News from our new routine: Right Now

3 happy kids as summer wound down and headed in to school year adventures. 

I like lists and have been missing Ten on Tuesdays so here is a look at where we are "Right Now."

1. Back to school is kind of hard on my.  I go from a house full of people all day to usually just me. I am a people person and it still is a little confusing that I telecommute given that, but it is so good in so many other ways.  Luckily, my mom has been around a few days a week of late dropping in here and there, but still definitely lonely. This, inevitably, lead to an emotional discussion with Brent on wholly unrelated topics that we both knew was really about my difficultly with transitions and the intense logistics of back to school when all of us, one way or another, have our daytime driving by school calendars. (Brent and I work for two different schools, our 3 kids go to 2 different schools... uh huh).  We LOVE education. Anyway, a lot is changing and going on so I wanted to hit some high and not so highlights here.

2. THE most exciting things this back to school revolve around B, which is cool. B is, like his daddy, not the world's "most" enthusiastic/emotive person on a daily basis.  Last year was hard with transitioning schools, a more demanding teacher, and adapting to all the newness.  This year is off to an amazing start.  He has the only male teacher in the school and LOVES it.  Loves his teachers, the class, looks forward to it, and seems to be thriving.  He has maybe found a new best buddy or two as well, which rocks.  He is willingly doing the very minimal homework he has and reveling in knowing he is really good at some of these things like reading and math.  He is excited about and enjoying 2 hours a week of enrichment (gifted and talented program).  He just seems baseline happier, more cooperative, more chatty, every day.  Such a relief.

3. There is MORE big news for B.  Remember his love of swim team this summer? Well, yesterday he finally started swimming with the King Marlin Swim Club (KMSC). I could probably write a whole post on our kids' activities they have tried and done, but not been passionate about.  We have had the opportunity to expose them to a lot of things and they have taken us up on it.  So far, B has tried - soccer (1.5 years), baseball (1.5 years), basketball (2 weeks?), archery (3 months), Tennis (4 months), Spanish (1.5 years)--- some he liked more than others, but rarely was he really all in.  He is SO all in to swimming.  He has been looking forward to it, practicing his strokes when we visit the neighborhood pool, helping gather supplies for the new team, and being very accepting of the new schedule that means swim team practice 4x a week for 45 minutes. We have never committed this level of time or resources to an activity, but also it never felt like there was an interest. I missed taking him to the first day of KMSC practice because the other 2 kids had teacher/parent meetings. We prepped him with information from our neighborhood coach whose kids swim for this club as well.  She is amazing.  Grandma took him and there were no problems, just 100 or more kids swimming hard. From school/neighborhood teams he knows maybe a dozen including one of those new buddies from school!  He came back super pumped and super starving.  He wants to compete asap.  He says they swam more laps yesterday than in all of the summer combined and yet he loved it.  We are so completely thrilled that he has found something he loves to do that is good for his body, good for the practice of routine exercise, good for his psychology and just plain fun.  Hooray for swimming and GO Marlins!

4.  M is maybe more of a mixed bag.  Lucky for us our kids seem to take turns with the highs and lows.  M is fine.  Her teacher is super enthusiastic and different from last year.  M says they spend a lot of time in circle time and her back hurts.  She is making new friends as some of her best friends are in other classes.  She is having nagging stomach issues, but maybe improving with the acid reflux.  Most of her issues, I think, are at home.  There is a lot of whiny and way too much lying about whether or not she has done what we told her too.  We are tightening up her supervision and basically watching everything she does to verify it is happening.  I doubt it is fun for her and it isn't for us, but we really have to help her build habits of cleanliness, honesty, and good health.  She is leaving chores half done by, for example, putting clothes that go in her drawers in the video game baskets.... So, there's that.

