Halloween 2010

We had an angry pirate...



A princess ballerina who didn't know where to put her crown...

A skeleton princess, Wolverine, and Snake eyes.

In other news, the older kids rode in their first bike race on Saturday and they did great.

A decade old!

Happy birthday, sweet S! I can't believe I have a child who's a decade old. It doesn't seem possible somehow. It seems like just yesterday that you were a happy, chubby baby, entertaining everyone you came across. I'm so proud of the girl you've become. Through hard growing pains with friends, you're proving to be someone who does what's right, even when it's hard.

I love your infectious giggle, your wonderful imagination, your appetite for reading, and your fun sense of humor. You're such a great big sister, especially to the twins. And they love you so much for it.

Happy birthday, my precious girl.

Clumsy, clumsy

As a naturally clumsy person, I've had my fair share of trips, scrapes, and bruises. This is not helped by the fact that I bruise ridiculously easily and that I have weak ankles. I can't count the number of times my poor husband has asked me, "Where did you get that bruise?" and I shrug. Clumsy people who bruise easily don't remember all of the mishaps. He also sometimes worries that with all of my bruises, people with think we have a domestic violence problem in our house.

But last night was quite possibly the worst—EVER. After watching a few DVR'ed shows with my husband, I was heading upstairs to go to bed. I turned off the living room light, which coincidentally, happened to have been the only light on. Half-listening to my husband tell S again that the only way she'll ever fall asleep is to actually stay in her bed, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and... SMACK! I ran right into the wall. My glasses were on and so they actually smacked into the wall. I fell down onto the floor and proceeded to ball my eyes out. Yes, it hurt that badly. My husband ran down the stairs and pulled my hands away from my face—yep, there was blood. When my glasses smashed into the wall, they cut the skin just under my right eyebrow.

Crap. My husband was convinced that now people would really think he beats me. After a bunch of Advil, and some serious icing, I'm lucky that the only bruising I have is just under my eyebrow. But my head still hurts like I whacked into something with it. Oh wait... I did.

The days are getting shorter

Right now, I can still carry the twins at the same time, with A2 resting his head on my shoulder and N babbling about this book or that baby. The day will come—far too soon—that they'll be too big for that. Already, they often shimmy out of my arms so they can clamber up the stairs by themselves. And even though N promised me that she would stay little for a long time, I don't think she means it.

The days are getting shorter. Autumn is here and it gets darker earlier every day. And, the days I have with my kids are getting shorter. Even though I often try to wish away the stress of taking care of five kids, I know that I'll miss it when it's gone. I'll miss N's near-constant babble of "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." and A2's precious way of putting his hands on either side of my face and looking into my eyes while he lovingly says, "Momma." And I'll definitely miss the way the older kids randomly throw their arms around my legs for a hug.

Short... much too short.

Decorating

I do not, by any means, have a gift with home decor. I don't even consider myself good at it. Thankfully, I have a pretty house, a wonderful friend who has helped tremendously, and at least passable skills in matching colors. So, I really love it when a room comes together and I'm pleased with the results.

Since we moved in, our sitting room has not, actually, been a sitting room—since there was nowhere to sit except for the piano bench. We had pretty things on the walls, but no furniture. I was ok with this, but I still pined for a room that felt finished. My husband wasn't in a rush to put money toward furniture because he knew (as I did) that it wouldn't get used a ton. But still...

My in-laws had a couch and two chairs that weren't being used and so they offered them to us. At first I wondered if the color would be too similar to the piano and woodwork in the room, but then my mother-in-law suggested throw pillows to bring more colors into the room. Fabulous!

Behold, the finished product. I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with it—and even more so because I only spent money on the extras and not the furniture itself. Wahoo!

H's latest masterpiece

H drew this over the course of a few days. I may have asked him about 10 times if he traced it. He didn't. He just drew it while looking at another drawing of a dragon. I think it's pretty impressive.

Here we go again...

A few years ago at her old school, S had some issues with friends. At the time, I called it a "fairweather friend" problem, but really, it's about mean girls.

The last time, the problem started with a girl who I didn't see as a great friend to S from the beginning. She just never seemed to be in it for the long haul. But this time, it hurts more. This particular girl—we'll call her Mary—befriended S right after we moved in, and they've been inseparable ever since. They've played together almost every day and I've always felt really good about their friendship.

Without going into all of the details, it really feels like a third-party (another girl) is influencing the situation and kind of poisoning the friendship. S is heartbroken and keeps wanting to do anything and everything to patch up the friendship, even after a few semi-nasty notes from Mary (two that I read—not nice). Finally, tonight, I think she realized that there isn't anything she can do at this point. No matter what she says or how often she apologizes, it doesn't make any difference.

Thankfully, S does have a few other good friends who have stuck by her side and made her feel better, but it still hurts. And it hurts me. I took her out for an ice cream sandwich last Friday and I think the one-on-one time with Mom helped. But it's hard to not be able to fix all of it, and it makes me mad to know that this is something we'll have to deal with on some level for a long time. I keep thinking about why girls (and women) do these types of things to each other. It all just stinks.