Sum>Parts

Things are... peaceful. Quiet. Fun. Relaxing.

I spent most of my afternoon yesterday drawing a huge racetrack in the driveway. We went to the park and played. There were two dads there playing these really cool drums for the kids. Clancy swam in the pond. Aaron tried to teach them how to skip stones, but apparently they begged to differ. Seth chose the "scatter and splash" while JP went for the "one really big splash" approach. We saw these incredibly beautiful dragonflies with deep purple bodies and iridescent violet wings.

This morning Aaron took Clancy running with him. He met our neighbor. I had a chat with the mailman. We tried catching fireflies last night. I have raspberry bushes running the border of our backyard. We have TWO tires swings now. The boys crash at naptime out of exhaustion. I crash at 10pm every night for the same reason.

My mother once said to me that no matter where you go, there you are. She said it out of exasperation. We were on vacation and I was 12. Patrick, my nephew who is more like my little brother, was 6. We were in New Hampshire and we were fighting. As per usual. She was saying that no matter where you take your family, they're the same people. You have the same issues and problems that you had before you packed up the station wagon and headed for the mountains. I agree with her. But I gotta say, its a whole lot easier to deal with those issues when you are breathing country air, sitting outside and watching the sun set through the trees.

I had my family reunion over the weekend. It was basically three hours in the car, three hours of chasing cranky boys and trying to figure out where they were, what they want and how to stop Seth from crying. Aaron even tried driving around to soothe him. It was hell. To be perfectly honest, the party was probably amazing. People were smiling and laughing and eating and drinking. For us though, not so much.

Last night it took me over two hours to get JP to fall asleep. They were grumpy all day and we've been rained in for almost three days. No daycare this week and I'm home all day and night. Things haven't been easy around here. Last night as I was waiting for JP to fall asleep my mind wandered into the "What if I hadn't forgotten to pack those damn pills?" place. Life would be easy. It really would be. I would be doing what I wanted when I wanted. I would have more money and energy and be in better shape.

And then, around 10:10 I heard him. My JP singing, "You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You make me happyyyy, when skies are grayyyyy. You'll never know dear, how much I love youuuuu. So please, don't take, my sunshine awayyyy."

I silently took it all back and settled in my chair. Determined to sit there no matter how long it took.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a song.

Its 9:30pm, Friday. I'm working. Can you tell?

I went to New House today with my girls, boys and two dogs. Somehow the owner seemed okay with me and my travelling circus and let us all in. The girls hadn't seen it yet and seemed pretty happy with it. We got home and they ran upstairs to finish packing, so I guess that was a good sign.

Seth and JP have been being coached on the idea of moving and a new house. When we got inside he couldn't understand why his toys weren't there. It was pretty funny.

I learned something. The sound of a baseball game on television immediately makes me yearn for my parents' old plaid couch, Garfield pajamas and a pillow. I can see my father sitting in his chair, a cold can of Miller on the little table by his chair, a burning cigarette in the ashtray. In a few moments we'll wake up my mom for work (two or three nights a week, always at 9:45pm for her night shift). After she leaves, I grab a glass of cold milk, climb up the ladder to my bunk bed and leap over the bar. My door is cracked just so and I fall asleep to the sounds of the Red Sox vs Yankees. The occasional gasp, yell and chair slap coming from the living room. Gotta love the Sox - right?

I don't consider myself a sports-minded person. I barely know a handful of the teams in major league ball. Funny how a background soundtrack like this can bring back so vividly time, place, and color. I think I might be 10 or so in these memories but when a ball game is on the tv - it could have been yesterday. Amazing.

In a forest of cardboard... its tempting to just light it all on fire. Good Lord we have a lot of crap. I am working today and let me tell you I couldn't be happier about it! Eight hours of detox callers is so much easier than dealing with an angry 11 year old.

My daughter has totally lost it. I knew it would happen, but I didn't see how intensely horrible it would be. Worse than Autumn ever was. She turns 12 in August and it will be interesting to see if she lives that long.

Family reunion time is coming up fairly quick. July 19th to be exact. This is the 5th one. Family is bigger every year and a bit more fragile.

My posting from this place is incredibly hard. I just can't think. I'll spare you more gibberish. When someone from Massachusetts finds the sun, let me know please. Its been raining for what a month? Super fun with a couple of high energy toddlers and a dog who is ready to tunnel his way to freaking China. Super. Fun.

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We went to sign our lease this morning for the new homestead. The carpet is about 12 x 15. Its almost this color. Except ours isn't a pile-type shag, its more like a softer, more faux fur carpeting. The blue and yellow-green flowered couch goes with it perfectly.

Other than the time capsule feel, I'm totally excited to move. Right now my dog is ready to eat anyone who walks down the sidewalk. And a lot of people walk down our sidewalk. Its totally annoying. He stops if i ask, but honestly I'd be asking all day. I am really not going to miss the lack of privacy. I am going to miss our little house though. I have always loved our place, the location not so much.

Other than moving, not a whole heck of a lot going on around here. I have some great pictures of Bentley's weekend visit with us, but alas my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. Again.

Next week Tia is coming for a 10 day visit!! Woo hooo! Her family is traveling and asked if I could dog sit for them. I am very excited to see her again. She is such a cool chick.

I had all these great ideas today while standing in my new backyard about storylines and thoughts and ideas and now its all gone. That sucks. All I can think about now is what to sell, where to put things, how to arrange rooms and how much a carpet will cost to cover up that shag??

OH! I had the boys' heads shaved! LOL! JP looks exactly like my nephew Pat and me combined. Seth looks like Aaron's clone. They look so much older. I gotta get pics to post, too adorable! Sethie is still doing great with the potty training. I asked JP if he wanted to sit on the potty and he told me, "NO! I'm NOT! I want a diaper! I'm NOT on the potty again mommy!"

So, there you have his deep and personal feelings on using the potty. Mind you, he cheers Seth on. "Good boy Seth! Good job using the potty!" And then he pats him on the back.

More to come!