OOPS!

I have often read other people's blogs and noticed long absences in between posts. Well, I have been a blogger for all of a month or two and already my first big gap. I think my problem is that I think there should be pictures with every post and I do not yet have my digital camera attached to my body at all times so I can take pictures of everything I might want to blog about. I think I will have to decide whether to blog with few pictures or post on an irregular basis.

So, a lot has happened in the last few weeks, with no pictures to go along with it. First, we had two weird middle of the day snowstorms. One happened on a Saturday, about an hour before we were going to go clean up trash at the school. We were all terribly disappointed to miss out on this opportunity, but we figured since everything was covered in snow, it wasn't going to do much good to try. The next happened while the kids were at school. So we got an afternoon phone call saying all after school activities were cancelled. It was the day of Matthew's first baseball practice, so the coach reluctantly cancelled.

Last Friday, Robert and I celebrated our 11 wedding anniversary. We ended up spending it at home. We bought pizza for the kids and teriyaki for us. We set the kids up in the kitchen and the family room with the pizza and a movie. Robert and I had a candlelit dinner in the living room. It turned out to be a nice setting because the table where the kids do crafts and puzzles is right beneath a wall full of family pictures.

Earlier in the day, Matthew offered to get dressed up and serve us our dinner. I told him thank you for the sweet thought, but that if he were to join us in the living room for any length of time, the other kids, especially Emilee, would inevitably follow. So he reluctantly gave up his idea. He did not, however, completely process my objection. He came in as we were starting to eat and asked if we were enjoying our dinner and our anniversary. We responded to him and within 5 minutes, Josh had come to talk to us followed by Emilee. We did manage to convince them all to go watch the movie and were able to get back to our dinner. It turned out to be a wonderful evening.

This morning Josh woke up to find candy in his leprechaun trap. He was so thrilled. He shared his little candy bars with everyone all day. Then tonight, after Robert had come home, he got a bit upset with his dad because he thought his dad had eaten all the candy. Robert insisted that he hadn't touched the candy and we reminded Josh that he shared with everyone and that's why it was gone.

I had a little episode today that reminded me how good people are and what sweet kids I have. I was doing a little grocery shopping when a series of things combined to cause me to almost pass out in the checkout line. I grabbed a piece of candy and bought it, thinking that my hunger was partially to blame and I stumbled over to the Starbucks and sat down. Josh asked why I was the only one who got candy and I explained the situation as I was eating. Apparently someone overheard me because the barista from Starbucks brought me a cup of ice water and said someone had told her that I wasn't feeling well. I started to cry. I was sitting alone in the midst of a minor crisis and two complete strangers came to my aid.

After I got home, I fed the kids and sat down to a bit of lunch myself. Matthew and Rachel had early release, and all this happened just a few minutes before I should have left to go get them from school. I let the kids walk home alone, because I just wasn't up to getting them. They ended up walking home with a neighbor. She walked with them all the way to my house to ask if Rachel could come over and play with her daughter. When she found out what had happened just a half an hour before, she invited all my kids to come down and play and told me to go lay down. While I was getting Emilee's pants (I have no idea why she wasn't wearing them) and shoes on, Matthew was working in the kitchen. He brought his blanket down from upstairs and set up a little bed on the couch for me and he prepared a snack for me. He made a PB&J sandwich and put it on a plate with chips, a juice pouch, a few cookies, and a couple pieces of candy. He said he knew I wasn't feeling well, so he wanted me to have a snack with me in case I got hungry while I was laying down. What a great kid!

I'm sure there will be many more adventures in the Griffith house, and I think I will try to post them, with or without pictures. But if anyone decided to keep reading to the end of this rambling post, Ill reward you with what I think is a very cute and silly picture of Emilee.