Off to Maryland

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Maryland over J' spring break to visit his parents and for him to talk a little at TFA. I'm going to try to work my way through our wonderful time there even as I try to keep up with life.

One of the fun things about traveling both this time and on our trip to GA over Christmas is how much our kids have grown. They can actually help a little bit now. "A Little"--Bud rolls his carry-on plus one of ours in parking lots and airports. It's amazing!

And Wombles was ready to help me pack. First, he asked for his backpack. Then he went to his bed and packed his loveys. Next, he walked to the other end of the house ("the airport") and over to the couch "the airplane") to sit next to Pixie. Before he sat down, though, he removed his backpack and shoved it underneath the couch. Before he turned 2.5, Wombles made the coast-to-coast roundtrip five times. Still, I found it strange that he knew what do do.

J's computer serves as our DVD player on flights. On the way out there, the plane had free internet. It was crazy to be in touch with people on the ground. We had been rerouted (a long story I have a pending blog on) and were able to let J's parents know our schedule.




I didn't have any great plane shots of Pixie, but here's Molly all decked out. She and Nite-Nite are sharing an outfit. Pixie and Molly kinda look alike. :)

Even though the children crashed and burned on either end, they were all absolute champs on the actual travel days. It's actually becoming (gulp) FUN to go places (and not just to get there).

More soon!

PSA #3

Some Saturday mornings, J meets a friend for coffee early. He usually gets home while the rest of us are eating breakfast.


Last weekend, Pixie was really, really happy to see him.

Please ignore the daffodil that died overnight. I am happy to report that it is no longer on our table.

PSA #2

Bud and Wombles love each other.


It can be nice to have a photo with no audio. When I look at this, I can almost forget the nearly incessant squabbling it seems we've had this week. And it makes me smile.

Music to my Ears

J is in the next room, practicing his trumpet, "following the deep, inscrutable desires of his heart."

It is really fun for me to hear that he is picking out some of the same hymns I turn to when I have to pull out my flute, which I haven't done since just before Christmas.

Tonight we had our supper swap friends over here at dinner. Sometimes we have challenging and thought-provoking discussions. Sometimes my mind takes an awkward turn like a cart hitting a rock and I feel insecure about everything I'm doing. Other times, like tonight, there is lots of laughter. One of the beautiful things about the regular getting-together is that one night with the kids going crazy doesn't flavor the whole relationship. Nor does sitting around, watching the kids play on the patio, musing on which one is going to get hurt first (as it so happens, there were no serious casualties tonight, and they all mostly had fun). The lots-of-laughter was really good for me tonight. I have been feeling a bit tired and disappointed, and then feel bad/sad when I take it out on the kids. Poor things. They'll probably be very glad when I go back to work.

I am in the midst of three weeks off: I start again after Easter. Which meant that today I was able to go and see Pixie's ballet class for the only time all year. It was sweet, lovely, and hilarious.

I haven't downloaded photos from our trip to Maryland yet. Maybe tomorrow? We had a wonderful time!

I can't believe that Holy Week is almost upon us already. This is the season in which I particularly miss being in Wheaton at our wonderful church.

May you find yourself with songs of praise on your lips this week!

Reason #5198 and other things

Yes, it's 10 o'clock. Which means it should feel like 1am, right? I am walking around in a haze of not knowing what time it ought to be. It has been surreal around here all day.

Tomorrow is Pixie's friend birthday party. She planned all of the details last month, and I am so thankful that they are doable. What she wants is to have pizza and watch a movie...specifically, the "Molly: An American Girl" movie. It was waiting for us when we got home (there was that little matter of buying from Netflix the one we got in December for J to watch with his class...that didn't work out, but neither one of us has seen it since it arrived). Thank you, Netflix! And thank you, Pixie, for planning a party I can do two days after flying home! Now, to write the scavenger hunt clues...

This afternoon I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. After earlier admitting that a "Tinkerbell" cake was not going to happen (sorry, Pixie!) I was hoping for something simple, like a flower (last year).

She totally surprised me with, "How about a Key Lime Cake?"

Ummm, sure?!

A quick trip to Tasty Kitchen produced a recipe that looks great.

This is a picture of what Pixie's birthday party cake will not look like.



I trust it will taste good, though. It is lovely, isn't it? I hope that Pixie's friends have palates that are Key-Lime-Cake-ready. I have a box of Joe-Joe's, just in case.

This evening I forgot all about making the cake until about 9 . Aaaagggggh!

Are you ready for #5198? J zested the limes for me. ZESTED THE LIMES. I can't stand zesting. We have a little zester for cute, and then the side of a grater for not-cute./quantity. I needed a lot of zest. After J offered to do it, I was hoping for his sake (and my guilt issues) that it wasn't as big of a pain as I remembered...it has been awhile, after all.

Nope, it was a pain.

A big pain.

Not that he said so...I could just watch while I juiced lemons and limes and know that I didn't want to be doing that.

Thank you, J!

And thank you, Boppy and Grandma, for the juicer! It was really fun to use it, even if it did absolutely nothing to help me with feeling guilty that my part of the work was easy-breezy! I just stood there, juicing lime halves that J had already zested.

Let me tell you, that frosting is goo-ood. Up there with the candied-ginger stuff.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Sunset at Supper

It was glorious.

Except for Wombles' reaction to the Thai food, but I'll talk about that later.

We are all done decorating and setting up for Pixie's birthday tomorrow. Can you believe it? Our "baby" is seven! I think she's going to love the day...it will be sad to say goodbye to the cousins and Aunt Joy, but I hope the fact that she gets to do Birthday Brunch with them will be one of the delights of her day. Maybe even enough to partially cancel out the leaving-after-brunch part. I'll let you know...

On the Chesapeake

We are on the Eastern Shore with J's parents. It is lovely, and they are wonderful! It's a bit of a family reunion with J's sister and her kids here, too.

I can tell you we're here because someone else is staying in our house. This time was MUCH easier [mentally] than when we had guests stay there over Christmas; then I had months to think about it, but this time someone asked me about 36 hours before we left. With that, there couldn't really be any expectations...my kind of situation.

J is reading the hobbit to Pixie and Bud while Wombles drops off. Yes, it's 10:30; I had not done the math that traveling over the time change weekend meant a four-hour time difference for us. It's kinda fun to feel footloose and free, staying up all late at night and sleeping in until (gasp) nine.

I have lots of fun stories that I want to share, but am feeling dry and empty at the moment. So I will post this link of where we are, and where J's parents are involved; it's a fabulous place. J is doing some teaching as scholar-in-residence early this week, and gets to teach on things he's into. I don't know whether we have the camera cable to download photos, or no; so this may or may not be the only visual.

Hey, J just told me he has it! SO, personal photos soon!

Here we are.