Sooooo much life has been happenin’ round here these past few weeks, I honestly don’t know where or how to start with chronicling it all. But, lest he get ANY older, I thought I’d pause in the midst of unpacking to comment on the birthday of my youngest. Because folks, sometime in the midst of packing, remodeling, moving, and unpacking… this little guy turned 2!! But, more than that, just like I feared, the little man grew up when we moved to the new house.

These past few weeks have been some of the most exhausting in my life. It’s been 9 years and 4 kids since our last move and let’s just say we’ve acquired a whole lot more stuff since our last move. I purged and donated and purged some more and yet have found myself with enough miscellaneous boxes of random to sort through in the new house till Labor Day! Meanwhile we were listing our house for rent, showing it to perspective renters AND still trying to juggle the spring extra curriculars like year end home school evaluations, baseball games, gymnastics classes, play off games, mini Olympics, piano recitals, and birthdays and our anniversary.

I remember vividly the first night we spent in our house. We were first time home owners. And we were giddy. As we lay on the floor in our bedroom looking up at the ceiling I remember Scott commenting on the ceiling fan. “Look at that ceiling fan! We own it!” I on the other hand couldn’t get my eyes of the red blinking light from the smoke detector…. wondering how would I fall asleep with it constantly blinking.

Scott, in honor of our anniversary this weekend, I compiled a list of 11 things I love about you. 1. You’re a dreamer. 2. Your not afraid to go for the crazy (take 4 kids on a 22 hour car ride to see a 2 minute rocket launch… sure thing…stop by Times Square for hot dogs on the way to CT for a wedding with 2 toddlers and a very pregnant wife, “I’m in!

I glanced out my back window on Saturday and saw this Only, I didn’t just see this precious moment in time, but simultaneously, my mind flashed back to several other similar moments over the past 5 years…. September 2009 August 2008 And, April 2007 One can’t help but notice a few things when observing these father/child bonding moments in the back yard. 1. Believe it or not Scott, we’ve been VERY successful in growing grass in our backyard these past 5 years!

Heard round the circus this past week… From my 4 year old: “Your right hand can’t know what your left hand is doing…unless your giving a hug, then it’s ok.” Again from my 4 year old: After pouring peroxide on her cut, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Mom, that burns like Sprite!” (soooo hard not to laugh while she was obviously in pain)

For the past four and half years, this has been her “go to” position for comfort.  As a baby it was great… she totally self soothed… no pacifiers to chase down or beloved blankey to snuggle. Just pop her index and middle fingers in her mouth backwards and start rubbing her ear (or twirling her hair) and she could instantly calm herself to sleep. We knew of course this would have it’s trade off.

My son has loved baseball since he was 2. A fan of his own right. Loves it inside and out. But, I thought last year the flame might die. Or be killed a slow and painful death. It was a painful combination of not yet seeing a winning baseball game in his life and playing on a team which didn’t win a single game all season, topped off with having a coach that didn’t coach, just yelled in frustration at the discouraged players.

Love this picture I snapped of my youngest trying to do a handstand like his sister!

I don’t homeschool because I hate the government. Nor do I homeschool because I think the public school system is all evil. Nor do I homeschool because I want my kids to be smarter than yours. In fact, raising super smart kids isn’t even my main goal of education. I homeschool because I want to spend the time with my kids. That’s it, in a nut shell. But, if I may be honest and come clean with you, it’s hard.