Ode to Isabella and other ends

This past week ended a pseudo-sibling relationship that Jude has been involved in for the last two years. Although I myself had two such pseudo-siblings as a child I never intended to acquire one for Jude. An acquaintance of ours who is self employed thought it would be better for all involved if she got her then 2 year old out of the dog grooming shop for a few mornings a week. And so came Isabella into our home and life for the last two years.
For those of you unfamiliar with the pseudo-sibling; s/he is a person in a child’s life who is SO MUCH MORE than a friend but somehow only slightly less than an enemy. A Pseudo-sibling is another child brought into an only child’s life on a REGULAR basis not by choice his or her choice but because – well it is life and that is how it works.
My two pseudo-siblings were my cousin Luke, who spent many weeks at our home each summer and Hollie who spent every day of three summers by my side. Overall both of these individuals, though we have long since parted ways, impacted my character and outlook on life more than any of my other friends or family. I have countless fun memories with them just like any friend but I also remember fights, annoyances, and unfairnesses similar to what I imagine are involved in sibling relationships. My parents treated us the same as much as they could but these relationships were my first glimpse into the reality of how one goes about dealing with people very different from oneself.
Isabella started school today and will not be coming to our house now on a regular basis. She and Jude will now be free to be friends. But none of us will ever forget the hours they played by each other’s side, bit each other’s arms, watched each other potty, made a disaster of their food and fought over every single toy until my room contained even the furniture from Jude’s room – and they were left with only the rug to play with.
Isabella, it has been an adventure and I am sure you have many more ahead of you and many more lives to change… but thank you for changing ours. We love you.


This is the first photo I could find of the 2 of them together and then one from last week

In other ends.
Last week the lifeguard at the pool informed me that pregnant women cannot go down the slide – so poor Jude.

My parents are leaving for a 2 week cross country trip to visit family today and my 3 closest friends here are preparing for international travel - all while Jarod daily reminds me of the things I need to “cut out” of my life in preparation for the baby. I feel like I am a goose forced to sit on an overdue egg while all my flock flies off to fun for the summer.

Also, this week was the last “family dinner” we will be hosting until sometime after the baby is born. When we first moved back to Hays we quickly realized that although we lived equidistant from both of our families we saw mine I vast amount more – simply because of personality. So for the last 2 years Jarod’s family has met here almost every Monday night, in an effort to stay connected and caught up on everyone’s lives.

Here's our feast and some happy faces (all for under $10 - I might add)


Go me. Go my garden. I'm going to bed... and yes Alison with my kitchen looking like this...