Ladies Weekend

This weekend Frances had a baby shower.  Friday night I boarded a $25 bus bound for DC and didn't look back (okay, somewhere during the supposed-to-be-4-hour-ride-that-turned-into-6 I might have looked back a little).

Celebrating Frances and her soon-to-be little lady was totally worth it.

 Dana stole the show with her original poem (in rhyming couplets no less).  After the shower Dana and I headed downtown to take in a little bit of the National Portrait Gallery and Museum of Modern Art.  It was lovely to spend a whole weekend chatting with the ladies but I think my favorite part was, in the middle of the Museum Dana turned to me and asked me if I knew what a certain sculpture was made of.  I guessed wood (wrong) and Dana said, "There aren't any guards around.  Touch it."

And I did. It's actually metal


And this made me cry.  Try reading it.

The hubbs and the kids had a great time too.  Claire summed up her weekend with dad this morning when she said, "when I was home with dad I got to watch TV all day.  Can you believe that?  I want to do that again."

I'd like that too sweetie.

The fun bus

I'm currently in the middle of Delaware on what is affectionately known as the 'fun bus'--the cheapest, trashiest way to get to DC from New York.  

The driver has been singing a loud tune-less "summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind" which has helped distract from the man across the aisle who was having a full-out fight with his wife on the phone. Luckily his phone died in the middle of calling his daughter to recount the whole thing and we were all spared having to live the fight twice. (But hey, free wifi)

I couldn't make this stuff up people.   I'd do this again even if Auntie Frances wasn't having a baby shower.

And if you are wondering if I have pulled my extra clothes out of my bag and layered them over my body because it is a freezer in here the answer is yes.  I am that lady.

Knox Reunion on the CT coast

A couple of months ago a friend from college and I hatched a plan to meet up this summer.  We started out talking about just meeting up for a night while she was visiting her brother.  I didn't know if the hubbs would have enough vacation to join us so we started out thinking small.

Then it changed.  And suddenly we had rented a beach house in Guilford, CT for the 4th of July weekend.

{and here are the gratuitous photos}

The craft bag--all ready to go with high hopes

Sadly, all of New York had the same idea we did.  

We kept our spirits high though

The weekend was full of things like bathing in an iron claw-foot tub,

Making rock monsters,

practicing entries,

Sun bathing

and taking pictures that make it look like our kids eat vegetables.

Noah had a love/hate relationships with the weather--he is the sweatiest boy known to man (here he is on a sweaty tour of the thimble islands; the most outright display of rich, white people being rich, white people I have ever seen)

But his sweaty nature also means he loves a good dip in the splash pad.

The good news is that we have just gotten cuter since college and it was like 13 years had hardly passed at all.

Father's and Son's Camp out

A couple of weeks ago they announced that several congregations that are all pretty close to us were having a Father's and Son's camp out.  I wasn't at the meeting where it was first brought up but I understand that the hubbs said that he would love to go and he would be bringing his daughter.

He left it at that.

One of the great things about the hubbs is that he doesn't seem to get all worked up about things.  If I would have been in the room I would have been seething.  How dare they?  Did they have a father's a daughter's camp out planned (the answer to this question is no)?  I can just imagine what would have been going through my head while they tried to explain that they had lots of fun cooking and decorating activities planned for girls and their moms.  My anger would have fueled my thoughts and actions.  If you would have asked me I might have called anger something more PC like "rightous indignation" but boiled down to its barest form it would have just been anger--anger calling me to action.  I would fret about what people would say and how I would react and how I would protect her.

The hubbs doesn't need that.  He doesn't have to be angry to act.  He can just act.  And he's better off for it.

They had a great time.  They canoed and slept in a tent and ever since Claire has been walking around talking about camping and looking for flash lights to put in her backpack.

After the event the hubbs was in another meeting where they asked for reviews and he said, "next year I think we should make it father's and kid's instead of father's and son's."  The people conducting the meeting said they would think about it but the hubbs doesn't think they'll change.

He said he would take Claire next year too.

She can hardly wait.

It's called a funk

I've been in a little bit of a writing funk (I've been in a personal funk too--oh hey still not back to pre-pregnancy weight and a husband who is gone for 12 hours every day.  Oh....and I have two kids who seem to have missed the memo that we only get up at 5 if there is a fire).

I think about this blog pretty regularly.  I think of things that I want to talk about and hear about and inspiration that I receive and I want to share it.  But then I think, "who wants to hear that from me?" or "who am I to talk about _____?"

On Sunday I read this article by C. Jane and I was thrilled because she gave me a new way to talk about what I was feeling.  The article is titled "Do you feel like you are casting your pearls before swine when you write personally?" and it opens up with this definition from Wikipedia

"Pearls before swine" and "casting pearls" refer to a quotation from Matthew 7:6 in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, implying that you should not put what is valuable in front of those who will reject the notion that it has value and furthermore that they will seek to diminish or destroy what you offer.
Her basic thought is that you have to define what are swine and what are pearls.  Sometimes it doesn't feel like your thoughts are pearls.  Sometimes you are a swine.  So there it is...lately, I have been my own swine.

Who am I to talk about _____?  Who am I not to?

So here it goes. I've been thinking a lot about stuff lately.  Claire is obsessed with stuff.  Before we go anywhere she tries to pack all of her purses full of tiny little objects--all of the utensils from her play kitchen, all of the pieces of board games, all of the little chew toys that Noah has.  You name it and she'll put it in a purse and try to bring it with us.  It drives me crazy and every time it happens I'm embarrassed that we have enough stuff for her to fill 4-5 purses.

But then I fall into the trap of wanting to buy her more stuff.  The other day a friend gave us a Dora Doll House.  Claire was thrilled (Noah loves it too because it talks when he pushes the buttons). I came home and immediately went about searching Amazon so we could have dolls and furniture.  You'll be please to know that I caught myself just before I ordered $40 worth of dolls and furniture.  Instead we scrounged up all the little doll-like things we had that fit in the house and made furniture out of egg cartons.  She was thrilled.  And today, when I found the bed and couch we made crammed into one of her purses I just threw it away.

Here's to less stuff.

What do you do to keep yourself from acquiring too much stuff?

The Next Viral Baby Video

Noah and I have been hard at work trying to make the next viral youtube video.

We have two excellent candidates.

New York In the Spring Time

When we moved to New York I printed out 20-30 5x7 pictures of snap shots from my phone.  I hung them in frames around the house and I love them (do not ask me what the land lord did with them the day he paid us to leave the house so he could pretend he lives at our house and bribe the city zoning committee to let us have a balcony because I don't know).

I love having pictures of my family and kids all around the house and I committed to continuing to print out pictures every couple of months.  On that same vein I also decided to take family pictures whenever I get the chance.  My brother and sister-in-law are here visiting.  K has a nice camera so we asked her to take a family picture.  We didn't have coordinating outfits or more than 5 minutes in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (who closes a cemetery at 4:30 on Memorial Day Weekend?) but we got some winners (you are getting these totally unedited--pudgy tummy and all).

M and K--the happy couple