5.  The better news for M is her love of horses and english riding.  She doesn't even need to get on the horses.  She would love to just hang around in the stables and smell them...yes, you read that right.  We arrive at riding lessons 15-30 minutes early most week so she has time to wander the stables.  This week she is being promoted to group riding lessons which are the same price as the semi-private (2 rider) lessons of last month, but now last an entire hour.  She is psyched.  She is reading non-fiction and fiction books about horses. Sometimes a large number if imaginary horses live in our backyard.  She practices posting at the bus stop and everywhere else.  She has a whole area of her room which is a stable area for her toy horses.  It is definitely obsession level.  I don't see, yet, the need to compete that B has with swimming. She just enjoys doing it and being with the animals and I'm just as happy to invest the money in lessons v. competitions and all the gear that goes with it.  Saturday riding lessons are the best part of her week and she is so antsy to go before hand that she can barely handle it. (As a reminder prior to this she has tried dance lessons - 3 different years), Gymnastics 2.25 years, soccer - 1 season, swim team - summer, french - 2 years, girl scouts - ongoing) she tends to alternate between dance and gymnastics and prefers dance of the two, but with nothing like the fervor of the horse riding.  M loves to perform so weeks and weeks of lessons for one performance doesn't really match that although I know as she got older there would be more performance opportunities.  For now, we're fully embracing the love of horses and riding.  She says she wants to be a riding instructor when she grows up.

6. My poor, sweet E is exhausted.  Pre-K for him is actually more time in school than our bigger kids spend.  He, I'm told, does not nap at school.  When he is tired, he goes super fast --- think running all over, which is confusing.  He stops listening and starts hitting people or throwing things.  You can imagine how well evenings are going right now. I think he will adapt, but it is taking some time.  We had his parent/teacher group meeting yesterday and while the comments from his teacher were directed at all the parents I feel sure E is doing all of these things - taking off all his clothes to go potty, not always wiping well, not washing his hands with all the steps (water, soap, rub hands, rinse, dry), being distracted at lunch/not eating, not staying in his chair at lunch/snacktime, not keeping hands to themselves, forgetting to say please and thank  you, wearing a belt, forgetting to go to the bathroom before going to school, should I continue? These are all really life skills not academic ones, but they are things 4 year olds struggle with and we're trying to do a better job of emphasizing them here too.  Scandalously, I accidentally sent him in black rather than navy pants on Thursday.  Who knew we even had black dress pants for him? There was a stern note.

 This week's pre-K color is "yellow" (They are reading all curious george books, obvi) and the theme is "letting your light shine." So we're trying to emphasize that at home too and making sure his light is shining before he goes to school.  This is basically a reminder to be kind to everyone, share, help, talk nicely, mind your teachers, not throw fits, etc..  We talk about ways he is shining his light and try to keep him focused on that.... we shall see how that goes.  It is really hard to have all the tired struggles as I know he remains my sweet, snuggly, adoring boy under all that, but right now he is struggling through transition too and we're trying to help, but do have to also do a lot of parenting to keep him on the path. We, amazingly, did remember to bring his show and share item today - yellow, as requested.  He chose "sunshine bear," which seems perfectly on theme.  I"m excited for a more relaxed weekend with him, reading his new favorite ninja turtles in space book Grandma brought him yesterday.

7. Brent is actually the happiest and least stressed in the fall as he is mostly just teaching classes not doing quite as many of the administrative/camp things.  He is taking E to school two days a week and maybe coming home to cover swimming lessons some days too.  The thing about all school and these activities for our kids is they require a lot of logistics from us and getting everyone to the right place with the right stuff. For example, there can be 15 lunches to be made, 15 folders to review, 10 snacks to pack, etc...  We're working on being a true team on this front so we each really know what is needed and work through the prep together so neither of us goes crazy.  We're also working on the kids doing more of the prep themselves - especially things like lunch and snacks.  (Hooray!).  Otherwise, Brent is getting ready for football season with his dad, playing games with Gavin and Eric, doing lots of LEGOs with the kids, brainstorming fixes for the camps for next year,  and preparing for some of my upcoming trips away.

Yes, you read that right, I'm going to leave the chaos for a ridiculously brief trip in Sept. and then again in October. I should note that I was, in fact, for possibly the only month so far this year actually in Oklahoma every single day of August.

So that's pretty much where we are now.  Trying to adapt on lots of fronts and so, so excited for a three day weekend. 

Days Like This

I'm for keeping it real.  There are alot of sunshine, rainbows, and beautiful light in my blog and my online life, but every once in awhile we need posts like today to balance it out and be real about my day.

In fairness, most of my day was normal, fine, typical but there in late afternoon things went a little off the rockers.

