Lots 'O Stuff

Thanks to all of you for sending your thoughts, prayers and vibes in this direction the last few days. My Gramp was a great man. I wish you could have known him.

I feel like I'm always trying to catch you guys up because I've been SO lax in keeping up. I AM, indeed, still alive. Thanks also for all of you who have been checking in on me. I've actually been quite busy. The blog would be entirely too long if I load up all of the pictures I want to show you of what I've been doing since I last wrote, but I'll see what I can do.

Let me bring you up to date on the SmallBoy. He's wonderful His father's still an ass, but you know, SmallBoy's all the better for it. Ex went so far that when I called him about my grandfather and told him I needed him to keep SmallBoy, too, in addition to Girl & Boy, for an overnight, he told me "ok," but, I found out later, he shipped SmallBoy off to his mother's house. I didn't find out until a week later! His OT is working miracles, as is the listening therapy that J has him doing. When he's home with us on weekends that Girl and Boy are gone, we've been making it a point to do special things just with him. One of the things we did was to bake. It is good for his muscle tone to be mixing, kneading, rolling, and good for his vision convergence to be learning to measure in a clear measuring cup. One evening, we made homemade biscuits (ok, with the help of Bisquick) and strawberry shortcakes. SmallBoy mixed and kneaded and rolled. He cut out the biscuits, he shaped the shortcake cakes. It was a delightful time. Then SmallBoy, PC, and I pigged out. we were happy happy happy.

Girl's softball is finally over, so she's off on vacation with her bestest friend and her "other" family, of course, we consider S our "other daughter," so I suppose that's all square. My dear friend K got a great new job. I miss seeing her face everyday, but she only lives two minutes from me so I can see her whenever I want, right G-girl? I'm really happy for her though. She got out of the hole!

LargeBoy is thoroughly enjoying summer vacation. I must say I've been very lenient on curfews, etc, but we have this understanding. I give him a curfew, he never complains, and he knows I will be up in front of the TV when he gets home. He's always on time. If something happens and he's not going to make it...get this..he CALLS, tells me where he is, who he's with, and exactly when he'll be home (for example, if another is driving them home and he's last on the drop off list). Every once in a while, I'll extend his curfew. He knows if he crosses me he's toast. It works out nicely.

The band....we just went "on the road". We had a concert in Michigan for the people who stay in the great little community where my husband has spent his last 30 summers. We played them the song that we wrote about Michigan and the road that leads us home to it. It truly is our home. I wish we could get there more often. Everyone who attended LOVED the song and it was so incredibly well received. The picture of the band playing was actually during that song. PC sings, and I do the harmony, so I had some time to go be silly and take a picture of the band ... sans moi, of course. The night, as exhausting as it was - most of us had worked half a day - was a huge success. We're hoping that, perhaps, this will increase our fan base, since 3/4 of the people who spend their summers in our Michigan community are from this area. We're also hoping that perhaps, we'll be able to play up there next year, in the park, for the big dinner they hold every year.

The band couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop for a band shot under the street sign for Blue Star Highway, the road for which our song is named, the road that is the welcome mat to our place, our home, our escape, our hideaway.

PC and I, after a small amount of bribery, begging, and pleading with Mom and Chica to feed the OCFs and the dog, stayed an extra day in Michigan and relaxed a little while before we came back home to reality. Saturday afternoon, after M & H, had left, we decided to take some pictures of the girls (PC's guitars) in some of the more scenic places in the park before heading out to dinner at our favorite pizza place, DiMaggio's. We hung out on the beach at the fire Saturday night and into the very very wee hours of the morning (I only stay up until the sunrises when I'm in Michigan - usually, I fall asleep much earlier than I'd like). Sunday morning, well, I suppose it was more like afternoon, we helped close up the cottage for the week, went to the beach, ordered a couple of pizzas for home from DiMaggio's, and hit the road. Even once we were home, and back into the land of chaos, we felt rested, relaxed, and felt the absence of the weight that was on our shoulders before we left on our adventure.

As fate would have it, my former MIL offered to take all three of the kids next weekend (even though it's my weekend) just because she wants to hang with them. So guess what PC and I are doing? Yep...back to Michigan. I'm more than willing to sit in a Friday Chicago rush hour to spend one more weekend up there. Lord knows if we'll be able to get there again this summer. PC and I have some songs to finish writing, and some sand to sink into, and we plan to do just that.

Tomorrow, Marti and her crew are going to be in town and we'll finally all get a chance to meet...a family reunion, seriously. Child and SmallBoy have been DYING to meet each other! I'm sure I'll have pictures! Perhaps we can teach them H-O-S-E Limbo time! Well, SmallBoy's waiting to be tucked in and PC & LargeBoy are waiting to start a movie..."Meow!" (can anyone guess?). I PROMISE I'll post again soon! Really, I promise!