Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a bit of a busy one. At work I was finishing up a project. We managed to finish it up Friday at about 12:30, which was just in time. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up some things and passing off knowledge to other people on the project. That was a big stress reliever when it was over.

Friday night we drove down to St Louis to go to the temple. Alice was very happy to be able to stay in a hotel. We were initially planning to stay at a friend's house there, but their AC broke, so they all were sleeping in a single room together with a window unit. We decided it would probably be best not to add another 4 people to that room. It was kind of odd that night because both Susan and I distinctly hear Robert moaning in his sleep that sounded exactly like mmmmmmmmmohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy. After the temple we went to hang out with our friends and in Alice's words, with some prodding we "played, and go to a nature center where we saw toys and fish. " It was a very enjoyable trip over all.

Lessons

We've been taking care of a friend's dog while she is out of town. Every morning and evening, we walk to this friend's house to feed, water and play with the dog for a few minutes. Alice has walked with me every time so far. Robert only comes in the morning. Walking home this evening, pondering, I realized that 3 lessons that have already sprung from this service:

1. I'm not a pet person. Don't need 'em, don't want 'em. Pets are cute to play with every once in a while, and I'm glad other people love their pets. I just have too many other lives to nurture, feed, and clean up after right now.

2. Time alone with one child is sweet. Robert or Alice, I love one-on-one time with either. Alone time with Alice is more engaging, and I enjoy it longer, but a little one-on-one with the man does me good.

3. I need to get outside more with Alice. Every single trip, she finds several new things to look at, ask about, and collect. Just this morning, we happened upon a cicada breaking out of its larval shell. Then this evening, we found two dead cicadas on the sidewalk. She asks about trees, rocks, and the weather. She points out house numbers that she can "read" to me. She literally makes the same little walk a new adventure every time. I'm starting to look forward to them, wondering if she'll ever repeat something. I'm surprised by what she notices and what she thinks about.

Just a few more days of this ritual. Alice's little collection pile by the garage grows daily: crab apples, pebbles, sticks, interesting leaves, tree seeds, more rocks...

Hot Stuff

Sizzle

We made blueberry pancakes for breakfast today. Bobby pulled the last few pancakes off the electric skillet just as Robert sneezed. The skillet sizzled with spit. Ugh.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has felt kind of crazy, but I think it was all yesterday. Yes I know that this sounds a lot like last weeks post. Yesterday we spent several hours freezing 100+ ears of corn that we bought. Last week was blue berries so it was very different. It did not involve nearly as much heat as this one did. We created a make shift blanket door in between the kitchen and the rest of the house. We then spend several hours trying hard to boil enough water to make it hotter and more humid in our kitchen then outside, which had a excessive heat advisory. Let me say we succeeded with flying colors, we even opened the window to try and cool things off.

We also decided that we were going to try and have a bar-b-queue with some friends last night. It turned out really well. We made pulled pork, corn on the cob, and veggies. Our friends brought cake for dessert, and a really tasty salad. But today I am exhausted.

The rest of the week was good too. Susan already talked about Robert's 100th day and I really don't know if there is much more to talk about. Sorry no pictures or videos of the fun yesterday.