Is It Spring Yet?

So we’ve made it to the end of April, and the flowers still haven’t peeked out of the ground. Sure we’ve had a day or two of 70 degree weather (exactly two, actually), but that’s obviously not enough to coax the buds onto the tree branches. The down side of this chilly equation is that the Easter pictures I planned to take after it warmed up have still not taken place. If our house was some other color than Aqua-fresh green, I’d take the pictures in front of it. But we’re talking about one of probably two pictures that will be taken of our entire family this whole year (and no I don’t mean a professional photo shoot that costs money, because we have yet to invest in those EVER), so I’d prefer looking at it in the future without cringing. Maybe you’ll see them next month.
Aaron wins for best news this month—he passed CCM’s notorious comprehensive written and oral exit exams! After seven hours of essay-writing, and another four of the most boring conversation ever, Aaron passed with flying colors! All that’s left now is finishing up the dissertation that Aaron already has a strong start on. It has been a long, hard road to get to this point, but now that we’re nearing the finish, we can see the rewards. Aaron finished the choral season with a performance of Carmina Burana, and is now looking forward to four months—yes four—before he returns to teaching for the new school year. Although we’re not to the point where we can fill those months up with vacations and playtime yet, he will have time to polish that dissertation, do some work on our house, spend time with the family, and squeeze in a cool, if work-related, trip to Copenhagen (hopefully with Britt).
In news for Theo this month, I must share an anecdote. The boys in Theo’s class at school have all gotten hard-core into Transformers. Although I, like any reasonable person, realize that vehicles which transform into robots are the end-all in cool, I haven’t been such a big fan of all the shooting games that have been part of the package. I’ve tried my best to encourage Theo to focus on the other parts of the game and leave out the violence. His response was lukewarm at best. Then, a few days ago Theo came home from school and told me that he and his friend Justin started a new game called Spies because Transformers was too violent. Yeah! Mom still has influence! Theo also started tennis classes this month and is really enjoying them.
Addy sports a new haircut this month. We planned to get our hair cut the same day in celebration of spring, but eventually I just chopped hers off for her. I think I did a pretty good job—it’s cute! I only wish I could cut my own. Her other big accomplishment this month is the perfecting of a blood-curdling scream which she has found to be extremely versatile. She unleashes it at her brothers any time they cross her, and at Aaron and I whenever we do something awful, like making her go to bed. Although it has landed her in time-out more than once, she apparently still considers it a useful tool.
Emerson continues to crack us up on a regular basis. Last night when I was serving pieces of chocolate cake to every one, Emerson spontaneously said “there’s chocolaty taste . . . in every bite!” We obviously allow way too much television. Theo also has him trained about as well as a circus monkey, to mimic all his own opinions and ideas. Ask Emerson if he likes Dora, and you’ll get a thumbs down, accompanied by “doink.” But ask him about Tom and Jerry, Theo’s favorite cartoon, and you’ll get an enthusiastic thumbs up, also accompanied by “doink.” Don’t ask us what “doink" means.
As for Sera, she continues “toddling” around the house. She’s all about climbing and throwing these days. She can get up the stairs pretty well by herself, but we don’t trust her going down yet. In the morning, she wakes Addy up by pitching all her blankets, books, and toys at her (those baby biceps are still underdeveloped, so most of her pitches fall short—phew!). Her verbal prowess continues to awe us, as she has progressed from sentences to paragraphs, and occasionally, novels. Of course, we can only make out a few of the words at this point, but this is undoubtedly more a result of our own ineptitude than hers.
As for me, chalk it up to having too many irons in the fire, but I’ve been feeling decidedly incompetent lately. I don’t have any good excuse, but house cleaning and laundry and cooking and everything else seem to take longer and longer, and I seem to accomplish less in 24 hours than I used to. I’m hoping (rather desperately) that May will be better!

Friends and Fun

Sisters

Cuties

Addy with her best buddy, Ezra

Emer with his best buddy, Emily

Theo with one of his amazing tops

Fairy Princess Addy (with high heels!)