This afternoon, I had a "strategic brainstorming" type call that ran right to the time I had to pick up M for Girl Scouts.  These meant I walked in to Cross Timbers to check her out wearing the little wireless ear piece thing that I always think makes me look like a tool from a decade ago, but sometimes that is balancing work and motherhood for me.  I finished the call in the car while she attempted to tell me random things and I kept reminding her I was listening to something else (mother hood guilt on cue).

The call ended before we arrived at St. John's so all was going well.  We picked up E from his school and walked him across the parking lot to child care at the church.  He was not thrilled.  This was the first of many sets of tears from E today.  Stuggle bus for sure.  He pulled it together and we headed to Girl Scouts.

We had been waiting in the hall for the Kindergarten class to dismiss and entered the room to find there had been a theft of some kind by one of our fellow Girl Scouts.  This lead to a lesson on "honesty" (a topic ostensibly covered weeks ago).  This drifted off in to a discussion about doing what adults tell you---- and some clarity that that is not always the right thing to do, Circle of Grace, yada yada and the troop leader, pregnant with her fourth child in 6 years and flustered, had to take a break before that went further.

We went through basic troop business and my friend Bethany arrived to teach the troop about Chinese New Year, complete with props, snacks, crafts, and a story explaining the tradition (her daughter is 1/2 Vietnamese so this was a sharing of her daughter's cultural heritage--- and very fun).  Meanwhile, I began cookie talks with the troop leader.  I turned in money and received 50 more boxes of cookies in return. .... Then things began to fall apart.

I attempted to take the first load of cookies to my car.  B called while I was out in the insane wind to report he was home and he HAD to tell me something, which I proceeded to not hear as the call dropped.  Then, I realized I left my keys inside (called Bethany who confirmed).  Hauled cookies back inside, tried again and called B back --- his news was decidedly non-urgent.  M helped me carry the second load of cookies.  I immediately realize I have walked off with some of Bethany's cookies so we head back to the class room, yet again.  There is some mad inventory checking in the parking lot and we finally all agree they are not mine, but hers.... Rumors are flying that the girl who stole may be kicked out.

We head to pick up E.  He is in the bathroom having just had a bloody nose,  We leave, and I immediately suspect he had an accident during that incident.  So we then go back in to the parish hall area and change his pants.... his bloody nose begins again.  So bloody nose, naked, etc... We finally pull that together... with more tears and thus more bloody nose.

He then proceeds to cry about not getting additional snacks when his run out, bringing his things inside, dinner, not having electronics, and basically everything that happens.... followed by more bloody nose....

Once home, M and I try to do cookie inventory, break the new cookies down in to orders, count by types, etc... I try to email our stuff to the new accountant --- this is ironic as I have to scan everything I have meticulously printed as she now wants it electronically when previously she said paper. Nice.

Dinner gets made and we wind down in to Harry Potter reading while I text Bethany about the hilarity that is Girl Scouts....


Not so bad, not so good. The many trips to the car and E bloody nose/wet pants moment really topped it off.  This is a very real look at 5 hours in a Monday at casa Richards.   It seems substantially less dramatic just a few hours later with wine in hand :)

Ps. Any one want Girl Scout cookies? You can order them here from wherever you are! M's Digital Cookie

E's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Party!

 The wonderful thing about our friends and parties at our house is that they are very fluid. I generally include a start and end time, but everyone understands that you are welcome to come early or stay late and we're just happy to have you share the day with us.  This time, M & her twin Serenity were one of the hits of the party. They loved it, we parents were often confused about who was who, and it was tremendous fun to have twins for a day!

 Grandma & Uncle Able were early arrived too and a bit help.  Zane arrived and exclaimed "there are two Ms"  and of course there were.  Dance party ensued.

 B wired a circuit to play Happy Birthday for his Brother and then spent a lot of time doing more wiring.  It so happens that our parties also skew heavily towards engineers and other science folk who loved this too.

 There was was lots of conversation and E hung pretty close to his parents, both because of his foot issue and general cranky/clinginess.

 We made plenty of fun food, including oreo mickey mouses, watermelon cute out in Mickey shapes (with help from B), and everyone could have regular rice krispies or cut theirs in to Mickey shapes too.

 Lots of boy babies ran or were passed along.

 E was adorable, if a bit sleepy. We made ears for everyone and had necklaces too, just for fun.  Zane brought his own ears and a special hot dog full of candy--- which every party needs.

