Another week down the...twirly slide.

Caution, this is long.

OK, I should really post more often because when I do get around to posting, I feel as though I have a book to write about all the things that have happened to us since the last time I wrote. (Let that be a lesson to all you slackers out there- it gets harder the longer you wait.) Now that I have successfully given myself a little lecture, I will proceed with more interesting information. Let’s see, I’ll start back with Monday…I should mention that this process involves getting out my calendar. Frankly, I can’t remember that far back in my life these days…anyone know why??

Ok, Monday- Jeff went to the chiropractor. I’m happy to report that he is doing much better since he has been. He was doing this weird crook-the-body-to-the-side thing everytime we picked him up, so that’s why we went in the first place. The dr. said his atlas was way out of line, so he used some little thing that looks like a steel syringe with a rubber ball on the end to punch his neck lightly. It worked like a charm. Jeff no longer curls over to the side and whines every time he’s lifted. Yeah. Of course, this was his second trip and we were just having it slightly adjusted. We also attempted to cut grass on Monday. I mowed some with the push mower- trimming stuff, and Brandon attempted with the lawn tractor, but the belt on the mower deck broke and we had to order one to be picked up the next day. The only other thing on my calendar from Monday is a note to take out the trash. This has to be a calendar event here otherwise, I would never remember that we have to haul it to the street. Since that has no story to it, we’ll move on to Tuesday.

Tuesday, my Grandmother came over and we had a nice time visiting with her. She watched the kids play for a while and then insisted on doing some work around here. I grudgingly handed over all my ironing (haha- no grudges to be found) and she did it all! Hooray, all the church clothes ironed BEFORE Sunday morning- what an idea! She also stayed and had lunch with us. That was a fun time and we hope to repeat it in the future! Tuesday afternoon was grass cutting. I think you can actually get out there and watch the grass get taller it’s growing so fast right now. Ok, before we cut, we got to put the mower together. That was fun (ahem…). Both of us spent quite a while crawling around on the garage floor trying to figure out how the belt went on, getting the tension right, putting the bolts and pins in, taking things apart again and then putting them on correctly, and then we cut some grass. Brandon decided he should use the lawn tractor and I should do the trimming. I’m starting to understand what those first year Bible School guys feel like when someone says, “Ok, why don’t you start there.” (Pointing to the bank-of-death) In Brandon’s defense, I should say that most of what I did was on level, or almost level ground- and I quite enjoyed it.

Wednesday, we had the whole world here. Diane R. stopped over for the night on her little road trip, Bryan and Sarah came for a little visit around lunch, Julia and Paula Y. came over with a neighborly hello and fresh homemade bread (yummy), and Roy dropped in for something, though I don’t remember what now. Diane later treated our family to Chick-fil-a for dinner. We ordered it and brought it home- and a good thing too, cause it was raining cats and dogs out there and you could almost here them barking! Well, it was really heavy rain (in fact, today is the first day that I remember it not raining at all since we’ve been here!) and I couldn’t hardly see the cars in front of me for the pounding of droplets. Brandon said that while we were out, lightning hit across the road and that and the thunder were so loud that the entire house shook! Pretty impressive stuff if you ask me! I’m convinced that there is a God just by watching the weather!
So dinner was great and we had a lovely visit with Diane. Brandon had mid-week meeting and then we went right on to Thursday.

Thursday I did some boring household stuff and then the boys and I had lunch at the park with a friend of mine and her two children. Jeff refused to play or sit, or eat, so he went home (the park is across the street from the house- very nice) Jonathon and James stayed and had pb&j sandwiches and cold green beans. For all those that think I tortue my kids by “making” them eat cold green beans, I’ll just say that this is a coveted snack at our house and you should try it sometime. It has to be “Del Monte Whole Blue Lake Green Beans” from the can. You rinse them off, put them in a pot, cover with water, add some chicken boullion, and cook them until their good and dead. Then they are yummy little things and it’s very much like chips- no nutritional value whatsoever! So there- green beans it is. My Grandma also made dinner for us that day and I went to a visitation for a funeral. (A Sunday School teacher of mine from way back when passed away.)

Friday was another day to cut grass. You see, the grass was again tall enough to lay out neat rows of hay. Of course, the mower wasn’t cutting right, so we investigated and Brandon discovered that the bolt was on upside down. After that little problem was solved, it worked like a charm. Of course, working on it took just long enough for me to do all the trimming and the banks with the push mower J. I rested that afternoon and Brandon did the rest of the lawn. That evening Grandma and Aunt Claudia came for a visit and we had ice cream. Then the Sabbath was upon us and we collapsed in to little heaps in the middle of the room. (Not really, but rest was looking mighty nice)

In honor of the Sabbath, James decided to begin the day at 3:45am. We put him back to bed and Jonathon as well after James woke him up. Actually we put James back to bed about 4 or five times before I gave up and just stuck them in front of a movie. Brandon and I ignored them until about 8:30 when playing progressed to a noise level that was prohibitive to sleeping. We then, in our sleep deprived state, immediately deciced that it was the perfect day to take our children- all four of them- to the Atlanta Zoo! We cleaned and prepared and around 11am, we finally headed out for the animal kingdom. I think it was a good trick actually. It wore them out so that by the time they got in bed that night, they were “plum tuckered out”. They really enjoyed the animals and paticularly the turtles, snakes, and elephants. We got to see the elephants being weighed and doing tricks and that was pretty impressive.

Sunday we died. Not really. Brandon had a sermon, which he preached to a small audience and we ate a quick lunch of chips and cheese, all “God’s chillin’” took a nap. Brandon and I got a little nap also! Whoooo hoooo! After naps, we headed to Dan and Pari’s for dinner. Dinner was yummy lasagna. We also watched the boys (ours and Joshua- almost 3) bash and try to drown each other in the pool. Since the fathers were watching this and not saying anything, Pari and I just decided we better not pay attention. They actually swam before dinner, so were all cleaned up and dressed to eat. After dinner we relaxed for a bit and James found himself standing in the pool again, fully dressed. Later he told me, “I’m all wet. I stepped in a puddle.” Huh! A puddle. Really!?! We took a walk down the street together and that was the most interesting part. While we were walking, there were a couple of black guys doing stunts on their bicycles going the other way. James commented on them, but did he say, “Hey, look at those cool guys doing stunts on their bicycles. I wish I could do that.” NO. He says in his QUIET VOICE, “HEY LOOK AT THOSE MONKEYS!” Ahhhhh……children…….are so embarrasing! I actually don’t think the guys heard him and I’m thankful, because otherwise, we all might be murdered tonight. James and I had a nice little argument about whether they were really monkeys or people. Just in case you wonder, I was for them being people and I finally won James over to my side. After our walk, we had some delicious dirt cake and then headed home. Children went to bed. Phone calls were made. Last minute things taken care of. Blogs updated. And now I’m looking forward to feeding Rachel and going to sleep. Perhaps this week will be equally interesting! And maybe I can tell you in shorter write ups than this one.



*Whew*
PS- Happy Birthday Gretchen!