Hoosier Buddy? "Cousin Jonny is my best buddy!"

Dear Buddy, 
Daddy and I have had an almost 20 year tradition that you've now taken part in.  Every time we drive to or from Columbus at the Nashville halfway point there is a store called Hoosier Buddy.  As we turn the corner Mommy says to Daddy, "Who's (Hoosier Buddy) your buddy?" Daddy responds, "Who's your buddy?"  Now you've joined right in and sometimes you'll say, "You're my buddy," or "Cousin Jonny is my buddy."  You were so happy summer came and Jonny was up with his dad, Uncle Gary.  When you first met up again you ran around the corner of the garage, ran to him reached up and rubbed his head and gave him a big. tight. hug!  You two were HAPPY!  We roasted some hot dogs on the fire pit and you all devoured a container of fruit together.  You race, play with bugs, swim, fight, take baths, swing, sleep, read books, and make up games together.  

It is a beautiful thing.  I'm glad you have such a special buddy.
Love, Mama

Cousins! Watch Out for this Brood of Boys

Dear Henry, 
This year's 4th didn't get us massive fireworks thumping our chests and filling up our eyes but it did get us a good day with family.  We meet Uncle Gary and Jonny and Grandma P's and Bahboo's and later in the day Mommy's cousin Kyra and her three boys JD, Kolsen and Nash joined us.  You and Jonny were beyond excited grabbing hands together in the hallway, jumping up and down screaming, "They're here! They're here!"  You guys swam, played hide and seek, swung on the rope swing and chased each other until you were completely worn out.  When it came time to leave nobody wanted to part.  It made me so happy to see you all playing.  When Mommy was a girl her cousins were her favorite playmates and we got together often.  Your generation is a whole brood with ours numbering 8 and yours numbering 12 with two more on the way.  

JD, Kolsen, Jonny, Nash, Henry

Jonny, Gary, Kolsen, Nash, Bahboo

Henry and Nash enjoying Cheeto puffs

Nash, JD, Henry, Kolsen and Jonny

Kolsen, Henry, Jonny and Nash as Hot Dog Zombies

Kyra & Nash, Grandma P and Jonny, Bahboo & Henry and Kolsen watching fireworks.

The next day you were toast for over 2 hours in the hallway.

A few days later we went to the Bartholomew County Fair Grounds to check out John David's equestrian skills.  While we were there he won 3rd and 1st place!  You couldn't have had a better time walking around with Kolsen and Nash to see the animals and to sit on the big antique tractors.  They were so gentle with you and always kept a careful eye on you.  

JD and Blueberry

Henry and Nash looking at the pigs.

Henry, Kolsen and Nash farmers

I love that.
Can't wait for the next two to make their arrival!  Someday your cousins will come in handy!
Love, Mama

The Independent Adoption Center Picnic 2012

Henry with his balloon DeLorean

Dear Henny, 
Each year the IAC, the agency which aided in you joining our family and building our relationship with JoJo holds a picnic for families, birth and adoptive, to join in one place to get to know each other or to have annual visits.  Of course we see JoJo much more than that and she has yet to make it to a picnic.  This year JMOM, JoJo's mom, and G, JoJo's dad, were going to come but the heat and an impromptu project on G's part had them missing it.  It was nice visiting with some friends and getting to know some new people.  You and cousin Jonny played with the other kids happily and especially enjoyed the balloon guy.  You, of course, asked the balloon guy to make you a DeLorean (the car in back to the future) and he honestly did a pretty good job considering it was a DeLorean out of balloons.

Henry showing James his balloon Delorean

Jonny and James

As you did the year before last you bonded quickly with a couple waiting from Northern Indiana, Shane and James, as did Jonny.  You talked with them about their land and garden and schooled them on Back to the Future.  Jonny happily spun on the merry go round for over an hour on and off with no ill consequences, I would have been unable to move for a week without falling over.  

Dad, Kerk spinning the kids on the merry go round

Andrew spinning with Jonny, Nicholas and I don't know the boy in the middle's name.

Henry driving with some twins

We made a couple of connections that day that could prove to be interesting in the future.  More on that later.  Toward the end our friends Nissy, Jim and Aryia came.  She is such a cute one that Aryia! Julie and Andrew were there too.  

