Phones

I think I might be getting old.

I mean, I guess I knew it was bound to happen eventually, but sometimes I have a seriously hard time remembering that I'm not seventeen anymore.  (And then I realize that seventeen, for me, was half a lifetime ago...sigh.)

What got me this morning was my cell phone.  Having rocked Austin to sleep in my quiet, darkened bedroom, I pulled out my phone to play a round (or few) of Angry Birds before moving him to his crib.  Lulled into a contemplative reverie by the hum of the humidifier, his soft, even breathing, and the rhythmic rocking of my big comfy chair, I was struck, for some reason, by the novelty of this ubiquitous little gadget.  It can play games, music, and videos.  It can show me a map of my town or of the night sky.  It can take photos.  It can surf the internet.  It functions as a flashlight, address book, calculator, calendar, and alarm clock.  It tells me the weather.  And—are you ready for this?!—it even makes phone calls!  What a crazy concept!

This whole line of thinking made me nostalgic for, of all things...pay phones.  Remember?  Those big, shiny metal boxes mounted on walls of most public places, with phones attached to actual cords?  It was a strange realization for me that such a simple and commonplace item from my childhood could seem all at once so outdated in this age of smart phones, Skyping, texting, instant messaging...concepts that were, not so long ago, as foreign as pay phones are now!

Funny, I can't remember the last call I ever placed from a pay phone.  I do, however, remember calling my mom a number of times from the pay phone located outside of my high school's office, to inquire about schedules or to excitedly report the results of long studied for tests.  (I know, I'm such a nerd!)  I remember frequent calls to a crush at his place of employment from the pay phone outside the school cafeteria (scandalous!), calling home from a bank of phones in the mall to ask if I could ride a later bus home (I will never ever ever allow any twelve year old of mine to ride unescorted on public transportation to or from the mall!), phone calls from movie theaters, restaurants, the library.  I remember the clink of quarters and hoping for enough time to talk before having to deposit another one. I remember one fateful call home to my mom from a public phone on campus after meeting my husband-to-be for the very first time.  :)

I'm sort of slow to jump on board trendy, tech savvy bandwagons.  I play music on a CD player, not an ipod, and actually still have quite a few mixtapes from the early 90's.  ;)  I read actual books, not a Kindle or Nook, and my computer is of the desktop, not laptop, variety.  I'm still not actually sure what an ipad does.  But, I have to say...I'm kind of loving my little smart phone!  And, I'm thinking that in another few years, I might actually be bold enough to explore another of the above mentioned items!

But I do still sort of miss those pay phones.  And, because I'm feeling nostalgic, I'm closing with one of my favorite songs, even though yes, thank you very much, it does actually predate yours truly.  Darren is just going to loooove me for including it here, hahaha!  (Right, honey?)  ;)

Birthday Girl

Our sweet Caitlyn turned EIGHT years old last weekend!  I can't believe how fast she's growing up!  Since her birthday was on a Saturday this year, we took full advantage of the day by visiting the pumpkin patch, which has expanded even more since last year!  First, though, she wanted to open her gifts. :) Apparently she and her friends have decided that they are all going to dress as purple witches for Halloween this year, so she was SO excited to see the beautiful Halloween costume she received in the mail from her Nonny and Poppy!  It couldn't be more perfect!  She was also thrilled to receive a brand new, beautiful "real" guitar!  It is gorgeous, and just right for her!  She has already gone through two toy type guitars that just weren't made well, but this one is much better quality and we're hoping to also check into the guitar lessons she's always wanted!

Our trip out to the pumpkin patch was wonderful!  It was a gorgeous day, and since Meghan and I had been out there the day before on a school field trip, she was excited to go again and show Caitlyn all her favorite things.  Austin was particularly cute, running around and playing with the others just like a big boy!  I took so many photos of all my children, but since the blogger uploader is so frustrating and it took me so long to format these I'm only including my favorites of the ones featuring my birthday girl.  Maybe I'll dedicate a future post to the rest of my pumpkin patch pictures.  :) 

We were gone for most of the afternoon, but I had just enough time to make her birthday cake before the delicious dinner she requested (chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, and corn!)  Uncle Robby stopped by with a birthday gift but, due to another commitment he had that night, was unfortunately unable to stay for dinner.  Cait absolutely loved the Justin Bieber CD he gave her, though, as well as the cute puffy Halloween stickers!  :) This year, for the first time, Caitlyn designed her cake entirely by herself.  She drew a sketch of it for me and told me exactly how she wanted it; all I did was bake it and decorate it according to her specifications and it turned out so pretty!  My baby girl is really growing up! 

