Welcome, William (emphasis on the comma*)

Today my in-laws are driving up with Preston's youngest brother, William, who will be starting college next week right down the street from us!  I am crazy about both my brothers-in-law, so I'm super excited that William will be joining us in the Land of the Quakers.  So super excited, in fact, that I made William a banner, and then hung it in our den for all to see.  

And yes, I did sign the dog's names.  And yes, my stars do look like a toddler drew them.  BUT!  I promise that a toddler could not have made this deeelicious chocolate cake (please ignore the sloppy piping, which I piped with a very fancy plastic bag with the tip cut off):  

 My in-laws are taking us out to dinner tonight to celebrate Preston's upcoming birthday, so I decided it was only fair that William share the cake with Pres.  [*Sidenote: When I asked Preston if he liked the cake, he smiled and replied, "Yeah," and after a beat, with some definite sarcasm, "I like that you used commas."  And then he kissed me and we laughed about my tendency to over-comma.  Because our life really IS this exciting!]  However, I did also make William his very own package of chocolate chip bars for his first few days in his dorm.  These he does not have to share with Preston.

I also restrained myself from wrapping them up with a ribbon or brightly colored tissue paper (the bow on the package in the background is for my in-laws). This was difficult for me, as there are few things I love as much as ribbon (I am 100% girl). 

Moral of the story: YAY, as of tonight we will no longer be the only family members in Pennsylvania!  When William initially started looking at schools in our area, I think he thought it might be fun to be near us - to have someone to call in a pinch, to have a place to go for a home-cooked meal, etc.  And yes, we are thrilled to provide all those things for William.  However, I would be lying if part of me wasn't super excited for him to be here because FREE DOG WALKERS WHILE WE ARE AWAY!  And (eventually), FREE BABY-SITTING!  Also, William doesn't know about my miscarriages (as far as I know), which means he has no idea that over the last year my maternal urge has gone from twenty to EIGHT BILLION on a scale from one to one hundred.  So this poor guy, who is VERY ready to get away from his own mother (as every eighteen-year-old boy is), has absolutely no idea that he's walking into my hormonal, pre-maternal world of CRAZY.

And all I can really say to that is: 1) sorry, and 2) MUAHAHAHAHA.