And We're Back

It seems like it has been a long time since I've been able to blog freely like this.
Sam is soooo over-tired. He's tantum-ing in his room. It has been a goodly amount of time since we've had a tantrum like this. It's not of epic proportions. It's somewhere near a 6 or so on the Samuel-Scale-of-Destruction (furthermore known as the SSD). His tantrums when he's over-tired are kind of like earthquakes, though. You know you can't avoid them, so you do what you can to minimize the damage. And when they do occur, you just have to wait them out. He has got so much better since we've moved up his bedtime - it has really made a world of difference. It has been such a busy past few weeks that we knew an "eruption" was inevitable. Hopefully the aftershocks will be minimal. Caroline keeps coming in our room holding her head saying, "I can't sleep. Sammy is giving me such a headache." I have to try so hard to redirect her, otherwise I would hold my head and complain, too. =-)
I'm also trying to actively ignore the pile of ironing so big it could choke a horse that is sitting on the cedar chest directly in front of me. Not much ironing (or much of anything else) has been done in the past few weeks.
I just got done helping out with our church's CYC production of "Annie". Jim and I had been discussing ways to share our "talents" (if shopping at garage sales and Goodwill is considered a talent) when the CYC appealed for some help with their show. After discussing it, we figured that all those years in winterguard were probably good for something - so I volunteered to help with costumes. It was a lot of work and even more fun. It's a really good group of kids. Working with teenagers was a stretch at times - overall, though I was really impressed with the kids. The biggest challenge was having a cast of 46 each with multiple costume changes. My role was to be there as a "hooch-wench" mostly - just taking direction and helping where I could. Fortunately, the ladies I was working with are amazingly capable and we were able to scrape together some good stuff for the kids to wear. Caroline went to a lot of rehearsals with me and was dubbed "Assistant Director" (a title she relishes). It seems like her Annie doll (which she pulled out of my old toys) hasn't left her hands in weeks. Jim really, really, really, really took one for the team by covering for me at home. I am so grateful. This was the first big thing I've done outside the house since the kids were born. And I'm already looking forward to the musical next year (but don't tell Jim just yet - he's still recovering from this year - and I think he will be for a while)...
My Mom and Dad were nice enough to drive out for the show. It was funny when I was in the back room during the show on Friday night helping the kids with their costumes. We had a speaker piping in the show so we could hear the cues for the kids to go onstage. I heard Nate crying over the speaker and commented, "That's my baby." I was quite relieved when he simmered down. When Mom and CJ came back stage I commented on how good Nate had behaved during the show when I found out that I didn't hear him anymore because Dad had been sitting in the car with him since 7:30! Thank goodness for grandparents!
I've commandeered the computer for long enough (we need to get to bed)...so here are some pics from the weekend.
It's nice to be back!