 We scattered balloons all over and they were the base of many a kid-created game, and definitely terrific fun.

 E had progressive present opening.  He had lots of presents on Thursday and today opened a few close to the beginning and others as more guests arrived.

 His present from one of his Godmothers (my friend Heather in DC) even arrived during the party and was immediately well loved. He also got two different lawn mowers, that all his guests used more than he did, but I think will be awesome.

 For whatever reason the Mickey frosting got really dark (I know it gets darker as it sets, but sometimes I forget and I "might" have had a few too many helpers during the frosting tinting phase).  In any case, it was popular and is all gone.

 E dug in and at his piece up as well as a quite a bit of his orange sherbet.

 There was lots and lots of playing outside. I try to break out the parachute whenver we have guests as it is really best with lots of friends.

 Lots of kids over around and playing their own way.

 E & B continue to be awesome together.

 We did manage to find the little guy's smile somewhere along the way.

 Daddy's and their baby boys remain completely adorable.

I love our crew family and friends that are family.  It was wonderful to have everyone here just playing and laughing together.

 Grandma caught this one unawares enjoying nature.

E & Ro shared some love and some wrestling as always, but parted with a hug, which was so sweet.  It was sad to see everyone go, but lovely to have had a wonderful visit and celebration of our little E.  He is a very lucky boy to be surrounded by so much love, and we are all so lucky to share his story.  We love you little one, today and always 

Today

This week is going to be all sorts of crazy everyday.  I thought it would be fun just to see what it will take to get us out the door on Monday morning: (Note, I've only included the kids, but assume Brent and I have to get presentable and organized too).

B:

1. Backpack
2. Lunch
3. Full Water bottle
4. Jacket
5. Daily Folder
6. Friday Folder
7. Signed report card envelope
8. Signed weekly behavior sheet 
9. Food for the food drive (5 items)
10. Hat - it is Red Ribbon week and today is hat day
11. "patterned" socks or shirt
12. Jacket --- which we'll all hope he doesn't lose this week.
13. DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) book

As you can see above, he has written a note to himself about the clothing pieces and taped the hat/patterned socks to his bed.  Totally loved discovering this.  He does need many of these items every day, but this particular day is close to double the normal volume of "stuff."

M:

1. $2.50 for Pizza 
2. Backpack
3. Full water bottle
4. Jacket
5. Costume -- she is probably going with the cat costume again
6. Treat bucket
7. Clothes to wear when she tires of the costume

E:

1. $2.50 for Pizza
2. Backpack
3. Full water bottle
4. Jacket
5. Costume - Monkey again
6. Treat bucket
7. Clothes to wear the rest of the day (maybe under his costume other than the shoes)
8. 4 diapers with his name on them
9. Back up clothes
10. Enjoy pieces of cheese for his entire class to enjoy during the party (No, I do not know how many are in his class...obviously).

I suppose the good news is I'm only making one lunch, which is rare.  And possibly this can serve as my note when I start forgetting something shortly after 8. Also, M&E will need those exact same things on Tuesday (minus the cheese, I think).  B's list will still be long, but different, of course, because we can't do the same thing two days in a row, right?

I do not think Halloween week was this crazy when I was a kid or at least I was totally oblivious. As you've probably noticed over the years, I let the kids wear as many costumes during this season as they like rather than get them to commit to one as there are so many opportunities and it should be fun.  The boys rarely switch, but M often does.  So far this year, her planned costumes have been:

1. Fairy Princess--- It looks like she won't wearing this anywhere at all, despite both making and acquiring from the Dairy Godmother a special wand.  It is my favorite... as you can tell.

2.  Bat Girl - She work this to the fall festival at Angie Debo and randomly decided she wanted to keep wearing it.  On Friday, I suggested that if this was going to be her main costume it needed some fancying up to make it more hers and less B's so we made this cool bat girl "skirt." It was fast, fun, and I loved it. (UPDATE: She actually decided to go to school as Batgirl afterall, but subbed in sparkly black tights and black shorts for the pants we'd originally planned)

3. Cat - On Saturday, the shirt to the bat girl costume was strangely MIA (she said it was in the wash, but it was actually lost among stuffed animals).  So, we brainstormed going back to her cat costume from when she was 2 as it was the easiest thing we had readily available that wasn't a princess. (I blame these sudden anti-princess sentiments on Olivia--- I hope it dims a  bit as we have so many cool costumes not getting worn just now). 

