Update

It’s been a long time since I’ve done an update so I thought I’d give it a go. Brennan just returned from a fabulous golf trip. He worked really hard again last year and won a trip from his work. We knew we wouldn’t want to leave the babe for a long couple trip so he got past his disappointment :) and planned his dream golf trip. He and a buddy and his buddy’s two brothers who he’s gotten to be friends with as well, went to North Carolina where they got to golf several Pinehurst courses as well as some other famously gorgeous golf courses. He had a great time. He was also great missed. We love Brennan.

This guy was behind Brennan at lunch one day.

I did pretty well, but wow do I wonder how single parents do it! It’s just relentless and not to have someone to shoulder all the responsibilities with is exhausting. I have renewed appreciation for what a helpful, involved husband and dad Brennan is.

Anna is so busy I hate it. I try really hard not to over-schedule my kids. I’ve told them they can choose two things. She chose ballet and soccer. I really wanted her to take piano but she didn’t want that to count against her two things so there’s three. Plus she’s got activity days every other week, plus this play that she and Chloe are doing each week, plus about an hour’s worth of homework every day. Poor thing needs more downtime, she loves to be outside. Last week she cleared out all the dead leaves and weeds in our back flowerbed underneath our big forsythia for a little fort. She should have been raised on a farm. We love Anna.

She’s very cute, isn’t she?

Did I tell you Abby got a part in our city’s summer musical? She’s playing Princess Ying Yaowlak in The King and I. She’s very excited and so are we I absolutely love to watch my kids perform. A few weeks ago Abby got into one of her moods, the kind when she’s extremely silly and laughs so hard at herself you can’t help but join her. For some reason she kept half saying and half laughing while she said “Beware, for (right here she would do air quotes) Determination!” She meant extermination and I don’t think she has any idea what air quotes are for. Even with extermination I’m not really sure what she was saying but she got us all laughing. We love Abigail.

Last night I was singing some primary songs to the boys to get them to sleep. I looked over at Nate and tears were streaming down his face. Alarmed, I asked, “Nate, what’s wrong, why are you crying?” His face crumpled and his voice stammered as he got out, “I…miss…Great Grandma!” Oh, it just about ripped my heart right out. “Why are you thinking about that?” “All those songs about heaven!!!” He has an old football video game that he’s kind of obsessed with. He runs out after each play to tell me all about it. His enthusiasm is darling. We love Nathan.

Benjamin has some serious 4 year old attitude lately. I’m hoping that if I stick to my guns he’ll give up and surrender to my authority. Stubborn little stink. He’s also developing quite a sense of the dramatic telling me that since I put him in time-out his leg wouldn’t work anymore. The other day when he was upset with his siblings he said, “They are making me cry very loud!” Fortunately, we still think he’s irresistible. We love Benny.

Joshy baby chubs is just like the yummiest, most satisfying dessert you could imagine. He sits on my kitchen floor most of the day and while still not crawling or army crawling still manages to travel all over and will go to great lengths to get to a ball or a car. He’s simply scrumptious. We love Joshua.