You're Not the (D)oss of Me: Adventures of a Midwest Mama: Kissing Cousins...

This pic pretty much describes last week for me...it was a rough one kids. Several friends/acquaintances had devastating situations involving the illness/passing of their children and it was just almost to much to bear. I didn't know how to express myself here with regard to my feelings and sadness so I just kept putting off writing a post. But it is time to move forward and I will just say this: life is hard...and confusing...and unfair much of the time. And when this happens so close to you it feels scary and looming and awful. But it is the price we pay for living a full life surrounded by those we care for...some days the love causes us pain...and there is nothing we can do to stop it. So we press on...

And press on we did by golly. My nephew Reese is 11 and he lives in San Diego with my brother and his wife Patti. We rarely get to see them so when we do it is a BIG deal. So Reese flew in to KC on Saturday to spend the week with my parents in Omaha...but since they were in KC already they spent Saturday night with us. Let me just preface the comments to follow with this statement...I realize that Reese is my nephew and therefore I am apt to be biased about how amazing he is. However, in the history of all 11 year olds...he is the best one by far. BY.FAR!!!

Channing cannot quit talking about how amazing this kid is...and I have to tell you friends, he has never been more spot on with a character judgment. Let me give you a list of the things Reese did to render him the world's best 11 year old. Here we go:

There is never a request without a please that follows. And never a gesture made without a thank you offered. You have no idea how high the please and thank you's are on my list of mandatory manners. They are the magic words after all...and this kid uses them CONSTANTLY...without being prompted. Awesomeness.
He is not to cool to go in for the hug. Need I say more? I love me an 11 year old boy that will still give up the snuggles.
He is smart. Like really smart. He uses words like aviator, and unaccompanied minor, and "once I was in custody of Grandma at the airport I called my Dad." Huh? What 11 year old speaks this way...a smart one that's who. His vocabulary just tickled me and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for this Einstween!!! (Disclaimer: I will not be held liable for the corniness of my play on words...it's how I roll people).
He goes with the flow dude. The last time I saw Reese was in August of 2006...so he was 7. And Channing had never met him prior to this weekend. But you could never tell from the looks of these pictures...

Sorry that the quality isn't great...but this is what they liked to call their "butt bump" victory move after creaming Mom and Dan at an intense game of Baggo. They were fast friends for sure.

5. He loves Sayler. He was so smitten with her the entire time he was there. She is teething and therefore the drool faucet is on full speed. We were all playing downstairs and Reese and Sayler were standing looking out the window when Reese got up and quickly ran upstairs. We wondered what he was doing and then he came back downstairs with a paper towel to wipe Say's face. Could you just die??? What 11 year old boy does that? My nephew that's who!!!

6. He cleared my Mom's plate from the dinner table without being asked to do so. This one put Channing right over the edge. We were finished eating and just sitting at the table chatting and Reese walks over to my Mom and says, "Grandma can i take you plate for you?" I thought Channing was going to fall flat on his face from the shock. I'm telling you...in about 15 years...this one is going to be a serious catch for some lucky girl.

7. He never complained...about anything...not once. When my Mom asked him to stop playing with his PSP for a while and come in and play with Sayler in the toy room he did it without an eyelash batted. I cannot say enough great things about this kid.

8. He is keeping a journal to memorialize his trip to my parents. It is the sweetest thing. He read some of the entries to us and Channing and I made it our goal to make the journal!!! We finally did and felt like we had won the lottery. After every entry he would keep track of his mood too. It was too much awesome to handle for one weekend I am telling you...this is one gold star kid!!!

Here are a few more pictures from our wonderful weekend with Reese (oh yeah and Grandma and Grandpa too!!!)...