Seven Quick Things that Have Been on my Mind

No pictures, because I broke my camera.  (Yes, again.  What?  It's perfectly normal for someone shuttling six kids around all day to have trouble keeping her grip on her camera.  It is! Have you been talking to my husband or something? )

1- I may have inadvertently solved the issue of the girls obsessing over this blog, because it has now been so long since I've updated that they have stopped checking for new posts.  I am thinking that I may forbid them from reading it, for the near future.  My plan has always been to let them read it when they are older (and removed from whatever situation is at hand,) so I may just stick to that and make them wait until the time is right.

2- We were blessed with something of a miracle a few weeks ago.  It has been 18 months since the birth of Ruth and the inability for the Dusty Camel (our beloved and filthy minivan) to fit our entire family.  This has made long trips very tricky and has in general been a huge nuisance.  The problem was - big old vans are kind of expensive, especially since we recently had to replace Chris' old car.....Well, heaven smiled down on us in the form of two families from our parish - one who noticed a 15 passenger van for sale and contacted us, the other who then sold it to us in ridiculously good condition for a ridiculously low price.  To illustrate what a big deal this van is to us and how excited the girls are about it:  Beth recently asked me if, in lieu of a birthday party at our house, I could pick up all of her friends with the new van and just drive them around.

3- Lucy has been insisting that we should refer to the new van as "The BUS."  It is imperative that you say it exactly as written - with major emphasis on "BUS."  I'm inclined to go along with this.

4- Now that it is Spring, the reality that Lucy will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall has really hit me.  I'm going to miss her a ton.  She is a hilarious companion these days, with her confidence and her straightforward pronouncements on life.  At the park the other day a little boy took a shine to Lu and began shadowing her every move.  She was intent on "ballerina training," which mostly means she swans around, doing twirls and fancy leaps off of the equipment.  Finally, in exasperation with the boy she turned to him and said, as gently as she could, "Look.  You need to find your own life."

5- Ruth, these days, is a quirky ball of trouble.  Her favorite activity is to run away from me : in stores, at the playground, dropping Lucy off at preschool...The moment she gets her chance, I will hear her giggles as she starts to run away as fast as she can.  Obviously, this is about as dangerous a pastime as a baby can have, especially when said baby has no fear whatsoever of passing cars.  I am glad for two things:  one, that Lucy is reliable enough to stand still whenever I have to rush off in a panic after Ruth, and two, that I am past the point of caring if people stare at me while Ruth, confined, screams bloody murder.  And believe me, she has the power to shriek like nothing I've ever encountered before.  It nice to be so liberated, mentally.  It's one of the great perks, I think, of being in your 30s.  (Maybe, as well, it is related to the 12+ years I've already spent hauling screaming kids out of stores.  So this one is louder.  Blah.  Who cares.)

6- Beth and Claire both recently had artwork selected to be displayed in a local art exhibit.  We were so proud of them!!!  I really enjoyed it, and there was a surprisingly large number of really great art (all from elementary through high school.)  Beth had her picture taken by a newspaper cameraman, so we are on the lookout to see if she makes it in!

7- I recently had my first comment from a stranger on the streak of grey hair I've got going on in front.  Should I be glad about this, or upset?  I hate the comments I get (especially from Katie's teachers etc.) on my age, as though I'm too young to take seriously....On the other hand, as the mother of an 18 month old I'm not exactly hoping to be taken as a grandmother quite yet.  I kind of like my streak of grey, I kind of like the fact that I am (I think) starting to look more like an adult and less like an overgrown baby.  I kind of did not like having a stranger comment on it, though!

Bonus #8 - We are doing a Walk for Wishes for the Make A Wish Foundation in two weeks.  This organization is so wonderful, and had such a profound effect on us after Abbie's ordeal that I can't even begin to do it justice.  I don't even like Disney, and yet our trip to Disney World was magical, carefree (which, when you are dealing with cancer or any serious illness in a kid cannot be overestimated) and, believe it or not, healing.   Not just for Abbie, but for our entire family.  And we were not - by far! - the worst-off family we encountered.  So many families are dealing with heavy, heavy burdens that consume every day and will never go away.  I don't know that there is anything they need more, really, than a chance to experience a little relief.  If you have any spare change, why don't you throw it their way?  Here's the link to our "Team Abbie" Make-A-Wish page.  I'm not much of a fundraiser, but these people are taking heartbreaking situations and infusing them with a little bit of joy.

