Something sweet and something funny

In my usual last minute effort to get the Mother's Day cards out to the out of town grandmothers, I sat the kids down at the kitchen table and started setting the cards down in front of them like an assembly line for them to sign. My life always seems so rushed and out of time, but I should really just take a moment and follow in the kids' footsteps for a little bit and slow down and pay attention to to the life around me. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought they would just sign the cards and move on. No, they actually took the time to read each card and wanted to know which card was for which family member. But the really sweet part was when Ethan got to the card for Grandma Hall (Rob's mom). He said, "I'm going to be sure and write my name really big so she'll be able to see it." This thoughtfulness from him just brought tears to my eyes. You see, Rob's mom has a terrible disease that has left her in a bedridden state. She can no longer communicate and Ethan is aware of this. The last time we went to Dallas to visit the family, Ethan would go in and talk to her, but Emily wouldn't go. I thought that it was just a wonderful gesture on Ethan's part to think to write his name big in hopes that his Grandma Hall would be able to see it when somebody showed her the card.



Now for my funny story. I am often telling the kids about adventures that I had when I was little. These adventures often included my best friend, Wesley, that I grew up with. The other night, Ethan and Emily were laying on my bed and I was telling them about how one Christmas break when Wesley and I were around nine years old, we decided to build (dig) an underground clubhouse. We spent the entire two weeks of Christmas break digging a big hole, only to have it filled with rain each night, and we'd spend half of each day just digging out the water before we could even continue digging the dirt. Emily looks at me with the most ridiculous look on her face and said, "Wow! Well, that was just stupid." I busted out laughing. I told her that it was a pretty crazy and far fetched idea we had, but we had the best time doing it back then. Emily, who is Miss Sensible, would probably never spend two weeks digging to nowhere. :) After this happened, I had to call Wesley and tell him about this and he just laughed. We sure had a lot of fun, and Emily doesn't know what she's missing.

And to go along with my little Miss Sensible, I don't think I have ever blogged about what I have nicknamed Ethan. He is known as my BACKSEAT BUGGER!!!!! You've heard of a backseat driver, well Ethan is a backseat bugger because he bugs the heck out of you while you are driving. "Mommy the speed limit is 35, are you going 35?" "Mommy, are you driving on the grass because the grass looks really close to us?" "Mommy, there is a stop sign coming up." "Okay Mommy, nobody is behind us, you can back up now." "It's foggy outside. Are your headlights on?" Oh, I can go on and on and on about this. I always knew that Ethan was overly cautious, but it gets really old sometimes. Now when he starts doing it, Emily yells for him to quit being a BACKSEAT BUGGER!