XL Sweatpants

I wish you could see the garden. It is a huge, weedy mess and I cannot weed yet because I have a broken finger on one hand and a sprained wrist on the other. Man...

Don't tell but I am considering hiring someone to come and weed it...for pay. Doesn't that make you laugh? I have to admit, no matter how hard I try to make things run smoothly...Bam! There were so many things I wanted to get done this summer- not including driving a riding lawnmower off of a four foot wall. I guess life happens sometimes.

This week has been fairly quiet. The boys were up at Michigan State University for three days. That made for a quiet house. Then Jacie went visiting and I was BY MYSELF. Yes, I am yelling that at you. I am so rarely by myself. Guess what I did with my free time...?

Yup. Slept. It was wonderful. I love sleep.

I missed the kids though. I find that they keep me occupied on so many levels that it is too quiet, too lazy when they are not here.

The boys came home today and are grouchy, grouchy, grouchy...

I have been hiding from Loren. He is biting everyone's head off and saying, "How come none of you are nice to me?"

I laugh behind his back. I would never do it in front of him because he would probably 'eat me for supper...' He is the responsible one. He spent his entire time away taking care of all of his brother's cares. He sees the problems and jumps in to fix them before Jared has even realized that a problem could exist. It is a tremendous burden for him to carry. I am thinking of ways to help him relax and have fun. He is so funny and fun to be around when he isn't tired, hot, worried, stressed, hungry, alone or with people. We call him our Little Old Man...

On the other front, Jared is our carefree guy. He rarely worries about things. I sent each boy with the same amount of money. Bart and I talked about how he would come home with nothing. We were right. He spent every cent. The portion that wasn't spent- he used in the vending machine of the dorm before they left. Too funny. If it tells you anything about the difference between these boys, Loren spent $8. total- Jared...? Times that by 6. Having said that, Jared brought me a lovely gift- A pair of XL sweatpants...

I am working on how to cut them down three sizes without ruining them. The funny thing is that he called and asked what size I wore. I said, "Well it depends..."

He replied, "For pajamas?"

I said, "Go Big. I love comfortable PJs."

He definitely went big...

Bart and I worry about 'losing' our boys. There are so many things that could go wrong in their relationship with us, each other and the cute little Chinese child that we thrust into their lives. I am watching our boys grow into young men and am grateful for the gift I have of being home with them. There are times that I would like to invest in permanent, thick ear plugs to drown out the bickering but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I am enjoying the summer in the garden- even if it hasn't worked out exactly as planned.

~Camo Pants