Bonus#9 - Just for fun, here's a video the girls made my Mom for her birthday:

FYI, Jen over at Conversion Diary is where 7 Quick Takes comes from.  Her blog is hilarious and profound, and her posts about being an introvert have made me realize - hey!  I am also "An Introvert," not just a socially awkward semi-hermit who sometimes hides in the bathroom because I so desperately need to be alone.

On my lack of posting

I've basically used this blog as my memory book for the past few years, which has worked out well since I gave up keeping up individual books, oh, somewhere around Katie's 1st birthday.

I'm running into a problem now, though.  The girls, as they get older, love to pour over past posts, laughing at the silly things they used to do.  I'm glad they like it, but it poses a bit of a dilemma for me.  For one, I self-edit very heavily now, maybe too much so.  I find that I often start a post only to abandon it after editing out all the best parts.

Another issue can be summed up with the exchange I had this morning with Lucy.  She asked me for an orange, but when I began to peel it she flipped out.  She wanted to cut it with scissors and suck the juice out instead.  This comes from a video I posted about a year ago, when she had done that very thing.  The problem is, at the time it was funny and silly and just a one-off.  But because I put the video on the internet, suddenly Lucy views it as the thing to do. As a parent, I believe that part of my job is to not take the mistakes of my children too seriously- sometimes I really just need to keep a sense of humor and laugh it off.  But my children shouldn't view their mistakes that way - it is one thing for me to laugh at Lucy playing with scissors, it's another entirely for Lucy to think that it was such a funny thing to do that she should do it again!

So, I don't know what my game plan is going to be.  I may keep the blog up and running, and just tell the girls that it is off limits until they are a little bit older.  Or I may try to find the balance between kid-appropriate and boring.  Or I may do some other, third thing that I haven't thought of yet.  I don't know.  I'll let everyone know when I figure it out!

The girls are making a movie

The girls decided to make their own version of X-Men First Class. They are not done filming it yet, but here's the teaser trailer.  (I know I'm the Mom and everything, but I have to say I am legitimately impressed!)

Abbie's first fifteen minutes of fame. Huzzah!

We went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend, one of our favorite yearly things to do.  Huzzah!  We love the cheesiness of it!  Huzzah!  We love the people who come in elaborate costumes, many of them having quite literally nothing to do with the Renaissance!  Huzzah!  Most of all, though, we freaking love the performers.  Knife-throwers, jugglers, singing wenches - Huzzah!  I have this itchy feeling whenever we go, the same feeling I get when we go to the circus,  this feeling that I could have very easily ended up as a Carnie.  The idea is very, very appealing some days!

This is not about my desire to run off and join the circus, though.  This about Abbie, and whatever magic she's got going on that makes people kneel at her feet.  Here she is in this video, plucked from the audience to assist our all-time favorite Renaissance Festival performer, Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy.  We have literally been watching him (and loving his act) for years.  Note the crown she is wearing;  some random woman stopped us and insisted on giving it to her earlier.

What cracks me up is this:  I understand when people who know about Abbie's brain tumor make a fuss over her.  I understand (although it gets on my nerves) when people ask me how Abbie is, as though she's my only kid who matters.  The random lady who gave Abbie a crown, though, she did not know a thing about Abbie.  Hilby, when he called her to the stage, had no way of knowing that she was ever a cancer-patient.  The crowd, who cheered so much for her that she ended up going back up to bow again at the end of the show (something that we've never seen happen in all the years we've been going to this) did not know that she was once one of those brave-but-plucky kids they put on St. Jude commercials.  This is just the pure attractive magic of Abbie at work. Is it because she actually cares so little for what people think of her that they always seem to love her so much?  I don't know, it's kind of a mystery to me.  But she had a blast here, as you will see on the video, and whatever the various reasons that go behind why people single her out for attention, she always handles it well.

7 Quick Takes, because I feel silly writing a post *just* about how I made a blanket

1:  I finished it!!!
 
