Spring Break I

I'm finally getting to those spring break pictures. This set is from the first part of our trip. We went to Millry to be with Scott's family. We had a wonderful time - eating, fishing, playing in the dirt, eating, visiting, shooting fireworks, eating, hunting Easter eggs, and more eating!

Dylan's Big Day

Mission Accomplished

Indeed the deed is done. Dylan went through with it and is now sporting some pretty little pink flower earrings.

She didn't want to go through with it after she had the first ear pierced and was practically hyperventilating. Oh wait, that was Scott. (Really, it was both.) But they pulled through in the end.

The rest of the night went as good as can be expected when you've got toddler brother crashing the party. After ripping open several of the wrapped presents with birthday girl shrieking in protest, he destroyed a good 1/4 of the cake with one swipe during the birthday song. To further lay claim on the cake that he thought should be his alone, he escaped midway through a diaper change (in his own birthday suit) and proceeded to mark his territory under the table. New rug, of course.

Now we move on to dealing with a hypochondriac daughter who is convinced that her ears are
(1) not on her head in the right places, and (2) going to develop a severe infection and rot off.
She was in our bedroom no fewer than 3 times throughout the early morning hours.

At 12:30 a.m. : I think I touched my ear in my sleep. My hands have germs on them.

At 2:30 a.m. : I think I rolled over on Tigee (stuffed animal). He's dirty.

At 5:45 a.m. : My hair touched the holes. Do they look red? Are they swollen?

All I know is, I'm tired. I plan to lay low today. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Dylan's Little Problem

Dylan is one of those people who likes to talk. Yes, she's a talker. I mean, seriously, on a good day she could talk the paint off the wall. But today, all of her talking has gotten her into quite a pickle.

You see, tomorrow is her birthday. Her 10th. And for years, she's anticipated this day. Years ago, we told her that she could get her ears pierced when she was 10. So, for the past 11 months she's been counting down the days.

For the whole month of April, she has talked nonstop about getting her ears pierced to just about anyone she could corner. Especially the girls at school. She wanted them all to be there. Seeing as how we didn't want to take the shuttle bus to the mall, we talked her down to just 2 or 3. But that became complicated. If I invite Julia and Sarah, I'll have to ask Joanna. If I ask Joanna, I'll have to ask Audrey, and so on. You get the picture. So, we decided on just Julia.

Problem solved. Right? Well, again, it's become complicated. Suddenly she's having second thoughts. Can I go without Julia? No. You've already invited her. Is Daddy gonna to be there? Yes. Why can't it just be you and me? Dylan, are you chickening out? Maybe.

Oops. It's gonna be hard facing all those girls at school on Wednesday if she doesn't go through with it. And she'll have Julia to witness it as well. If there's a silver lining, I guess it would be that Julia doesn't speak good English. Except that there's still the issue of the intact earlobes.

Well, at this point all we can do is cross our fingers. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

All Good Things Must End

We can finally say Bye, bye to Sanjaya! And not a moment too soon.

You know, there for a while, I have to admit that I was somewhat intrigued by Sanjaya. What kind of hair will he be sporting next? What song will he butcher this week? It was kind of like watching karaoke. It was so bad that it was entertaining.

Thinking back, it kind of reminds me of something that happened (a long time ago!) when Scott and I were involved in a young couples social group.

Each month, a different couple was responsible for planning and hosting a social event. One couple (and, Krisha, if you're reading this, you can attest to the truth of it) decided to host the event in the banquet hall of a retirement community. I'm not kidding! And if that wasn't bad enough, the entertainment was some old geezer playing an accordion! Again, no joke.

For the first few minutes, we got a few good laughs over the absurdity of the situation. A bunch of 20-something couples eating pure'ed veggies at an old folks' home on a Saturday night while listening to the polka being pounded out on a giant accordion!

But, like with Sanjaya, it quickly became irritating. To this day, whenever Scott does the polka, I have scary flashbacks. I fear the same now whenever I hear the country music singer (huh?) Bonnie Raitt. I'm sure I'll have scary flashbacks of Sanjaya's fingernails-on-a-blackboard performance.

Thanks for giving us Something to Talk About, Sanjaya. But, more thanks for making the next few Tuesday nights a little more bearable!

Be My Baby

Something disturbing has happened to Isaac.

My baby doesn't think he's a baby. In fact, his favorite game to play now is...Baby.

It all started with the book, The Wheels on the Bus. He loves singing along when the babies on the bus go Wah! Wah! Wah! And, because he exaggerates so much when he does it, his sisters laugh at him. You know what happens when you laugh at a toddler? They will do it again. And again. And again. Etc.

Except that is has evolved. Suddenly, Isaac is crawling around everywhere going, Wah! Wah! Wah! And whenever I affectionately call him baby, this triggers another bout of Wah! Wah!
My sweet little baby is pretending to be a baby. That's not right.

