YES THERE ARE TWO...

MC 1 may not get as much press time right now, but please know he has his own drama. This morning is case in point.

I walked into the bathroom to find a post-shower, birthday suit only clad MC 1 up on the sink riffling through the medicine cabinet.

What are you doing?

Getting all the stuff I need?

And what exactly is that? Did you brush your hair?

Yes, I did my hair, and I put that stuff on my chest.

What stuff? The Vicks? Why?

Because I can't breathe.

Oh, ok. Did you get your deodorant?

Yes. All I need know is my Wings for Men.

Uhmm. okay. Got get dressed.

Can I just say I don't do that much to get myself ready in the morning. That would be one of HH's apples. I did, however, provide a tutorial on HOW to put on cologne WITHOUT making the rest of the family wish they did not have any olfactory sensors at ALL! I thought I escaped some of that by having boys. Guess not.

STRIPPED CLEAN

For all the stuff MC 2 puts me through....

all the shutting oneself in the fridge

with a flashlight...

all the "fixing" the electricity

by messing with the main circuit

breaker to the house

resulting in a condescending talk

from my electric company man about

how unsafe it was to let my kid do that...

for all the peeing in the trash can because

HH was in the bathroom...

all the having very bad aim while doing so...

for all of that...

these give me hope...

painted by MC 2...

landscaped by MC 2...

because birds need flowers too.

Causing me to have a blind eye to the naked Jonquil plants in my yard.

PLEASE...

NO PICTURES

THEY ARE JUST APPLES

One of my dad's FAVORITE things to say when we start lamenting the antics of our kids is " Well, the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree".

My sister has turned it around on him. When ever he starts to get on her about something her response is " I am just an apple".

Here are HH's apples...

Duck hunting

Deer hunting

Mastering the fine art of posing

and here is the tree...

Not a far fall at all. The men children built the blind by themselves and they love it. I should have built one a long time ago. Would have saved me and MC 2 some stressful times.

Have a great Friday!

BACK TO EGYPT

With the school year coming to an end (as a former teacher the end of the 5th 6 weeks is cause for rejoicing), thoughts and questions about me returning back to work are abounding. I don't have an answer for you as to which way I (& we) will go with this, but I do have some anxiety to share. One of things that I am concerned with is going back to how I was before. Staying home has forced me to become more conscious of the discipline in my life. I wanted to type "more disciplined" but we are still working on mastering that. An area where I have really had to be more disciplined is in our meals. Like actually planning out breakfasts and not just running to the donut store if we leave early enough. Like planing our dinners around ingredients we already have and not running to Wal-Mart after school. You know, thinking ahead. All the while trying to be creative and not have tacos every night, while accommodating HH's "meat and potatoes at every meal" mentality.
So night before last I made this Caesar salad. From SCRATCH. Except for the lettuce and the cheese because I have neither a garden nor a Parmesan cow. The dressing and croutons where made by these hands though buddy! It was delicious. Light and fresh tasting. The croutons were exceptional. Best of all it was EASY! Thank you once again PW for sharing wonderful recipes. If you are in need of impressing your friends, this salad will do it. I might go a little lighter on the lemon juice, but to each his own.
So yeah, a successful cooking post in the midst of some spiritual issues ramblings. A two for one peeps...that is a good deal!
Much love

ALPHA GK

I am the alpha grandkid on my dad's side. The alpha of a grand total of (I'm thinking, I'm thinking...) 26 grandkids. Many of those grandkids have gone on to have multiple-children family themselves.

This past weekend MC 2 and I went with my parents to visit my grandparents for papa's 85th birthday. Many of the GK's and the great GK's were there. Now when you are the first of 27, ranging in age from 36 to 14, well, the ones toward the bottom you don't know so well. And throw in their kids? Please... I haven't asked "Who's your daddy?" so much since Jerry McGuire first came out. I asked my Granny if we could have name tags, she laughed in my face. Much like I did her's when she said to let MC 2 just go outside and play by himself. "He'll be fine!" says the woman who won't be the one chasing him. MC 2 had a blast. He spent most of the morning chasing chickens and shoveling some old hay. He rode the four-wheeler and gator with grandpa and was eventually comfortable enough to go ride with some of the kids. They took off towards the woods and I waved and prayed. But he LOVED IT! It was nostalgic for me, because we did the same thing when we were growing up. We lived closer until I was about 15 and we got to visit often. Thanksgiving was always the holiday up there. Then men would hunt and/or work cows. The women manned the kitchen and kept us out of it. Us cousins, we went and did whatever. Horseback riding, fishing, playing in the hay bars or silo, we pretty much ran free ( and survived).

Sadly, in years of late, the only reason we have all gotten together is for a funeral. My grandparents have buried 3 sons and a grandson (most of those in the last 20 years). It was nice to get together this weekend with out that being the cause. We told stories, we laughed, we ate. It was a good day to be the alpha GK.

NOT SUCH A STRONG CHOICE

If you read here, you know that I had an enemy attack and some choices to make. I wish I could tell you I chose the best and walked away immediately victorious.
I really wish I could.
I mean REALLY!
Sadly I can't. Sadly I was bold for about 24 hours and then the worry began. It lasted about 5 days. 5 long and anxiety ridden days. 5 OCD days about every ache and pain.
Today was headed that direction as well.
However, I have great news.
By God's grace, today I chose to put on a worship DVD when the anxiety tried to take over. Today I sang
"Because of you I'm FREE!"
Today I danced around my living room with MC 2 and worshipped deep down in my soul.
It was a much stronger choice.