(I should note, we didn't buy her all these costumes for halloween.  We only bought the stuff to make the bag girl skirt and a wand to go with her fairy princess costume.  Everything else is from our "stash" of fun stuff).

Likely to be continued... as who knows how many more costumes may emerge this week.

Iris

Iris are a big tradition for the women of the Dotter/Melton family.  (I am, for reference purposes, Dr. Dotter's daughter's daughter).  I can remember my Great-Grandmother, Grandmother, Mom, and Aunt's houses surrounded by Iris and the sent of them wafting through the houses as a few that were too heavy for the stalks or too pretty to miss during the day came inside.  

My Aunt, Mom, and Grandpa Dotter now curate the family collection.  This weekend at the farm, I watched them wander my Mom's gardens noting which colors she had, which ones they wanted in their own yards, and which ones they would bring to her to add to her gardens in the fall.  As usual, I am fairly sure my Aunt Ann managed to leave with a few roots of something in her bag before returning to PA, even though it isn't time to dig up the Iris yet.  

As each of my cousins and I have grown up and moved out on our own there has come a time when we are given our own Iris for our own yards.  Not everyone is to that stage yet, but many of us are.  Usually, my Mom or Aunt Ann will arrive with some when we have our own home and are somewhat settled.  I've seen my Aunt carry many a bag of Iris from my Grandparents' garden onto an airplane to add to her own collection or that of her daughters.  Some Iris are usually left as we each migrate on to the next home, but sometimes they come too.  

Only when I arrived back in Oklahoma in 2008 did I really feel like I was ready for my share of the family Iris legacy.  My Mom brought just a few bulbs for my front garden here.  Now, four years later, the flowering stalks are nearly 5 feet tall and bursting with white blooms.  This week is full of stormy weather in Oklahoma so a few have bent over and had to come inside.  Now my house, inside and out, smells like Iris too, just like all those other women that raised and nurtured me.  I hope my children learn to recognize this smell too and associate it with family and our love for each other. 

Now my own beds are growing full of bulbs that threaten to take over and it is almost time for me to share some of mine back to the family gardens or to a friend that would like some.  I love that this little bit of my family is spread across the country from coast to coast with us and into the homes and lives of our children and friends.  May your spring be blessed with family, fragrant flowers, and love, just like mine is.

(NOTE:  Let me know in the fall if you want some Iris as I'll be separating mine then.  Also, it is the 12th so this is one picture from my 12 on the 12th series that should post later today. Want to join in the fun? Pick up your phone or camera and click away, then share with us later today or later this week.  I'd love to see what you capture!)

Some days

Today was such a mix as, I suppose, so many days are.

Some things went very well.  Some things threw me into a tail spin.  Sometimes I lost my temper.  Sometimes I was genuinely surprised.  Some things worked so well and others went poorly.  Sometimes we all succeeded and had awesome moments together.  Sometimes I was impatient and cranky with my kids.  Sometimes my kids were amazing, adorable, and enthusiastic and I tried hard to embrace and encourage them.  Sometimes they asked me the same question 30 times in a row (and I dreamed briefly of silence).  Sometimes I cried with my head on my desk and sometimes I was quite successful being the advocate I want and need to be.  Some of the time I shared a moment with a dear friend and others I was quite alone. Sometimes it rained.  Sometimes the sky was a beautiful blue and filled with the most gorgeous clouds.  Sometimes I noticed the clouds and gorgeous flowers along the road and sometimes those other things got in the way of the beauty around me.

Some days are like this.

Thanks to those that hold me up during the hard parts and thanks for the beauty that is there in people and the world if I can pull myself out of the hard parts long enough to look and be refreshed. 

St. Patrick's Day Recap

We had a strangely full St. Patrick's Day. So much so, that I want to do a brief day in our lives type post here.  I assure you that our weekends are not all like this and feel certain they are going to be different for awhile when baby boy arrives, but for this year, St. Patrick's Day went like this:

8am: We wake up to M crying. She gets her medicine and snuggles in bed with Mom and Dad for a bit.

