Here's an interesting article

Purely from a theoretical perspective, certainly. Why, I hardly even remember that Eclipse will be out in approximately 48 hours.

Go Team Edward!

Sad Note

In Rose #2's backpack today:

4-21-2010

Dere Mom,

I can't wait til you get hom. I am varee sad abawt Guppy. Wen is she coming bac do you know.

Love, Hattie

Happy Birthday to Rose #3

Look at this beautiful girl - she is 4 years old today!

This picture is SO Rose #3. Tiara, eye makeup, GORGEOUS green flowery dress, and ice cream bowl.

We had to get a group birthday shot too. Rose #1 with brand new baseball bat, Rose #3 flanked by her beloved sisters, and Rose #2 with affable grin.

Rose #3, you came along and made our family complete. I remember your Guppy said (commenting on your sparkly and very distinct personality) that you just HAD to be born so the world could come to know you. It's very true. I love you so, so much, my beautiful baby girl! Happy Birthday!

The Great Puppet Show

On Friday after work, what do you think was waiting for me but the most fabulous puppet show ever? Here's the cover of my very own program:

And the cast list (note the space on the right side for "actors signatiors":

And here was the sign that was held up by Rose #2 at the beginning ("The puppet*show*with*all kinds of *puppets!):

Rose #3 couldn't help but pop up in the middle with her puppets:

And Rose #2 emerged at the end:

My niece Beatrice was with us last week, so she was able to fully participate in the creative endeavor that was the puppet show:

And Rose #1, who wrote the script and played the two major parts (her sisters and cousin were relegated to playing the supporting roles - all of them - the supporting roles were comprised in their entirety of a school of fish):

I guess that playing all the good roles is the prerogative of the composing artist. I LOVE the puppet show. Great job everyone! (Everyone includes, by the way, our wonderful nanny Lauren who has an infinite amount of patience and charm and grace and did I say patience?)

Bedtime Is Awful

Summertime is great for lots of things - popsicles, running through the sprinkler, biking to work (ahem). Summertime is NOT great for bedtime. Here is it, 9:44 p.m., and my children STILL aren't settled for bed.

A few things are hampering our nighttime routine. One - I am exhausted. Always. Two - we are redoing the closet in the room that was the Roses' bedroom (we are splitting them up into two rooms - one for the Rose that needs to be in bed at 7:30 p.m. - exaggerating only slightly here - and the other for the two who are practically ready to watch Saturday Night Live) so they are currently all sleeping in a row on their mattresses in the other bedroom. If you are conjuring the scene from Annie where the girls all comfort each other about their orphaned status, you can forget it. Rather, conjure an action movie where Rose #3 laying head on Rose #2's bed causes World War III and Rose #2 flails around, freaking out because she is SO HOT, she is BURNING UP, Mommy, get me an ICE CUBE RIGHT NOW.

Um, if you stop flailing around and yelling at me, your body temp will probably go down like 5 degrees or so.

Anyway. Late summer nights also cause bedtime problems. Tonight at 9:05 Rose #1 looks out the window and says in the most chipper of tones: "It looks like 2:00 in the afternoon out there!" It is practically White Nights around these parts.

Options currently under consideration include:

1) Tape newspapers over all the windows so as to conjure nighttime.
2) Tie black cloths over eyes of Roses so as to create portable darkness by 8:00 p.m., which is when children SHOULD go to bed (vs. 10:15 p.m.)
3) Suddenly remember that very important work project is due tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. so as to necessitate return to office, forcing husband to deal with horrible summer bedtimes.
4) Ideas, anyone?

Happy Birthday to Rose #2

So, I am not the best photographer (as you can see, the composition of this shot is weird: Chocolate Chip Cake! Waterlogged Water Balloons! Sobbing Rose #3! Daddy Putting Shoes on Sobbing Rose #3!), but here is the action shot of Rose #2 blowing out her 6-year-old birthday cake candles:

And here she is smiling and raising her hand up - Power to the Six-Year-Old People!

And here she is, the obligatory shot of my sweet darling baby when she was just a teeny little thing. She was such a lovey little baby; she loved to cuddle and nurse and smile. I think I worked the hardest to get her - she was the only one of our babies that wasn't conceived instantly and she was the only one I managed to give birth to without ANY drugs whatsoever. She was worth all that work, and all the work that we have put in to get her to age 6.

I love you so much, Rose #2, with your freckly cheeks and your wide gray eyes and your sweet smile and everything.

Soccer and Playin' at the Park

Yesterday was a fine morning. Rose #1 and #2 have soccer practice at the turtle park, and we had a special friend come with us - baby Kate! We really will have to retire the "baby" part of her name soon as she is over two years old.

Here's Rose #1 on a water break:
And my soccer players both after their water bottles:

And Rose #3 and Kate on the turtle, the park's mascot. I think it used to be in a fountain because it has a water spout peeking out of its mouth:

And my favorite shot - Kate giving a big old toothy grin while Rose #3 looks on. They loved the teeter totter:

We love soccer and we especially love soccer at the turtle park!

Missing Mom

Today I had the weirdest feeling, like if I just jiggled the mouse on my computer enough times, my mom's status on Googletalk would go green. How dumb is that? But still, I just WISH I could talk to her one more time. Googletalk would be OK too, or a phone call, or any darn thing.

My mom and I used to talk to each other at least once a day. I remember when she would go on trips (which was not often) I would just feel bereft that I couldn't googletalk her that day. And, I remember having a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that after she was gone, I would have to get used to never being able to check in with her again.

Well, welcome to THAT. And it SUCKS ROCKS.

When she was dying and I was losing her, I'll be codswalloped if it didn't feel like it was happening to someone else. I would show up at her house on Wednesdays, chipper as all get out, ready to watch a movie or chat, grocery shop, make her a snack, play Scrabble. Then the day came when she was counting out the Scrabble tiles and she was taking a huge pile of them. I said Mom - you only need seven tiles - what's up? And she looked at me, totally befuddled in setting up a game she adored and played her entire life. Or the day when I got there around 10:30 a.m. and she was totally convinced that it was 2:00 a.m. She kept asking me why I was at her house in the middle of the night, and not asleep at my own house with my kids.

Of course, things got worse from there, but I still felt like it wasn't actually happening to me. No longer, folks. No longer.