houpley

Have you ever noticed that sometimes Jackson laughs like Greg? Oh yeah?  Yeah,sometimes he sounds just like Greg when he giggles. Or maybe it's just that Greg laughs like a four year old? Yeah, that.

Nearly every night, just before bed time we all head out to the bench on the front porch and take a few minutes to hear the crickets, smell a storm coming in, or feel a cool breeze on our cheeks before reading a story and tucking Jack in for the night. Last night, while swinging his legs from the bench and enjoying a final graham cracker or two, Jack spotted three tiny slugs coming up through a crack on the porch. We all became very interested in their unhurried travels and Jack must have asked a million questions about them. His last question, "I touch 'em?" was met with a “no” and followed up with a few slug stories. Everyone has a slug story. Once, I accidentally stepped on one barefoot and it was one of the grossest things I've ever done. Paw-Paw regaled us with a classic slug-torture tale involving salt. He said he had seen someone do it and it was horrible. This led to the discussion of why children, particularly boys torture animals and why some parents don...

After fighting down a fever for two days and seemingly feeling back to normal, Jack headed to school Monday with what appeared to be good health… …only to be "carded" by 9 a.m. The giant, orange card screams from the front of our fridge that he can't return until later in the week. It seemed he'd had a few episodes of a … shall we say ... unattractive "symptom." With no family nearby, we are the parents that have to battle the PTO nightmare with our jobs. Who takes this shift? Who has the least hectic day? Who has PTO to spare? Eric was ready for an afternoon shift but the kid had to head home, asap. Monday and Tuesday are my busiest days so our schedules wreak havoc. Much like the havoc that was happening in Jack's tummy. I race to collect the boy, who’s happy demeanor belied his turbulent belly. Winning personality or not, fact was - he'd been kicked out. Once home, I start to whip up elements of the classic B.R.A.T. diet and Eric has called to say...