Keeping up with the Joneses

I was just looking at some of my pictures from the summer…  It’s hard to believe that it will be September tomorrow and school starts on Thursday. It seems like just yesterday the summer had just started - but then that’s how it always goes, it shouldn’t be a surprise!

At the start of summer, I had planned a trip for our family to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. It was a surprise for him - and I had a wonderful time planning it. We went to Hocking Hills and spent the night in a tipi, which was awesome! I was afraid we were going to be too hot, as it was over 90 degrees that day, but as evening set in, it was quite cool. The following day, we went hiking to Old Man’s Cave, which was perfect. Since it was a Friday and pretty hot out, it wasn’t busy - felt like we had the place to ourselves.  We let the kids play in the water by the waterfall and just… enjoy.  Then we had a picnic at Lake Logan and the kids went swimming. We topped the day off with an evening at his brother Greg’s house, whose wife Sarah had baked a birthday cake for both of them (Greg’s birthday is the week before). It was wonderful!

Our last vacation of the summer was a couple weeks ago. We went to Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It was a long drive, but worth it, as my entire family was there (25 people!). The kids were both able to water-ski, which was amazing.  Getting together with all their cousins is truly priceless.

…I had an awful week at work. I am not used to working in the corporate world (started in August) and had to deal with some very uncomfortable situations that were very trying on me as a person.

I learned how hard it is to leave work at work. I often came home and felt angry - and the kids noticed. Ethan simply noted, “Mommy, you’re so angry…” From then on I really tried to focus on them when I was home, and remember that whatever injustices I am facing at work, it is just as unfair to take it out on them by being less of the mother I am.

So this morning before I went to work and this evening when I got home, I made it a point to have a lot of FUN with them while doing the usual - getting them dressed and feeding them, putting away clothes, doing laundry, dishes and vacuuming… I made everything a game, the way I sometimes do, the way I hadn’t been doing all week. They were very happy with that, and though work has me all torn up inside, their smiles are like little band-aids…

Our beautiful daughter, Jocelyn, has difficulty with speech.  She has come a long way, and we are so proud of her for attempting to tell us what she wants.  The other day, she was very determined to have “wicky wiggets”.  I could not figure out what she wanted for a few very frustrating minutes!  Finally, she pointed to McDonald’s — and I realized she wanted chicken nuggets.  I am not a fan of fast food for kids, but I went ahead and got her the wicky wiggets, some apple dippers and milk, which she really enjoyed!!

Our 3-year-old son, Ethan, often declares what he will be when he grows up.  Most of the time, he just tells me he will be bigger than I am, and the professions he chooses are usually related to a story we’ve just read or something they are discussing in school (during “space week” he wanted to be an astronaut).

Tonight, out of the blue, he told me he was going to be a firefighter (which sounded like “fighter fighter”).  He is always concerned about his sister, Jocelyn, so he pondered what she would be.  After a pensive  4  seconds, he decided she would be a “diarrhina” - his version of  ballerina.   I tried not to laugh!

Welcome to our blog! We are new at this and hope that we can give updates now and then…. Enjoy!