This week I will actually be on vacation.  The grandsons will return to daycare full-time and Aidan and I will have five days, more or less, for the two of us, before I go back to work next Monday.
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I will miss the brothers, of course, especially since the younger one has just learned to enjoy coming to our house and being away from his mumma.  He is a true outdoor guy and would spend every minute, except for lunch and freeze-pop breaks, outside.  Outside, outside, outside is, in fact, his favorite refrain.
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He and Aidan really enjoyed one another's company on the days that it was just the two of them.  Here they are, just like grown men, hanging out in their comfy chairs in the garage, having a drink and listening to music.
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Ricky and Aidan, meanwhile, are just like brothers/cousins/uncles and nephews are when they are close in age.  Every day they have an argument and a crying jag.  Then every day they are the best of buddies for the remainder of the day.
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And then there is their handsome little cousin, who comes once a week.  He and Ricky are actually great playmates.  They are alike in most of the ways that count-smart, quiet, sweet-and different enough that they usually don't pose a threat to one another in terms of affection or toys.
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This past week Mom went to the oncologist to say that she does not want any more chemotherapy.  She did two rounds of 21 days at 50% dose and didn't like it.  She felt that it stole some summer days from her because of the restrictions on exposure and activities and this just after she had recovered some strength following the placement of a stint in her intestine.  She had never wanted chemo anyway; she only tried it because some of us asked her to give it a try.  So she won't be doing it any longer.  Seven of us siblings and a nephew went to her appointment with her so that the doctor would know that we support whatever she chooses and so that we could ask questions.  The time left to her is uncertain, as it always is with cancer, but she probably won't be enjoying next summer with us.  Here is a picture of her enjoying her annual birthday hike to the top of the mountain, back in 1987:
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There is no news on the adoption front.  G's medical has been sent to China to have them pre-approve it and we are waiting for the response to that.  We have been waiting three weeks; I contact the agency each Monday to ask if there is any word yet, so I will ask again tomorrow.
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Here in central NH we pack as much living as we can into the time we have to call summer, since it's such a short season.  Sometimes it doesn't really get started, weather-wise, until after the 4th of July; other years, like this, it starts earlier.  Here are the boys enjoying summer.
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Brody, at 22 months, working very hard to read.  Below, Aidan is ready to go see Avatar with Pretty Baby.  The two of them have been watching the cartoon for a long time-remember that Aidan was Aang for Halloween?-many things were different in the movie from the show.  But a promise is a promise-he loved the movie!

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Matthew pumping iron (wood) at the 4th of July parade.

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Aidan and a buddy checking out party favors at his grandparents' cook-out.

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Had to have the silly bandz (don't know if I spelled it right)-notice the smaller ones are on his fingers.

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All three grandsons at the pool.

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This one does not love swimming, especially if the water is deep or if people are splashing.

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First it was the beach with LB, PB, her sons, Aidan and me. 
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Then it was Storyland with all four of our children, our daughter in-law, and three grandsons. 
G wasn't there this time, though he does like that kind of thing.  He's busy getting an antique stock car ready for a show next weekend.
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Monday was my last day of school until August.  Aidan got out last Thursday.  This summer I will have Brody every Tuesday, Ricky and Matthew Monday through Thursday, and Aidan will go to summer school for five weeks (half-days) Monday through Thursday beginning next week.  Here are some early shots of summer:
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Aidan picked flowers for me today; this is his first bouquet for his Mommy, so it's very special.  This afternoon I went to check on what he was doing, and found him very busy making a book for Daddy.
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Here is what the book, called All About Daddy, says:
I work on the race car
I smile at Aidan
I sleep with the dog
I go to the store
I eat eggs
I play with Aidan
I play fetch with the dog
I eat bacon
I work every day
I watch the Red Sox

Remember, this from a child who has only been in America since October of 2008 and knew no English beforehand.  He just turned six in April.  This is amazing!  Our first daughter could not write one sentence until June of her first grade year, and she had been to both preschool and kindergarten and English was her first language.  She is certainly no slouch academically-she definitely caught up-but Aidan is really very bright.
 