Aryia Rose

Andrew was born 1 year after you were on March 9th too!  He has the best smile!  It was nice to see everyone and you were excited for the new water bottles.  I am hoping that next year some of your birth family will be able to make it so we can show them off.  On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen and had some hot eats cool treats and then the two of you boys passed out in the back seat, complete with drool.
(I have a photo but it is somehow corrupted and won't load. boo)
Love, Mama

I'm Marty, You're Doc and This is Loraine

Dear Marty, 
Yep, I said Marty.  Settle in, this is going to be a long one.  There is a particularly imaginative, a little over the top, entrenched deeply phase you're going through right now,  let's call it the "All Things McFly Phase."  I've mentioned pieces of it here and there, this obsession with Back to the Future and now it is time to dedicate at least one full entry.  For once I know I can't even touch in the blog how deep this thing runs...  I will miss the richness of details it takes to get it across.  This is mostly because the details of all things McFly at this point are in the 100,000,000's.  That is likely a drastic underestimate and only based on the thoughts, questions and demands we hear outside of your head.  Perhaps this thing is less of a phase and more of a lifestyle choice.  I'll start with this, 80% of the time when someone asks you your name you say, "Marty and this is Loraine(pointing to me.) and this is Doc (pointing to Daddy)."  Yep.  You force Bahboo to call his truck a DeLorean and he is Biff.  *Please note Bahboo is "the good Biff that doesn't treat people badly."  Due to the lack of women characters in Back to the Future you decided Grandma P could be Cinderella  per her suggestion (I think she pulled a con with this one but you agreed after she told you the story) JoJo is Loraine's friend, Grandpa Tim is George McFly...and so it goes.  If Henry knows you then he tries his hardest to fit you in as a character.  A few weeks ago I showed you Teen Wolf.  Your face looked as though I was personally twisting your guts up by hand.  I told you over and over and over that this wasn't Marty, but the actor Michael J. Fox.  This actor that plays Marty and Scott.  You said but, "He is wearing Marty's jean jacket and shoes!"  You "got it" half way through but based on your comments the rest of the movie you decided this Marty is in some alternate universe and in the Teen Wolf universe cousin Tony could be Scott, the teen wolf.  "But why is that guy in the house with Marty?  That's not Marty's house and his dad isn't George!"  I am pretty sure you wanted to live in denial rather than acknowledge Marty is not a real person.  So let me list some ways you've allowed this admiration of all things McFly to manifest.
-We can't pass a city/ town clock tower without you making comment.
-You make us call you Marty, if you are playing something else like Ice Age you are Marty playing Diego and I am Loraine playing Ellie and Daddy is Doc playing Manny.  This gets confusing!  
-If you are being disciplined and I call you Henry many times you correct me or will ignore us until we call you Marty.  Speaking of discipline, one time we were in a store and I was trying to get you to hold my hand and go to the bathroom and you yelled, "GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF OF ME!"  Like George yells to Biff when he is assaulting Loraine.
- The last one leads me to my least favorite, the face punch modeled off of George punching Biff when he has George's hand twisted behind his back.  Ouch.  You've got the look of it down and I think the force is pretty close too.
-You may as well be wearing a WWMD bracelet because every time you dress you go into a long conversation about what Marty would and would not wear.  
-Speaking of clothes, you make me take an ink pen and write "Marty" on the waist band of your underwear before you'll put them on. Yep!  You don't want Loraine mistaking you for Calvin Klein anymore like in the movie.  You won't wear certain socks or shirts because you believe Marty wouldn't.  You have also expressed to me on more than one occasion we really need to find black suspenders.
-You ask me to put on your too big Nike's because they are like Marty's shoes and if they had a "red swoosh it would be even better."
-You are insisting in this 100+ degree weather to wear blue jeans.  Cousin Jonny and I explained that this just didn't make sense.  The move took place in the fall, if it were summer Marty would be wearing shorts.  This you seemed to let go of.

