Gee, It's Hard to be a Grown-Up

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from Laurie, Bob, and John (my Madison siblings). They helped us move a bunch of stuff from the old house over to our new one. The top two floors of the house are now virtually empty. "All" we have left is to clean and paint the old house.

I'm guessing that we will be hiring help for that part. Some of the walls need significant work before they're ready for paint, and the carpets need cleaning BAD. I thought for sure we'd have to replace them, but brother John (who has carpet-cleaning experience) thinks they will come clean with some work.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos from Laurie, John, and Bob's visit, but Laurie took pictures so hopefully we will see some on her blog soon. Jon did take a picture of Emma ice fishing with him last Sunday. Emma, Jon, and friend Dave Dejongh ice fished together (Dave and his girlfriend are expecting a baby of their own in April or May).

Michael spent Friday and Saturday night of last weekend at Winter Camp with his Cub Scout group. He had a good time-- a big part of the weekend, in his opinion, is all the board games they play. He relishes any opportunity he has for board games, especially if he has a chance of winning (as he usually does, with his peers). He doesn't get much opportunity of winning when he plays his mother (I'll sheepishly admit), because there is still a childish, stubborn part of me that hates to lose board games. I blame that on Bob and Don, my younger siblings who insisted on beating me at board games a bit too often (sniff).

To my credit, though, I no longer tip over the game board when things go awry. How's that for maturity??

Jon should be home soon from his work week in Connover. This was a tough week for him, though; he ended up with a nasty flu bug that plagued him for most of the week (working his way through it, with frequent visits to their port-a-potty). He's stopping at Rhinelander tonight to pick up Coco from Mom and Dad's. They have been graciously housed Coco for us several weeks now, so we could get things settled in to the new house without her energetic presence. It has made things a lot easier for us (me). Thank you VERY, VERY much, Mom and Dad.

I admit I'm not the animal-lover that my sister is, but whenever I get annoyed with Coco I try to remind myself how much Emma loves her. Emma brought her journal home from school last night, and it surprised me how many of the entries had to do with playing with Coco-- there were drawings, descriptions of games they played together, and loving tributes to her. After I read it I promised myself I will try to look at Coco more through Emma's eyes (if I can...).

Gee, it's hard to be a grown-up, sometimes.