Aidan has eight days of school left.  He is spending every afternoon building forts with all of his bedding and one of our sofas.  He has even commandeered the flashlight kept just for emergency power outages.  This weekend I took him to a graduation party for three of the girls in my women's studies group and he fell in love with the hamster.  Now he wants one of his own.  I don't think this is an idle request; I think he wants very much to have something that is just his, something that he chose for himself.  As much as he loves Mangus, the youngest dog, who sleeps with him every night, he didn't pick Mangus out.

This weekend our son and grandson came over for a while and played ball with Aidan outside.  Brody and I also picked some strawberries.  All the recent rain has helped plump them up.
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We finally got our tax return back this weekend.  Our accountant had to give up his tax customers due to his wife's illness, and we've been spoiled by him for 20 years, but honestly, this CPA firm had our stuff for two months and only filed it after I called three times this week asking where our return was. 

Then today we had our final medical appointment, so within a week we should probably have the last notarized document we need for the home study.

So now I'm able to actually move forward in many ways and feel like we're moving forward, with the second adoption.  Phew!
 
Okay, first, the temperature has dropped to a mere 80º outside, which is a relief from the midday heat we had.  Second, the humidity is only at about 50%, which is really great.  But that won't last, of course.  The temps will drop into the 50s tonight but the humidity is going to be 100% before dawn breaks, climbing at about 10 % every couple of hours from supper time forward.  It has been a beautiful weekend.  Sunny and hot, but with a breeze.  So of course it will change.

This week my cousin's wife was named community citizen of the year by our town Grange.  That was a very nice ceremony.  I love our Grange.  When I was young, that's where our school Christmas programs were held.  Even the smell of the building makes me happy.  Suppers, square dances, Christmas programs, it all comes to mind the moment I walk into the building.

Mom made it to church today.  She has had a great week, probably because she hasn't been vomitting constantly and actually has had a return of her appetite-a nice change from two Saltine crackers a day for an 81 year old weighing 85 pounds!  Her best friend is also back for the summer-she goes to Florida each winter-so Mom can now get out with someone her own age who enjoys a lot of the same things that she does.

Yesterday we had our monthly family breakfast with "the big kids" and their children, this time at our daughter's house.  The three grandsons are all so different.  RB (Ricky) is bright, loving, serious, stubborn, and eager to be good.  He showers me with affection, so of course I think he's just great.  BB (Brody) is a little reserved, doesn't waste words, is happy, stubborn, extremely smart and amazingly sure-footed.  He never talks baby talk; his vocabulary is extensive and he speaks in sentences at 20 months old.  He adores G.  Then there is MB (Matthew).  He is charming, snuggly, a little bit precocious, and not afraid of much except being away from his mother.  We expect him to be the one that comes up with all the neat ideas for the three of them to pursue.  Then, when they get into trouble, the older ones will say that it was the baby's idea (and it will be), but most people will think that they should know better than to follow the youngest.  So we can't wait to see if this comes to pass. 

Today MB went to church with Aidan and me.  Afterwards, we played outside on the swings and in the sandbox.  It felt just like summer-I hope that when summer actually comes it doesn't feel like spring!
 
The big kids decided that they want to have breakfast together at least once a month, so we began this past Sunday.  Normally  Sunday is out for me due to church, but Mom and I both skipped it.  I did so because of my company; Mom did so because she was sick, again.  She is currently awaiting a date for a liver tumor biopsy. 

Since early March she has been sick with vomitting, to the point two weeks ago that she lost four pounds in four days, and she only weighs about 85 to begin with.  So they put her into the hospital for a couple of days, ran some tests, did some more tests this week, and now she's waiting for the next step.  I will never understand cancer.  This is a woman who has never smoked, never drank alcohol, never drank carbonated beverages, ate all of her vegetables daily, and every day gets fresh air and exercise.  Her favorite sandwich is wheat bread with cottage cheese, lettuce and raisins, for pete's sake!  I am hopeful that this is isolated and can be treated locally.  But we just have to wait and see.
 
