Not missing many meals.....

Ty and Luke have been home almost 4 full months now and still, nearly every afternoon about four o'clock, Ty will come to me and ask a question that hurts my heart.

"'Eh, Mom, we having din-ah?"

He's not asking what we're having and he never wants to know when we're eating. He's not trying to prompt me into gettin' it in gear to fix dinner. Ty looks me in the eye and I can tell that he earnestly wants to know if we're eating.

Most days I off-handedly reply, "Of course, don't we always eat dinner, Ty?"

He thinks for a second and then usually his eyes blink a good long blink and a smile slowly spreads across his beautiful face.

Today when he asked, I answered, "Yes, Ty. Think for a minute....haven't you eaten dinner every night since you've been with me and Dad? And haven't I fed you breakfast and lunch, too---- every, single day?"

He paused.....and then, there came that smile.

"Yes-oh, Mom. You right."

And then Ty danced and danced with happy sock feet, a Matchbox car in each hand.

This Will make you smile, #5

So.......

Will has been in Vermont all month studying cello by taking part in a chamber music festival. The event draws high school and college kids and teachers from all over the country but, for whatever reason, there aren't many southern kids in attendance.

One day last week, Will was hanging out with some friends, all from Connecticut and New York, as they waited for dinner. Will was starving and made the comment that he'd been hanging out with yankees up north so long, he could hardly remember what good southern food tasted like.

Then he added,

"What I wouldn't give for a buttery, flaky biscuit right now...."

His friend said, "Huh? What's a biscuit?"

Will, astounded, asked, "Oh, my gosh.....you're kidding, right? It's a delicious piece of hot bread made out of flour and butter and milk!! You didn't know that???"

The girl shot back, "Well.......I DO know what a grit is!"

Will told her that apparently she really, really didn't.

And that she'd better stick to playing violin.

June Dashboard

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Should any one still check my blog, here's what our June looked like:

Jay's Little League team (that Drew coached!) won the League championship.

Babe did his part by hitting a three-run homer to put the Cubs out in front for the 5-2 win.

Right after the tournament, everybody but Brant headed for Topsail Island.

Brant, facing real-life commitments and responsibilities (gasp!) had to stay in town to work coaching our neighborhood swim team. That's him throwing down his cool lifeguard look with the Wayfarers. Sooooo JFK, don't you think?

Unfortunately, Brant became super-sick with a pilonidal cyst in his back while we were gone. When the pediatrician couldn't get things under control and it was clear that B was getting worse not better, I came back from the beach early and got B over to the ER. A surgeon did a procedure to clear the infection and a new antibiotic and some Vicodin eventually

put B out of his misery.

On a less icky note, we got to celebrate Father's Day with Drew's Dad this year.

He and Drew's mom, along with my mom and sister Kari's family were all in town for Luke's and Ty's baptism on June 20.

The new guys wore their traditional Liberian clothes for the occasion.

Brant and Will played the prelude and offertory for the service making it even more special.

Of course, we took loads of pictures after the service.

Jay is savoring his last summer playing for our Little League's All-Star Team.

We're just a little bit excited around here. All the parents paint their cars like this....really.

I'm not the only freakishly-competitive one. I promise.

And...on June 27, Will left for Vermont for the same chamber music camp he attended last year.

He'll be gone until the end of July. Four. Whole. Weeks.

Sniff. Sniff.