Eleven.

Last year was our 10th anniversary. Bill surprised me. It was fabuloso.

This year was our 11th anniversary. We had no plans, except to take our kids camping overnight with some friends. It was really loads of fun. I wondered every once in a while why I was so contented with something so unromantic.

I figured out that it was because it was not ordinary.

We were with friends who acknowledged our long years together with champagne in colored plastic cups and s'mores around the campfire.

If you would have told the newly engaged me that I would be spending my anniversary in a tent near Joe Pool Lake, I would have been either

a) ready to drop kick Bill back to his town house right around the corner

or

b) thinking "I won't care, as long as I'm with Bill!"

(I say either, because I was so emotionally wiggy at the time I probably would have had both thoughts right next door to each other. )

I'm SO glad I didn't know then. Only because I wouldn't appreciate now how a relationship matures. How people mature. How our friendship has grown and our respect and appreciation for each other has deepened.

In other words: How far we've come.

It's all good.

However.

If we go camping for our 12th anniversary, I will not call that a good tradition. I will call it redundant.

I had not intended for this post to be in any way serious. I totally intended for this post to be centered around this photo from our campout:

Oh heavens, Petr, that is just funny. Oh man. I actually think he had the helmet on because this was going on just a few feet away:

We all had a good time, I think.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl

On this day I got my new Lappy.

The feel of it makes me so happy.

Now my old desktop

Is still so great. NOT.

The speed of the new makes me sappy.

I have entered the world of the sleek, and left behind the old and behemoth. Just in case you doubt the wonder of my new machine, this photo has captured this laptop's powerful aura.

Me likey.

Welcome Home.

I am so grateful every day to be where I am right now. I love this house, I love the neighborhood- the easy familiarity of it all. I love the gorgeous spring days. (never mind that today is 49 and the wind is blowing like a banchee.) I love the kids playing outside with friends. It's just lovely.

Don't you like my geraniums? My dear mother in law planted those for me while they were here.

I also love garage sales. These chairs were 2 dollars each. Though they are not perfect, they are perfectly priced!! It gives me a place to sit while watching the kids do the following:

freerun in the ditch

scooter

skateboard

play tech decks

ride bikes.

The backyard is reserved for another game:

Meet Cracker and Poofle. They live on the planet Zeenger. Cracker has a Magical Sword with Magic Power, and Poofle has a Magical Bucket in which she hides from Monsters. The Dragon, Beach Ball, and Jarritos Bottle are also essential, but in what capacity I am uncertain. Let's not forget The Magic Green Recorder of Magical Power. Cracker just wouldn't be Cracker without his Magic Green Recorder of Magical Power.

And now, my friends the load of whites is ready to be switched to the dryer, so I guess that's the end of today's post. With all the things I love, I do not like laundry. If I ever say that I do, then you know that the Monsters from planet Zeenger have taken over my brain. I'll need to be saved, and quickly. Hopefully, the Jarritos Bottle will do the trick.

Congrats on 2.0

OH I love babies.
Babies, babies, babies.

We've had a particularly good crop of them this season, including but not limited to:

The oh so super adorable and precious Ms. Avalon Hallford (who should be arriving at my house any minute primed for me to lavish affection upon)

and the newest offspring of Pound. Meet Oliver, in what might possibly be the cutest newborn picture ever taken.

I like this.

A touch of inspiraton for me tonight.

Up to Date.

We are officially one day out from spring break.
Lovely words, both and spring and break.
Unless you are referring to spring as in
"...a leak"
or referring to break as in
"...a bone"
Then they are not so lovely.
Of course, if you are a plumber or an ostopath
then even in the double meaning they ring of
both happiness and job security.

Bo and Emma danced around the kitchen today singing
"I loike traffic loights, I loike traffic loights."
and Bo wondered where it came from.
"Monty Python"
I said, as if he would say
"Of course. Naturally."
Which he did not.
So I finished the explaination:
"Monty Python was a mumdblvinglsdnfoig... HEY, go wash your hands and set the table."

Emma has an amazing capacity for concentrating on a thing.
Today at the dinner table Bo asked her what 3 x 3 is.
While she was thinking, I thought
Man, is she ever gonna learn to eat faster, and I wonder how that headband stayed on her head today, and Bo's hair totally looks weird, and Bill looks tired, and dag, these rolls I made are good, and I need to wash this tablecloth, and no way is she still thinking about 3 x 3, and what am I going to wear tommorrow, and how can I get through the dishes before open house, and I wonder if Bill is going to go, and Lordy I'm glad tommorrow is Friday

and she said "9."

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Did You Know?

Interesting...

What do you think?