Fall Break

Raising children is MUCH easier when you are surrounded by family.

No wonder all my aunts and uncles live so close to Mawmaw's house and the farm.

I think that if I lived within walking distance of my grandmothers house I would have such an easier time at this child rearing thing.

Not that it wouldn't still be hard but I would have a mawmaw to run to like I did this week.

I just got back from spending an entire 10 days with my family.

I had a bit of a rough start since it has been so long since I have moved back in with mom and dad for that length of time but after the first 3 days it was smooth sailing.

By the end of the week I was getting rather used to taking the kids over the mawmaw's house every morning and sipping coffee while she took the kids to play on the farm. I was also rather enjoying having dinner prepared for me by mom and dad while I went on long walks in the woods alone.

True Bliss!!!

Now I am back to reality.........oops there goes gravity.

Although I LOVE my life as it is I can not help but think about how nice it would have been to have bought a piece of land on the family farm and set up house.

Having all those cousins running around for the kids to play with and my aunts, uncles, mom, dad and mawmaw to sit with on the back porch, sipping coffee.

There are certain things that I cherish about my childhood that I want so bad for my children to experience.

I felt that this week kinda made up for lost time.

They got to play in the barn in a hay fort!

(We used to make those ALL THE TIME as kids. The hay forts were especially fun during the winter months when there wasn't much else to do that would keep you out of the house and not freezing to death.)

They got to see a baby calf less than 24 hours after its birth.

(I remember  several times going out in the field with Papal when a momma cow was having trouble delivering her calf. He had to tie a rope to the calf's feet and help pull her out of her momma.)

They got to ride around in the field with mawmaw and the cousins enjoying the beautiful days and hike around through the woods.

My children playing on the swing set that Papal had my uncle build for us grandkids.

They got to work with the cousins and make their own haunted house in mawmaw's basement.

(remember those?  We used to do that kind of stuff all of the time.)

Most importantly, they were surrounded for a whole 10 days by a close knit family.

nothing like driving a tractor through granny and grandpa's woods

who knows how many hours they spent up that tree

I felt like a LOT of the burden of child rearing was lifted off of me.

They had a big ol' field to run through and explore and a whole heard of cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles to play with.

I took the opportunity to do the things that I LOVE.

Like taking the dirt bike out for a little spin.

AND

Going out to dinner and a movie with Mawmaw and Mom.

AND

Laying out under the beautiful fall colored trees for a glorious afternoon nap.

I even did one thing that I typically HATE doing.

I went shopping.

Yep.

You read that right.

I went shopping.

I typically HATE shopping but for some reason I had a hankering to get out with mom and shop.

We ended up finding a GREAT deal and I bought 2 skirts.

Yep

You read that right.

I, me, the girl that HATES dressing up, bought TWO SKIRTS.

Can you believe it??

I really don't see that the shopping BUG is in me but I must admit that I had so much fun looking through stuff with my mom and that I am quite excited about the awesome deal I got on these skirts.

On Saturday morning I took Paul and Anna to a cross country race.

My Aunt is the coach and pretty much my whole family runs.

Yep.

The girl with the heart condition was born to a family of cross country runners.

I know.

It is rather hilarious.

I guess that's where I get my will power to push on.

Like my aunt Carlotta likes to say about frustration  "It is the burr under my saddle."

Anywho.
My aunt Peggy called to ask if I wanted to let Paul run with the little ones.
Paul is always talking about how he is a "FAST runner" and how he is going to be in a race one day, so I took him.

pre run stretch

GOOOOO TEAM

Peggy getting ready to start the race

run paul run

He was so excited but tuckered out halfway through "mom, my arms and legs were hurting too bad mom."

I was so proud that he ran as far as he did.

He said "maybe running isn't my sport mom. Maybe my sport is soccer."

my little 4 year old cousin Luke ran that 1/2 mile like a wild horse.

I have NEVER seen ANYONE run that fast.

Man ALIVE.

That child is incredible. 

And he wasn't even tired when he finished.

We stayed to cheer on my cousin Andrew as he finished his 2 miles.

This weekend I also got to learn a little family history about my Dad's side of the family.
I know VERY little about my grandpa Singleton.
As I was talking to my Dad about genealogy he brought out some papers from the back of his closet that had pictures of my great grandmother Ada Singleton and her children.
He also had a whole stack of papers that included tons of family photos and information dating back to the 1700's.

i about peed myself.

"welp dad, it turns out that I am JUST LIKE my ancestors. All my grandmothers were housewives just like me!!!"
We both died laughing.  HA HA HA

But seriously though, each grandfather was either a farmer, a rail road worker or both.
 My great grandmother Ada died of dropsy when my grandfather was around the age of 4.
She had 2 children  out of wedlock and was disowned by her family.

In one of the obituaries of a 1800 grandfather it read "he was buried in the family grave on the Singleton Homestead."

awww. shucks.  how cute.

I am now determined to learn more about my family history!
It is so fun learning about where you come from.

speaking of

This is a picture of my Great Grandparents on my mom's side Lela and John Thacker.
Story is is that they were MAJOR in love.
Like giddy school children.
Just look at her sitting on his lap!
I'd like to think I get my child like spunk and romantic heart from her.

This is a picture of her mother and father, my Great Great Grandparents.

Mom couldn't remember her name but his name is Dave.
He was a prominent business man that had trouble staying away from the bottle.


I asked mom for a copy of these photos.
I wonder how Roger would feel if he walked into our house to see framed photos of my ancestors?

He'd probably be like. "Jess seriously?  I already have to put up with your Charlie and Pawpaw."

 Charlie is the Gnome that I BEGGED Roger to get for me for my birthday. The little sailor dude I call PawPaw.  Pawpaw was with me all through my childhood and when I saw mom about to throw him away I saved him and took him to live with me.

I should probably write these little guys into my will shouldn't I?

I can't wait until Roger gets home!!
As soon as we get a chance I am going to take him to stay in my aunt and uncles cabin in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.  There in no cell service out there, no electricity or running water.  It will just be us, a cabin with a buck stove and nature!!
That sounds sooooo romantic to me!!