this week's lessons

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  • When I have out-of-town visitors and we are planning outdoor activities, a freakishly large rainstorm will blow in, rain ALL DAY, and ruin our plans.
  • Sea World, the day after said rainstorm, should be avoided like the plague. All the people who were rained out will try and go the next day. Lines will be hours long. We will leave in disgust.
  • Reading to my kids truly makes me happy. (Current read: Bridge to Terabithia)
  • Do not attempt to tease Hannah about the messy state of her bedroom by calling her "Templeton." It will "WEALLY HURT HER FEELINGS!"
  • Grey's Anatomy is the best show ever.
  • School vacation week in February is so much better without snow on the ground.
  • Taking dinner to a friend who's just had a baby will make me want another baby. FOR ONE WHOLE SECOND. Then it's gone, and I'm glad to have my big kids.
  • Critter Camp (a day camp for the boys while they're out of school this week) is made much more exciting by the turtles "fighting" each other [read: MATING].
  • Drastic life changes are good.
  • Favorite thing of the week: Colin Hay on the I-Pod.

a conversation

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(Scene: All You Need is Love playing on the I-Pod. Me, cooking dinner; Hannah at my side.)

Hannah: Did that song say all you need is love?

Yeah, isn't that great?

Hannah: That's not great. You don't just need love.

Well, what else do you need?

Hannah: You need cousins, grandpas, brothers. You need bunnies. Oh, and you really need food. You can't do ANY-FING without food. See, Mom, you need more than just love.

Pardon me. I stand CORRECTED.

blogging

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Mom, are you blogging? Oh man...

Why the disgruntled child, you ask? Because, quite simply, he wants the computer for himself. He strode in to my desk with hope in his eyes, only to leave disappointed and bummed that it is my turn at the moment.

Chase has recently begun reading and writing in earnest, and as a reward for that rite of passage, he gets his own email account, just like his older brother. He checks it religiously, about 18 times per day - and if he's lucky - Grandpa will have forwarded on a joke or I will have remembered to send him a little something. I am hoping the novelty wears off soon. This little friend TAKES FOREVER to type a one-line email to me about his love of frogs. While I enjoy frog emails as much as the next mom, I find that I just am not a patient woman.

Sometimes he likes to log on Google and search for stuff. Stuff like frogs. Or fencing swords. The other day he said, "Mom, how do you spell seven-year-old?" When I came in to see what he was googling [so love, by the way, that googling has become a verb!], he was searching for "weapons for seven-year-olds." As if we don't own enough plastic swords, guns, sling-shots, and daggers.

In case you were wondering, we pulled up 1,310,000 hits on that topic.

No wonder I never get a turn on the computer anymore.

life is beautiful

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Only my boys could find two ordinary sticks on the beach and turn them into weapons.

Can't say that I'm complaining though. These newly-discovered tools of destruction allowed me a few hours of peace and quiet to reflect on the beauty and wonder that is our Pacific. To reflect uninterrupted on the fantastic life that I do lead.

There was no whining for snacks.

No need to race screaming to the bathroom gripping our privates, desperately trying to make it in time. Seagulls became enemy soldiers. My blanket was base camp. Hannah went blissfully un-teased.

There was no fighting.

We found peace through pretend violence. How much more of a paradox can we be? I love it. Life is good.

[P.S. No seagulls were harmed in the making of this imaginary world (Chase, our own PETA representative, saw to that).]

this week's lessons

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  • Josh's disease-fighting "guys" are not as tough as he thinks they are. He WILL get sick like the rest of us.
  • Chocolate-covered strawberries will not keep and should be eaten as soon as possible.
  • Chase makes a fantastic Abraham Lincoln, and will knock the socks off his first grade class.
  • Rediscovering The Phantom of the Opera on DVD makes me happy, and makes running on the treadmill go by like THAT (insert finger-snapping sound here).
  • It really does make me feel old that my baby brother is now somebody's father. (CONGRATS ANDY AND MELISSA!!)
  • I do love my new cell phone, even if it's a nasty, bright pink.
  • When running late, I will always make wrong turns and get stuck in traffic.
  • Cleaning the bathrooms will ALWAYS be a chore I detest. ALWAYS.
  • I cannot start reading blogs in the morning when I only have 20 minutes to shower and get out the door. I will be late, and I will end up looking like a mess.
  • When strangers in the grocery store start asking you about baby back ribs, DO NOT, under any circumstance, admit that you use bottled sauce. It will make them angry.
  • Favorite gadgets this week: TIVO and my camera.