Oh, what a morning

My backyard looks like it's covered in snow.  

Darren was home from work for the past six days, four of which I spent in all day re-certification courses for work, but it was so nice having him here that it was really, really hard to send him off to work this morning.  Things were actually moving along well for us and we were even just the tiniest bit ahead of schedule, but...things quickly went downhill as soon as he walked out the door.  

The new hairstyle I was attempting on Cait was clearly just not working, but, being the hardheaded determined person I am, I just had to try a few more times until finally I admitted defeat, re-wet her hair, and went with something simpler.  (Which meant that Meghan's, in turn, was even simpler, because I had wasted so much time on Caitlyn's.)  As I was putting shoes on Austin I realized Dylan didn't have his glasses on, so I made him stop playing his new DS until he found them.  But, he couldn't find them and I won't even begin to describe the drama that ensued when I told him he couldn't have his DS back until the glasses were found.  (I finally found them under a box of trading cards under his bed.  !!!!)  

It wasn't until I was helping the kids put jackets on that I realized I had forgotten to pack lunches last night!  (My only defense is that Darren and I were SO wrapped up in LOST!  We've almost finished season two and OH, boy.  These past couple episodes are killing me!  The questions!  The suspense!  I have been so tempted to take just the quickest peek at Wikipedia to clue me in just a little, but I really don't want to ruin the surprise of anything.  I love guessing what new twists the plot will take!)  So anyway, this morning.  I logged on quickly to MyLunchMoney dot com and found, to my relief, that we still had enough in our account to cover lunches for today.  Caitlyn was disappointed to see on the lunch calendar on today's menu...chili fries.  (Seriously?!  Chili fries?!)  But, as she said to Meghan, "Well, at least we also get a pumpkin cookie."

We finally made it out the door and had already finished saying our morning prayers by the time we were halfway down our street.  Glad to have survived the chaos back home, something made me reiterate, "Okay, remember you're all buying your lunches today, right?  And we all have our jackets.  Does everybody have their backpack?"  To which Dylan quietly replied from behind me, "Except me."  What?!  Oh, you have got to be kidding me!  Checking my phone, I saw that the time was already 7:44, much later than we're usually leaving.  We turned around and RAN back to the house, grabbed the backpack, and started off back down the street.  We made it to the school yard with just enough time for the girls to play for a few minutes before the bell rang, and I sent Dylan off with (hopefully) everything he needed.  (Thank goodness I had at least had the foresight to check for pink socks last night, necessitating a trip to the store for a pair of pink anklets for him to wear today.  It's pink sock day today for breast cancer awareness week; tomorrow is pink accessory day and I'm thinking of trying to make him a friendship bracelet with multiple shades of pink embroidery floss I have in my stash, but I haven't make one since middle school and I'm not sure I remember how!)

I was so glad to be back home with my little ones.  Quiet.  Relative calm.  Passing by the dining room window, Kristen says to me, "Um, mom?  Come see."  Giant balls of white cotton stuffing, all over the backyard.  Which is why it now looks like it's covered in snow.  Mounds and mounds of fluffy stuff ripped right from the big comfy quilt I had just bought yesterday (second hand, thank goodness) for the puppies.  What!  The!  Heck!  Those pups...urgh!  My mom assures me they'll outgrow this stage.  For their sake, I sure hope so.  ;)    

So...how is your day going?  :)

A Super Mario Birthday!