Finally, after two years of toil and uncertainty, Lucy's quilt is finished!  It's not exactly perfect;  I ditched my original plan for the blanket and ended up cobbling together what I had already done with scraps from other abandoned projects.

2:  Now I have to do one for everybody
 
Notice the other waif in this picture, looking on with pathetic longing?  Suddenly, everyone is dying for their own blanket.  I don't know how I am going to handle this, draw straws?  Beth thinks I should pick based on age;  I think she's afraid that she will be grown and gone by the time I get around to her blanket.  I have promised a blanket to everyone sometime before they leave for college, but I have to say that I am a little daunted by the amount of time this is going to take.

3:  Here's a little slice of life with Ruth

She's pretty scattered, focus-wise.  Isn't it cute, though, how she waves to people out the window?  She does this all the time.  And Mom - she really likes the book!  It's significant that she keeps coming back to it.


4: The cooler weather is here to stay which means, ugh, the changing of the clothes

I want to curl up into a ball and die.
I wonder how other mothers with lots of kids do this.  Is the pain and suffering unavoidable?  Or is it avoidable, and I'm just doing it wrong?
I wish we could go back to only having one, two outfits at most.  It would be so much easier.


5:  Did you know that facial-recognition deficiency is, like, a thing?

It is!  I've recently read two separate accounts of people mentioning that they have trouble remembering faces.  It's a relief to know that I am not the only freak pretending to know who has just stopped them in the grocery store.

This is how bad it's become for me:  I was in Target last week, lugging Ruth in my arms and trying to navigate a cart overladen with two huge stools (which are working out great for our homework table!  I am a genius!)  I saw, over the stools, a glimpse of someone at the end of the aisle, looking directly at me.  I knew that her face was familiar somehow, but I ducked back behind the stool to give myself time.  I knew it was a familiar face, not just someone I see once in a while.  Still, though, I had no idea who she was or how I knew her.   Finally, near the end of the aisle myself, I sighed and came out from behind my hiding spot to face the music.

It was  mirror.  The face I had not recognized was my own face. 

All this is to say:  If I run in to you, and can't immediately remember who you are, please don't take it personally.  I really can't help it.

6:  The nights that Ruth does not sleep well teach me something

I really need sleep.  Babies should not try to play peek-a-boo at 3am, it's mean.  And Middle Schools should not open so early, some of us like to sleep in. 

7: I've been on an old movie kick and:  what's with all the scandalous behavior?!?!

How did I never notice before how so many of these old movies (like, 40s and early 50s) treat adultery like something that's just mildly amusing?  I can't believe how many meet-cute romances I've rewatched, not remembering that one or both of the main characters were married to other people at the start of the movie.

It's making me feel a little better about our current culture, at least.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes, wherein Lucy is released into the Wild

-1-

Lucy started Preschool this past Tuesday.  It's at a local Nature Center, and I think it is going to be a good fit for her.  I haven't, in general, been a big fan of Preschool but I could tell that Lucy both needed a primer on how to behave in a classroom and that she was desperate to go to school like her big sisters.  This program is only two days a week and is "nature-based" which translates into playing outside and taking a lot of walks, with some visits from awesome animals thrown in.  (They've already visited the barn owls they keep on the grounds and have begun to raise horseshoe crabs!)  

-2- 

We are wondering if this will signal the end of the Imaginary Classroom:  Rosie,who lives above a coffee-shop and has hot chocolate every morning, the wise teacher Mrs. Orangie Power, who once died of a broken leg and whispered to Lucy with her last breath, "Don't be afraid of ghosts!"  (Mrs. Orangie Power eventually resurrected, although the details on that are unclear.)  I will be kind of sad to see it all go.  It's been fun to see the crazy things Lucy comes up with, like her 'second-best' imaginary friend Amy, who had a pet stink bug, not to mention the fact that Orangie Power is a freaking awesome name and it makes me happy every time I hear Lucy say it.

-3-

After her first day of school, Lucy said that she was a little homesick but had fun.  (She also told me all the details so that I could tell everyone else - she did not want to waste her own time repeating herself.)  

The second day, when I asked her how her day was, Lucy said, "I had a lot of fun!  I didn't miss you at all!  Actually, I forgot you existed!"

I'm going to take that as a good sign.

