Did You Have A Hoppy Easter?

We did too.

The Hills Are Alive...

Earlier this month we had a glorious cloud day. The day started out normally enough for California--blue sky and all--but way down south I could see mountains of billowing fluff building on the horizon. As the day wore on the clouds separated and moved their way over our heads. By the time the kids got out of school the clouds were calling my name--it was a very "Maria-from-the-Sound-of-Music" moment. I only wanted for a nuns habit and a wide open hill space so I could screech the birds out of their nests. Instead, I loaded up the kids and we drove out to find a good "cloud watching" spot.

Our first two attempts at stopping were thwarted by over-grown trees and a closed high way exit but the third time was a charm. The day was pretty windy, chasing the clouds over our heads before we got a good chance to call out the shapes we saw, but it was still beautiful.

Recently Wyatt has become Adell's Champion. She calls for Wyatt first thing in the morning--largely because he is the only one awake at 6:30 am and gives him lots of hugs. While we were taking our snack break Adell wanted to walk around. Wyatt dutifully carried her over the tall grass (she was afraid to walk over by herself) and walked her up and down the paths. Life is good when you are 1 and a 1/2 and you have a big brother wrapped around your finger.

Later Wyatt let Adell tear down part of the fort/dooms-day-survivalist-colony he had been building. He even appointed two sticks to be guns and one mangled branch to be the jail...

We had frozen blueberries and cookies for after-school snack--maybe not the best choice for a windy day. Lorien wore a skirt to school that day and was too cold to do much more than lay snuggled under a blanket.

I feel like we don't get enough of these kinds of cloudy days in California. Most days the sky is crystal clear blue--unless the quilt of fog is being pulled over the hills. Back East summer days were full of watching the sky as the clouds morphed into recognizable shapes. I love it when we have cloudy days like this in California.

A few things...

Whew, lots happened at our house at the end of March. Will and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, Clare turned five-years-old and Adell got pneumonia--so some highs and lows there.

First up, 11 years...really? I still feel like we are newly weds but 11 years is kind of a lot. 11 years feels like a bigger deal than our 10 year anniversary did. Maybe because of the movie "This is Spinal Tap"?

Nigel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...

Martin: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

Nigel: Exactly.

Martin: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?

Nigel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

Martin: I don't know.

Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Martin: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Martin: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

[Pause.]

Nigel: These go to eleven.

So, we are at eleven--we needed that extra push over the cliff.

Next up, this little girl has been ready for 5 since the day after she turned 4. She's been counting down the weeks, days, hours and minutes.

She only wanted to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese and get a million presents. Happily, we made one of her birthday wishes come true, we all got our cooties-vaccinations and had a family dinner at Chuck E. Cheese.

The million birthday presents didn't quite pan out but she didn't seem to notice. Clare is the sweetest, most agreeable little girl you'll ever meet. She is always happy and wants others to be happy too. She is a fun little sister and a kind big sister. We love her--to pieces.

Clare also got a TON of mail for her birthday. I guess that blog request for letters for Clare worked out pretty well. She is delighted to check the mail every day and respond to the letters she has been sent. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who took the time to write Clare a letter!

Last up: pneumonia for the baby. Ugh, I've never had a child so sick...never. It was frightening and frustrating at the same time. She had a crazy high fever and only wanted to be held by her Momma. I was happy to snuggle her as long as she wanted (all day) but wished snuggles from Momma were a more legitimate form of medicine. She was super sick for about three days--after that the antibiotics did their job and she was able to get up and about little by little.

Two weeks later she is right as rain--and causing as much trouble as ever--bless her little heart.