At long last, here are (finally!) some pictures of Dylan's Super Mario Birthday cupcakes! I still can't believe my boy turned TEN years old on September 21st!!!  I was sad that he had to go to school that day, but he really enjoyed his birthday anyway.  We made him a special breakfast and I packed him a fun lunch with a little card tucked inside, and, since Darren took the day off, we were ready to open presents as soon as the kids got home from school!  He was SO excited to see that we finally got him a Nintendo DS Lite, something he has wanted for a very long time!  He also got some really neat Star Wars Lego gifts, which he loved, and some nice cards in the mail from far away family.  We grilled cheeseburgers, his requested birthday meal, and enjoyed his Super Mario cupcakes with ice cream.  All in all, a wonderful tenth birthday!    

My ten year old birthday boy before school!

More Cupcake Toppers!

Okay, now I'm stumped! I was having a great time making some more of these after dropping the kids off at school, but now I've reached a point of indecision. I had started off making all the dots and text the same color according to the character, but then just for fun I started using two colors and I really love the way those look, too! I still plan to mount the circles on a solid color cardstock, but I can't decide if that would look too "busy". What do you think? Of course I'll ask Dylan's opinion this afternoon and probably bug Darren to death about it when he gets home tonight, but any input you can offer would be appreciated. (And Jen, I think it would be so fun to make some of these for your son's birthday! We'll consider these my trial run.) ;)

Oops!  Editing to add that these are not all of the characters I have, but they're a good representation I think of what I'm working with.  Also, it occurred to me just now that I could easily make some with the same color borders and some dual tone.  And, obviously I'm way over thinking all of this.  I should probably just back slowly away from the computer for the time being.  :)

I love Photoshop!

I have totally found a new hobby!  I had so much fun making this little tag in Photoshop this afternoon.  With Dylan's tenth birthday approaching in just a few short weeks (!!!), I've been thinking about what to do for his cake and decorations.  He wants a Super Mario Brothers theme this year and I thought it would be really cute to have little cupcake toppers with the different characters—there are so many and they are so colorful!  I found some really neat ones on Etsy, very bright and fun, but they seemed a little expensive.  Then it occurred to me that I could just make them myself!  It would be a fun project and they'd be even more special if I could personalize them with a few special touches!  I was so proud of myself for finally learning how to make these nifty little dotted circles in Photoshop; I've always loved those but never knew how to make them before today!  I also downloaded a Super Mario Brothers font and learned how to wrap text in Photoshop, combining the two layers over an image of Mario.  I love it!  There are many more to be made and I can't wait to get started!  I'm thinking I'll coordinate the colors to match each character (green for Yoshi, pink for Princess Peach, etc.).  I'll print them on white cardstock and then mount the circles on matching, solid colored, scalloped edge cardstock punches (using something like this.)  I'll have to post a finished product when I'm done.  I'm really hoping they'll come together the way I'm imagining they will!  :) 

A day in the life...

Probably this will only be interesting to my future self, husband, and children (and possibly the grandparents) but I just love the idea of recording the events of an entire ordinary day.  I really wish I'd done this periodically when my older kids were little, and while I was still homeschooling.  But, better late than never!  Enjoy!

Around midnight—Austin is standing in his crib at the side of our bed, crying.  I pick him up, kiss his soft cheeks, and bring him in to our bed to nurse.  We're both asleep again within minutes. 

4:00—Austin is awake again.  He turns onto his tummy and sweetly pats the bed with his chubby little hand.  I turn over onto my side, hoping that he'll go back to sleep if he thinks I am, too.  Every now and then he raises up to pat me, as though to reassure himself that I am still there.  I roll back over and rub his back.  I consider getting up since I'm wide awake and the alarm will be going off in less than an hour, but eventually we both fall asleep again.

5:19—Oops!  Guess I didn't hear the alarm!  I get up, prop some pillows against Austin who is still sound asleep beside Darren, and head to the kitchen.  I start a pot of coffee, pet the kitties, and fill their food dishes. I get in the shower and think of all sorts of important things I need to do today, none of which I can remember now, while I'm lathering up my hair.

5:45—Waiting for the steam to clear from the bathroom before I finish getting ready, I go check the kids, who are still sleeping peacefully.  I fix my first cup of coffee, finish dressing, wake Darren, and apply a bit of make-up.  My hair will have to keep it's curls today; it's too hot and humid to try straightening it!

