Together At Last

My nine days of R&R ended yesterday morning at 2:30. Steve and Nathan made it home safely. Just as I expected, he slept in the car so he was ready to play with all of his "new again" toys when he got home. He ended up going to bed at 4:30 a.m. I made sure to get lots of hugs and kisses in those two hours. He was happy to give them too, which was good. It sure didn't take long for Mommy Mode to kick back in. It was a good break, but it's nice having them back home.

Nathan was looking out the window this morning and I heard him say, "Hi kitty. What doin'?" I went to look and sure enough, our little black and white kitty was hanging out on the front porch. I didn't let the cat inside today. I'm a little more cautious around random animals when Nathan is around. If I'm alone, I'll try to turn any animal into a pet.
Nathan is an animal lover like his mommy. Hopefully our next baby will love animals as much as Nathan and I do. Then we'll outnumber Steve and he won't have a choice but to accept all the pets that we'll take in. 

Nathan and I pulled in the Walmart parking lot and he immediately said, "that's Wa-mert." I had forgotten just how southern his accent really is. His nine days in Minnesota had no impact on his accent at all. Steve, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Within two days it was as if he'd never left Minnesota. 

As we were going through the checkout line, I told Nathan he could pick out some candy. That's no quick decision for a two year old. After some serious contemplating, he was torn between Starbursts and goldfish crackers. In the end he chose the crackers. I snuck the Starbursts in the cart because I know he loves them too. As he was helping me set the groceries on the belt, he noticed the Starbursts. He handed them to me and said, "No Mommy. Not want it. I buy goldfish." Here he is enjoying his goldfish crackers that are so much tastier in the little individual carton. When I was in college and studying advertising and marketing, I thought people were such suckers. Especially parents. Now I'm one of those parents paying more for less actual product just because of the packaging. Eating the goldfish crackers out of the large box isn't nearly as exciting as reaching into the little carton and pulling them out.