Exactly

Little brother: "I am a scary dinosaur. And after I die I am going to be a dinosaur zombie that exists."

Big brother: "You can't. Zombies don't exist."

Little brother: "They will when I am."

Finished product

So I finally, FINALLY finished a project I started . . . oh. . . two years ago! I decided to decorate the children's room with zoo animal theme and somehow could never manage to get everything put up at the same time. We would have to re-arrange or someone would knock things down. . . . Anyway I am so excited that it is done and everything is exactly where I want it! Yippie! So I thought I'd share.

Shelves we got as a wedding present - painted by yours truly in animal patterns (the green one is alligator - yeah, John couldn't even tell, and he watched me do it.)

Ikea frames with pictures from old calendars. (Go budget!)
Scrap board from Home Depo. with paint and screw-in hooks. The dinosaur stickers are an addition from Grandma - they don't really match, but they are, and I quote "awesome."
My favorite. The watering hole puzzle. No, I did not put it together. But my siblings did and then had no place to hang it. "I know! I'll hang it up for you! Aren't I SO thoughtful? It will be at my house though. No big deal right?"

And the doll. She was made in Africa, I can't remember the whole story, but handicrafts are one of the few ways that women could make money and all the proceeds go directly back to the women who made them. The best part - she is carrying a baby on her back in a sling. SOOOO cute.

Spin

It's all in how you say it.

A Responsible Parent teaches her children to clean up after themselves, even if this means putting up with sub-par cleanliness in your house on occasion. It's important. Even if it takes longer, every parenting book I've ever read says that this is essential.

SO.....

I should let the baby eat off the floor. She threw the food there in the first place. It would be wrong of me to sweep before she has a chance to help.

Belated Christmas

(what can I say? I'm a slacker.)

So we didn't get a lot of toys for the kids for Christmas, mostly they got things to do: models, science experiments etc. Plus I didn't take a lot of pictures, so here are the men of the house on Christmas morning.

This is my favorite. JJ got a tea set and promptly served his dragon and action figures tea.

I didn't get a video, but his narration was hilarious:

"I'm going to eat you!"

"No! I'm going to eat you!"

"Well I can't eat you because my mouth is full of tea!"

And it was a paint-your-own deal, so the tea set is now decorated with dinosaurs and volcanoes. Very cool.

travel...travel...everybody likes to travel....

travel...travel...that's how we get around.

(My sisters will be the only ones singing along. Those are lyrics from a song on one of the children's tapes we listened to ad nauseam growing up. I don't know how my mother stood it.)

I just got back from a lovely trip to Washington, DC with my wonderful husband. He had a conference to attend for work and my mother (hereafter known only as "the saint") offered to take the children so that I could go with him for a couple of days. I'm a wimp and couldn't leave the kids for an entire week, so today I left him there and came home to my babies.

We used to live in DC, back in the day, and it was so fun to see old friends and co-workers and eat out and just spend time together. It was horrible to leave John there, but so nice to cuddle my baby to sleep tonight.

After I got up early, packed, checked in, and went all through security, I realized that I had read the time wrong on my itinerary and was TWO HOURS early for my flight. I was really frustrated because I hate it when I make really obvious mistakes like that, and I could have stayed in bed a little longer and cuddled with my perfect husband; today was one of the few days he didn't have early morning sessions. Plus, I was all emotional because I hadn't seen my children for four days, and flying makes me extremely nervous (I don't get panic attacks anymore, but it takes a lot of focus.)

I was ready to cry, and really needed a few minutes to collect myself, by myself. Airports are not exactly private places, but I looked around anyway.

Military personnel have their own private lounge, so to smokers. Some airports even have a kiddie area where kids can run around before being confined to a small space for a long time. Where is the lounge for people who enjoy where they have been, would like to get where they are going and would rather be anywhere but here?

Oh, wait. That is the entire airport. Right. And please don't give me any crap about "life is about the journey" and all that. If life is about airports, put me on a terrorist watch list.

It wasn't very crowded, so I escaped to the ladies room and locked myself in the handicapped stall. For those of you who haven't tried it, a wheelchair accessible bathroom stall is big enough to run through a quick half sun salute (yoga) and take several deep breaths in downward facing dog (more yoga). Yes, I put my hands on the floor of a public restroom in Washington DC. But I washed them right after, and look - I'm still alive. More to the point, I didn't start sobbing at gate 14 of Reagan National.

So now I am home and I am going to sleep in my own bed and pray for Friday to come quickly so that my whole family can be together again.

But Washington DC was beautiful.

Guilt

My husband will tell you that I am a glutton for guilt. It isn't true. But I do believe that sometimes a little bit of guilt or remorse is healthy if it motivates me to change something that I have control over.

But I've been thinking lately about all the things that I DON'T regret. Things that may not necessarily be what someone else would choose, or what the world thinks is best, but things that I would do over again, all things considered.

I have never regretted. . .

• holding my child for just one more minute.
• staying up an extra hour (or two) to hang out with my husband.
• saying I was sorry.
• NOT saying the first sarcastic thing that came into my mind (or the second, or the third. . )
• letting someone in in traffic.
• giving a compliment.