6:00—I remember to put the kids' juice filled water bottles into the freezer so they'll be nice and slushy by the time we're ready to leave.  Since I still have a little bit of time before I need to start waking everyone else up, I sit down at the computer with a little snack pack of graham crackers and a second cup of coffee.  I e-mail our AHG troop coordinator to let her know I won't be able to make it to our next meeting and briefly check facebook.  I empty, reload, and run the dishwasher.

6:20—Time to wake the kids! I start with Dylan, opening the blinds on his window and singing him "Good Morning to You" in the tune of "Happy Birthday to You". Eyes still closed, he smiles and stretches. I sit on the side of his bed and rub his back for a minute, then move on to the girls' room. Sitting on the side of their bed, I sing to them, too. A cheerful rendition of "Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory", followed by kisses and tickles, has them up in no time.  They ride the Mommy Express to the dining room, where I deposit them from my back into their chairs.  Peanut butter toast and glasses of milk are served for breakfast, then it's time to start getting ready.  Since I'm feeling so generous, I make their beds for them while they brush their teeth and wash their faces.  :)  We listen to Justin Bieber songs on YouTube while they dress in the clothes that we laid out last night, and I have just enough time to try a new hairstyle I saw yesterday on Meghan.  I style two french braids in Caitlyn's hair and ask her to please get me some clothes and a diaper for Austin.  She's such a good helper!  Dressing him quickly, I have the kids put their backpacks on, then I add ice packs and their water bottles to the lunch boxes I had filled last night.  I think we're ready to leave!  Out in the garage, I'm buckling Austin into his stroller seat and realize Dylan and Caitlyn aren't wearing their glasses.  Quick!  Go find them and put them on!  Okay.  Now we're set.  But where's Cait's watch?  Another run through the house but it's not to be found.  I'll try to find it later today. 

7:30—With Kristen and Austin buckled into their seats of the double stroller and Meghan standing on the back platform, we head off down the street towards their school. It's a beautiful morning, breezy, almost cool. We talk about the day ahead and I kiss them goodbye at the fence. Meghan is worried that she won't find her teacher, so Caitlyn holds her hand and leads her to one of her little friends. I help her line up with her class when the bell rings. I wave to her as she's walking into the building, but she doesn't see me. I stand and talk with my cousin, whose son is also in kindergarten (but in a different class) for a little while before heading back home. I let Kristen hop and skip alongside the stroller and she lets me stop to photograph the lovely Slender Dayflowers blooming in the great expanse of desert bordering the school yard. We inhale the aroma of desert shrubs and pine trees, listen for different bird calls, admire other peoples' yards, and are greeted with barks by every doggie we pass. Kristen collects rocks and pine cones for her collection. I sing "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood".

8:20—We're back home. Our neighbor crosses the street to deliver some mail that had been mistakenly put in his box, including a Country Door catalog, which Kristen and I enjoy looking through while we have our breakfast. (Honey Nut Cheerios for her, a soft buttered cinnamon raisin bagel for Austin, and a toasted bagel with cream cheese for me.)

8:40—Austin and Kristen color pictures for me at their little table while I start typing this blog post.  We play with Mega Blocks on the living room floor.   We read Honey...Honey...Lion! by Jan Brett.  (Kristen's current favorite.)  After cleaning up toys, we get out a My Little Pony game and Kristen plays with Austin.  I upload some photos from my camera and am so pleased with a few that I took this morning.

10:00—Austin's acting sleepy so I take him to my room to rock and nurse him. I doze off for a little bit and he falls asleep in my arms. I try to transfer him to his crib as gently as possible, but he pops up as soon as he touches the mattress and starts screaming. I leave the room for a little bit anyway, hoping he'll settle down, but to no avail. I try again with the same results--he falls asleep easily but won't stay down. Again, I leave the room and answer a phone call from Darren. We talk for a few minutes and I post a photo to facebook. Kristen and I play quietly for a little while and I listen from the living room, thinking maybe he's finally fallen asleep. But then we hear him talking and laughing in his crib, so we go to rescue get him.