Fun Stuff

Easter Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

graham cracker crust

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. strawberries, pureed
2 eggs
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. vanilla
dash salt

1 c. sour cream
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla

To Make:

Mix cream cheese, sugar, strawberries, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla and salt until smooth and creamy. Pour into graham cracker crust and bake at 350* for 30-35 min. Remove from oven and top with mixture of sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Return to oven for additional 10 min. Refregerate for 3 hours or overnight.


Easiest Ever Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (kids can make these!)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (melted)
2 eggs
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. nuts (optional)

To Make:

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well with wooden spoon. Roll into balls and bake at 375* for 6-8 min.

A Melty March

Just as I was congratulating myself on a lack of sick kids this winter, we got slammed. I had been wondering what was different. Maybe the wood floors were behind it. Maybe I did a better job of making sure hands got washed. Or maybe the cold really does kill germs. I'm leaning toward that last one, actually, because when it started warming up early this month, everyone got sick. Ew. It's one of the bits I don't much enjoy about motherhood.

It didn't last forever though, and in the end, March shaped up into a pretty fun month. We had less going on for a change, as I didn't sign kids up for swimming and soccer and such, so it was a nice break. We spent more evenings home together and had some fun game nights and movie nights, plus a girls' night out and a boys' night out thrown into the mix. It gave Aaron and I a good opportunity to catch up with our kids on the exciting events in their little lives.

Theo's interests this month drifted from tops to outer-space. He can't wait to grow up and be an astronaut, and has memorized a zillion facts about the solar system in preparation. We also attended Theo's parent-teacher conference recently and were so pleased when his teacher reported that he's never seen a child advance so quickly in French in the time he's been teaching. Theo started the year with a bit of a handicap having not attended kindergarten in the French program, but now he's reading at the top of his class and speaking quite fluently. Of course, he also needs to use the bathroom about six times whenever it's time to work on printing and handwriting, but still. We're pretty proud of him, and we love his wonderful teacher.

Addy has blossomed into a delightful companion recently. I love taking her with me to the science center and the natural history museum. She's full of questions and curiosity, and loves figuring things out on her own. Unfortunately, her bedroom, which she used to keep so tidy, has taken a bit of a hit. I think it has something to do with the slumber parties she and Sera conduct nightly (we hear them giggling until an atrocious hour), which consist largely of throwing things around the room from Sera's bed. We should probably intervene, but in our years of parenting, we really haven't improved much at disciplining after the lights go out. It's like checking out after work. We basically feel like we're off duty unless someone requires an ambulance.

Emerson wins as my favorite three-year-old ever. Granted, he was not so much fun as a two-year-old with all the potty issues and needing to be carried everywhere while I had a new baby to tend to, but as a three-year-old, he's great. Both Theo and Addy went through a challenging phase when they turned three, but Emerson is all snuggles and kisses and says "thank-you" for everything and often tacks on "you're the best mommy in the world." He also smiles and dances on demand. One of the lovely benefits of having the boys share a room is that virtually anything Theo learns, he passes along to Emerson. Aaron overheard Theo quizzing Emerson on the numbers of moons and rings each of the planets have, and Emerson knew all the answers!

Sera, meanwhile, has become her daddy's little princess. She knows the word "mama," she just chooses not to use it. Instead, she gabs and blabs to her dad all day long, showing off and singing and shaking her little booty. She's also acquired a taste for accessories of late. Her favorite activity is hunting through our house for the vast variety of beaded necklaces the kids have made over the years and piling them one after the other on her neck—to adorable effect. As for walking, she cracks herself up too much to get very far. Every time she takes a step (she's taken up to three in a row), she is so pleased and delighted with herself that she doubles over with laughter. She also really enjoys falling—no kidding. We also recently discovered that she prefers the spicy foods. She'll toss food off her tray if it doesn't appeal to her, but if we "kick it up a notch" she's all over it

As for Aaron and I, we've become the stereotypical couple sitting in the same room in front of two different computer screens (take now for example). Aaron has been studying non-stop in preparation for his final doctoral exams. He has actually typed more pages of study notes than are in my entire novel, so that must be a good sign.

Which brings the circle back to me: I finished Max and Merlin! I have the manuscript with a couple of beta-readers right now, and then I plan another rewrite and submissions to agents! Although I haven't had a great deal of success in submitting picture books, I hope that this middle-grade stuff will open the doors to a good agency where I can have all my work represented. Here's to hoping!