Easter

Who has time to blog when you're frantically cleaning the house for parents and inlaws, your only daughter is getting baptized, and then on the day of the big arrival you come down with the flu?

So in an effort to catch up...

Good thing I realized after the last company visit that I just CAN'T get my house clean in one day. Certain superheroes are constanly conspiring against me.


Which means I start two days before my family comes and lock the bathroom doors as I finish them until only one is remaining. Then I unlock that door right before I head out to the airport. Love that I'm the only one who can bust in with a key. Love the control.

Such insane cleaning organization made it so when I awoke sick as a dog last Tuesday, all I had to do was a quick pick up and unlock those bathroom doors. Then off to the airport to get my mom. I LOVE having my mom. So does Ashton.


The next couple of days were filled with Ruby celebrations -- hair cut (hasn't been this short since she cut it herself when she was 4), ears pierced, trip to the Brandywine Art Museum, home of the Wyeth's. This little gem is just a few miles from me and fabulous. When I first moved to Delaware I went through it with my mom and cried?! Was postpartum with Ashton, but still, I love N.C. and Andrew.

Look at Ruby's before (on day of her birthday) and after...





Then the rest of the family arrived and we mini golfed, played games, had easter egg hunts, and made 150 cupcakes for Ruby's baptism.

I meant to take pictures of all the cuteness -- monogramed placecards telling what kind of cupcakes there were, chinese takeout boxes with "Ruby" stickers on them so friends could take home an extra, the beautiful baptism dress which I made and then my mom fixed for Ruby.

You can kind of see her dress here. Look at her cute grandmas.



But come baptism day the flu had spread to the rest of the family. I could barely get Ashton and Wyatt into ties and to the church. Jeremy forgot he would need a special key to get into the font and fill it up which made for some additional craziness. Ashton fell asleep across the front row he felt so lousy. Wyatt wouldn't leave my lap. And the whole family coughed and hacked through all the talks.

This family photo says it all: Ashton has been woken up for the picture and is taking off to curl up in a ball. Dang he's mad. Wyatt is DONE. Ruby's hanging in there. And yeah, this is the best we could pull off.



Then after the baptism I was so wrapped up in making sure three lovely nonmember families felt warm and comfortable that things got cleaned up without a pix. Alas.

I was in the middle of answering some question about the "dominant matriarchs" in the LDS church (was neighbor referring to ME?) when I looked over and saw the table being cleared.

What's worse, there are no Easter pictures because only Cade made it to church.



Everyone else was home in bed. Even our Easter egg hunt was moved indoors. Somehow the candy still got eaten but there's not a picture of a basket either. Should we go for a repeat next Sunday?

Rehobeth Beach

It still feels like winter but the family can wear coats to the beach, right?



We loaded up the kids to take advantage of free room and board at an entirely too nice spot for our posse. Check out Cade and Ruby in their robes toasting a room all to themselves.



Ashton wasn't feeling too bad about his situation -- his room adjoined ours and since he didn't have Cade and Ruby to contend with, he controlled morning cartoons.



Wyatt thought he'd spread in my king size bed. That lasted ten minutes. But look at how he's clapping, he's so excited to be given the chance.



We scootered down to the boardwalk.



Cade built this big sandcastle for two hours, hoping it would withstand the surf.



He didn't count on Wyatt jumping and thrashing it.



Ashton combed the beach looking for things unusual and disgusting -- giant molted crab shells, seaweed that looks like beetles...



And Ruby added to her seashell collection and got so warm in the process she ditched her coat!


Every night we stayed up late, putting the kids down in shifts, and playing games with those who remained. The kids loved it.

Jeremy and I can't believe we have kids big enough to play nertz with...that we've graduated from Candyland. Taking a trip like this reminded me of how fun and funny my kids are. Sometimes it takes leaving the cooking, the mail, the housework, the schedule, the phone, and the computer to discover just who my family is. And I like them. A lot.

Highlights

We made it through the week, or should I say month, of an absentee father.
I don't know how he does it. The first two weeks he was commuting to New York. The following two weeks he was working until four in the morning every night in a row to write some opinion(s) or something. It was crazy. I'd stir in bed sometime around one, two in the morning and find him still not home, start to worry about his drive back, then fall asleep. He's a superstar.

But on Friday the case settled, he picked up the kids from school (SURPRISE), and we're a real family, on our way to the beach to use up some of those exclusive suites the firm reserved for the trial that is no more.

We limped through the last week with the normal excitement:


CADE took second place in the pi number contest. I don't know how; I never saw him practice or memorize a thing, but on Friday he recited 43 of the decimal numbers that follow 3.14.....He came home with a candy bar (that Ashton snuck and ate this morning) and a whole lot of pride.


RUBY worked on her to do list (which I secretly found!)
1. Help mom around the house
2. Play with Wyatt
3. Clean my room
4. Be shy
5. Pretend not to like HIM
Explanation: new boy from school, Ruby thinks "shy" is the way to get his attention (?!?What?!?); room is never clean, ambitious plan to help mom around house.



ASHTON has no money to pay back Cade for eaten candy bar.


He steps in wet paint and denies it. After checking everyone's feet we find paint on the bottom of his cowboy boots, and paint everywhere he has walked including climbing into Jeremy's car. Steals Wyatt's blanket and runs. Freaks out during a family card game because he never gets the Rook card...This is only Saturday. Dare I count backwards and reflect on his week?



WYATT ate a bar of soap and taught himself a lesson. Don't think he'll be doing that again. It's hard to cry with so many bubbles coming out of your mouth.