-4- 

Claire had an incident in lunch this week.  A boy started harassing her about the size of our family, telling her that "Eight people in one family is too much!" etc.   She held her own and told him that he must be unhappy with his own family if he was focusing so much on hers.  (Claire, at 8, is sometimes remarkably insightful.)  It all worked for the good, though, because now this boy is not allowed to sit anywhere near her during lunch.  He's been a thorn in her side for years now, so I'm glad she gets a break.

Still, this is the first time any of the girls have encountered a really negative attitude towards having six sisters.  Claire handled it well and didn't get unduly upset, yet still...The whole thing makes me sad.

 -5-

I stole my neice and nephew for a few hours earlier this week, and I'm sorry Becky but I couldn't help myself!

I could not get him to stay still enough to take a unblurred picture, which cracks me up.  He may end up wearing Minnie-Mouse shoes when he comes here, but this kid is always all-boy!

-6-

Yesterday, while I was putting Ruth to sleep and Chris was picking up the Girl Scouts, Lucy went on a rampage of sorts.  She opened the Ovaltine and ate about a third of the powder with a spoon, then she went into the bathroom and ate 3 Children's Chewable Tylenol tablets.

The positives:  I got to catch up with my good friends at Poison Control.  The medicine cabinet was in need of a good cleaning-out anyways (I found some stuff we haven't used in close to a decade, stuff I'm mystified ever survived the move.)  I have one less portion of dessert to worry about for the next week, as Lucy is most definitely cut off.  Ah, and I realized that she can reach the faucet just fine so the stool (which gives her access to the medicine cabinet as well) is now comfortably nestled in storage.

-7-

I just made this blanket for friends of ours who just had a baby (incidentally also named Ruth).

This is by far the best blanket I've ever made.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!  I'm also now just finishing up an epic blanket that I've been making for Lucy.  I began it two years ago, so it feels good to almost be finished!  I'll post a picture once it's done.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!

How Matt Berninger from The National almost stepped on Beth

Alternate title:  How I turned out to be a worse mother than I thought

 The National just came to Merriweather, and since we had three tickets, and since Katie had come along for our pilgrimage to see Mumford and Sons, and since I never quite got around to having a birthday party for Beth, we figured it was the second-eldest's turn.

We had a great time, and Beth (who, if you recall, had one previous concert experience) thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Towards the end of the evening, the lead singer - as he often does- started weaving through the crowds.  In a moment of pure blind instinct, I realized that he was heading our way and I grabbed Beth by the scruff of her neck and propelled her through the crowd to get her a spot up front.  Thou Shalt not be Obnoxiously Pushy could reasonably be considered one of the guiding principles of my life,  but apparently my principles don't hold up to the temptation of standing kind of in the vicinity of a guy in a spotlight. 

Beth's view was mostly of his backside as he sung to the crowd in front of him, and even though he almost stepped on her as he turned back to the stage, and even though he almost hit her on the head with the mike when he dropped it, she was extremely excited.  As I stood on the sidelines watching her, it hit me that I had just shoved my kid into a screaming throng and then abandoned her there.  I was struck by two disparate thoughts:  #1- that I was so instinctively willing to do something (be obnoxiously pushy) for my child that I would never have done for myself, and #2- the fact that it didn't occur to me until it was too late that throwing my kid into a howling mob like her life depended on getting close to a Rock Star wasn't really the smartest thing to do.

Anyway, she not only survived to tell the tale, it was the highlight of her night.  We found this video on YouTube, much to Beth's delight.  You can see her around the 26 sec mark, lower left hand corner.  She's the really short person standing behind the singer.

First day of school

Above:  our traditional "spa day" before the start of school.
Below:  the elementary girls waiting for the bus

We were beginning to think this day would never come, as school was canceled on Monday and then Tuesday.  I think the girls were a little more nervous than usual because of the delays, but they were ready and all set to go in record time and the morning went as smoothly as it could.  Now Lucy and I are just puttering around the house while Ruth naps and we await their return, to hear how it all went!

We're ready, just not sure what it is we're ready for...

The laundry is completely done (something I can almost never say.)  The pantry is full of crackers, tuna, and the makings for s'mores. The house is clean top to bottom, especially the tubs (in case we need to fill them with water.)  School supplies have been organized, labeled and are in backpacks and ready to go.  The freezer is full of water bottles, the phones have been charged, batteries are ready and candles are on the counter.