-Anything that triggers any reminder of back to the future you point it out, no matter how remote.  For example last week in Dayton as we walked on the tunnel to the hotel you saw cables outside the window that were "just like the ones Doc uses to attach at the clock tower!"  They were too.
-You are Huey Lewis and the News fanatic now.  I mentioned how you made the DJ at our friend's wedding play Power of Love...at home we borrowed the CD from the library.  Each night or when anyone comes over you insist on taking them to your room and dancing with them and the Power of Love blasting out of your radio.  You also scream out some of the lyrics.
-You have suspenders and a checked shirt you want to wear EVERYDAY but luckily there is one advantage to not getting the laundry done super regularly.
-You take our old skateboard and try to toss it and front of you and jump on like Marty does.
-Last night you came in the dinning room with water soaking your hair, shirt and clothes.  You jump in front of me asking, 
Henry- "HEY! How do I look?"  
Me- "Wet! What have you been up to?"  
Henry-  "Trying to make my hair look like Marty."
Me- "Oh! It looks great! Let me take your picture so you can see."
Henry-  "Oh! That sounds like a great idea!"
After a couple of photos- "I think you need a little more water, it is almost just right.  Can you show me how you do it?"
Henry- "Sure!"  See the subsequent photos.  Too funny.

-You now call your bicycle blanket "Future Blanket."
-You ask if everything is 1980's or 1950's
-Stumbling around our camp site you kept asking where the plutonium is.
-To get to do stuff or get out of stuff you'll say, "Marty doesn't like that."  or you'll go on and on about how Marty does like something.
-You will flop on the floor and act like you're sleeping in the position Marty is when his alarm wakes him up.  Butt in the air arm twisted around over your back.  See photo-

- When you sleep you want to sleep in your clothes because, "Marty does."  But since we explained that he is in his clothes because he has to wake up to meet Doc at the mall parking lot you will agree to wear your guitar jammies because Marty plays guitar in a band called the Pinheads.
- You made me "look up on your computer what pins Marty has on his jean coat."
-  You are in search of an orange vest.  Once we saw an orange coat and you asked if I would buy it and chop off the sleeves for you.


You get the point Henry, sorry I mean Marty.  This is far reaching.  I wonder if this obsession will make it to 2015, the 30 years in the future Marty goes in Back to the Future 2.  Who knows but right now it is keeping life entertaining.  Just now you called, "Hey Loraine! Come and see me."  You were in the kitchen assuming the sleeping position.
Love, Loraine, I mean Mommy.
 

The Power of Love

I call this Henry's Jimmy Darmody face.

Dear Peepso, 
You've had your first wedding.  April, Joe and Willie became legal family a couple of weekends ago and we got to be a part of it.   We started the trip off with your favorite Back to the Future song, Huey Lewis, The Power of Love played no less than three times in a row.  We arrived just in time after an obscenely long drive to Dayton sans air conditioner in the van, we did get you a practically new big wheel at a garage sale though. They were married at a beautiful public garden.  It was a beautiful location and thank goodness we had our mister fan on hand because lawdy it was H-O-T and sunny.  We were happy for them and touched by Joe's beautiful personalized 
vows. Of course they looked sensational too! But I am partial and you and Daddy were the two most handsome dudes there!  

You loved the big bird nest thing at the center and played like you were Kung Fu Panda.  Then it was time for Willie Dog!  

We arrived at the reception area and you and Willie Dog spontaneously hugged like dudes who go WAAAAAAAAAAAY back and took off like you saw each other yesterday to run with the big boys rather than about a year ago.  You also made friends quickly with the bowl of chocolates and any woman you could get to get one out for you.  You danced with mama and bugged the DJ for two hours all on your own to, "Please play the Power of Love by Huey Lewis, Marty likes that song."  You became quickly mesmerized with the friend named Coach, you wanted him to come back to the hotel with us.  A couple of hours later the DJ was taking a break on the other side of the room and you asked him again and after his break he obliged.  Too late Mr. DJ Man.  You were toast.  Laying on the top of the long couch you a had  a fleeting moment of recognition and then happiness that gave way to a shoulder shrug and tired eyes.  

I dragged you on the dance floor anyway.  I'd been waiting for your first wedding dance floor since a few years prior when Joe's brother Tim was married to beautiful Amie and Daddy and I watched a guy dancing with his newborn daughter in a corner by himself.  He was so in love and it was so sweet we dreamed of doing this with our kids someday.  

Willie Dog had run our little Peep so tired he couldn't take it any longer even to eat cake.  So, we left.  We went back to the hotel and had a late night swim and some BBQ chicken from up the street.  The next day we took a morning swim and met friends Amy, Mike and yes, Coach at a beautiful park.  A man and his little girl fishing along the pond gave you a worm to carry around. 

You loved this!  We said goodbye after a nice visit and returned back to Bloomington at a reasonable hour with no incident.  More weddings to come, I hope!

Love, Mama