Friday, May 30, 2008

5 things I love right now...about my kids

1. Sleeping babies snuggled up together like puppies.
*I don't know why I think of puppies when I think of sleeping kids but I always see Jamie and Olivia as kind of a litter of puppies. They are always bumbling over each other, nipping at each other and then collapsing into a heap of warm little snuggly fur balls. Minus the fur.
So, the other night I put them to bed and got in the bath. I usually spend the first 30 minutes after they go to bed yelling at them to be quiet and get in their own beds. This time I poured myself a huge glass of wine (actually a plastic cup), got in the bath tub and ignored them.
When I got out I went to check on them and they were both crammed into Jamie's bed with their arms and legs all tangled together and their little mouths hanging open...snoozing away. I wanted to take a picture but I thought it might wake them up. So I just stood there for a long time so I would remember this moment forever. I will conjure it up sometime when they are 15 and 16 and totally hate me and each other.

2. Jamie's weird secret language.
*She says something to you and if you say, "What?" She repeats it back as a bunch of random jibberish. She and my dad have entire conversations of nonsense.

3. Jamie's obsession with finding beautiful things everywhere she goes.
*She always has some little treasure in her pocket. A rock, a flower, a bug, some bit of stuff off the ground that she thinks is pretty.

4. Olivia's new found love of all things scary.
* I hate scary. I hate to be scared. Where she got this...I have no idea. I have encouraged her though. I'd hate for her to go through life afraid of monsters, like I still am.

5. Olivia's nightly trip to my bed.
*Sometimes it's exhausting to wake up to a bony little butt pressed against you and a sweaty little hand tangled in your hair. But I know that some day she won't want to get in bed with me and it will be a really sad day.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Bullet Style!

*There are 7 things on my list that are In Progress. Some will always be in progress (Like #3). I have checked #7 and #15 completely off the list.

*#18 is going well. I have expanded it to include convenience grocery trips. A quick snack at the Co-Op before school and a six pack of beer from the gas station...it adds up! I have to confess that I did buy beer on a particularly rough night and I also spent .86 on a can of Mango Fandango Spritzer. Tonight I am going to cheat a little bit. Will, Robyn, Jimmy and I are going out for our birthdays (Mine and Robyn's) to an Indian Restaurant (Robyn's favorite and she never gets to pick!). But Jimmy is buying so it's not really cheating.

*I checked out a bunch of books from the library (Several of which I used to own. Wonder where they went?) So that I can plan 2 backpacking trips (#20). I definitely want to do Seven Devils again and I really want to do at least one night with my kids. So maybe it will be 3 trips.

*#22 is going well also. Last night I introduced my kids to the joy of a steamed artichoke with homemade hollandaise sauce. YUM! They thought it was pretty cool.

*Two of the seemingly mundane things on my list are going to be the hardest for me to accomplish. #19 and #25 are totally loaded statements. I work at them EVERYDAY and wonder if I'll ever accomplish them in a way that makes me happy.

Ok, enough about the list!

*There are only 3 weeks of school left for my kids! Jamie's last day is May 21st and Olivia's is May 23rd! Holy schmoly! I feel like school just started.

*We are going to Miracle Hot Springs for Memorial Day weekend. Leaving Saturday coming home on Monday. We're going with Mark and Buffy and their friends Dan and Lena (Whom I've never met) It should be really fun. Buffy said that their kids are just as self sufficient in the play department as ours! I believe her exact words were, "Give 'em a shovel and some dirt and they can play for hours" Woo!

*Going to Joe and Kelsey's on June 6th. I'm planning on spending Saturday and Sunday at Yellowstone then drive home on Monday.

*Getting ready for summer with mixed emotions. I love summer and usually pack it as full as possible with fun, family, trips, swimming, etc. Last summer was one of the most fun filled summers I have ever had. It was also the hardest summer of my life in a very personal way. So I am hoping that this summer can be different...so different...and if it isn't...I won't do it like this again.

I thinks that's all!

I am loving the list. It does so much for me to have it written down.