All of which means:  Irene is probably going to peter out before she reaches here.  We are so ready for the first day of school, though, I can't believe it.

Seven Quick Takes, before the storm

1- About the earthquake;  this may be something that is only understandable to my old Steubenville friends, but in retrospect I thought it was too funny not to share. When my bed began to shake, for a split second my first thought was Demons!?!  It wasn't until the whole room rumbled that I thought the until-now equally incomprehensible but less hysterical Earthquake!?!

2- My children were not afraid in the least.....until they heard me screaming for everyone to come downstairs.  Kids have an amazing ability to just accept things as they happen and not worry about them.  I, on the other hand, have watched too many apocalyptic movies for my own good.

3- I just turned 35!  Chris and the girls were unbelievably good to me this year:  Chris let me sleep in and had my favorite breakfast (bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon) ready for me, along with coffee from my favorite place.  Katie made a beautiful card and a big bunch of adorable earrings (her latest hobby), Claire and Abbie performed a comical song, Lucy did a dance ("I just made it up just now," she said , "And I didn't feel like making a card, okay?  I love you very, very much.") and Beth made a card that had me laughing for quite a while.  We went to a historic grain mill for a little tour, and we all really enjoyed it (along with the cornmeal cookies they gave us - surprisingly delicious!)  Then, later that night, Chris whipped up some swordfish and tomato-prosciutto bruschetta for dinner.  I have to love a man who can make a delicious bruschetta!!  All in all, it was a really great day and I went to sleep feeling very grateful for my wonderful family.  It was a good way to ring in 35 years of life! 

4- I have always thought of my age in terms of how it would sound were I killed in some manner that made the evening news.  When I turned 20, I remember thinking that I would probably make the shift from "a 19-year-old-girl was hit by a bus this morning," to "a 20-year-old-woman was stabbed to death at Dunkin' Donuts."  I think I have now passed the "what a tragedy!" phase and am somewhere between "oh, how sad" and "meh" depending on how the news story plays out.  I think I'll probably be in this category for a while, until I hit the "Whatever, she was probably going to die soon anyway" bracket.  Unless I die in Aruba, in which case how I look in a bikini would supersede how old I am.  (In other words, should I die in Aruba I will not be making the evening news.)

5- About Beth's card:  a few weeks ago she asked me if she could save some pistachio nut shells.  Beth has a bit of a problem with hoarding, so I said, "NO! Nuh-uh, no way!"  She actually already had an old stash of shells, and after realizing this I told her that unless she could think of a good use for them immediately, in the trash they would go.  She thought for a moment and then said, "I have a good use for them!"  Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I opened up her homemade birthday card to find.....pistachio nut shells glued on the inside. 

6- Ruth still refuses to say, "Mama."  She will mimic just about any sound you make to her (including a Donald Duck voice,) and I am pretty sure that she says "this" and "night-night."  Every time I try to get her to say "ma-ma-ma" though: nothing but laughs.  

7-I just had my first discussion with the doctor about the HPV shot for Katie.  I had all sorts of arguments prepared, but when the time came I ended up just saying, "No thanks."  At the end of the day I realized that there was no reason to justify the decision:  I felt confident in my judgment on this (and Katie and I did have a brief discussion about it) and I did not particularly care whether the doctor agreed with me or not.  (He is a lovely doctor and didn't push it.)  This is what I like best about being in my 30s - not caring so much about what other people think.  It's freeing, especially for someone chronically neurotic like myself.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting Seven Quick Takes.  Now I'm off to make sure we have enough water and fireplace-cook-able foods in case of hurricane.  Good times!

We are trying something new...

Katie has been more and more interested in posting on my blog, so after some thought I've decided to give her a blog of her own.  I am going to keep a tight rein on who can view it (and what Katie can post), but any family or friends (so- if you are one of our 14 loyal readers, this means you!  You too, Natalie!) can get access to Katie's opinion on family, the world, and life in general.  Just email us at  rebecca mlinek at g mail dot com.  (take the spaces out etc.) and we'll grant you access to Katie's exclusive club.