8:15-9am: We get everyone up and dressed in their green and decide to go out in search of green sprinkle doughnuts for breakfast (and yes, maybe being out of coffee had something to do with it). Before we left, the kids found that the "little people" had left them some St. Patrick's day treasure. They found the book Too Many Leprechauns: Or How That Pot o' Gold Got to the End of the Rainbow  along with a trail of gold chocolate coins. B gave each of us a large coin and gave me an extra small coin to share with is baby brother:)  The one remaining coin was put in the "candy file"as he dubbed it for a future treat.

Of course we had to read the book before leaving and also had to gather all of our soccer things and stroller for the zoo trip later in the day. 

9:10-9:30:  (Not pictured) - Doughnuts at the local "Tasty Sun"doughnut shop.  The kids had rings on their sprinkle doughnuts which they treasured all day.

9:40-10:50: Dragonfly soccer -- When we left our house it was already over 70 and seemed lovely. It was much, MUCH windier and cooler at the soccer field. We had to add a layer of shirts for M and have Uncle Able bring his jacket over, but persevered. We had let B pack his soccer bag, and apparently he didn't bring his soccer socks, so he had to wear regular short ones and got off to a slow start overall. 

He perked up after some fun with Grayson (below) and noticing that Uncle Able, Grammy, & Granddaddy were there cheering him on. 

 The Dragonflies were not victorious, but had a fun game. One of the parents brought these awesome green Dragonfly cookies and green gatorade for after the game snacks. So very very cool!

(Note, B says his eyes look funny here because of the sun +wind combination, but wanted to show you his cookie). 

11-12:25:  Lunch at Homerun Sliders with Grammy, Granddaddy, & Uncle Able. This was Grammy and my birthday lunch. B brought her very special birthday drawing to the game and they brought me this awesome Polar running watch with heart rate monitor. I was so surprised and can't wait to try it!  We were the very first customers of the day and lunch was very slow coming, but we had a great time chatting and trying all the many ketchup choices. 

12:22-3:45 - Zoo adventure - Our friend Jennie has a tradition of an annual Zoo trip for her birthday. Apparently a large portion of OKC decided to join her as we had to park way out in the overflow parking. Happily, we had our stroller and a strong Daddy along to help carry kids. 

 

 

 We went to the giraffe feeding and maybe I had a bit too much fun with my zoom lens as we now have quite the collection of up close shots of the giraffe and his super long black tongue.

She is just a bit excited!

Here is the birthday girl and her sweet boy.  We were actually with several more friends, but got separated in a search for a bathroom from M and didn't reconnect in the mass of people. 

I am sure this would be fun on a real giraffe too, right?

Corwyn's Daddy was home sick so Brent took him for a bit of a ride as the afternoon wore on.  In reality, a lot of our wandering was spent loading and unloading kids from the stroller or Brent's shoulder or making sure everyone had a drink/snack.  Still fun, but part of our reality now. 

The parents and kids were pretty worn out by the end of Oklahoma trails so we said farewell to the alligators and began our slow trek back to the car.  Of course we had to see the Rhinos on the way out as how can you go to the OKC Zoo and miss them?  

3:50pm We were all thoroughly exhausted by this point, but it was past any hope of kid napping.  So, we belted them in, listed to several rounds of wheels on the bus from Lady M in the car before they both fell asleep.

4:30-5:45 - We got everyone home, all of the stuff hauled back in,read the Leprechaun book again, and given M some Tylenol. I had to give in and nap at this point.  Brent, ostensibly, was watching the kids, but they tell me he napped too while they watched Sesame Street.  By the time we were all awake and rested it was time for dinner.

5:45-7:20 - Dinner was another project in my use up the freezer stash plan.  So, we had bacon, hashbrown casserole and eggs (Sandwiches, or scrambled or with toast).  This took awhile to cook so we did other things like fold laundry and work on our LEGO pirate ship building.  Dinner was great fun as each of us told about our favorite things at the zoo and the kids were actually eating.... perhaps because it was 7 o'clock and they were quite hungry? B, happily, informs us that now that he is 5 he like bacon, which is a good development as we were wondering if he was related to us previously.

7:20-8:05 - Bedtime rituals as usual plus M's meds for her double ear infection and they fairly easily settled into sleep

Brent and I watched another episode of Downtown Abbey on Netflix and went back to the office for our ritual evening computer time.  We, strangely, didn't make it to bed much earlier than usual, but slept quite well.