11:00—Austin's buckled into his highchair and Kristen's situated at the bar to help me make banana nut muffins. I had considered double chocolate zucchini muffins but remembered the strange contact dermatitis I developed the last time I made zucchini bread; I'll have Darren shred some for me tonight! I offer Kristen a real lunch while we work, but she's adamant about waiting for the muffins to bake. I do convince her to have some fruit and cheese, though. :) Austin is still so sleepy. He's reached the exhausted cranky stage now...he's refusing lunch, refusing his sippy, and is an inconsolable mess. Poor baby. :(

12:00—The muffins are baked, Kristen's been fed, and I'm going to try one more time to get Austin down for a nap while Kris watches Tangled on the computer in the living room. Crossing my fingers that we're successful this time around!!!

12:15—Okay, enough of that! Austin is obviously just not going to nap today. :( He joins Kristen watching Tangled with a mini banana muffin in hand while I unload the dishwasher, wipe down the counters, and sweep the kitchen floor. I enjoy a small bowl of cold pasta salad while checking my e-mail on my phone, then feed the dogs and cats. I give the toilets a quick scrub and empty the bathroom trash cans. Ahhhh. That's much better!

12:45—I join the kids' on the living room floor with a basket full of clean laundry to be folded while we watch Tangled together. Austin helps by handing me all the towels and wash cloths. :)

1:30—Yay! Darren's home! He left work early today so he could attend the first PTO meeting of the school year with me this afternoon. Kristen and Austin are so excited to see Daddy and tell him all about our day! I know the big kids will be so thrilled to see him when they come out of school. :) We put shoes back on and I retouch my make up, pack a small diaper bag, and we're good to go!

2:20—We load up into the van, hoping the little ones will behave at the meeting!  Darren waits for Meghan outside of her classroom while I go pick up Dylan and Caitlyn at the designated pick-up spot.  We meet up outside of the library and head inside for the meeting.  There are so many other kids there!  I shouldn't have worried.  The PTO president, we discover, is a woman who was the sacramental coordinator at our church for part of last year (and who still teaches catechism lessons this year).  Awesome!  Another active Catholic!  :)  The principal and vice-principal sit at our table and our family stuffs envelopes for the upcoming jog-a-thon in an effecient assembly line fashion.  Cake and juice is served and everybody is happy!

3:30—Darren drops us off at home, then leaves to run a few errands.  I unpack lunch boxes (and discover that not one of my children ate the pasta salad I packed for them today) and review backpack contents.  Dylan plays an online video game for thirty minutes and the girls tell me all about their day.  Caitlyn, who will not eat a banana or even a banana smoothie under any circumstances, devours two of my banana nut muffins with a glass of cold milk.  Score one for mom!  :)  Austin climbs up into my lap to nurse and is finally, immediately, asleep for the nap he refused to take this morning.  I wonder what sort of mess this will make of bedtime tonight.

4:00—I send Dylan to his room to ready quietly, and I let the girls watch The Berenstain Bears in my room.  I get online to update this post and to read a few news articles and I chat with my brother for a few minutes when he calls to check on how the kids' second week of school is going.  Darren comes home and brings me a cold Strawberry Daiquiri SoBe.  I love that man.  :)

4:30—It seems that the chicken we planned to cook for dinner is still frozen solid, so it looks like it's hot dogs tonight!  Somehow, I don't think any of the kids will mind.  :)  I start searching through drawers and closets for complete school outfits for tomorrow, right down to shoes and accessories.  Darren works on getting dinner ready while the girls play in the tent Meghan made in the living room.

5:00—We sit down to eat.  Hot dogs, potato chips, and sweet tea.  I don't think we could have come up with a simpler meal!  When everyone's finished I put the food away, finish loading the dishwasher, and wipe down the table and counters.  My brother calls to say he's on his way over.  I start putting together lunches to save time in the morning.  Austin wakes up and I'm relieved that he didn't sleep as long as I thought he would. 

5:30—Robby arrives just as Darren is leaving for his nightly walk.  (It helps relieve his joint pain that is so bad by the end of the day.)  Rob's happy to hear that we're listening to a mix of David Archuleta and Justin Bieber.  :)  I give him the birthday gift that arrived in the package my mom sent me last week (his birthday is on Thursday) and have to tell him that his gift from us, unfortunately, will most likely be late.  He does, however, receive an absolutely amazing Super Mario Brothers picture from Dylan!  I wish now that I'd scanned it to save a copy before he gave it to him.  D'oh!

