Man, what a weekend. The lack of posts should give proof to the insanity from this weekend. We left Wednesday for Maryland about 3:45 and got there at 11:45. Which means yes, I MISSED AI FINALE!!! Thankfully my aunt recorded it for me (she already had planned to) and we watched it on Thursday. Which was our first order of business after finally getting ready about lunchtime on Thursday. Next on the list was going to out to eat with my grandmother and other aunt and uncle and then going to see my very sick grandfather in a nursing home. Honestly, we thought he might be dead when we saw him. He was asleep apparently and looked horrible. The kids even got kind of scared. That sounds horrible but that’s how bad he looked. So I took the kids out and came back a little later. We were there for about an hour and I kept the kids busy in the yard outside. That was a lot of work. The agreement was Pap only has days to live. My mom said he seemed very peaceful about the whole thing and said he was in his last days and working on going to heaven. So I think we all feel ready for it. So after THAT we went to my aunt’s house and stayed until Lexi about lost it. I think it was after 9 by the time we left. Lexi also burnt her finger on one of her spotlights in the front yard. So the kids FINALLY got to sleep I think at 11 or 12 or something. I fell into bed as soon as they did. The rest of the days went very similar to that one. The fridge was broken at the house so we had to go out for every meal. I think Friday we did some shopping and went out to eat. Saturday we went up to my great-grandmother’s grave and ended up having a small reunion with other family members that were there. Then went to see my cousin’s new house they are building. This is the same cousin whose wedding I went to last September. The house is two-story. Open kitchen, fireplace in the bedroom, several nozzle thingies in their shower, basement. It’s very nice. Saturday night we had my mom’s whole family over for some fried chicken. Sunday we actually went to church. Me and my mom and the girls went. They actually stayed with us in the pews and were good. The guy that is the preacher is a son of an old family friend of my mom’s. We are very near the same age and he is cousins with my mom’s son who is one year younger than me and sometimes when we up to Maryland when we were younger, we would hang out together. Now to see him as an (excellent) preacher is sort of odd but good. Anyway, we had to leave early because we had to be at a Memorial Day cookout with my dad’s family. Emma played with my two younger cousins that are 4 and 5. They had a GREAT time. They played on the swingset, played dress-up, played with the water hose. Lexi got a small nap while we were there. We stayed until 5:00 when we had to go to dinner with my mom’s dad and his wife and my mom’s brother and his family. Lexi was a handFUL. I barely ate and followed her around the front of the restaurant and outside. We left Monday morning about 11, stopped at my mom’s brother’s to eat some pizza and then headed home. The trip was a whirlwind to say the least. I was bone tired yesterday on the way home. The kids were really, really good the entire trip but that only meant that momma worked hard to keep them entertained, fed and rested.

As for G and MD, we didn’t talk at all this weekend. Which back at our Christmas visit is where things kind of spiralled out of hand. It was somewhat cleansing this time. The ground was covered with snow at Christmas and we were huddled up in the house most of the visit. Made a great background to let your mind create a fairytale world. This time the clear ground almost provided a physical sort of clearing of my brain. I was scared I’d get up there and have all the old feelings come up. But it sort of served as a proof of the changes I’ve made. Did some of the memories come up? Of course they did, but not with the emotional attachment they once had.

So I’m back working today. Only a few days this week and then next week is youth camp which I believe will be a little less tiring but no less a whirlwind of activity. Scott will be there and Carla will be there to help specifically with the kids and I expect that some of the youth girls will end up helping out some. The only thing I’m concerned about is bed time seeing that the evening worship service is smack dab during bed time and they won’t allow the kids in the service. I’m not sure if Carla and I will take turns getting them to bed or what. I’m going to have to play it by ear.

Lexi started saying a bunch of new stuff this weekend. None very clear at all but you knew what she was saying. Hello, cars, I don’t know, ma (for Grandma and Momma), baby, bottle, no, bye, dog. I can’t think of any others but it seems there were several times we were like, did you hear that??

Scott and I are also debating whether to buy some land near us. We’re not sure how to figure it out how to afford it but it would be nice to get some as land is getting pretty scarce around here. Even if we never built on it I think we would be smart to buy it as an investment property. Speaking of investment property, I still haven’t ruled out the idea of buying his grandmother’s house, fixing it up and using that money to buy the land with. But I’m not sure that would happen until the fall and who knows when we would actually sell the house.