We are home, with my family, for the weekend. My little brother will turn thirty in a few days, and our dear friends' daughter had her 4th birthday party in Hattiesburg today. I knew that I was desperate to come home, before Thanksgiving, before the baby comes. I get antsy when I haven't been home in months.
My brother, my sister-in-law, and their 2 1/2 year old, Ellie live on the family farm, too. I have especially been missing Ellie. She's such a spitfire, such a spinning mass of feminine energy. She adores all of us and is always ridiculously happy to see Thomas. This morning - oh so early, her blond hair shining, she ran to give me a hug and said breathlessly "I'm so glad you're home!"
Thomas has gotten used to her being here, sharing in the bounty of the toys - and they really have reached a sweet place of playing together. This morning I heard him telling her "you need to get ready for school, Ellie" - but soon they were happily making play-dough birthday cake. Ellie said "it's for Daddy!" Thomas said, "it's not Daddy's birthday - it's Uncle Christopher's!" Very funny - don't worry, we set him straight.
I had asked permission from all involved to take Ellie with us to the birthday party for our friends' daughter. I knew Ellie would have fun - this girl is a social butterfly- and I felt bad to think of leaving for the afternoon, when she so looks forward to our visits. Plus, it would give her mom and Lovie a tiny Saturday break. So, we loaded up the car and headed for the party.
Lately - on a completely different note - Thomas and I have this morning routine of cranking up Lenny Kravitz on our drive to school. One day he started asking for "the Cymbals Song" and I had no idea what he meant. I am bit sure how we figured it out, but he meant "Are You Gonna Go My Way". I have Spotify on my phone, and plug it into the car's system - so I just looked up Lenny Kravitz and pulled up his greatest hits. Then we would listen to a few more songs, and now our everyday routine involves cranking up "Are You Gonna Go My Way", "Fly Away", "It Ain't Over til It's Over", and "American Woman". Seriously, you cannot have a bad day when you start off with Lenny Kravitz. I can even feel the baby dancing, it's hilarious. And music has always been hard for Thomas - he really struggles if it's too loud, he has to be in control of it. So it's extra sweet for me to have him enjoying music and asking for it by name.
All that to say, Ellie has a favorite song, too - Katy Perry's "Roar". So, I was amused that we had a little girl in our midst for 5 whole minutes and had the Katy Perry going. Beaux was only too happy to oblige. And then we listened to Lenny Kravitz, of course, and then they were trading books in the backseat and were busy "reading".
I am writing this in the wee sma's of Sunday morning - we collapsed into bed fairly early, but I woke up at midnight. So this will have to count for yesterday, but at the time I was so ready for sleep I was okay with missing a day. Tomorrow will be hay bales and birthday cake...
Those two are simply adorable. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go add some Lenny to my playlist.
Posted by: lizardek | Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 03:54 AM