Sorry...

...I haven't posted much lately. It's been a busy few weeks. This is the first weekend that's been "normal" in a month, with all of us home and no major events planned! Yesterday, we all went to see Percy Jackson: The Lightening Thief. It was entertaining, and I liked the mythology aspect. M3 has had the book for a while, but we haven't read it. I think we'll read it now and see how it's different (and, I'm assuming, better) than the movie.

Last weekend I was away at my first yoga teacher training weekend, which was really fantastic! It's all the stuff I wanted to dig into: history, philosophy, anatomy, movement. It will also be nice to connect with a group of regional teachers and like-minded folks. It was a diverse group, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. It's also so nice to be commuting with Jenn...built-in conversation/integration/decompression time! And oh yeah, coffee/gelato/sushi/Co-op time!


Needless to say, there are many of these (see above) hanging around. (Thanks, Mama, for these lovely photos!) This is the first week I've really noticed the birds starting to sing despite the frigid temps. Today it's sunny and at least 30 degrees, and it's making me feel springy!! It doesn't take much at this point!

Birthday fun again...

Last Friday was the birthday/swim/sleepover party for M3's bday. She wanted a pirate theme, which of course triggered my usual ol' fuddy duddy response: "Why do we need to have a theme for a birthday party??!! When I was little we just had a party!!" But it only amounted to dressing up like pirates, pirate paper goods, and this awesome (as usual) cake decorating by Mark:


It's good to still have your old stash of 80's clothing, because a poet shirt and cowboy boots do lend themselves to a pretty good pirate outfit.

The crew:
The sleepover was fine...no ridiculous a.m. hours of squealing or anything. In fact, they were all kind of tired and mostly just wanted to go to sleep. What?!

Abstract art...

Through the artistic process of melting, refreezing, and being snowed upon (again and again and again), our backyard friends have gone from this:

(Artists at work.)


To this:
A little spooky, aren't they?

Special day...

Oh my...the girl has left behind the single digits forever. Sob, sniff... She wanted to come out feet first, and she is still exerting her will each and every day. In a good way, of course. Mostly. No but seriously, she is such a curious, fun, creative, smart girl...it's so exciting to see her growing up, even if it is also heart wrenching! She still likes to play with her brother, for which I am always grateful. She loves cats (clearly), and she is quite the artist! (I need to post some of her drawings.) We are going out tonight for a birthday dinner, but tomorrow night is the swimming/slumber party. Woot! Happy birthday, sweet girl...despite my and your father's foibles and parenting in-expertise, I think you are turning out OK.

New class...

First yoga class at the new studio today...and it was a snow storm/late start. Sigh...I did have one person show up, and she does tai chi so after class she showed me some. I am really attracted to it; I love the continuous flowing movement and preciseness of it. Anyway, if you want to see pictures of the new place, you can click on that Studio Z Facebook box to the left...it will take you to the public FB page which has some photos. Yay!

Straight from the horse's mouth...

M4 direct quote: "We scarcely have any food in this house!"

And a writing exercise he did at school: "If I had 100 dollars I would buy new cat becuse I love to snugll with them."

More fun with paint!

How M4's room used to look:

In progress:

New color! M4 picked it out himself.

Nothin' like a little paint to brighten things up (and brighten up a dreary winter). Ahhh...change is good.