Affection Intervention

Okay, okay, I was told by Erin that it was really time for me to update my blog. Not sure if she was referring to needing an updated post, or the fact that I haven't changed the view of my blog in about -- forever -- guess the creative juices just haven't been flowing lately. Anyway, I'm going to take it that she was referring to my lack of recent posts -- so here goes.

Sometimes it feels like our day to day life is just so routine that I sometimes neglect to take the time to absorb some of the more entertaining antics that go on around our house -- but here's one that puts a smile on my face.

Lately, whenever Hannah is having a particularly teenager kind of day, Mary Elizabeth and I like to remind her just how much we love her by piling on her and smothering her with hugs and kisses. This sometimes (almost always) involves violence on Hannah's part (once I thought she broke my nose because of how hard her head hit my face when she was flailing back and forth). She screams and trys to wiggle free, we continue to bounce on her and give her kisses -- Mary Elizabeth loves this part, Hannah says yuck a lot. We try to have our affection intervention sessions when the dog is otherwise occupied (sleeping upstairs) and preferrably when the older kids are also otherwise engaged (we're not trying to completely squish her, after all). The dog would be confused about my intent and might nip me in an attempt to protect Hannah.

The other day Hannah came up and actually gave me an almost spontaneous hug. I was so confused at first and didn't quite get what she was doing. We need a little more practice on this.

2009 Updates

Okay, here we are 50 days into the new year, and I haven't updated even a snippit yet. The winter months are clearly not my favorite. It is cold, it is dark, and we are all cooped up all day. Spring is where it's at. The days are longer, it is nice enough for me to get out at lunch and sit in the park, etc., etc., etc. That being said, we are all still okay and plowing through the winter waiting on spring -- including Mary Elizabeth who doesn't understand why she can't go out and play in the dark and cold every night when we come home.



Apparently we are refurbishing our house from the bottom up. In less than a month we have replaced the hot water heater, washer and dryer in our basement. Hopefully we are done with that floor and can move on to rennovations to the main floor of the house next.



The kids are more than half way through the school year and I CANNOT BELIEVE JASON WILL BE A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL NEXT YEAR. I struggle with this on a regular basis. Most recently when I did my taxes and noticed that certain benefits of having all these kids dependent on you expire once they hit 17 -- who knew. It doesn't seem fair, as he won't actually graduate from high school until he is 19. I'm feeling a little jipped here.



Mallorie is still doing color guard and seems to really enjoy it. They have a home show coming up soon so I'll finally have an opportunity to go and see them perform. Jason is all set for Physics Day at Great Adventure -- where they look at the amusement park rides through a physicist's perspective (I love my geeky boy). Hannah seems to have made herself at home in Junior High, although she also seems to be making certain she is the "anti-Jason or Mallorie". She is much more concerned with the social aspect of Jr. High than the academic part. Not quite in need of Sylvan Learning Center, but still stressing me out.



Mary Elizabeth just keeps growing up on me. Every now and then she wants to snuggle and pretend she's not quite a big girl yet and I cherish those moments, because much of the rest of the time she is letting me know that she is quite capable of doing things her own way and not in need of all this mothering stuff.