This week is our April break-Aidan and I.  Here are some photos from the beginning of the week.  We spent Monday at an arcade with LB and RB, went on a picnic Tuesday at the park with LB and BB, spent yesterday in MD's offices-Aidan had a regular appointment but also has an ear infection, I think-they can't see his ear for all the wax.  He has been sick for a few weeks, though, so I'm hoping that they can see it today.  I, myself, am already on antibiotics for an ear and sinus infection, and it took a few weeks for that to show up.  So hopefully he'll get some real relief soon.
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Golden Baby turned 28 this week, and his birthday was on the same weekday on which he was born.  I don't know how often that happens, given leap years, but it brought back a lot of memories.  Here he is in the shirt I gave him, which goes well with his ref uniform, and here are some other photos of the week.
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I have a very early memory of being at my grandmother's house on Thanksgiving Day.  We were leaving to go home for Thanksgiving, so I don't know if that means that when I was small we would have two meals, or if we were just there getting or having pie.  My grandmother made both chocolate cream pie and mincemeat pie, so we might have been there to get a pie for my father-I'll have to ask older members of the family if we ever ate there. 

My grandparents were born in 1883, 1891, 1894 and 1897, so this grandmother was the only grandparent alive when I was born and she was 70 then.  She lived next door to us-I grew up in my great grandparents' farmhouse, called The Old Plantation-we could literally walk through the pasture to my grandmother's house.  Any time that I smell fresh baked bread, homemade soap, peonies, lilacs, or apple blossoms, I think of her.  Any time that I hear a rousing gospel song, I think of her.  When winter nights are filled with the smell of wood smoke, I think of her. 

She was a very tall woman, almost six feet tall, and at night when she got ready for bed she would take down her coronet of white hair and kneel beside her bed to say her prayers.  Her hair touched the floor.  She wore a flowered wrap-around apron, the kind that covered your top and bottom, and I loved her hugs.  She played the piano but could only remember a couple of hymns by heart.  Her television was only plugged in two or three times a year, when she knew that Billy Graham was going to be on. 

Her "settin" room was unused, and all socializing was done at the dining room table.  She kept aluminum cans, washed out, in a storage area beside her kitchen window seat, a window that was framed with the longest English ivy I ever saw.  We would take the cans out and stack them like bowling pins, then play bowling on the kitchen floor, which was a trick because there was a hump in the middle of the floor so you had to really get your roll down to hit the cans. 

She and I would spend hours together making scrapbooks and ornaments for missionaries and the children they cared for, and we made patchwork quilts and rag rugs.  Grammie had playing cards in the drawer-Crazy Eights and Go Fish, stuff like that-and coloring books and crayons with them.  Every week or so she made homemade doughnuts and we got to help.  Every week she made homemade bread and sent a pan of rolls over to my father.

I am so thankful for having had this woman in my life.  Her name was Ruth.  My little sister is named for her.

Now I hope to be as good a grandmother as my own grandmother was.
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Aidan's Thanksgiving Day decoration

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We all ate at separate houses, and then Pretty Baby brought over the pie.  She made blueberry for G and apple for the rest of us.  Her favorite is pumpkin.  My favorite is custard.  Pie is one of those things, isn't it, where everyone has a different favorite?  Pretty Baby is great at making pies! 

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Our daughter in-law and first daughter, above, with MB; our son in-law and first son, below with Aidan and RB
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The little cousins playing together.  MB is two months younger than BB, so he will end up a year behind him in school due to birthday cut-offs, and three years behind his brother even though they are just over two years apart.  It is such an arbitrary thing-when we were young they would have been in the same grade together.
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Today I got MB to myself for a while.  He is such a sweet baby, easy to love and easy to watch.  He smiles just like his mother when she was little, has a thick head of hair like her, but his eyes remind me of his aunt every time I see him.  Overall, he bears a strong resemblance to my three biological children. 

I am sure that when Aidan has children, I will be looking for features and expressions that remind me of him as well.