Spring...

We had a beautiful day here in the 'Burg yesterday. The kids got to play outside. I was thrilled! I've waited for this day all winter long. And it was a long winter. I even wrote a post about it, but waited to publish it until I had the perfect picture. Today started off much the same. Sun shining, birds twittering, no chilly bite in the air today! Surely I'd get a perfect 'Spring has arrived' picture today. But first, off the kids went to play. Those glorious moments of a quiet home while the kids play are treasures for a mother to be sure.

But then things started to get troublesome. The mud puddle was a hot spot for playing yesterday as evidenced by the cake like brown stuff all over shoes and pant knees, so my first foray outside was to ask them to find something else to play outside. Suprisingly, they complied although nothing can be more exciting to a budding imagination than fresh mud, can it?

Bugs. Bugs can be more exciting to a budding imagination. Although I personally don't see the interest, I understand the necessity for my children to have a healthy amount of curiousity about all things creepy crawly and left them to their play. Only when they decided to throw rocks at the bugs that were on the house did I venture outside for a second time.

I went back inside, intent on getting some packing done while I watched Barefoot Contessa whip up a delicious treat. A few minutes later I realized Lainey and Brady must've found something else exciting to do outside because all was quiet from the back door. After a few of those treasured, quiet moments, Lainey bursts in.

They had found a pet.

They made him a salad but he wasn't hungry.

It was like a spider, but it was maybe a mouse.

His eyes were open, Mom!

They named him something, but I don't remember what because at that precise moment Brady walked in waving his little fist excitedly, fingers clutched around something small and gray...their new pet.

A dead mouse.

A girly screech eeked out of my throat and I started yelling at Brady to get it out of the house. We washed hands and discussed that we don't touch outside animals ever. Especially dead ones. And we certainly don't proudly wave them in Mom's face.

Knowing I'd share the story with you, I took a picture of the thing sitting on my back porch where Brady tossed it because I haven't gathered the courage to go give it a proper burial in a garbage sack. But then I thought that a picture of my dead mouse isn't really the perfect spring picture, is it? So all you get is the story.

You can thank me later.


Happy spring, friends.

In other news, Lainey has her first bonafide loose tooth. Big things happening around here, yessiree.

St. Paddy's Limericks

Since I had so much fun with this last year, here is round 2. Once again, feel free to limerick it up in my comments section if you're feelin the shamrock love.

There once was a girl out of her groove

Who's husband kept making her move

Her life in a small city

Left her wanting pity

But she knew things were sure to improve.

(Yes, we're moving again. Saturday. I'll explain more if I ever have the time. Local move. It's really a good thing. And I don't really want pity, but it is so hard to find so many words that rhyme!)

There once was a man in a small town

Who liked to act like a ginormous clown.

He loved his family a lot

Was proud of the wife he'd caught

And wouldn't let life or his wife keep him down.

Our girl in the Burg has grown older

But still doesn't do what I told her.

She loves her dance class

And has got loads of sass

I, of course, have been the one to mold her.

The boy in the Burg with a full diaper

Has gotten more and more hyper

As the year has gone by

Although the time seems to fly

I am still the one who is his butt wiper.

A few helpful hints about limericks for those daring enough to try to write one.

1. They are always 5 lines.

2.Their rhyming pattern is always AABBA.

3. The are usually nonsensical and silly.

4. They often mention a place in the first line.

Luck o' the Irish to ye!

Happy St. Pat's Day!

So this is love...

Last Saturday night (the Saturday that was a week ago, not yesterday) Lainey and I were rushing and scrambling to get ready for a little excitement.  We had to get all dolled up and glamified for a night out in the 'Burg.  Tyler and I had wisely not mentioned our little girl's night out until earlier that afternoon.  Who wants to hear "Is today the day we...?"  or "Is it Saturday yet?" all week long.  Because if you have kids you know exactly what I'm talking about.  At our house, we avoid these types of interrogations at all costs.  Secrecy is a vow that we keep as parents in order to keep our sanity. 

But we broke our sacred vow of secrecy that fateful afternoon because the thing we were going to was that night.  And boy was she thrilled.  Mommy was thrilled, too, because more than I love my sanity, I love being the one to make my daughter thrilled.  She even put itchy tights on without fuss!  Miracle of miracles!  As I rushed to get ready, I asked Tyler to double check the location we were heading to.  He kindly went to the computer to look it up.

"Ty, where is it at?"  I shout, wondering what could be taking so long.

"Honey, what day is today?"  He shouts back.  Huh?

"It's March 7th, right?"  I say, thinking, Why would he ask me that?  I am a stay-at-home-mom.. all my days mesh together.  I hardly remember that days are numbered. 

I hear Tyler walking toward the bathroom.  He meets my eyes in the mirror.  

"Carrie."  Dramatic pause.  "It's not until next Saturday.  It's March 14th."

What?!?!  Oh no.  She's going to be so disappointed.  She even put itchy tights on without a fuss.   The poor girl is going to be heartbroken.  There go all those brownie points I earned that afternoon.  Sigh... 

Oh.  no.  No way.  Ahhh, man.  She's going to be asking me if it's Saturday yet all week!  That dreaded repetitive annoyance that is a child's inability to understand the concept of time would be my plague all week due to my inability to read the darn ad.

So after the tears of a young girl's broken heart and our attempt at salvaging our 'special' night (a trip to the movie store for Tinkerbell and some licorice), I waited for the barrage of questions to begin.  Fortunately, we had Tinkerbell for the whole week as a distraction, but unfortunately we couldn't watch Tink shake her bells all day every day.  We did make it through the week, of course.  Wasn't nearly so bad as I thought, of course.  Lainey's a much better kid than I give her credit for... of course.  So...

After our week of waiting and much anticipation, Lainey and I got all dolled up and glamified once again last night.

And made a real night out of it by going to dinner first.  (Every five seconds she wondered if it was time to go yet and if we were going to be late and if it would start soon and how much longer till we got to go and if she ate enough of her pasta so we could leave)

And then the dream that was a wish in Lainey's 5 year old heart came true.  We watched our local ballet company (Ellensburg's got a ballet company...you can find 'culture' anywhere, I guess) perform their production of Cinderella.  We even got to meet Cinderella after the show!  

And after all that excitement and due to the lateness of the show, we couldn't quite make it home before our eyes got heavy.  (hers, not mine.  No falling asleep at the wheel for me!)

One of my favorite things Lainey says is after a long day like this particularly exciting Saturday.  "Mom, we had a lot of day today."  And it was fun, too!!!

The first thing I said to Tyler when we got home was that he could take her next time.  And if you have ever done something special with your kids, you know this was a huge concession on my part because I would love to horde more than my fair share of Lainey's magic moments and be the one who always saw her eyes sparkle at new experiences, but that wouldn't be fair.  She's half of Tyler, so he deserves to have that face from moments like that etched into his memories just like it is in mine.

Another page in my journey through motherhood filled with sweet memories.  So this is love... loving her face, loving having time for just the two of us, loving being able to give her a small part of what the world has for her to experience, loving her smiles and her joy at simplicity, at creativity, at beauty.