6:00—Rob leaves and I start the first round of baths.  Kristen and Austin splash together in the tub and I can tell that they will both fall asleep easily tonight.  Darren arrives home while I'm dressing them and I get Caitlyn and Meghan into the shower.  Once they're out and dressed, I tuck Kristen into our bed and sit down in our big rocking recliner to nurse Austin.  His eyes keep closing, but he's fussy.  This might take longer than I expected.

7:00—Darren tucks Meghan and Caitlyn into bed and gets Dylan's shower started.  I can hear that the girls are not settling down right away but at least they're staying in bed!  When Dylan's finished getting ready he reads in bed for a while.  I lay Austin down in his crib and head down the hall to kiss all the other kids good night.  Kristen is still asleep in our bed with a tiny white kitten curled up in her hair.  :)

8:00—All is finally quiet.  Darren feeds the dogs and checks to make sure the house is locked up before we settle in to watch LOST.  I am so glad we started watching this series on Netflix!!!  We are so very much enjoying our evenings spent watching it together!

9:45—Darren checks a few websites while I check the kids.  We're both tired, but I want to wrap this up before I go to bed.  Just need to upload a few photos and I think I'll be done!  

10:10—Argh!  My photo editor isn't working and I have to restart the computer.  I go get ready for bed while it starts back up.

10:20—Well, let's try this again.  So far, so good!  Seems to be working!  Now to upload to blogger.  Formatting in the old editor used to be so easy.  

10:50—I think I'm done!  "Publish Post", and I'm off to bed.  Goodnight!  :)

First day of "real" school

Yesterday was the first day of school for Dylan and Caitlyn and a half day of kindergarten orientation for Meghan.  And honestly, I thought my heart might never recover from the exquisite pain of it all.  I thought we were prepared.  I thought we knew just what to expect.  But what I could have never prepared for with any amount of careful planning was the tumble my heart would take when I saw my sweet little homeschoolers join the throngs of other children on the great big playground for the first time.  I'm sure I should have felt proud--and I did, just a little, but not near enough to compensate for the sick jolt of loss and despair that cut me to the very depths of my soul.  Walking away from my babies, abandoning them there adrift in a sea of strangers, was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do.  But, I really felt that we did have to do it.  For a number of reasons which I may or may not address in a separate post, this was the decision we'd made because we thought it would be best for our children.  And, after so much careful and prayerful consideration it just seemed wrong to not give school a fair chance.  "We know the alternative," we reasoned.  "If it doesn't work out we will not hesitate to bring them back home."

But.  The happy children who rushed to greet us upon our return yesterday afternoon were clearly not traumatized.  They were, if anything, more confident than they had been upon arriving that morning.  They had not only survived the day but enjoyed the day.  Caitlyn had made new friends and discovered that her teacher is an active parishioner at our church.  Dylan actually participated in class and remembered an astonishing number of details to share about his day, and was happy to see that one of his classmates is a girl from his catechism class.  Meghan loved the orientation she and I attended together and is really excited to return to her classroom on Thursday, her first day of kindergarten.  It's tricky business, this growing up.  It's so hard for me as their mother to see these beautiful souls as separate from me, but they are.  Each is truly a unique individual, made by and for our Father in heaven and I look in wonder and awe at His marvelous creations.  I was so worried about relinquishing them to outside influences, but one of my friends on facebook addressed that unspoken fear so perfectly that I have to share it here:  "Don't worry, momma, they won't forget who they are in public school- they'll be great kids anywhere they are!"  I love that!  I just have to hope and trust that Darren and I have done our jobs well up to this point and of course we will remain very much involved in their education and socialization.  I'm missing them terribly today, but have to reluctantly admit that I'm eager to see the new directions this path will take us! 
 

Thank You, God, for making me the mother of these beautiful children, 
and for the joy and privilege of being their first teacher.  

