End of the Snow

This is the last we will see of clean children outside for a while.

Mud Season seems to have begun!

Party

The noise level of 5 six-year old girls has nothing on the 8 year old boys Logan had for his party. I actually sat with my cup of tea at 9am and watched the girls do their thing. They were sweet and funny and patient with one another. Yet I still fear them in about 6 years! The cake.

Cheers!

Silk Butterfly Wings

Suncatchers

Playing with the wings pre dye.

eta-the photos are in reverse order and I'm too lazy to fix it.

Preparations

The Pinata

The Cake

The Excitement

Public Vow

They say if you want to lose weight, quit smoking, or run a marathon the best way to fully commit is to publicly announce your intentions. That way you are doubly motivated- both for the goal itself and because you don't want to lose face. And you are supposed to get support from the people you tell. Anyway, Here is my public announcement-
I will never again attend a LLL meeting.

Now I consider myself pretty pro-breastfeeding. My weaned children got at least 2.5 years. No one ever had formula. I've been nursing the babies for 21 months now. But the LLL meetings are so depressing and I always leave feeling like the worst mother in the world. Being a parent can be so isolating, which makes no sense, since I'm always around other parents. But no one will let their guard down at a LLL meeting. Until I come along anyway!

They all need to one up the other. "My baby nurses all night long but I'm never tired." "My son is 18 months and has never tasted solid food but I don't mind. Why have children if you can't feed them properly?" "My kiddo is 4years 4 months but I'm not going to rush him into toilet learning. He'll learn when he is ready." "My baby is 4 months old and is fully in control of his elimination but it was his choice. He's never worn a diaper in his life."

Well, my kids are 21 months and I'm tired. They wear disposable diapers and eat more junk than I'd like to admit. I yell sometimes. They don't bathe as much as they should and neither do I. Sometimes they fight. Sometimes they are so incredibly compassionate I can barely stand it. Sometimes we just play outside (or inside) when we should be doing school work. They know they are loved. They know they have some responsibilities in this world. And shouldn't this be good enough?

I'm not sure why we have to pretend parenting is the easiest, most rewarding job around. Kids don't appreciate much, that is their nature. But why can't we admit it to other moms who should "get it." So don't go looking for me 'cause I won't be there. I'll be home. Tired, grubby and (mostly) content nursing my mismatched kids.

Early Birthday Present

With Avery's Butterfly party coming up (where we will be using dye to color 5' scarves to make play butterfly wings) I needed to place an order for silk scarves. Since Finley's attachment to scarves is pretty strong I thought I'd also order a few replacements for her and the largest scarf I could find for the older kids to dye for her birthday in June. That was a 54"X54" scarf.

She found it in my office and will not let it go! She spent about 30 minutes just flopping around on the floor with it and then asked to take a nap. She's been sleeping with it for almost 3 hours now. If it helps her sleep well she can keep it!

Happy Birthday!

Avery is 6? Avery is 6. This photo was from school yesterday. She was the VIP and the class interviewed her family. It was pretty nice for her to be the center of attention. Cake on Monday when Cathy is home.

The Tables are Turned

This time Finley got to keep a watchful eye on Meryl.

They are still enjoying the stroller. My goal is to get enough running in that they no longer clap with glee when I head to the shed to get the beast out. Meryl and I ran with the single jogger the other day and it was heaven even though the sidewalks had about 2 inches of snow I had to push it through.

Sleep

So both girls can now fall asleep on their own in their own cribs. I'd always thought that if a person could fall asleep without help (nursing, snuggling, etc) then they would be able to do it again during the night when they come to a light place in their sleep. So far that has not been true for us. They go in their cribs for nap and night time very happily and fall asleep in the dark (light at nap time) with some snuggly animals or books. They often talk or sing but it tends to be quite pleasant.

But they are still up a lot at night. We have "saw every hour nights" when I am woken at least once each hour. We have "saw every half-hour nights" when I am woken at least once during the first half of an hour and once during the second half. Last night was the latter. They want to nurse and be held. And they cry if I try to put them back in a crib. Meryl likes to get up at 4 am, which still feels like 3am to me. I'm at a loss. I'm past being over tired, which means I'm grumpy and make poor decisions. (Couldn't find the yogurt this morning. Looked everywhere in the fridge. Finally found it- frozen solid in the freezer........sigh...)

So, until we figure out the night time stuff, I'll keep reminding myself that some day they'll be teenagers and I'll be fighting to get them up in the mornings.

Restful nights and sweet dreams to everyone.

Train Table

The older kids think they are so sneaky. They set up a little track on the table and then hide the good stuff underneath. Sadly, the babies caught on pretty quick.

Hotel Swimming- Take 2

The water was not so warm, which was actually better. The weather was great and we played at a nearby playground. We really appreciate where we live and this little trip reinforced that.

Meryl always makes herself at home.

Maybe we should get cable tv, just for the Discovery Channel. We watched Myth Busters, Dirty Jobs and something called vs which just showed clips of accidents- parasailing mishaps, dirtbike accidents, extreme skiing falls, etc. This is Logan's favorite part of hotel stays.

Working hard to get the good stuff.

Nothing is off limits to this girl.

Hugs for the elves.

Daily Bread

Watchful Eye

Bedtime Reading