The day was a pretty far cry from six years ago when my St. Patrick's Day celebrations included touring the Guinness  factory and watching the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, but both were enjoyable and I'm glad to have experienced them all. A belated Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

Today

 Today, I woke up earlier than I'd hoped to small girl sounds at my door and good morning conversations with my little girl.

Today, from the very outset, I was exhausted.  I took my time this morning and hoped for the best.  I felt older and with less energy, but no real reason why.

Today, my kids watched WonderPets after breakfast, but also spent an hour playing with me and each other-- skip bo, books, dolls, and many a story from Ms. M (also tired).

Today, was pizza day.  I remembered the tuition money, but forgot my cash in the car.  Much later, I discovered that all of that flurry of drop-off happened with my cardigan inside out. (Sigh).

Today, focus was hard, but I tried.  I waded through a, albeit not "the", constitution.

Today, I missed my sister, mom, dad, and lil' Z.  The house feels more lonely after a weekend full of people.

Today, I made myself a healthy lunch and made my family's dinner early around the same time.  Somewhere in here, I managed to forget to push "mute" on my phone during a conference call so my colleagues got to listen to me dropping silverware....

Today, I made plans with friends and worked on being connected in the future to compensate for the hours alone.

Today, I wanted nothing more than to curl up and take a nap after work, but I didn't/couldn't.  I picked up the kids (properly clad), went to the store (ran into my son's foot with the cart---ooops), bought essentials, and focused on finding something to make the afternoon cool for my kids.

Today, we played outside for a hour.  It was 75 degrees.  The kids rode trikes, ran in the grass, explored, and had yogurt snacks. M created her own random flying carpet and I weeded some flower beds.  B hid and enjoyed greater freedom.  I watched and smiled and was glad.

Today, she started waiting for her Daddy around 3:45pm... luckily she moved on before  long.

Today, I did 4.5 loads of laundry.  Nearly all of them were even folded and put away before Brent came home.  I did not, however, make much progress on cleaning anything else, although there was plenty more to do.

Today, my son got a bit of Kirby time and was glad.  Lady M cleaned up a bit of the messes she and her buddy Z had created this week, but also spent some time in time out for not listening.  She was a completely adorable bundle of wiggly words, phrases and wildness too.

Today, everyone ate and enjoyed their dinner.  We told stories about our day.  M's story was that her nose keeps being blue (true, if random!). B helped with chores and it felt like progress was made on the chaos.  

Today, her Daddy came home to snuggle with after all the waiting.

Today, I rested and wandered the internet a bit while they played and she wiggled, we talked to Granddaddy, and then we all launched into bedtime rituals. 

Today, she brought her baby brother toy after toy to play with. So adorable, but hard when it was "technically" book time, not entertain your baby brother in Mommy's tummy time (if such a thing exists).  He put on his PJs in slo mo (or so it seemed). 

Today, we tucked them in, sang, kissed their heads, did just a bit more cleaning, sighed, and retired to rest together, and hope they sleep.  

Today, I was and am exhausted, but I will go to sleep soon knowing that I did my best that I gave what I had, that today was a good day for my family even with its challenges.

What is your story of Today?  

Ten on Tuesday

1.  I am in a place this evening where lots of things I "should" do and not as many I "want to do.  Where to begin?

2.  Exercise!  Last week I didn't remember to add it to my Ten on Tuesday, but did make my three days.  This week -- 1 day.  I ran today, outside, and am so glad.  That said, it was not easy, at all.  I am now running only one day a week to try and deal with my feet/hip issue and because with short days I mostly have to rely on the treadmill, which I still don't like.  Thank goodness for some good tunes and every motivational trick I could think of. I made it the three miles.  I did walk briefly twice, but made it 18 minutes before a rest and after not having run in nearly two weeks I feel OK about it.  I am glad I am still running at 15+ weeks pregnant.  I still like running outside. I know it would feel better/be easier if I could do it more often so my resolution for January is to find a decent Doctor to help with my feet.

3.  December Daily - I had just told Brent I was done with it and needed to step away for awhile.  My plan was to revert back to last year's model and just do the journaling and pics and craft later (I miss/need to do 12x12 layouts it has been nearly a month!).  Then, I happened onto this post by Lisa Truesdell.  It reminded me that the journaling doesn't need to be paragraphs, it can be lines.  The decorations don't need to be complicated. I don't need huge or many photos.  It is ok, to be short and simple.  It is doable.  Maybe I'll do just a bit more....

