And we get to meet Marlo and the kids at the park. Last year at this time I never would have guessed we would have been able to do that. Welcome home!
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Mother’s Day
We gave these Magna Tiles to the kids for Christmas, and they’ve never used them. No, not Christmas 2007. Christmas 2006. And all of a sudden they pulled them out and they’re all they want to play with. Clearly, Magna Tiles improve with age, like a fine wine. (This is a fish that Neko created.)
In other news, it’s Mother’s Day. Tom and Chris spent last night in St. Louis watching The Breeders perform. Then they got to ride back home on the tour bus with the band. Which, I have to admit, sounds super-fun and was a pretty good excuse not to be with your wife on Mother’s Day. Well, there’s that, and the fact that I’ll be attending a quilting workshop the entire weekend of Father’s Day. So, um, I suppose it all evens out.
I would have felt much better about the whole deal if the kids hadn’t made a pact that for the 24 hours Tom was gone they were going to set their dials to “cranky and unreasonable”. And then when they finally fell into a blissful slumber, Ellie (the dog) was all like, “Hey, you forgot to give me my meds. You shall pay.” And then she promptly woke up at 3:30am, 4:30am, and 5:30am whining until I let her out to pee and drink more water, thus perpetuating the cycle. And then Shep woke up at 6:30am. Sleep? Clearly optional.
This morning, right as I was about to hurl my body into moving traffic, Tom and Chris called and said if I met them halfway, Tom would take the kids and Chris would take me to lunch and a movie and then drive me back home.
Which is why I’ve decided that maybe polygamy is not such a bad deal. You know, as long as I’m the one who gets two husbands. One that helps with the kids while the other one takes me to go see a chick flick.
I should also mention that before Tom left town he busted his hump to make me an excellent new t-shirt, illustrated by the kids. I will document in a later post once I’ve been able to pry my eyelids back open. But trust me. It’s fabulous.
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Butterfly Walk
It’s been raining for days. But today the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and produced a gloriously beautiful spring day. Tomorrow it will rain again, and for many more days this week. But this little handful of sunshine? Perfectly timed.
When we moved from the Big City, we joined a new playgroup via invitation of an old high school friend. As I began to learn the names of all the children, I kept hearing the name “Mary” but never saw her appear. I would later find our that just as we were making our move from the Big City, Mary and her family had just moved to the Big City. To Children’s Hospital, to be treated for a brain tumor.
I can’t even begin to imagine the journey Mary and her family have been through in the past few years. It sounds horrifying. But I won’t dwell on those details since today Mary will happily share the news of her recent visit to Children’s where she passed all her tests with flying colors.
Today we joined she and her family and many other survivors, friends, and families to for a walk to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Following the walk was a meticulously planned festival for the kids including bouncy slides, pony rides, face painting, arts and crafts, and the critter guy who let Neko hold his alligator and I got to help hold a 100-pound snake. (Take a deep breath, Kate D., it wasn’t bad.)
Thank you to John, Kim, and Mary for letting us be a part of this celebration. And at the end of the day, I couldn’t have been more thrilled to discover this picture of Mary’s LONG, CURLY HAIR blowing in the wind. Congratulations.
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Check
While Neko was at school, Tom took Shep and Ellery for FOUR SOLID HOURS. In my pre-child life this would simply have been enough time to get a cup of coffee and think about making a list of the things I wanted to do. But these days? In four hours I completely cleaned and purged the upstairs desk and dresser, the dumping ground of Stuff for Which We Cannot Otherwise Find a Home.
This has been on my list for a year. Hooray for checkmarks in checkboxes.
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Goodbye Jen
I think I’ve said it before. I don’t like goodbyes. So instead of telling you that Jen, our amazing babysitter of two years, is moving to Cleveland FOREVER, I will tell you that she is jetting off to Europe for a month to celebrate her graduation. Which is true. But that Cleveland part? Unfortunately, that’s true, too.
Finding someone you trust your children with is up there on the list of nearly-impossible feats in life. We might have to buy Paul and Amy dinner for the next six years to repay them for introducing her to us.
We tried to convince her to flunk a few classes, but to no avail.
So we hugged her and wished her a bon voyage. But she owes us lots of postcards and visits.
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Horse season
Today Neko’s class went to visit the horse stables. While they were there they made these simple horse head on a stick things, a cheap version of the classic toy, and omigosh if it isn’t the most amazing toy ever. Neko has been riding it around like a seasoned equestrian.
When we sat down for dinner, she pointed over at the mudroom and showed us, with the help of a little blue tape, the horse had been placed in her stable.
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A conversation
We have a rule that whoever gets in the car first gets to make the listening/viewing selection. I suspect that’s what prompted this conversation between Neko and myself.
“I’m the first person in the car!”
“No you’re not. You are actually the third person in the car.”
“I’m the first girl in the car!”
“Um, no, Ellery was here before you.”
(Small pause.)
“I’m the first FIVE-YEAR-OLD in the car.”
Yes, you are my friend. However, while that may get you into kindergarten, it will not grant you The Power of Choice.
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Shredded
This weekend Tom the Top Notch Husband took the kids out for the afternoon so I could finally deal with the stacks and stacks of paperwork that had been accumulating in and around our filing cabinet since, oh, I don’t know, maybe when I got pregnant with Ellery?
The amount I weeded out and shredded filled two enormous trash bags. Ridiculous.