New beginnings

Hmmmm...Well, I had hoped that changing the look of my blog might make me more inclined to write here, but nope.  It's been three days now and so far I still have nothing to say.  Or rather, too much to say for such a small space.  Feelings too big to be summarily confined by the boundaries of a single blog post.  Big changes are underway here at our house and I feel like I'm right in the middle of a major identity crisis!  Those of you who are friends with me on facebook know that we've made the difficult decision to send the three big kids to public school this year.  We'll be registering them for fourth grade, second grade, and Kindergarten in a few days, and our family will begin a whole new chapter in this wonderful adventure!  I hope to continue writing here as a way to chronicle our family's happenings, especially for the grandparents who are so far away.  And, if any of you blog friends happen to read this, I hope you'll still stop by from time to time to say hello!  

Date Nights*

I had a date with my beautiful Cait tonight—dinner together at Whataburger before heading to our AHG meeting.  :)

Tomorrow will be date night with Dylan.  But, I'm thinking ours will be more along the line of Starbucks and the mall.  A tall, tasty Frappuccino sounds to me like the perfect bribe reward for taking him shopping with me.  (He needs a suit for his First Holy Communion and I'd much rather he try it on in the store rather than taking back several that don't fit, feel, or look right.)

*What?  You didn't actually think I'd be talking about date nights with my husband, did you?  If only I could be so lucky.  I'm totally penning him in on my calendar, though.  I figure sometime around the year, oh, 2014 or so we should be good to go.  ;)

I love my boy

"Hey Dyl!" I say to him, grasping a handful of slack from the back of my now slightly saggy jeans.  "Does it look like your ol' mom's lost a little bit of weight?"

"No," he responds in characteristic deadpan.  "It looks like you've lost a LOT of weight."

:)

Blogging in bullets

Fresh from my shower this morning, I walked into the kitchen and found my nine year old son standing at the counter brewing a pot of coffee--FOR HIMSELF.  Hahahaha!  It's really too bad I make him drink decaf; I'd have really enjoyed a cup, too.  ;)

That same boy is meeting with the deacon at our church this afternoon as one of the final requirements before receiving his First Holy Communion on May 8th (Mother's Day!)  I can't believe that day is (finally) nearly here!

Caitlyn and I are having so much fun working towards more AHG badges!  She created some beautiful works of art for her Artastic badge; even Dylan joined us at that kitchen table for that one!  I love including the other kids whenever possible for the requirements we complete at home.

I am seriously loving getting up early each morning.  I was up at 5:00 a few mornings ago and was able (in addition to emptying all the trash cans, sweeping the kitchen, starting the dishwasher, and sorting a load of laundry) to say a whole rosary while watching a beautiful sunrise.  The loveliest shades of  pink filled the morning sky while I sipped my coffee in the quiet living room.

Having said that, I'm realizing more and more that I'm a terribly lazy person.  This morning I accidentally overslept, waking (again) at 7:15 and feeling terribly behind from the moment I set foot out of bed.  So, just for fun, I decided to play a little game with myself; I called it "Let's see how much I can accomplish while Caitlyn has her bath".  The answer:  a LOT!  Had I known how much I could get done in a mere 10 (or so) minutes, I'd have given up facebook long before Lent!  Or maybe not.  ;)

I'm itching to take another road trip.  We went to Tucson in February and it was so much fun!  One night in our hotel room, as we were all sprawled across the two Queen sized beds laughing our heads off at America's Funniest Home Videos, I said (not entirely in jest) to Darren that I wished we could sell all of our things, including our house, and just move into a hotel--the ultimate experience in family togetherness.  :)

Netflix is awesome and I can't believe we held out for so long.  But now a certain five year old is reminding me that I told her she could watch a movie while I prepped for dinner so I guess that's my cue to get off the computer.  ;)

Look who's walking!

He finally figured it out yesterday afternoon! Caitlyn saw his first steps and came running to tell me. We bribed him with chocolate cookies to keep him going. ;)

Kristen's Third Birthday (aka St. Patrick's Day)

Puppies!

I never imagined that puppies (of all things!) would bring me back to blogging, but I tried e-mailing this video to my mom and the file was too big.  So, I'm posting it here because it's the only other way I can think of for her to  see it.  She's not on facebook and besides, I gave it up for Lent.  ;)

Meet Bailey and Janie, the two newest members of our family!