Blogging has been sorely lacking lately. And it's not because I haven't wanted to. It's just because I've wanted to sleep more. I still want to sleep now - but I'm so pumped from our softball victory tonight that I would just lie there and stare at the ceiling if I tried to sleep. I'll set small goals with blogging - because I'll probably crash very soon. Here goes (pictures are courtesy of Sam and Caroline's Grampy and Grampa): The lobster cookout, as usual, was a blast. Caroline is getting ready to start school next week and is very, very excited. Sam has two speeds now. They are: run and jump. Jim is liking his new job (and we are liking his new commute). And among all this, it seems like I'm hanging on for the ride. It's wild. But fun. =-)
Here are some pictures from a few weekends ago: Sam is really starting to enjoy the water - he'll go in now with a tube and his life jacket and let himself float around!
Caroline continues to enjoy the water, too. Especially when she gets to ride on the tube with the big girls!
I know, it has been a while. I don't want to say we've been crazy busy - but we have been enjoying the summer. We've spent the past few weekends in Worcester. Rest is good. We had softball tonight (we got it in before the rain) and ended up losing in the bottom of the seventh. But we did have fun. Playoffs start in a few weeks. We've been doing a lot of baking recently. The kids are very helpful - especially when it comes to tasting. Sam was trying to spoon the brown and white sugar out of the mixing bowl to taste before I put any other ingredients in! I have learned that starting with flour will at least slow down this process a bit. Sometimes it is a wonder there is any batter left to cook! And let's not talk about all the germs. But twelve minutes at 350F will kill most bugs. Right?!?! We were a littel bored last weekend, so we busted out some clothes for playing dress up. Caroline ended up a dress from my junior prom, somehow, Sam ended up stealing the show...
Today it has been just one of those mornings. Caroline, even though she slept for almost 12 hours, was super whiny and Sam was just a cling-on. Ugh. But, somehow, we got everyone up and dressed for church (ON TIME!!!). The kids weren't behaving badly, it just took all of my energy to redirect them during mass to that they weren't too loud or standing on the pews or trying to jump off the kneelers or stripping their baby dolls naked just in time to carry them to communion or bopping the little girl in front of us in the head with a sippy cup. With all this activity going on around me, I have to say I didn't get much out of mass. I know the first reading was about Israelites in the desert and after that it gets really foggy. I was discouraged. I like going to church. In fact, it's one of the highlights of my week. But recently, I've spent so much time refereeing the kids so that they don't bother others that I don't enjoy going as much as I used to. This is also magnified by the fact that we have a new pastor and we're still trying to feel him out. I got the "uh-oh" feeling when, at this first service, he introduced himself by saying "I'm not a conservative. I'm not a liberal. I'm a traditionalist." Yikes. Jim and I tend to have more progressive views and can be at odds with some traditional teachings. So, as we brought the kids up to communion (naked dolly included), feeling as though we had just run a marathon instead of sitting through a church service - our pastor looked at us and said "Don't give up." It was just three words. But it was at the precise moment to know that we were doing the right thing (even as Sam was trying to wrestle cheerios from the little girl in front of us and Caroline's dress was flipping up to show off her Minnie Mouse undies). I love it when things like this happen. =-)
We've gone easy on the pictures recently. I'm finding that our camera is not capable of keeping up with Sam and Caroline - so it's been a struggle to get some good pictures. We have been busy. Up at the Lake last weekend and Sam, Caroline and I drove out to Utica on Friday to hang with Nina and Pops for the day. But here are some that we have taken recently:
With Auntie Dr Chrissy home now, one of Caroline's favorite things to do is "protect" her animals. She goes into my work bag and confiscates my stethoscope and has a ball with it. Maybe it will be her calling some day. Sam likes to help, too. Sometimes that doesn't go over so well.
It is the highlight of Caroline's weekends to hang out with Auntie Chrissy. I get the feeling she lets CJ get away with things Mommy doesn't. But that's what Aunts are for!!! =-) We have spent some time hanging out in our front yard. We have also learned that cherries are an outdoor only food! Sam loves looking for airplanes, no matter what he's doing. He's a little less enthralled with the pool, but as soon as the video stopped, he looked at me and said, "Again?"
