Saturday Morning.

It's 7:13 AM and no one is awake.
Except for me.
Since 5:30, it has been almost 2 hours of peace.
And making dinner, doing dishes, picking up, sweeping, doing food prep, catching up on emails, making a rough plan for the rest of the day and blogging.  :)

Our dishwasher started showing an error code yesterday and the soonest they can come out to fix it is next Weds.  It's an inconvenience, but not terrible.  I am finding there is something therapeutic about hand washing dishes.  They were dirty, now they are clean.
Wouldn't it be nice if everything in life were that easy?

Not to be outdone, our vacuum cleaner bit the dust on Thursday.  It lived a good life and had been fixed many times, so it's time to start shopping.  Thank goodness for our subscription to Consumer Reports.  :)  While I am appreciating living without a mechanical dishwasher, living in a house with carpet and the mess of four urchins is less welcome.
I'm thinking we're going to Sears today.

Benjamin, Nate and I all have a nasty chest cold this week.  Poor Ben continues to get the brunt of everything that is going around.  Sam also seems to be on the front end of some type of illness.
'Tis the season.
It makes me a little sad that he has to do this, but I find it adorable when Ben comes up to me when he needs a neb, saying in his raspy voice, "Mama?  I need a nebruizer now.  I sit to watch the Mustang Channel?"  Sometimes the P-51 Mustang  on youtube is the only thing that will slow this kid down.
I'll take it.

We slid back in the school/work groove well this week, even with illness.
Nate has taken to "working for baseball cards".  This is where he'll ask to do a chore he would not normally have to do in hopes he can earn a new card for his collection.
He will sit and sort his cards for hours.
He just loves them.
He doesn't realize that most of his cards are at least 10 years old.  For some reason, he has picked Craig Biggio out as his new "favorite player" and insists that he's going to see him play in Baltimore this year.
We'll break it to him gently.
I totally appreciate the extra help with vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms, so I"m going to ride this wave as long as possible.

Nate and Ben were listening to the story of Jose Sanchez del Rio this week.  After hearing it, they were running around the house with lego Cristero weapons shouting, "Viva Cristo Rey!!"
They did this for the good portion of an hour and then Nate yells, "Viva Cristo Rey!  Mom!  I"m talking Polish just like Nina!!"
He was so stinking proud of himself.
Yes, my dear, you are.  Facepalm.

One of the little girls in Sam's class made him a necklace.  Sam said she was grateful because Sam shared his stuffed animal reading buddy with her on a day she forgot hers at home.
He is so cute with it.
He has made some good friends at his new school, which is good to see.

I'm reading the book, "Driven to Distraction",  The more I read, the more it describes Sam perfectly.  He has always lived in "Sam-Land".  We are developing strategies on his own to help him stay on track and these are helping, But with how he is doing in school and his trouble focusing there, even though he is saying "I'm trying so hard, Mom", I have to believe him.   I"m wondering if we need to talk to someone.
He is such a sweet soul and a bright kid with an amazing memory.  He is learning to cope, slowly.  It's not easy for him.

Nate has been on a bowtie kick recently.
This has necessitated me spending copious amounts of time watching youtube videos on tying bowties.
Yesterday his knot was wrong, but it was still cute.
He was so psyched to wear one of SugarBear's ties.  :)

Caroline is super excited for her birthday.
10 years old.
How did that happen?

She is excited to go out to breakfast and paint a mug with her friend from school.
Her request for a special birthday dinner was elbow macaroni with real butter and cupcakes from Wegmans.
I can do that.
Pining for Spring, we had Yankee Stadium pretzels for dinner last night and watched an old ballgame.  Life is always better with a ballgame on.

Urchins are stirring now.
The Saturday adventure begins.  :)