Good Times with the Grandparents

It's been so much fun having mom and dad here.  The time goes by too quickly....  Dad sleeps in in the morning so after the boys got on the bus, mom and I would sit and have breakfast and LOTS of tea together until the house started waking up.  Those mornings were my favorite part of their holiday...  I would love my kids to have a more easy familiar relationship with them, but it is what it is...  Mom got my skype up and running so that should help a lot.  It really allows the little ones feel like they are really connecting with Grandma and Granddad.  Gus LOVES skype!!  It's about the only thing that comforts him regarding  Mrs Curtin's move : he'll be able to skype her when she gets to Virginia.  (And he will!)

A Little Closer

We moved our furniture out of the Buckley house. I say "we"... I did not actually move much actual furniture... Gene and Trent moved a LOT of furniture. Thanks to Shirley the house was boxed up and ready to go. Trent parked the moving van at 9 a.m. and Charlie pulled out of Buckley and drove it to Port Angeles at 3:45 pm. Gina and Gigi moved us and then drove to Port Angeles with a loaded pick-up truck. Kelly Fitz dismantled furniture and helped too as did Jody Nesbitt... Too cool.... we didn't expect so much help and it really sped the day up. On our Port Angeles end our great friends the Burns fed us dinner two nights in a row AND turned up Sunday morning to help us unload. Trent is a wreck and has a cold now and believes that he has the swine flu. All I ask right now is that if I am to die of something that it NOT be something with the word "swine" in it. (Bovine's not high on my list either.) (I mean SERIOUSLY.....) Gus took the move better than I'd hoped... there were so many people at the house that I think he found the whole day to be a big of a whirlwind (we all did, really... even Trent didn't have time to be sad... and nor did I...) Besides, Gus had his beloved Godparents there and nothing makes a day more fun than having Gina and Gigi around!

Jake's Bar and Grill...

Shirley and Charlie came a few weeks ago and I have to say that they DO pull off the Grandparent thing WITH style. Shirley usually comes bearing gifts of homemade food... (either snail rolls (my personal favorite) or chocolate chip cookies (everyone else's favorite)) Charlie diligently plays catch with each boy. They like all the animals (even the ones who are blatantly mannerless!)



Gene called their house the other night and Trent and I overheard his side of the conversation. After Gene dialed we heard him say... "uh, what? ummmm I think I must've dialed the wrong number... uhhhh sorry....." Trent and I caught each other's eye and he mouthed "Jake's Bar and Grill... Jake speaking" I nodded back and started snickering....then we both started laughing. Charlie has used this answer forEVER and NO one EVER falls for it anymore. We waited until Gene stammered.... "GRANDPA???? was THAT YOU???? We could hear Charlie laughing over the phone. Gene probably made Grandpa's MONTH. Only one thing Charlie likes MORE than a gullible grandson... and that's a gullible daughter-in-law... but I learned my lesson YEARS ago.

The Girls Visit

This weekend was Gene's last basketball tournament, and so because Shirley and Charlie hadn't seen him play this year they came into town as did Gina and Gigi and Julie. Such a blast! They kids get as excited to see Gina, Gigi and Julie as they do when cousins are coming to town. The only tricky part about the visit is everyone getting their "time" with the girls, 'cause the boys do NOT want to go do any of the things that we usually let them do when we are trying to get rid of them... They want to be in on the action all the time. It snowed this weekend so the little boys baseball tryouts got cancelled and will probably be held next weekend instead.

Home is the Hero

Gus is back. He had a blast. He starts many, many sentence with "when I was in Jacksonville, Florida......" He had all these amazing experiences, he got to fly with Grandma and have her all to himself on the trip.  He saw the Spaceshuttle Discovery take off, helped "rescue" a turtle who needed help getting back to the pond, went to a movie, went to the beach (saw the Atlantic), saw Alex play soccer. Aunt Lisa got him a watch for his birthday and he loves being able to tell the time, counting by fives! The dynamic in the house without him was interesting. There was still the usual bickering and aggression... so it was actually good that that can't be pinned on him! He looks bigger and seems louder, but that is probably due to the decrease in noise without him! I am seeking balance again... I think that unschooling is probably the best way for kids to learn, especially my kids who don't seem to do well at all in traditional learning environments. When I think of how I need them to behave in school mode it makes me wonder how much "homeschooling" I am doing and how much I am just doing "school at home". I can't see myself becoming a complete "unschooler"... it takes a lot of faith in the process and a lot of trust in the child's innate ability and hunger for learning. I'm not there yet.

Gus, off on his holliers

Gus goes to Florida with Grandma Shirley tomorrow. We've never had a kid gone anywhere for more than an overnight... and Gus has only been on very few of even those!! I am quite nervous about being apart from him. He will be with Grandma and Aunt Lisa so he'll be in good hands. He and Alex are good friends so Shirley offered to take him with her on her visit which is a great opportunity for Gus. As the youngest of three boys he doesn't often get to have the limelight. I think that he will really enjoy all the attention and hopefully he'll miss his siblings a little. I'm going to miss him terribly. It will be interesting to see how school is without him.

Tomorrow Trent is going to take him to Enumclaw to Shirley's and also get the car out of the garage, empty the garage and pack up the truck with anything else that he can. We have to be out by December 05th and Trent learned today that the next two weekends are booked up with work... which is of course a good thing, the timing is just bad. So it looks like we will be moving in one weekend... over Thanksgiving. I'll go to Buckley next week and the following week for a few days and box up as much stuff as I can.

Grandad and Grandma

Neil tells me I'm "talking Irish" when my parents are here! He says I do it around Dearbhla too...! Mom and Dad got here two weeks ago, we all got together in Victoria last weekend and now they are here at our house. I was more than a little concerned that they would be totally put off by the house, but they seem to be able to see where we are going with it... and see that it will be great (some day). It's been lovely sitting around drinking tea, looking through catalogues and gardening books.

Didn't he just turn four like.... yesterday...

Gene played Center and Defensive End.... (whatever the hell THAT means...) Grandma and Grandpa came from Enumclaw for the game (then turned around and drove home... they don't make 'em like THAT anymore...!!) Gene looked great and the little boys actually enjoyed cheering the on the Stampeders.