stick season

Today was Catcher's first lacrosse practice. He's the little guy without a helmet (don't worry concussion scaremongers, it's coming...). I wasn't there, but by all accounts it was awesome. I mean, right? Little guys with sticks and balls in an open field = recipe for success.

silence in the house

This is the first time since taking on the role of stay-at-home mom three and a-half years ago that all three of my children are enrolled in school. Tillie just started the Explore Arts preschool (one of Scout's schools from last year), so that leaves me with a window of time on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00am until 12:45ish when I have silence.

After dropping Tillie off this morning, I went to the Y for a quick workout, grabbed some coffee, met Catcher at his school for lunch, came back to the house to eat my lunch--quietly on the front porch because it was 72 degrees at noon--before picking Scout and then Tillie up at their respective schools. Wow...I can get a lot accomplished when I don't have to stop what I'm doing to deal with toddler antics.

Don't worry, though. Scout and Tillie more than made up for my two hours of quiet time when they both broke out in tears in the car on the way home...and then again when we got home...and then again when we were leaving to pick up Catcher...and then again when I was making dinner. The new schedule is exciting for Tillie, but the little bugger who crawled into my bed at 5:50 this morning asking me to read her a Hello Kitty story just can't hang. I guess it all worked out in the end, though, because both little ladies were tucked snugly into bed and sound asleep by 6:30pm.

the power of the elder

I love eavesdropping on the children. Often life is so bananas that you miss the moments when those who are making you bananas are playing nicely or, as was the case this afternoon, negotiating a sweet deal. Let me preface this story by saying it could have gone terribly wrong. Catcher and Scout (and Tillie, by association) could have ended up throwing things or scratching one another or running into the kitchen to tattle. But instead this is what I overheard...

First, it's Valentine's week at school. The anticipation of candy alone is enough to send the kids into a tailspin coming off of the sugar-rush hangover from Tillie's birthday last Friday. Put that together with children from Scout's class handing out Valentines, which really means candy, early (today!), and you find yourself with nuclear-bomb explosion potential in this house. After Catcher had finished his homework this afternoon, he caught wind that Scout was hoarding a few sweet treats in her room (she's not the best at A] keeping secrets or B] keeping quiet--literally, she has a loud voice). Big brother assessed the situation--remember, he doesn't like chocolate--and discovered that there could be something in it for him (specifically a strawberry-flavored lollipop). This is where my eavesdropping ears perked up.

Through the power of persuasion and his determination to get that lollipop, Catcher convinced Scout that because she had exactly three pieces of candy, she should keep the Snickers for herself (duh!), give him the strawberry lollipop and Tillie the blue dum dum. And just like that...it worked! There was no backlash with cries of "No way! This is my candy!" echoing through the house. There was no grabbing of candy that didn't belong to one's self. Instead, Scout was so excited about the deal that she came running into the kitchen to brag to me about it. I told her how I proud I was--wasn't this one of those parenting moments they tell you about to praise good behavior?--that she was sharing her Valentine's candy with her siblings. Catcher overheard my praise of Scout and sauntered into the kitchen saying, "Well, I'm the one who came up with the plan." Good work, children. I think I'll keep you around a bit longer...at least through Valentine's Day.

sunny sunday

It just happened to be a perfect Austin afternoon, so Alex and the littles played football. And Catcher drew a self-portrait in the rocks. The resemblance is uncanny.

testing...testing...

I have once again gotten myself in the position as acting "Rock Star Photo Booth" photographer for the annual music festival at Scout's preschool. The big event is tomorrow, but today I set everything up and called Alex and--birthday girl!!!--Tillie in to serve as my test subjects. I'm trying a whole new lighting scenario this year, which I promise to blog about later for the photography novices/nerds out there because I had a hard time figuring out what would work, so wish me luck tomorrow. Photographing two-hundred preschool-aged children...what could possibly go wrong?

return of the arm warmer

Because it has been a while since we've seen Scout wearing the arm warmers, I just wanted to assure you that this style is still on trend (as evidenced during ballet today):

super bowl birthday

Here's a little early February trivia for you (at least as it pertains to my family, anyway). On February 6, 2011 Scout was baptized at Braddock Street United Methodist Church in Winchester, VA. Later that evening the Green Bay Packers went on to win Super Bowl XLV in the great state of Texas. Exactly one year later--February 6, 2012, in case I lost you--Tillie was born in the great state of Texas. I'm not saying that any of these things have anything to do with each other, but I'm not saying they don't. Either way, we kind of think of Tillie as a Super Bowl baby since her birthday falls during that blessed first week in February.

This year the Green Bay Packers were not in the Super Bowl, but we decided to have a party at our house anyway and tie in an early birthday celebration for Tillie (because no one at the party really cared whether the Patriots or the Seahawks won). I made a fancy cake--the same one as her first birthday since it was such a hit with the little guys--and the adults got buzzed on whiskey cocktails while the kids got buzzed on sugar. Every Super Bowl party should have a fancy cake.