4.   Today was awesome. Brent was a house husband today as the state government was closed, but my work was not.  I left the office door open and watch him build Lego wonders with the kids in the bright morning light as they sang along to kids' songs on the iPad.  He ran errands, and brought me lunch.  The kids laughed and played and each got to "do their thing" with Dad and soon I was free too.  It was so lovely.

5.  Tomorrow, we all go back to work/childcare/camp, etc... for two days.  I really can't complain, but found myself missing extended breaks of yesteryear.  I will start work early to try to fit a day in while B is at Zoo camp. Brent will take M to Ms Kim's and head to work.  In the afternoon though, the kids and I will play and nap and wait for Daddy to come home.  Then, Friday will return with another 4 days together.  There are many less plans for these four days than for the last and we'll try to savor them.

6.  I have a Dr. Apt. on Friday with my OB.  It is my 16 week exam plus some tests they need to run on me.  I've been wandering around feeling fine about them, but as it nears I can feel myself getting paranoid all over again.  Pray that I am fine, for all our sakes--- odds are very, very high that I aim, but I fret, you know.

7. I can feel the baby move.  I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I've been able to for a couple weeks.  It is early, but I think at the third time round it is a bit easier as I know what I'm feeling for.  The movements became much bigger this weekend though, which is kinda fun.  I will love it even more when Brent can share in the fun.

8.  I've just begun planning B's various birthday parties.  I'm hosting one group party for B, Brent and Gavin (and maybe the Robledos too).  I am still figuring out how to mesh the school friends/family party and what that might be this year. Tricky that it is so close to Christmas/New Year's as I always get distracted from my planning.  I "think" that we'll have a loose Mario theme, but still a bit unsure.

9.  We did, at last, finish our refinancing.  Late into the 23rd -- the last day to close this year.  The notary was way over the top and it took way longer than it needed to.  Brent and I left it quite cranky, but happy that it is finally out of the way.

10.  Next up is car shopping.  No, we have no clue what to get.  We are tempted by the Enclave, but it doesn't have much storage room and our jogging stroller only barely fits.  It is so pretty to look at though, comfortable, and so quiet.  Suppose we'll have to look at minivans too.  Just not digging them conceptually.  Thoughts?

Hope you all have a lovely week!

An Evening + An Ant Farm

I, sadly, have gotten my sister's cold and was feeling a bit blah this evening.  In looking back through the photos though it was a pretty cool evening.  First, B's ants for his ant farm arrived at very long last!  There was much rejoicing!  The ants have to chill a bit first to calm them down so he watched the time while they were in the fridge.  Then he helped add them in and watched them start exploring.  This was mixed in with some sister hugging and dinner, but lots of checking in on our new friends.

Then, my Studio Calico Kit arrived and everyone wanted to help unpack all that eye candy.  Turns out everyone was nearly as excited as I was to open each brown paper bag and reveal the treasure.  (B was not so excited when bag revealed just brown paper ("More Kraft").

I also spent some time resting as did MJ who has the sniffles too.  Every once in awhile she would come snuggle up with me under my blanket, before dashing off to bug her brother some more.

Sometimes a very normal Thursday turns into a fun evening despite itself and you just need all the pictures to prove it:

Star wars Line-up

B is a boy, a four-year-old boy, who likes to line up his space ships every day...*

April 19, 2011

The Star Wars toy line up has become part of our daily routine.  It started sometime in April (I think) with just a few space ships (heaven forbid you call them airplanes as I have, on occasion accidentally done). 

May 3, 2011

The collection has grown a bit (thanks to some treasures from Granddaddy's attic), but the ritual continues.  He loves it.  It happens frequently all over the house.  Always in a line.  He knows most of their names and affiliations.  He began occasionally lining them up on his headboard at night so they are always nearby.

Longer still, with the addition of some of the characters, not just the space ships.  Tuesday, I didn't want to wake up as I was sick so he came and did the line-up on the edge of my bed with just a few of his favorites before we migrated back to his room for the full show.

Want to learn how to grown your own little Star Wars fan-kid? Stay tuned as some of our favorite Star Wars toys and "training" instructions are coming soon....

*Intro line is homage to Gossie which we also read with M everyday....