THE BOTTOM LINE

It's true.  Those were his exact words.  (A little giggle is at this very moment on the verge of bubbling up and out. )  My  normally bright husband said,  "The bottom line is, we are getting another car."  This, after some discussion where I argued against and he for the purchase of a second vehicle.  I won't bother to defend the point here.  Let's just leave it that we were in disagreement.  Doy.  

Don't we all disagree from time to time with our spouses?  What do you do with those "bottom line" statements? 

By the way, I am reminded of another "bottom line" statement having to do with paying for the house in Va to be power washed.  Let's see, I believe that time it was more like, "I absolutely am not paying money to have the house power washed!"  (Again, this is an incredibly intelligent man) I feel for him.  I mean who wants to eat that kind of cow poo poo later on?  How does one feel knowing that his "final word" is just hot air dissipating into outer space?  Of course the house needed it and of course "he" was going to pay for it.  And did.  To the tune of $400.  Ouch.

Shame on me.  I am, mercilessly, enjoying myself at the expense of my most favorite person in the whole world.  To our credit, it was all over with a sweet reminder that his undies were in the proverbial bundle and, "Honey, don't forget the last time you laid down the law!"  Hee, hee, haaaa, hooooeeeee, ooo.  Yes, I was laughing hysterically as I recounted the whole power washing incident while he covered his ears and in a loud voice said, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening."

The bottom line is, we work it out.  Doy.

O.K. on with the latest and greatest highlights.  We had a great weekend recently with our good friends the E. family.  It was our privilege to host them here at the house.  Finally, little people's fingerprints on my sliding glass doors!  We swam and ate and talked.  It was wonderful to have them with us.  Little J. and Big M. are 5 and 3 respectively, just two years apart just like our big boys who are now 13 and 11.  It's fun to see some similarities in the dynamics of brothers.  I always find myself reminiscing on that time when my guys were small much more when J and M are here. 

Amazingly Kevin and Julie left the kids with us for an evening on Saturday.  Even though they know us pretty well by now they still trust us!  Hee, hee.  Putting the boys to bed was a hoot.  First we had to have dinner, then a bath, then pajamas, warm milk, a story and then, finally, sleep.   Dinner was quick and easy.  Bath was a breeze.  They even looked a little sleepy.  I had high hopes there for a minute.  Maybe this was going to be completely different than my experience putting boys to bed when mine were young?  The warm milk was the hitch.  "Nope" "I don't want it"  No problem, I thought, by the time we're done with the story and snuggled into bed, they'll be goners.  Nope.  We had several stories.  We had songs.  We talked.  No sleeping.  I rehearsed the game plan.   What was missing?  Oh yea, the milk.  We went back up for another go.  This time the milk went over well.  I mixed warm milk with vanilla and a little sugar.  Mmmm.  They wolfed it down and off we went to sleep, I hoped.  They got into their bed (actually  a thin queen mat with sheets and a blanket).  Big brother, Little J, right to sleep.  Big M, who is actually little brother was having nothing to do with it.  He wanted more of that yummy milk (now we know why he's built like a professional rugby player!)  That little guy sat up in bed with his head nodding slightly forward then to the right than backwards always just catching it to sit up straight,  then starting with the nodding again.  He lasted about 10 minutes and then finally, at long last, kerplunk!  It took all the mothering left in my bones to get through it!  Actually, I found myself crying real tears for the loss of all the hours of mothering my own little ones,  just that way, that I expected to have.  That hurt usually lies dormant so I am glad to have had a chance to spend time with those sweet "little -ies" and heal a little in the meantime.

My big boys, if you wanna know, were awesome with those two kiddos.  

Australia, is turning out to be an adventure in more than just  travel, pools, beaches, koalas and kangaroos.  It's relationships that bless.  Each time has it's purpose for changing and growing us, preparing us for experiences that are around the corner.  

By the way, just so Mom P knows, although I have been a little irreverent here, I make sure that your very intelligent, bright son with the great "bottom liners" always gets his vitamins and a great meal these days.   I would rather no other man be giving me ultimatums than him!