Summer is wonderful, but exhausting

I realize that I haven't updated this in a long time.  We have been very busy with swimming and making blanket forts and amassing vast fortunes in Lego Harry Potter.  We have been to beautiful and fun weddings, visited with family, hosted friends here, witnessed the miraculous resurrection of our beloved Dusty Camel, had playdates, had more playdates, gone to parties, picked insane amounts of fresh fruit and then feasted on pies, muffins, scones, jam and...fresh fruit.  We have gathered in the evenings to take in such classics as Rear Window (loved by all excepting Lucy, who spent the time playing behind the couch), Where the Wild Things Are (loved it), and Phineas and Ferb's 2D Adventure (also loved it- don't judge!) We have been reading, we have been lolling around the basement watching nothing in particular, we have been learning to sew and to make beaded jewelry.

We have been remembering Chris' Grandmother, Dora, who passed away last week and will be sorely missed.  She, along with my own Grandma Niccoli who passed away 18 years ago, exemplify for me what it means to be a loving and devoted wife.  

We have been chasing a wayward baby, trying to keep her from eating inedible objects (curse you, Squinkies!), from falling down stairs, from pulling chairs and cups and heavy books onto her head, from unplugging lamps and sticking her fingers into outlets, from eating bugs and licking pool water off the deck, from breaking computers and ripping artwork to shreds.  We have spent a lot of time chasing our wayward baby.

It has been a good summer thus far.  But busy in that way that makes it hard to explain, where days and weeks go by in a whirl of activity that, when it is over, makes you look back and think wait, what were we doing all that time?

Swimming and playing, goofing off and doing nothing at all:  we've been busy having summer.

Time for the obligatory summertime pool video!

This time, though, it's choreographed! 

Something about the way Abbie waves her arms in this cracks me up every time I watch this video!

First things first: In which the recipe for a fulfilling life should include a steady diet of Mumford and Sons

We took Katie to her first concert this past Thursday, and it was memorable for a variety of reasons.
My in-laws very kindly (and bravely!) took on the task of watching all of their grandchildren (minus Katie, of course) at once so that we, Becky and Dante, and Andy could all make our pilgrimage together to see Mumford and Sons live.

Despite our best efforts, we barely managed to get even lawn seats for the show.  We showed up early in the hopes of snagging good spots in front, but suffice it to say that the only thing our earliness gained us was over an hour sitting in the back of the lawn in the sweltering heat.  It was the sort of heat that has rivers of sweat pouring down your back instantly.  In the ladies' restroom a toilet had broken and was gushing water all over the floor, and it was so hot that for a moment the thought of splashing in that water was actually appealing.

It all seemed worth it, though, when Matthew and the Atlas, the also-obsession-worthy opening band, walked on to the stage.  Almost immediately, though, a sudden rainstorm rose up and literally drowned them out.  It went from intense heat to pouring rain within minutes.  We wrapped Katie in the blankets we had brought to sit on, but even she was soaked to the bone.  Lightening was literally striking over our heads, hail was bouncing off our arms, and it was pure pandemonium in the crowd.

Some people were dancing in the rain, some were packing up their things and fleeing, some were rushing to huddle under the overhang of the concession stands.  We stood our ground until the lightening became a little too frightening, but once it became clear that there was no better option than standing in the open field, we returned to our place.  Once the second opening act (whose name I can't remember) came onstage, the rain had more or less petered out, but everyone on the lawn continued to be drenched the rest of the evening.

This is the only video I could find of the rain, and it doesn't really do it justice.  I didn't bring my camera or the Flip, which most likely saved me from breaking both.  As it was, Chris' wallet was so wet that it literally disintegrated in his pocket.

The grueling heat and the pounding rain were all worth it, though, when Mumford and Sons took the stage.  I was so glad for Katie, that her first concert was such a good one!

Mumford and Sons seems to be gaining in popularity with staggering speed, and I'm usually too much of a fan-boy at heart to be glad whenever something I like goes mainstream.  I'll tell you what, though, this band is so good that it strikes me as a positive sign about our culture in general that something like this (with lyrics that are so profound and so honestly yearning for truth that anyone who calls themselves a "Christian Artist" should hang their heads in shame) is appealing to people on a wide scale.  It bolsters my faith in humanity.  I'm not just saying that for effect, this band literally bolsters my faith in humanity.

