This boy

I've been spending a lot of quality time alone with my boy lately. This past weekend when ^J^ was out of town, *A* got invited to a sleep-over so (H) and I had lots of quality time together. Also, with him no longer taking naps most days, we have a few hours together in the afternoon. We take trips to the pond, read books, go grocery shopping, cook, and of course, play pirates. Pirates are (H)'s newest obsession.

It's awesome. Except when he wants to constantly bring his arsenal of weapons with him wherever we go. Sometimes we allow it, but often I find myself saying "No, weapons aren't allowed at school".

My favorite times lately have been playing outside during the in-between time when (H) gets out of school but before *A*'s out. It's been sunny and warm so we're rarely inside; we play t-ball, ride bikes,

eat a secret chocolatey snack (the 2nd child gets so many privileges the 1st doesn't get), and soak up the sunshine, hoping it will stick around so we can do this everyday.

And we're back!

Um, hi. I'm sorry. Did you forget about us? Will you forgive us? You see we've had a lot going on:

First it was snowy, for a LONG time and I was tired of posting snow-related stuff.

Then we got sick, not too bad, just one of the many nasty bugs going on around this mountain lately.

Then the sun came out. Ahhhh, warm glorious sun!
So for the past week we've been outside at every possible moment. After school all the kids want to do is be out, we go to the park, we go to the pond, we play t-ball (or a version of it that *A* made up called "high-five, really cool game" where you slap hands at each base and then everyone rotates spots to get a turn). When the sun starts to set, we head home, but I still can't get them to come in. They continue to play in the yard, feed the birds, ride bikes, and play with the dogs. One day they decided to "organize" the back porch while I started dinner. Our back porch is a mess, it's dirty, and neglected. It's where the dogs live. Well they got the broom and got to work. They pulled out the toys and put them in a separate spot, they dusted things off. Apparently Spring Cleaning affects 4 and 6 year olds too.

So we've been busy. And it's about to get worse. This weekend is kind of the calm before the storm. ^J^ is gone to a bachelor party weekend for his best friend (Otherwise known as a bad joke: a deacon, a biologist, and a librarian walk into a comic book convention), so the kids and I are hanging out and doing more of that Spring Cleaning. Next weekend we're off to the wedding (^J^ is basically running the show as much as he is able) and celebrating our nephew's b-day. Then the next weekend we're off to visit a church that ^J^ has interviewed with.
That's the other thing that's been occupying all available brain-space: what comes next. ^J^ has had 3 interviews and will have another one in a week or so, plus has his name in for 2-3 more positions. We found out we might not be going back to Atlanta because no positions are open right now, so we were given permission to look elsewhere. We've tried to focus on a few positions in the Southeast but suddenly people are randomly contacting ^J^ from places we didn't instigate and it's kind of overwhelming. It's all good and it will all work out somehow, but if I think about it beyond this beginning stage, I get kinda frazzled. There is just SO much that needs to be decided in the next 3, yes 3, months and getting a job is actually only the beginning. So, I'm not thinking about it too much, at least not about much beyond the interview stage. It's just too much to try and deal with when there are still so many variables in the air.
But it's exciting stuff too! So, I promise to be better and keep this updated (really Melissa!). And maybe next time I'll even have pictures.