I guess I should brace myself for more of these bittersweet moments.

But Isaac had better brace himself as well. Because, like it or not, he will always be my baby.

Wild Weather

In the midst of a nor'easter, it is now official. We are stuck. Roads and bridges are closed in all directions. Just ask Scott. He got out early this morning, braving the elements in an attempt to escape the alternative. (Schools are closed. The kids are all at home today. Need I say more?)

Let's just say that working at home with the kids isn't exactly Scott's cup of tea. So, with NJ in a state of emergency, officials asking individuals to Please, stay off the roads, I wasn't surprised to wake up early this morning to find Scott gone. I'm sure he had an overnight bag with him. If I can just make it to the office...

But he didn't make it. After driving in all directions for at least 2 hours, he arrived back at home. Duncan Donuts bag in hand. Diversion strategy: Put bag of donuts on table. Escape during donut frenzy. They'll forget I'm even here. Right?

Wrong.

The funny thing is, we ate Chinese food last night, and Scott's fortune cookie said, "Every woman is, at heart, a mother. Every man is, at heart, a bachelor." This is never more apparent than when Scott is on a conference call and the kids are all banging loudly on the sunroom windows and waving to him.

The look on his face is all bachelor.

Who Could Ask For Anything More?

We had a wonderful time in Alabama and loved the time spent with family.

Delta indeed delivered friendly skies. Everything was on time, and Isaac's behavior, on a scale from 1 to 10, would have been about 8.5. And this without even drugging him. The girls sat apart from us and were even better.

Our overpacked luggage was the only casualty. Scott kept warning me that I was pushing it, but with overly generous grandparents, aunts and uncles, what's one to do? Sure enough, one piece arrived with a busted zipper. Oh well. It was the one with dirty laundry, and for a lighter laundry load, I'll consider it an even trade.

The cold NJ weather apparently caught up with us by the end of the week, but even that couldn't put a damper on things. We still enjoyed our visit. As I go through our pictures this week, I'll post a few.

One complaint: The week flew by and we missed the opportunity to see many of our good friends. This summer we hope to see more of you while we're there.

Make that two complaints: I think I gained 10 pounds!

Happy Easter

It's a good day. Despite the forces working against us, we actually managed to make it to the Easter service at church. Okay, so it wasn't the early service as we had planned, but we did manage to get to the 11:00 service and were seated before the opening music ended.

We were off to a good start when Isaac had the household up and at 'em by 7:15. That's not bad considering the late night supper and 1 1/2 hour late bed time after our return flight home last night. But things started falling apart after the kids dug into their Easter baskets and the chocolate/sugar-induced insanity hit full swing. Isaac's freshly washed hair had a dumdum sucker tangled so badly that I almost resorted to using the scissors. As I turned to get a dishrag to get some of the goo out of his hair, he spilled Katherine's full cup of chocolate milk all over himself, the tablecloth and the kitchen floor.

Katherine, filled with chocolate and sugar on top of jetlag, goes into full meltdown mode and reacts hysterically to her Easter dress that she insists is itching her beyond all measures of torture.

Leaving Katherine sulking and in tears, I turn my attention to Dylan's hair. But her headband has disappeared. Knowing how Isaac loves hair accessories, Dylan and I spend the next 30 minutes trying to retrace Isaac's toddler steps, over and under furniture, in a futile attempt to locate the missing headband.

Scott casually emerges from a quiet, peaceful shower. "Oh, that white headband? I put it in the top drawer in the bathroom." He then retreats back into the quiet, peaceful bedroom to spend the next 20 minutes getting dressed. Alone.

Dylan's headband in place, I rush down to the kitchen to put the potato casserole into the oven with the ham. Seeing Katherine crumpled in the corner, I feel some sympathy for her and go back upstairs to get a slip. It doesn't really matter that the straps will show anyway. She will be wearing a sweater because...IT IS SNOWING OUTSIDE. We won't even go there.

The time to leave for the early service has come and gone by now, and I haven't even started dressing Isaac or myself. As I frantically throw clothing over our heads, I remember to check the potato casserole only to find that I had inadvertently turned the oven off when I had reset the timer and the potatoes are still cold.

Finally, everyone is dressed and loaded into the car. After a couple of return trips to get forgotten necessities, we are off. As I lower the visor to finish applying my makeup, I see those sweet little faces in the backseat and I have to smile.

So what that Isaac has a mass of sticky hair protruding from the side of his head. So what that Katherine's slip is showing. So what that Dylan isn't wearing that headband that took a chunk out of our morning to find because it hurts her ears to wear it. All is quiet now. And when I smile at them, they smile back. And Scott, off in his own world, listening to the music on the radio, also smiles.

Easter isn't really about the chocolate, candy, and new clothes anyway. The church service is a nice reminder of that, and we're still smiling on the way home.

Yes, it's a good day.