Growing Up With A Village

I have vivid memories of growing up with a "Village" of family members throughout our town. My parents' friends and their kids were a vital part of my upbringing. I am sure my sisters feel the same way. I liked having older and "other" siblings in my extended family. I hoped that when we moved to our new home that we would be able to provide that for our boys. After last night, I saw that we had.

I have previously commented about how great our neighbors and their kids are. We are so fortunate to have such a warm and friendly neighborhood. My boys don't feel the slightest bit shy about walking right into our neighbors garage and punching the punching bags or knocking on their door to see if they are home to solicit a special snack. Mac even has a secret hiding place in their pantry for his own treats!!! And Eli...I have to really watch him so that he doesn't just walk right across the street to our other neighbor's house when they come outside with their girls.

Last night, during our weekly "Aloha Friday" festivities, we headed to the pool for a cookout. It was a great and new experience, because there were new friends there who aren't normally here on Friday evenings. What is so great about having these get-togethers is, it seems like their are always new people there, and everyone brings with them their own "flavor." The kids, subsequently, get new friends to get to know.

Well...as I watched the kids swimming in the pool, I see Eli playing with Ella, Mac on Drew's shoulders playing a game of Chicken with some other boys. The girls are getting to know each other and prancing around the pool. Suddenly, a group of kids run over to the pond to check out the gator. And then it hit me...This is how I grew up. All different ages of kids hanging out. The older ones leading the way, the younger ones trying to vy for the attention of the older ones. It was great! I had flashbacks of vacations to Kentucky Lake, Fourth of July parties, Halloween gatherings in our basement, and Caroling parties at the Dwyers'. And this neighborhood is reminding me of my neighborhood growing up.

How blessed are we to have such a wonderful group of friends. In fact, tonight, I am heading out with all the ladies of last night, plus another 10 or so from another street for a Girls' Night Out, while the boys hang out here at our house for a Fish Fry.

Too FUN!!!

"The Golfball Show"

Of course it would make sense to a 3.5 year old that if you have "basketBALL" and "footBALL" and "baseBALL", that you would have "golfBALL" too.

Nathan came home from work last night and asked Mac if he wanted to go use his putter at the golf course. On the way over, Mac asked Nathan, "Daddy, when are you going to be on the golfball show?"
N: "What do you mean Mac?"
M: "You know. The one with Tiger Woods. When are you going to be on that show?" (Meaning tournaments like the Open and the Players' Championship."
N: "Oh....well...It will take Daddy a while to get on that show. I would need to practice a lot more to be on it."
M: "Oh."
N: "...but if YOU start practicing now, and you play golf a whole bunch, then you could be on the golfball show like Tiger."

I fear the Earl Woods Complex.

Last week, Larry's family was here celebrating Grandma's 80th birthday! So much fun!! Lots of beach and pool time. Found my first shark's tooth. It was blazing hot, but by the ocean, if felt great! One evening we were at dinner and Mac was trying to say something to or about Laura, Larry's niece. Now Laura is in her early 20's, not yet married and enjoying single life. That said, while Mac was trying to figure out what to call her, because he clearly had forgotten her name, he referred to her as the "Mom in the blue shirt." I cracked up!!! So Laura, for the rest of the trip, and possible for the rest of her single life, was the referred to as the "Mom in the blue shirt." I wonder if that is anything like the "Devil with the blue dress, blue dress on. Devil with the blue dress on." (Laura, you may be too young for that musical reference."

Christmas is May

It is May and Mac woke up this morning and said he wanted to watch "Rudolph, the Red Nosed ReinMoose." :)

"...it's soup corn..."

At lunch time today, I put the boys at the table with their food and went around putting away laundry. I heard Mac say "Do you want some? It's soup-corn (creamed corn). Do you yike it? You do. I'll give you more."
Eli has started using a spoon. He is having fun trying to figure out how to keep the food on it! ;)
He is also getting really funny with his facial expressions and communication. I swear he yelled "hi" to our neighbor when he saw her, and I think he said 'hi' to the checkout girl at Publix today after she said "hi" to him.

Mac is riding his bike with training wheels and still climbing to unknown heights around the house. (YIKES) Pictures to come. There was a red paint incident! He is also very much looking forward to going back to IN in a few days. He really wanted to go the airport and get on a plane this past Tues. There were tears involved.

Eli's allergies

About a month ago, Eli broke out in a full body rash. His eyes were pink and swollen and he was covered in hives. I had had his 15 months shots recently and lots of things were blooming. So I was worried that he had a reaction to the vaccines, but I was hoping it was an environmental allergy. After a round of Prednilosone and a return of the hives, we went in for a blood draw to test for food and environmental allergies. We found that he is allergic to egg whites, peanuts, shrimp and cockroaches. (Good thing I have my friend Victor from Bug Out!) :) The egg and peanut allergy is mild-moderate. But the shrimp allergy is considered High (Only by a few points though.) I am hoping he will outgrow these, but we are being cautious until he does.

creepy crawlies!

Well our new home is not immune to crawling things, like our apartment. I went outside 2 nights ago and found a suspicious looking spider (Black with a red dot on it) in a sticky web. I called our pest control company (You have to have one on contract here in FL b/c bugs are crazy around here.) My friend Victor came over, and after he saw the web and I described it, he immediately said "Black Widow." YIKES!!!! What!!!!! With my babies around...I don't think so! Spray, spray, spray!!! He then told me that his spray only works on spiders when it hits them directly. Walking over it will do NOTHING to them! So next time I see ol' Charlotte, she's gonna meet the bottom of my shoe!

Did I mention that after I saw her, I looked up on top of our outside fridge and saw dozens and dozens of babies crawling over our bubble refill container. ICK.

Oh yeah, AND, I showed Victor my recycling container which had some of the silky, sticky web on it. He was a little...concerned. "Yeah....I would really be careful when you're picking those up to take them out. I would check underneath the handle before I grabbed there." HOLY COW!

Eli's first deliberate steps.

More steps.

Mac's "chapstick"