Mamma and Padre Baker to visit!

I feel sort of like the discarded, cast-off eldest child. You know, like the new toy that suddenly isn't new anymore and gets thrown into the closet to collect dust. Or the puppy... yes, the puppy (my Dad's analogy) the puppy who is so delightful when small, but forgotten and neglected once it turns into a grown dog. This often happens when you're the oldest child... and other oldest children can surely attest to this trend. Here we are, the first of the baby birds to leave the nest, and the parents can't wait to get rid of us! (So much for the sad, teary-eyed mother, broken-hearted that her baby girl is moving so far away). Oh no, no such tears for us eldest children. For us, the parting is joyful... and possibly (dare I say...) anticipated?? But fear not, I actually have a theory as to why this happens... and that is, it's because we "broke them in" as parents, so they probably have many, many scarring memories they are trying to suppress, and the very sight or mention of reuniting with their eldest of children suddenly adds AT LEAST 10 grey hairs to their head. (Or maybe that's just me?!)

In any event, I've found that since my itsy baby sister Lisa moved out to live with us, there has been a sudden spike in phone calls from home, emails from home, letters from home, and (gasp!) even VISITS from home!! Its incredible! And as I sit here, reveling in the happiness that comes from being rediscovered (like that toy, or the dog in the backyard) and loved again, I try my darnedest to repress the truth that this spike in attention is only because my baby sister (who is--in case you hadn't caught on--NOT the oldest child in the family) is now living with me.

Sigh.

Okay, so I might be acting slightly factious... but, it IS true that my parents flew all the way out to Nebraska to see dear Lisa (and yes, I'm pretty sure the motivating factor WAS Lisa...), and so I like to play up the whole cast-off child act... its fun ( : Anyway, I'm being silly, because whether or not Lisa was their ulterior motive for visiting, honestly, it WAS really fun to have them out to visit! It was a really random, last minute decision to come, in which they spent a lot of money to get a last minute plane ticket and a lot of money for last minute tickets to the Nebraska/Oklahoma game (an amazing feat, in an of itself, given the level of obsessiveness that Nebraskans place on their football team, AND the fact that Oklahoma is a big rival). It was sort of a whirl wind visit for them, but it was great fun! My only complaint was the moron sitting behind me at the game with the really loud whistle... not to mention his buddy who's entire vocabulary was made up of the word F*** (you know the one I'm talking about).

But it was fun to have them here... and the best part is, they weren't here long enough to drive me crazy!! (Haha, kidding mom)

Here's a few pictures:

This is Lisa marching down to the staduim... you can't see her cause she's so short! Heehee.

This is what she looks like when she's not being covered up by tall people:

The Pride of all Nebraska!!


Julie and Robbie Baby! Rob and I both have this complex about wearing red to a football game... it just goes against our nature as true blue Cougar fans. Still, I swallowed my pride and wore a red Oxford jaket. As you can see, Rob, on the other hand, couldn't even do that!