N's boyfriend

I know she's a little young to be dating, but N's got a boyfriend—or rather, she's kind of commandeered my sister-in-law's boyfriend. When I told her Cam was coming to Disneyland (or "Dinsey," as she says it) N's eyes lit up with glee. She gives him kisses, hugs him, and loves to be near him. After the first day at Disneyland, I was back in the hotel, getting the kids ready for bed. I said to N, "What did you see at Disneyland today?" N: "I saw Cam." Me: "Oh, what else did you see?" N: "I saw Cam."

Apparently in N's mind, even the magic of Disneyland can't hold a candle to her beloved Cam. And I think the whole thing is precious.

Disneyland

After we got back last week from Disneyland, one of my sisters asked how it went. I replied, "Great moments and then crappy moments. Typical vacation with kids."

We did have a great time, and we even got the chance to go to San Diego Zoo, which was awesome. Everything went really well, right up until we got rear-ended on the way home. But we're ok and the car can be fixed, so all is good.

It's great to be eight!

H,

Eight years ago today, I sat in a hospital bed and watched the snow fall outside as I held my brand-new, two-week early baby boy—all nine pounds of you! You were a sweet, happy, calm baby, and you're a sweet, kind, and thoughtful boy. I love to watch you discover new talents and make new friends. You are kind and patient with your baby brother and sister and I'm so grateful for that. At times I fear for your tender heart because you seem to feel hurt so easily, but I love that you feel things deeply and I hope that doesn't change. I'm so excited for you to get baptized next month!

Happy birthday, H!

Love,

Mom

No pants

I tried to tell this little girl that she might not need to wear her coat in the house if she, say, wore her pants instead. Maybe even her shirt, too. She responded by dancing around the kitchen, singing, "No pants! No pants! No pants!"

Cute and not so cute

Dear twins,

It is not super cute when you (specifically A2) decide to take two shelves of books and dump them on the floor. Every. Single. Day. As someone who dabbles in OCD, sometimes I don't mind organizing the books again. But every day? That's just mean. And while we're on the subject, it seems sad that the amount of toys you can play with in the basement has dwindled significantly, due to your (again, pretty much A2) desire to dump out the toy bins so you can use the empty, overturned bins to reach forbidden items on the bookshelf.

It was, however, super cute to find the two of you the other day, snuggled together on pillows in the little room under the stairs, "sleeping."

You guys are lucky that the cute things you do usually outweigh the not-so-cute ones.

The state of education today

As someone who cares deeply about grammar (deeply, people—deeply), I'm always depressed when I see grammar mistakes out and about in my community. But the ones that really get me are the ones I see in schools. I especially love it when my kids bring home notes from their teachers that include incorrect grammar. Really gives me a lot of confidence in their abilities, you know?

I've also become rather grouchy in my old age about things that aren't necessarily incorrect, but just overdone—like using exclamation points in every sentence, capping every word in a tagline, and other annoyances.

The other night, S and I attended a PTA awards ceremony in which my sister-in-law was being honored. She's a sixth grade teacher and was chosen as "Teacher of the Year" for her school. Pretty cool, huh? The event was held at my husband's old high school, which has been completely overhauled in recent years. Painted on the wall in the main lobby was this message: "Welcome to THE (school name) HIGH SCHOOL."

Really? "THE"? I told my husband about it and we decided it should have been "AN" since technically, there are three high schools in that town.

Also, on one of the PowerPoint slides during the award presentation, an elementary school "principle" was honored.

Depressing. Just depressing, I tell you.