Wow

Jeremy and I watched Ruby in Oliver this past weekend with wonder and amazement.

I could hardly believe that was My little girl up there acting and singing away, comfortable as can be, shaking her head, pounding the table, stomping her feet, licking up imaginary gruel...wow. What an orphan.



Sure, I've seen the drama before.



Like here. Right before we left for the performance. Her quesadilla wasn't hot enough.

Or how about when we were leaving rehearsal last week the asst. director told me she's had the hardest time getting Ruby to stop crossing her legs -- she's so feminine. And she just won't stop smiling. I loved it.

But when we got in the car, Ruby was in tears. "Maybe I just shouldn't be in the show if I can't even act like a boy. I must be no good." blah, blah, blah.

Loving and compassionate mother that I am, "Yeah. I guess you just shouldn't do it, huh?"

So...I had an inkling she had it in her, that she would love the experience, the camraderie of a cast, the growth that comes from an audition and multiple performances, but wow.



And then the second best part of the show was the finale; all the orphans walking out for their bows, all in a line, all staring blankly toward the crowd, EXCEPT for Ruby, smile stretching across her face like it was a beauty pagaent. She just couldn't hold it in anymore.

Playing Favorites

There's been a lot of love going around the Anderson home thanks to Wyatt.

Every morning he wakes up with a designated favorite family member. The person whose name he calls from the crib must pick him up. No one else can. Then that lucky person lugs him around all day, eats meals by him, and is the only person who can give him his sippy cup, pacifier, or whatever else floats his boat.


Funny that all the kids go crazy when he picks them for a day.

And this morning he picked Ashton for the first time.


He must have forgotten how Ashton colored on his forehead with a highlighter as he sat helplessly in his bouncy seat at two months old. Or how Ashton will unlock the wheels of his highchair and spin him in circles until he screams. Or all the weapons Ashton has fired point blank at this soft little body. Wyatt's most repeated sentence is something to the tune of, "Ashin. Stop IT!"

But this morning Wy awoke yelling for Ash, his "broder" and it's been "broder Ashton" all day.

Ashton loves the attention. When I picked the boys up from child care at the gym the worker said, "Wow, that boy (Ashton) just can't stop kissing his brother. He's so tender and sweet." My kid?

Then this afternoon Ashton made the two of them a fort out of sofa cushions and read Wyatt a story. The magic continued until bedtime.


Tomorrow will probably be back to normal. But I'll take a break where I can get it.

Creativity

Jeremy left for NYC for two weeks and I drove straight to HomeGoods...had a little fever burning in me to finish some projects, decorate the house, and CREATE. Came home with a mirror for my bedroom and three lamps. I thought I was going to give myself a hernia getting that 100 lb. monstor over the dresser and onto the anchors I screwed into the drywall, but not one to wait for Jeremy -- I did it! Looks luverly.



Next I HAD to do something about our ceiling light. Hated it when we moved in 3 1/2 years ago so when I painted the ceiling last summer I threw away the shade. I thought staring at three bulbs and a garrish gold stem would compel me to find something new, but I couldn't. Been searching high and low for the right fixture with no luck. So back to Homegoods I went (they should be paying me for this free advertising) and bought a $30 lamp, disassembled it, and reworked a fixture for my ceiling. Then I painted the stem and ceiling plate copper. Voila!



Feeling the taste of sucess I next moved to Ruby's bathroom wall, an area studded with nail holes and looking quite lonely. I found an old frame, spray painted it pink (cause that's the color I had in the garage), and then printed this cool image off an online Japanese calendar onto linen paper. Cute Cute.



Next I decided to hunt Goodwills until I found this awful $10 chair.



But three coats of glossy white and some awesome fabric found at www.jcarolinecreative.com later. Love my new kitchen desk chair.



All this was done just in time for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet, "the Magic of Cub Scouts." It took me entirely too long to track down the pieces for these centerpieces and I never could find black plastic top hats (thus the black buckets), AND thid Being Delaware of course I had to traverse six party stores to find enough blue tablecloths, but sucess.



I through all the commotion I re-realized I really love to create. Love seeing the patterns and texture of a fabric and having ideas spring to mind. Love finding new products that make creating easier/more professional looking. Love the feeling of satisfaction when I do something myself. And love the ways these ideas translate into house and into me.

Still to come: baptism dress for Ruby, invitation to baptism, and a baby blanket. Can't wait!

Boston

Jeremy and I just got back from an ALONE trip to Boston. He had a conference, which meant work comped our hotel and most other expenses. Thanks Connolly Bove for the nice view overlooking the Charles River.


So Friday Jeremy made his way to Harvard while I shopped and ate up Cambridge, literally. I’ll just say the wind was blowing and I didn’t mind once I had a L.A. Burdick hot chocolate in hand. Liquid gold. The next day I brought Jeremy back for seconds.

That night I met him for dinner at Faneuil Hall and then we walked over to the Old North Church (of Paul Revere lantern fame) to hear Ken Starr speak. Next morning the judge Jeremy clerked for was the key note speaker and Jeremy introduced him. We just barely had time on our way back to catch a movie and then raced to our plane.

When we got home the house was still standing but our babysitters weren't. These kids of ours wore them out. On the day of our return Nate Murray took Ash and Cade to the grocery to get Root Beer and ice cream for floats. A game of tag went bad, Ashton demolished aisle seven, and then went into hiding. Several frantic minutes later Nate found him OUTSIDE the store waiting in shame.
Next morning me, "Ashton, why did you run away?"
Ashton, "Mom. I didn't run, I skipped."

Ahhhhhh....home sweet home.