Well, as Jen so helpfully pointed out, it’s been a good while since I last blogged. (BTW, Jen, I think you left your sunglasses at my house last night…I’m pretty sure they’re yours.) I don’t know why I’ve not blogged lately, other than I’ve been pretty busy. Busy with day-to-day things, and the kids, mostly. Chris came home about a week and a half ago, and has worked every day but one since then. Tomorrow should be his last day for a while, and then he will be on his long break. That’s seven days off in a row. It should be very nice. We are going to go to the lake, where my parents are camping, a couple or three days. Those should be fun days. Lots of fishing, skiing, boating, tubing, and playing in the dirt. That last one was for the kids, not me and Chris. Then, after that, we are going to spend a couple of days doing a project in the backyard. We’re going to make a fenced-in playground area for the kids with a swingset, sandbox, and playhouse. We are also going to complete the railing on the deck, and add some patio furniture and maybe a grill. It should be really nice when it’s all finished. After all of that is done, I am going to have to tackle cleaning out the pool. It’s a real mess. In a couple of weeks, my fourteen (almost fifteen)-year-old brother, Lucas, is going to come live with us for a while. He is going to help me with a few more smaller projects while he’s staying with us. It’s nice to be able to do more of the things that I have been wanting to do around the house, now that the kids are a little bigger.
My brother, Aaron, and his wife, Tasha, are going to start on their way home tomorrow. They should be here on Friday. Aaron is in the Air Force, and they are stationed in Omaha, Nebraska. We haven’t seen them in a year, since they didn’t get to come home for Christmas this year. I’m really excited to see them. Jason, my nineteen-year-old brother, is coming home over the weekend, also. So, it’s going to be the first time in a long time that the whole family is going to be together. I’m really looking forward to it.
What else has gone on in my absence from blogging?
Well, we got some fish. Four goldfish, and an algae-eater. They are named Goldie, Nemo, Oscar, Frosty, and Mud Puppy. They all are distinctly different from each other, and so we refer to them by name. Me and the kids love watching them. I thought that they were pretty neat.
Okay, well, that’s a short update, but I really have to go to the bathroom right now. I promise to return later, and start blogging regularly again. I know that you people depend on my blogging to keep you entertained. (That should be read dripping with sarcasm.)
So, until then, Harmon…out! (For all of you non-American Idol watchers, that was a humorous play on Ryan Seacrest’s signature sign-off. Ha ha.)

Hey, Sist. Did you watch it last night? Oh my goodness, I can’t wait till next week. Luke has to say yes! I was so upset over Rory. Anyway…

I need a few things from you…your cell phone number (I’ve lost it, as I didn’t put it in my phone)….the type of hot rollers or culring iron or whatever that Jec needs….Jec’s sizes that I’m assuming were on the invitation. I wish you still had email. You can either call me and tell me all this stuff, or reply here and I’ll delete your reply after I read it (since I’m sure you don’t want your phone number and Jec’s sizes on here for everyone to read). Either one is fine, calling or posting. Let me know asap, though, because I have got to go to the store later and get all the stuff I need to get. Talk to you later, Sist!!

So, in typical Rachel fashion, I have once again put off the brunt of my housework until the last minute. I did clean out the refrigerator, and straighten up some of the main living areas. Everything else, though, is left for me to do before this evening. We have my little cousin’s birthday party to attend this evening, so I’ve got to do it before then. For some reason, yesterday, after I got up and went grocery shopping, I couldn’t seem to get much else done. So, that’s what’s on the schedule for today….cleaning house, cleaning out the van, and baking Chris a birthday cake. His birthday was last Saturday, but I’m not letting it go un-celebrated. You’re only 29 once, you know. Well, unless you’re my Aunt Debbie, that is.

Do you hear that? That’s the laundry. It’s been calling out to me. “Fold me, Rachel. Fold me!”. I’ve been ignoring it for three days. Sometime between now and then, it has become, “Okay, you lazy bum, this is getting ridiculous. Get up off your big, fat tush and FOLD ME!!!”.

So, um, yes, Laundry. I’m coming. I promise.

Kyra riding a burro 

Elijah playing in Kids Cove at the zoo 

Mommy, Kyra, and Elijah at the Knoxville Zoo 

Kyra and Elijah in their church clothes. 

Mommy and Elijah 

The kids with their Daddy 

Kyra and Elijah standing on a bench overlooking the Grand Canyon