her up and braid her hair and we would sing and dance together. Again, contrary to my "life-plan" she was a boy. Getting back to the point of all this, I will never forget a friend with 2 grown sons saying to me, "There is nothing like the love between a mother and her son." I liked that idea and it has proven to be true especially now that I have a daughter as well. Not that Annabelle and I don't love one another, but it seems like there is a little extra friction with us ....... oh I can't explain it and it is probably just because she is three years old. Regardless, it is safe to say that the relationship is different. There is nothing like the love between a mother and her sons. I adore having boys and all of their weirdness that I can't understand like how they adore legos and dirtbikes and frogs and worms and fishing and building fires.


Alright.....fast forward to Monday. Everything is back to normal and the break has done us all well. I am rested, better organized and my fingers are good and sore from playing the guitar all weekend. I am trying to keep the house in shape although the toilets assumed their states of filth within hours of the boys return. We have our third baseball game of the season this evening which should be interesting. Caleb and Adam are playing in the 7 and 8 year old Little League for the first time since they were 4 and 6 years old and things are fairing well. Both of them have hit the ball a few times and made a few outs. So far Caleb leads the team in spitting and scratching while in the field and Adam leads the team in finding four leaf clovers in the outfield. Like I said, should be interesting. Pictures to follow.....as soon as I find the camera.



Here are a few cute pictures from birthday parties in the last couple of months: We gave all the girls up-dos and painted nails at Lorie's hair salon in Boone. I was the "birthday fairy."











































Annabelle with her friend, Abby-------->












Here are some pictures from our workday last weekend at our lot in Black Mountain. Seth used the weed eater while the kids and I lined the tiny stream with rocks. It is going to be a cute little place to live if we can ever get there! Aren't phone-cameras awesome? Even though the picture quality isn't the best, we always have a camera to take pictures anywhere we go these days.