I've had an app on my sidebar with some of their songs for over a year now, so if you haven't had a listen yet......well, what are you waiting for?  Also, here's a video of their closing song.  You're welcome.

I guess this was bound to happen one of these days...

I have tons of stuff to update everyone on:
*how Chris' car died a sudden and violent death, de-railing our plans to buy a mega van
*how  Lucy gave herself a very unique haircut
*how I met up with my cousin and her husband and unthinkingly had them meet me at a place that was...ah, maybe a little too Baltimore 
*how our riding mower burst into flames (and how we met our local firefighters)
*the five million field trips, parties and concerts the girls have graced us with
*how we ran away from our troubles for one glorious week of relaxing and kayaking on the Outer Banks
*the end of my 18 year love affair with a pair of Birkenstocks, when they finally surrendered the ghost on the way to a Mumford and Sons concert.

Lots of stuff to talk about, and lots of videos and pictures to share (once I upload them.)  Right now, though, this is the story I am going to tell:

Today, Lucy stuck a cherry pit up her nose.

There was a moment when it was looking very, very bad.  Ruth had just woken up from a little nap on our blanket, the final tug-of-war between the school teams had just begun, and Lucy was crying frantically, frantically while the side of her nose bulged with a cherry pit that I could not see and was afraid to even try to extract.

It had taken a few minutes to even figure out what was going on;  peace and happiness were reigning one moment, and the next was chaos and Lucy began to scream that "this hurts!  This hurts!"  At first I thought she had been stung by a bee, but as I tried to calm her enough to ascertain the damage, it became clear that someone was really wrong - something unusual.  Finally, through heaving sobs, Lucy told me that there was a "cherry seed" in her nose.  And then I saw it - the bulge at the very top of her nasal passage, right by her eye.  I lifted her head back to see if I could see it in her nostril - no.  I gave a thought to my childhood friend Shannon, and tried to remember if it took actual surgery to remove carpet from her nose, or just a doctor's visit....A friend helpfully rushed to my aid and took charge of Ruth so that I could grab Lucy and run for the school nurse.

As we were nearing the door thankfully, miraculously, Lucy breathed down through her nose in such a way that the pit simply dropped right out and onto her hand.  She was still shaken, and for some reason began to cry again when I threw the #$*@ thing away, but I could handle that.  We made our way back to our blanket, and poor dazed Ruth, and spent what remained of the afternoon in a relief that was so palpable we no longer felt the heat.

She is doing just fine now, and even ate more cherries.  We've discussed heavily the need to keep the pits away from our noses and although the topic of cherries and nurses is likely to turn Lucy surly, I think we're all none the worse for wear.  What I find funny, after all that, is the fact that I did not see it coming.  I mean, who am I to think that I can breeze through six kids without a something-up-the-nose incident?  I do, at least, have enough sense to be grateful that it wasn't a worst-case-scenario-up-the-nose-incident.  Now that it is over, too, I can look forward to having one more bullet in the arsenal for when Lucy starts bringing boys around.  The boys you want sticking around are the ones who can stomach the thought of their beloved with a cherry pit stuck up her nose.

Interesting start to the week

Yesterday morning was not particularly rough or chaotic.  Mondays always stink, of course, and the girls were a little lethargic but otherwise it was a pretty standard morning.  I decided, sort of last minute, to add a decorative white chocolate swirl to the cookies Beth was taking in to school for her birthday, so I was a little behind on dressing Ruth, Lucy and myself, but that often happens for various reasons anyway.

When it came time to wait for the bus, I sat in the van with the door open, feeding Ruth a banana while Lucy played in the back seat.  Ruth was just wearing a t-shirt and diaper and Lucy was sporting a very old nightgown that is at least 3 sizes too big for her.  I was wearing my pjs as well, an old pair of pants littered with swiss cheese holes and a flimsy t-shirt with a collar that has been pulled down too many times to be public-appropriate but again - we were just sitting in the car, waiting for the bus.

