Ri and Mario went to Peepaw’s and Mama Meg’s house on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend with them. As a result, Jon and I had the entire weekend to ourselves, which always feels like we are in an alternate universe. We went out to Polaris Mall this morning to fix my phone at the Apple store (and left right after the Apple store – we couldn’t get out of the mall quick enough). On the way home, we picked up Jersey Mike’s for lunch and as we left the store, we both thought of the times pre-M&M when we’d have nothing to do on the weekends but this: head out on errands, grab lunch, go to the coffee shop…. It’s nice to live that life again for a couple of days but we miss those pumpkins and want them home… tomorrow.
Meanwhile, they are living the farm life with their grandparents – shoveling horse poop, loading hay, and making abstract snow figures.
It is supposed to be a horse. They also got some sledding in on inner tubes and plastic sleds. Peepaw showed them how it was done first. Mario nearly got a concussion from going down one of the hills Sarah and Jorge made over New Years but they loved it.
Ri reported to me this morning that she read an entire Magic Treehouse book last night. Not sure what Meg and dad needed to do to make that happen but that’s one great thing about the farm – no 500 channel cable tv and lots of books!
That brought on another New Year’s resolution – unplug the tv before bed and get out a book. Yes, Jon, that means you too!
Mario Joseph got stuck with his mama and papa the last three days while Maria partied with Alana and Grandma Ionno in Marion. But he managed to have a decent time with us, I think. We spent Wednesday night eating Cheese-Its and chocolates while playing Three Little Pigs. Three Little Pigs is a card game like crazy eights but with the characters from the Three Little Pigs story. They were my grandma’s playing cards, and when she died last March, I begged to keep them. Now every time I deal them out to Ri and Mario, I think of her playing the game with me at their age. I don’t ever remember her telling me that she wouldn’t play with me. She was always ready for a hand.
Thursday was much better. The snow laid thick in our yard and the sun shined bright. It was cold enough to keep the snow from melting but sunny enough to not feel frozen when you walked outside. We walked to the library to find a Wii game and then walked to the park with our plastic sled. The park was awesome. There was only one other person on the hill with his two kids and we got to sled down non-stop for an hour. Mario wanted me to go with him the first two times, and I must admit that I was a tad hesitant to go on our tiny red plastic slide. Last time I went with Ri, I broke it. But the sled held up 
well, and we laughed hysterically as we sled down the hill. Mario decided he wanted to go by himself the remainder of the time. I sat at the bottom of the hill (or the top depending on whether Mario wanted me to walk up with him) and smiled incessantly as I watched Mario speed down the hill. I think sled riding is an activity that you can’t help but feel good watching. Everyone has huge smiles on their faces and thrill in their hearts as they descend the hill. It lifted my spirits and when we left, I felt a bit lighter in my step.
Jon picked us up and we headed home to shovel the sidewalk and build a snowman. Mario and I made a sad little snowman that looked like someone had flattened it with a large griddle. We used carrots for its eyes and nose and a “v” shaped stick for its mouth. Mario was happy with it so that is all that mattered. We came inside for the night, ate macaroni and cheese and fell asleep at 7:30 on the recliner chair. Jon nudged me, and I walked Mario up to our bed at 8:15. I had big plans of heading back down to hang with Jon but Mario woke up when I put him in bed and begged me to lay with him. I was back out in five minutes and woke up again at 11:30 pm with Mario snuggled up in my chest, his forehead laying perfectly on the bottom of my neck. Pure heaven.
"MOM!" 