08/02/2007

It's strange how quickly babies start to look 'grown up.' I snapped this picture as we were headed out the door...I was suddenly struck with that, "Where did the time go?' feeling. In pendulum-style I go back and forth between feeling that Nathan is growing up too quickly and that Nathan is not growing up fast enough. Such is being a mother, I guess.

Tonight our friend/babysitter is coming over. We are showing her how to cook and bake in exchange for babysitting. Tonight we are making broiled catfish, roasted potatoes, sweet corn, homemade bread and Nick's delicious apple pie! In order that Kelly not feel overwhelmed, the homemade bread is already finished and the pie is baked and waiting on the stove top to be eaten! The rest of the meal is not very difficult; primarily, it involves seasoning the fish and potatoes and heating up the corn (and shucking it....it is still covered with silk!). Nathan adores Kelly...she is very interactive and thus, they have a lot of fun together.

Having sold our DVDs and TV, I have been on a mission to find us really good books. I want to have a nice book collection, but I find that books are terribly expensive! Quite near our house Nick had located a used bookstore. Yesterday I spent hours there! They have a massive selection and excellent prices. I bought hardcover classics by the likes of Charles Dickens for $1.00 a piece! I bought a hardcover, illustrated Pilgrim's Progress for children for less than $3.00. Each day they put a new variety of books outside on the clearance racks. I'm so tickled with this find! As I was leafing through a box of staple-bound children's books I came across a book entitled (no joke!) "Nathan and Nicholas Alexander." I did a double-take. I laughed out loud and said, "you've gotta be kidding me!" I understand Nicholas has an extra 'h', but frankly, the irony was astounding. I showed it to Nick who immediately said, "I think we should get it!" Here's the funnier part. This book is the story of a mouse and an elephant. Nicholas is the mouse. Nathan is the elephant. OK, it just struck me as funny!

There has been no word from Kyle at boot camp. I'm anxious to write him a letter--something upbeat and funny--something to cheer him up and distract him from his current tribulations. I hear that the first three weeks are about as close to inhumane as it comes here in the USA. I find the thought depressing and try not to ponder it. He will make it through and probably be better and stronger. When I feel sad thinking of Kyle in the Navy, I try to look ahead to the time (in the not-so-distant-future) when he will be stationed in Pensacola, FL. In Pensacola he will have a more typical work-week routine. And, he will only be an 8-hour drive from our house! I have told Nick that I would love it if we could take a family vacation to visit him. Traveling that far on my own with both kids would be impossible, but Nick is given ample vacation time, and our family is over-due for a getaway.

I need to go do some vacuuming. I bought some snacks (which are relatively new on the market) called 'Gripz'. They are little tiny bite-size snacks that come in a pack...kinda like fruit snacks. Anyway, Nathan enjoyed scattering them about the house last night. He had insisted he 'wanted' a snack, but I think was less hungry and more mischievous. This morning I completed the daily house-hold pick-up and am now ready to tackle the vacuuming. Duke is whining in his crate, wanting to be let outside. I've decided cats are a far superior pet provided you are able to rig up a cat door like Nick created. The smell, mess, etc. is all outside! AND the cat is basically an independent being. Once a day one of us goes outside to clean the litter box and we make sure Valencia's food bowl is full, but believe me , the simplicity of cat ownership has won my heart. I secretly plot ways to make Duke's death look accidental...and I wonder why WE weren't lucky enough to purchase poison-laced dog food during the recent pet food crisis. Oh, well.