5 years?!

Whoa, five years since my last post. I just went through and read a few old posts, it's crazy how different life is, and how much it's still the same.  My kids have grown up so much, we've really hit a sweet spot right now with them. Don't get me wrong, they still have their moments, but I love that we can talk, and they understand reason (for the most part).

M is in 6th grade now, and growing up way too fast. I was talking to L (who is in 3rd grade) and he was talking about how old he'd be when M was x age. He said, "so when I'm 16, M will be 19." I told him that she'd probably be moving out and going to college. We talked about how weird it would be to just be the three of us in the house without her. He stopped, thought a minute and said, "I took it too far, didn't I?" None of us want to think about the quick, inevitable passage of time.

When I was thinking about writing again here, and was reading through some of my old posts, I realized how much I like having a spot. Just for me, to write about what's on my mind. Let's see how long this lasts!

Better days (and nights)

Well, that last post was a little dramatic, no?! Thank the heavens above Luke has actually enjoyed his bed most nights since our brief return to newborn sleep patterns. He goes to bed easily, (I don't even have to sit in there with him anymore) and rarely wakes before we do in the morning. He's actually turning into a pretty kick-ass sleeper, knock on wood.

We've been gearing up for his birthday party, 3! years old this year. It sort of came up on me suddenly, so I decided we're just going to grill out hot dogs and brats, and have some cold salads and chips & dip. When you ask what his favorite color is, he says "CAMO," so I'm going to blow his little mind with some camo cupcakes. Hopefully they turn out, and don't look like crap (literally). Wish me luck.

Mags is in our town's summer rec program, and has had a few t-ball games. It's pretty cute, and funny, watching 6-8 year olds trying to play ball. Organized chaos is all it is. But, it's good for her to stay in touch with some of her friends, I think. She's a pretty sensitive kid. I think that new situations scare her a little, so I try to encourage her to try new things, and join in. Sometimes she's a little shy at first, and starts to whine that the other kids don't like her. I'm hoping that she'll get over this, and soon.

I can't believe that we already heading into July, I swear that school just let out for the summer. As much as I love the summer, I'm already looking forward to school. Mostly so my daycare bill isn't bigger than my mortgage!

12:36 am

It's like an air raid siren, starts slowly, and escalates, loud and relentless.

Mom, mom, interspersed between whiny sobs. Go in, he's uncovered. Oh, maybe that's the problem, cover him up, rub his back, head back into bed. Again, over and over.

It's exhausting, worse than when he was a baby. Then, he'd just sleep with us. Now, it's you're a big boy, let's sleep in your own bed. I give in, and I lose.

But what do I lose, exactly? A good night's sleep, that much I know. Finally, he quiets. I fall asleep, and dream of a war, filled with sounds of an air raid.

Our weekend...

I meant to post yesterday, but didn't get a chance. We had a nice weekend, it was E's turkey season, so he went out to the woods, and came home with a big tom on Saturday. It was a really great turkey, 24 pounds. We cut out the breasts, I'm looking forward to grilling them.

The kids and I went to a bridal shower for my cousin while E was hunting. We did some shopping before the shower with my mom, that was fun. I found a new shower curtain and rugs for the bathroom, I needed a change in there. Now I want to paint though, so maybe soon it'll end up being a big change! It's so bizarre that these are the things I get excited about now. Gone are that days of worrying where the next party is, and what I'm going to wear. I don't miss those days, this is much more satisfying!

On Sunday we went down to the farm, and went for a walk in the woods, looking for morels. The kids had a blast tromping through the woods. I didn't realize that we were going to go hiking though, and Luke was wearing his crocs. He was pissed more than once when he walked right out of his shoe. There were only a few times where we had to carry him, he did great! Next time I'll know to at least throw his tennis shoes in the car when we're headed to the farm. E was pretty excited to hear about our adventure, I swear that he's happiest when he's in the woods. I have a feeling that our kids will be spending a ton of time out there with him. We are really lucky to live where we do, and it's so nice that we have access to the farm, and all the land. Already this year my kids have seen the birth of a calf, and we're planning on bringing a couple of barn kittens home with us once they are big enough.

We also ended up with haircuts too! My mom used to own a hair salon, and still keeps up her license so she can cut all of our hair. It's so nice to have her cut the kids' hair, they always sit so well for her. Luke just got his normal buzz cut, but Maggie went a little shorter. It's so cute on her, and so much easier to brush in the morning! She said at first she didn't like it, but now she does. I think that mostly it's because everyone who sees it tells her how cute it is. Like most 6 year olds, she's a sucker for a compliment!

It ended up being a really nice day, and when we got home, we found these:

E had been out in the woods too, and brought home a giant bag of morels. They were delicious, just dusted with flour, and sauteed in butter. We even had enough for last night's supper too. All in all, it was one of the best weekends in a long time. Hopefully its a sign of things to come, I'm looking forward to a great summer!

3 Things...

Again with the quick takes:

• A few weeks ago I was watching AI, and noticed the description. Nice, I bet Ellen wrote that herself. I thought it was pretty funny. I did notice this week that they changed it, she's not even mentioned anymore.
• Maggie's birthday party went great! The banner turned out great, and all the kids at school told her that her mom was a great baker. I loved it, it's always nice to get compliments, even if it's from a kindergartner. I can't believe that this girl is 6. Craziness, pure craziness. The kids, they grow up so fast.
• I dug and dug and the weeds were finally eradicated from my flower bed. The only bad thing about that, is that I went out to check on the flowers, and noticed that again, the weeds are already cropping back up. Ugh, it's a never ending job.

5 things I love right now

1. I'm excited, it's going to hit 75 degrees here tomorrow! Finally, a super-nice day. I love coming home from work and opening the windows.
2. I started using Charlie's soap recently, and for some reason I love laundry now. That stuff's awesome...rinses clean, works awesome magic on stains, and I love that there's no smell, just clean clothes. I think that we're almost to the point where all the old detergent residue should be leaving our clothes, so I'm looking forward to even better looking laundry. Boy, and I old or what? Going on and on about laundry.
3. Swagbucks. It's so simple to earn money, just by using the internet like you already do. I've earned quite a few amazon gift cards since I started. Click on the link above to get started!
4. Cookies. I am really excited about baking cookies for Maggie's birthday. I've got some really cute ideas, I hope they turn out as cute in real-life as they are in my head!
5. Kisses from my 2 year old. His little pucker-up face is so adorable, I could just eat him up.

ramblings...

I'm not really sure what I want to write about, so I'm just going to ramble for a while. Luke had a puking stomach virus last week. He hurled all over me on Thursday night. So much that I had to CUT MY SHIRT OFF. There really isn't anything more disgusting than that. And we had sausage pizza for supper. I'm sorry if you were having your afternoon snack. Ugh, I swear I still feel gaggy when I think about it. I'm usually not at all bothered by puke/poop/whatever, but it was so unbelievable bad. I'm just glad that my husband wasn't home. He's not a fan of the puke, so it would have just made it that much harder. I love the man, but he sort of gets in the way when the kids get sick. Lots of question, not a lot of actual help. Anyway, poor Luke spends the rest of the night heaving. He wasn't into making the puke bowl, so we went through a lot of towels. Luckily, he was only sipping here and there on water, so it became easier to deal with. Not as stinky. He quit at 7 the next morning, and spent the rest of the day sleeping and catching up on his fluids. I'm just glad that it didn't last longer, and he didn't get dehydrated. We did that whole song and dance once and to put it simply, it sucked, a lot.