Feeling better

Today it is cool and breezy outside and the rain from Gustav has finally stopped. Hummer and I went to the cemetary to put new autumn flowers in the vase at Benjamin's grave. I feel lighter somehow! Yay!

It has been odd to see how the grief comes in episodes. I always thought I would be sad for a long time, and that it would gradually taper off to just a peaceful missing him. It's been more like a cycle. Maybe like a spiral--I'm hoping a spiral upward, not downward! :)

Thank you all for listening to me even when I sound like a broken record! I love you, wonderful friends and family!

I have realized recently that I have not been saying much about my other three precious sons, and my DC. I think it's a great time to start posting about their lives right now.

Darling Cutie. . . .

 

. . . .just turned 35! Happy birthday to the nicest person I have ever met! I love you, sweetheart.

. . . .is very busy with teaching starting up again and the orchestra season. His days right now are filled with scheduling, teaching, researching music for the quartet to play, rehearsing with the quartet, getting ready for the first ASO Masterworks concert.

. . . .also very busy with Elders Quorum service. He was just asked last night by the bishop to start co-ordinating help for the relief effort going on in Baton Rouge. That will be exciting to see what they get to do!

. . . .is my pillar of strength. He always lets me lean on him, and never complains when I am having a bad day and the house is not as clean as it should be, etc.

 

Exacto. . . .

 

. . . .just started 5th grade. He is in the highest spelling group, and is bringing home words to spell that I have never even heard!

. . . .is working hard on piano and violin. He gave a recital while we were in AZ, there at my parents' house. I'm proud of him for starting to learn Primary songs out of the Children's songbook.

. . . .shares a room with Hummer, and they have developed the sweetest relationship. Hummer just thinks roses bloom at Exacto's feet. They have pet names for each other, and Exacto is always willing to help Hummer and play with him. It's awesome.

 

Fluffy. . . .

. . . .has a runny nose right now. :(

. . . .just started 2nd grade, and adores his class and teacher. He and Exacto walk home from school together, and are always excited to show me their papers. His handwriting is excellent for his age!

. . . .reads like crazy. He especially enjoys Roald Dahl books right now, and Magic Tree House.

. . . .also working hard on violin and piano. He and Exacto and a couple of other violinists in the ward will be playing for Sacrament Meeting soon.

 

Hummer. . . .

 

. . . .brings sunshine to me every day. I often wonder if his specific calling in life for right now is to be a comfort to his Mommy. He is perpetually cheerful (unless he's tired), and makes me laugh with almost everything he says.

. . . .really, really likes listening to tapes on his Playskool tape player. He listens to "Rapunzel" and "Scripture Scouts" and "The Gingerbread Man" over and over and over and over.

. . . .does his chores pretty diligently now. Yay! Sometimes we have races to see who can make the bed fastest. He won yesterday!

. . . .still hums all the time. Often very high. Often very loud. Today as we were checking out at Wal-mart, he was humming "Jesus Once Was a Little Child" in the upper stratosphere, and the cashier thought it was funny.

Can't leave out Ruby!!

. . . .She drove us crazy during Gustav, because if we left her outside she would stand at the sliding glass door shaking and whining. If we brought her in, she decided to use our kitchen as restroom facilities. Not fun. I am SO GLAD to have her outside again.

. . . .She loves to hang out with us during dinner, catching whatever crumbs fall. Exacto commented the other day that sweeping the kitchen is a piece of cake now because there's almost nothing on the floor anymore!

. . . .She barks at DC's violin case whenever he walks in the door from work.

. . . .She obeys when we tell her to "sit." Usually. :)

 

So that's my beloved fam right now. Just have to share one more happy thing that happened to me this morning. . . .I had been eyeing those big "retro" bags  of MnM's at Wal-mart everytime I passed by them for weeks. But $7.24 a bag?! You've got to be kidding me. Well, today, they were 2 bags for $6!!! Woohoo! I decided it was high time we added MnM's to our food storage. :) And of course, I was sure to sample them on the way home to make sure they weren't stale or anything. And sample them again while I was making lunch. . . . ahem.