Meet the family

For those of you who don't know, my parents split up when I was in high school. I've been staying with my dad for most of the time in Chicago, just because that's where I grew up and where all my friends were. My mom moved down to Tennessee just a few years ago and will be celebrating her 2nd anniversary with her new husband Gregg this summer. Here's a picture of me with them in Miami last year:

Gregg's a great guy, and you can tell they're both very happy together, which is really nice.
Along with this new step-dad came some step-siblings. Gregg had a few kids from previous marriages, two of which I have the joy of seeing every weekend when they come stay with him.

 Macy (on the left) is 8 and a bit of a drama queen. She wants things her way and craves attention. The other night she came into my room around 10 o'clock crying because she couldn't sleep; she thought some cartoon character was going to get her haha. She wanted to sleep with me, but I had to tell her she was old enough to sleep in her own bed. That didn't go well, and pretty soon she was getting yelled at for waking up everyone in the house!
Then, there's Leia. I think she's 5, but she may have turned 6 without me knowing! She is adorable. She's an adventure-seeker, and she's always got a smile on her face. She's usually laughing at nothing, which often causes me to giggle uncontrollably with her.  The two of them are just at that age where they want to play with you all the time and want to be just like you, so they're often in my room going through my makeup or my jewelry making me nuts

(like this hahaha) and even though I only see them two days a week, it's definitely enough to wear me out!

(like that hehe) But as rambunctious as they are, and as crazy as they make me, these little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boogers have been such a blessing. It's been a joy to spend so much time with them this summer, and I'm going to miss them. I've also been really lucky to have been able to get to know Gregg better and spend some much-needed time with my mom.

That being said, I am very excited to head back to Chicago in about a week and a half!  It's been a long while since I've seen my sister, my dad, and all my high school friends.
And ready for the big news??
My dad's getting remarried!
Or at least he's seriously considering it haha. He asked me what I thought about it - I told him if he was happy I was happy! Here's a picture of him and his (perhaps) fiance:

Her name's Irene. They met in Greece this summer when my dad went for a few months. Evidently she doesn't speak a word of English, but she's planning on coming to the states to stay with my dad for at least 6 months before they decide if they want to stay in America or move back to Europe. We'll see how that goes...I'm excited to see what the future has in store for them!
And my dad's also decided to move because the house he has now is so big and now that my sister is officially moving out, he wants a smaller, cheaper place. I guess he found an apartment he likes, so I'm happy for him. Although I'm sick of moving (we've done it about 5 times in the past 6 years) this should be a pretty good change. And I don't know how much longer I'll be going home to him until I have a home of my own (scary thought)!

And one last thing before I go, because this is too cute not to mention! Last night I missed dinner because I had to work the closing shift, but when I got home I found this note on the table:

So I went to the fridge, and what did I see?

A to-go box from Dixie just waiting for me! It's filled with pulled pork!! BBQ pork is one of my favorite foods. And Dixie BBQ is amazing! That cup there is filled with their sauce and there were containers of fried potatoes and baked beans, too! I think my favorite thing, though, was the lovely artwork my mom did for me hahah. This was just so nice to come home to! I wasn't hungry last night, but I can't wait for lunch today!!

Lots of lovin'!
 - Jamie