3/7/09 Backyard entertainment

Our lives are entirely about preparing for moving and living in a different house. A good, but busy thing. So this morning, I took all three and ran them to four different stores, including getting mattresses for the boys' new bunk beds, a chore accomplished with surprising speed and simplicity. I didn't get to microwave-shopping, but I'd just as soon do that without the kids anyway. It's a little unnerving how empty some stores are these days.

After Katrina's nap, I took Katrina and Gabriel to the house to meet up with Dave and Julian, who'd been there all afternoon. Note that choice of which child Dave took with him during Katrina's -- and my -- nap was carefully crafted! Being around just Julian is delightful. Being around Julian and either -- or worse, both -- of his siblings is a constant exercise in reminding, warning, scolding, countdowns, removals and timeouts. It took him only 10 minutes after our arrival to wiggle his dirt-smeared fingers in Katrina's eye.

Despite the active reunion of the three, Dave and I each managed to make progress on our projects. Post-nap munchies helped.


Katrina tested out, and helped compress with her 26 pounds, Dave's walkway to the deck.


But what could possibly be more entertaining than a huge pile of dirt in the backyard? Especially if it makes it easier to grab the rickety fence.

I saw the tail end of a nice tumble by Katrina off the dirt mound -- a benign affair that involved some uncontrolled rolling nonetheless. She's not that tough, she cried although she wasn't hurt at all, just surprised. I'm torn about how big a deal to make of it. She needs some comfort, but someday she's going to catch me rolling my eyes and decode my muttering "oh get OVER it."

The boys were so filthy afterward that I regretted not telling Dave to just strip them right at the front door. That instantly converted a plan for going out to dinner into takeout.

My goodness, our living room looks so much better with color -- walls, light fixture, entry door. The floors are mid-refinish too; somehow they needed refinishing at the last minute.


This is a little like being 38 weeks pregnant. I know my life is going to change completely in 2 weeks, but it's very difficult to envision and really put myself in that place. There's so much to do before then. I wish I could just close my eyes and hold my breath, and when I come up, it's all over.

3/7/09