When the bus finally came, it bombed by the house as if we'd never existed.  Beth, Claire and Abbie all immediately began to yell in panic, and then we heard the unmistakable sound of the bus coming to a sudden halt down the road.  I jumped out of the car and yelled, "Don't run out in the road!  Wait, wait!" to the girls, but they were all flailing and yelling themselves and they didn't hear me.  Before I could reach them (they were halfway down the driveway) they started to run - down the busy highway- towards the bus.

I charged after them, with Ruth dangling like a football in one arm and a banana in the other, trying to will the cars on the road to stop (why weren't the cars stopping?) with my mind.  The girls rounded the corner of our neighbors yard, still flailing and hopping around like puppies, and I yelled to them "Stay in the grass!  STAY IN THE GRASS!"

As I was rounding the corner myself, I heard a shriek of terror coming from our yard.  Poor Lucy didn't understand what was happening; all she knew was that we were sitting in the car one moment, running wild and screaming the next.  I looked around my neighbor's hedge to see Lucy, looking exactly like Newt from Aliens,

crying in terror and running directly for the road, where she must have assumed we'd gone.  "No, Lucy, stop, STOP!" I started to yell, torn between guiding the older girls along the road towards the bus (which, to be clear, was nowhere near our house) and turning back to bodily stop Lucy's panic-stricken progress towards the road.  In the end, realizing that traffic had finally, finally stopped for the bus, I shouted a last instruction to the older girls and then turned back to Lucy, who ran to my side, shaky and teary.  The older girls made it onto the bus without further incident, and as the bus door hissed shut and I breathed a sigh of relief it finally dawned on me what sort of picture we presented to the many, many cars who were now stopped on the road, giving them ample opportunity to take in the sight.

With as much dignity as I could, I got a firm grip on my banana, pulled Ruth's shirt down to cover her belly, put my arm around my little wild-child and, hoping against hope that the holes in my pants were not where I thought they were, turned my back to the gaping onlookers and returned home.

Yee-Haw!

The Girl Scouts had their Daddy (and Granddaddy)-daughter dance today, and the Mlineks rocked it.

(Miss Lucy insisted on jumping into the picture and bringing the crazy, as she so often does.)

 While the cow-folk were doing the "Tush-Push" (I am not even making that up!), Ruth was sitting around at home, being happy for no reason at all:

A good day all around!

Deus Benedicat

Claire made her First Communion today!

God bless you, my sweet and silly girl, today and always.

Moment in time

Ruth just turned 6 months old, and here a few things about her now:

*She sticks her tongue out all the time.  Her tongue does not just stick out, she curls it up on one side of her lip, like she's concentrating on something.  She probably spends a good half of her day like that.

*She has learned how to cluck her tongue, and it makes her very proud if you cluck back at her.  I think she's under the impression that this is actual communicating.

*She is still not rolling from back to front, or really making any moves towards mobility.  She seems pretty content to just lie around and let all of us suckers entertain her.  The one thing she loves, though, is kicking her legs.  When I put her in her bouncy seat, she will kick her legs with all she's got, making the seat bounce up and down violently.

Here's a cute video of Miss Ruth, showing off both her total lack of understanding about moving around and her favorite tongue position:

Shut eye

The sleeping-all-through-the-night dream is dead.

I shouldn't complain too much since Ruth usually only wakes up once, but she maximizes the torture by taking a solid hour to two hours to go back to sleep, and often by that time it isn't worth it for me to go back to bed before Katie needs to get up.  I've regressed back into my Rip Van Winkle ways;  if Chris gets up with the girls, or gets home early so that I can take a nap, I am quite literally dead to the world until somebody comes and physically wakes me up.  I've lost the ability to wake up on my own.

The funny thing though is that, unlike the previous five times I've done this, all this sleep deprivation has not sucked out my will to live.  I'm one of those people who really, really needs sleep and lots of it and that's not a trait that jives all that well with raising six kids.  All flippancy aside, it has been a serious cross of mine for the past 11 years and one that has often left me in almost total despair.  Imagine my surprise, then, when suddenly here I am, getting very little sleep, and I feel....just fine.  Tired but otherwise okay, happy even.

How funny that the answer to my desperate prayers for more sleep are answered, not by getting more sleep, and not by needing less, but by....just not minding it so much.  Can't explain it, but I'm not going to complain!  It seems best to me to just accept it gratefully when a little mercy is thrown my way, in a way that I would never have thought was possible.