My little monkey

Yes, I have taken a long hiatus from the blog...stressful weeks do that to you.  I noticed that my last post was all about how things were going great!  Isn't it just like that every time - you think "I've finally got it down!" and then WHAM - reality hits and you realize that you can't hide from the parts of life that add stress, work, and fatigue.  Time to start over, I guess!  However, I am slowly attempting to get back into the blogging groove as it is such a good thing for my spirit.

As I said before, most of my time in the last few weeks have been stressful and not something I want to remember so much when I look back on this journal-blog, so I will be posting updates as time is available on the good times we had since I last posted.  I also have LOTS of great photos I want to share of our time visiting my mom, aka "Grandma Shirley."  It was a GREAT visit!

Today, I just wanted to share that I had the energy and bravery to take the kids out to run a few errands.  One included bringing in a burned out long flourescent bulb to find a replacement.  Now, if that doesn't say "courage," I don't know what does.  (I mean, really - can you believe I hauled three kids into a store along with something breakable that contains traces of mercury?  Fortunately, no accidents occurred.)

One of our stops was Office Max, where I go once a year to buy my planner/calendar refill.  It's getting to the point where my last day in 2009 is getting full of notes of events that I need to write in the 2010 calendar, so it was good to go there and get 2010.  I'm now one step closer to a little more calendar clarity.

Since my visits to Office Max are annual, I once again had to wander the aisles to find out which location they have now moved the planner refills to.  In addition, I had a few office supplies I needed to really look at to select what would work best.  As you would expect, this left the 18 month old quite antsy and my oldest volunteered to follow him around the store and keep an eye on him.  The store wasn't very big, I was one of three customers, and my eldest is pretty trustworthy, so I decided to let them go.

For a long time, they would pass the aisle I was in every 30 seconds or so, as Luke was pretty much enjoying having Kassia following him wherever his little feet wanted to go.  But after about five minutes or so, Kassia returns to the aisle and the cart next to me and I see that she does not have her brother with her.

"Where's Luke?" I ask.

"I don't know," Kassia replies.

OK, then.

I instruct her to stay by her sister and the cart, and look down a few aisles toward one end of the store, but I do not see my son.  In the last aisle, I look up as I am turning around to go to the other side of the store and see him climbing only a few steps short of the top of the "employees only" ladder that is used to reach items that only professional basketball players could reach without assistance.

I probably should have told the employees that it would be a good idea to put the chain and sign in front of the ladder instead of just leaving it there for anyone to climb on, but I know that Luke wouldn't have been daunted by that.  So, I let it go as I laughed at my little monkey.  We went back to the girls and the oldest asked, "Where was he?"

"I'll let you know when we get in the car," I say.  No need to let them know that there is a fun ladder open for climbing just a few feet away.