Best days of my life...: Too old for this...

In many ways I realized this weekend that I am too old for this...

On Friday I didn't work, and it was WONDERFUL. Friday was a planning day at school and instead of completing the HOURS of work that will be waiting for me on Monday I decided to spend some time with my boys (Jason was off YAY!!). On Friday Jason and I worked around the house..I spent a lot of time with Blaine while I cleaned the house...Blaine just followed me around while I cleaned. Have I mentioned how much EASIER it is to keep a house clean when you have so much more space? Kinda crazy b/c you would think the opposite. Jason and I also picked out our storm doors at Lowes (which took WAY longer than it should have) and went to the downtown trick or treat in Tarboro (Blaine made the front page of the Daily Southerner...check it out here). I love the historic district of Tarboro!! We visited a couple of businesses downtown that are owned by people that are our friends. Candy was being handed out, but we told them to save it for other children that could actually eat it. After we put a tired

and very ILL Blaine to bed we had our friends Jessica and Brandon over for a fire on the patio and we just hung out and enjoyed each others' company. We really enjoy hanging out with Jessica and Brandon they are so down to earth and real. I stayed up way too late though, and had an early morning with Blaine...I'm getting too old for this...

I had a bit of a "falling out" with one of my friends - brought on mainly by me. I had been feeling over the last year or so like my friend was not contributing equally to our relationship and I have made a lot of efforts to try and reach out to this friend, I got frustrated. Unfortunately apparently this "friend" did not desire to have the same relationship with me that I wanted. After more than a year of being the only one to call and check in,email to just say how are you I'm D O N E. I will try in the mean time not to allow myself to be angry with her, I realize that some people just don't let people in, they are so wrapped up in their own existence that the only people that are in their lives are the ones that will give give and keep on giving some more...and I realize that I need a friend in return...a relationship that is mutually beneficial. It does make me sad though, that this relationship has forever changed. I have learned a few valuable lessons through the ending of this relationship...

1. Just because you consider yourself close to someone that doesn't mean that they desire that same relationship with you.
2. You cannot make anyone (a friend, a companion, no one) feel the same way about you as you do them.
3. This hurts your feelings, but it's ok once you realize where you stand with the person it is much easier to accept the relationship for what it is and MOVE ON...
4. Confrontation is not always the right way to go about "resolving" this... sometimes if you just leave it alone the end result is the same...the relationship just dies either way...
5. There are some people that think that their lives are harder than EVERYONE around them...and they might be right???
6. I am too old for this...

I will choose not to hold a grudge, but not to invest emotion in this relationship anymore...
I think that in relationships we begin to assess how much we give vs. how much support we get and my cost was far out weighing the benefits, and that's ok...now I know...

Saturday was a nice day...we had a lot of company...Al, Melissa, and Jackson came by early and we all went to lunch - which ended up being quite eventful. Jackson interrupted Melissa lunch for an unscheduled bathroom visit that took a while to clean up : ) ...we did manage later in the afternoon to get them both in their costumes and snap a couple of pictures.

Jackson's costume was quite elaborate and he lost his patience fairly quickly. Saturday evening we "trick or treated" at Jason's Moms, put Blaine to bed and Jim and Courtney (2 of our friends) came over and we went to a Halloween party at Chris and Kristy's house. They really put a lot of effort into getting this party together and we enjoyed every minute of it...there was a nice bonfire, a scary hay ride, and good food!!! I hope that this will become an annual event. Jason's Mom was gracious enough to watch Blaine for us on Thursday (we went to the Trail of Terror) and Saturday for the party. I am so blessed with a mother in law that is so

helpful, and so gracious about keeping Blaine...we love her...words cannot even begin to explain how fortunate I am that I can lay my child to bed in his OWN bed, and go somewhere and hang out with our friends. When we returned from the party we sat out on the back patio and enjoyed the fire and good company (I went to bed fairly quickly though). I am REALLY getting too old for THIS!!!

Blaine no longer drinks out of a bottle...I know it's kinda crazy for a 9 month old, but this was his choice. We have been working with the sippy cup for over a month now, and I have tried several different types. Blaine really did well with the Platex newby cup and I thought it might be nice to start to give him his milk maybe once a day with the new cup and he did so great that he now gets all of his milk and the little bit of juice that he does get in the cup. Blaine also took several steps that I saw with my own eyes this weekend about 5 or 6 in a row on one occasion. I tried and tried to catch it on video but I was only able to catch a little bit of cute video...no real steps. Here is a tiny bit of all of my tries to catch it...

This first video is our futile attempt at getting video of Blaine walking...it was the closest that we came...

This video is Blaine's new party trick...shutting the door behind himself : )

On Rainy Sunday Jason and I stayed CLOSE to home...we went to Jason's Mom for Chili, and hung out there for a long time (they had a FIRE : ). Now I am winding down the weekend, and preparing for a rough couple of weeks at school .

We have finally finished hanging the mirrors in the bathrooms and the patio is complete...here are a couple of pictures : )

Million dollar Bill Goode pics : )