Forward momentum

Finally caught it on video!

Avast, ye! Swab the poop deck! Et cetera!

That's right, it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day again! Yarr! In case you were wondering, my pirate name is Cap'n Gwyn Sharkchum. And if you ever wondered what kind of pirate I am, it's the kind that doesn't do anything. Well, either that or a space pirate. It's also International Wear A Dress Week, so I have on a skirt right now - since the work week is finally over. I need a pirate dress. That would be cool.



So, so much has been going on lately, and I haven't blogged about any of it. My little sister is a teenager now, my brother got engaged, and both of my baby nephews turned one. We finally got around to painting Porter's room this weekend. The paint chip described the color as apple green but it came out of the bucket highlighter-yellow, though it eventually dried to what Betsy describes as "sunny green." That's actually the phrase she uses for light colors: ie. sunny brown is tan. But in this case it actually works.



Amy is getting closer and closer, but she still hasn't mastered the whole crawling thing. She gets up on all fours and rocks, and then she throws up one fat leg behind her like she wants to sit up. She can actually sort of iinchworm-it across the floor but inevitably gets stuck in the corner, like those robot dogs always do. And then she goes "Arf! Arf!" until her batteries run down.

Porter started preschool this week. Here he is on his first day. Isn't he cute?


This week they learned about watermelons. And he gets to ride the bus every day, just like Betsy! He was pretty jealous when she started riding the bus in the spring so I'm glad it's his turn now.

And Betsy? Well, kindergarten is pretty much love for her. You remember that, right? Life doesn't get much better than kindergarten. Her teacher is really big on writing - for example, she tells the students if they want to ask her a question or remind her of something, they should write her a note, and she's sent home words we can post all over the house - and Betsy really seems to get it. Pretty much every scrap of paper - junk mail, receipts, I swear I caught her with the checkbook the other day but I got to it before she vandalized it - is covered with letters. Sometimes I can decipher it, sometimes not. They just got done with a unit on butterflies, and as everyone knows,


butterflies are wonderful.

Guess who weighs eighteen pounds and isn't getting polio?

AMY LOU, that's who. She is also a pro at rolling back and forth, sometimes does and sometimes does not like cereal, has a tiny corner of one tiny tooth poking through her gums, and is FURIOUS that she hasn't learned how to crawl yet. Dang, I really need to take some more pictures of her, I think the most recent ones are from the State Fair, and that was a while ago. Trust me, she's cute.

Got me some blog love from Beth and Susan!

And got a Six Random Facts tag from... um, someone. I think it was Mom. (Everyone and their mother is blogging these days! Har har!) Granted, I've been writing this blog for over two years now, and while it's ostensibly for the purposes of keeping updated on the kids, I mostly just write random musings and navel-gazing, don't I? And then Dad comments in haiku. It's all good. However, I think there's a lot of value to the 'random things' posts because you probably know the BIG things about me (number of kids, whether or not I like chemistry [yes], etc) but that doesn't tell you that I haven't eaten Jello for years and years and years. You know why, Dad. And maybe I am trying to sound more interesting than I really am. (And if I sound totally incoherent, it's because I've been awake since four-thirty this morning purple monkey dishwasher.)

Aaaaaanyway. Six things you probably really should know about me, if you don't already.

1. I can't accessorize worth a darn. Shoes, jewelry, purses... they don't do a thing for me. Does that mean I am going to have my girl card revoked?

2. I've still never had a pedicure.

3. My brain is filled with useless trivia... just don't ask me a geography question.

4. However, I am a really good speller.

5. I could probably go the rest of my life without buying another scrapbook supply. I'm not going to though.

6. I taught myself how to sew when I was 26 & I'm still ridiculously proud of myself for that.

Arrivals/departures

Whew! It's been a crazy week-and-a-half or so. Crazy fun, that is. I got to see all three of my brothers, just not all at the same time. It started on a Thursday when Kevin flew in from D.C. - seriously, I had not seen him since Emily's wedding two years ago, how sad is that? - and then Rob and his girlfriend Laura came in on Friday. They left on Saturday but then Mandy, Mike, and Miles came up later that day because they hadn't seen Kevin in forever either. Then Kevin left on Sunday. It was a very fun visit - there were Steakburgers and Cranium, and also rhythmic gymnastics.



On Tuesday I made yet another trip to the airport to pick up my mother-in-law. Connie is staying with us for a month while my sitter is out with her brand-new baby. The kids seem really happy with Grandma around (we'll see how Grandma feels about them by the end of the month). I was even able to squeeze in some overtime on Friday, which is always helpful.

And look! I scrapbooked!