Update

Maybe I should call this the Annual Update.  Maybe I should also switch to a free blog site, as I never, ever use this.  

We are now in Serenbe (www.serenbe.com), where we moved last May.  I was 36 weeks along with Henry when we moved, and it has certainly been a good thing.  We are loving our new neighborhood.  Henry was born on June 19, after a "precipitous" labor -- meaning, super extremely fast -- and he was born just one hour after our hospital arrival.  

Abigail & Lillian go to the neighborhood Montessori, which is almost as cute as the school on Sid, the Science Kid, but less culturally diverse, and the teacher does not sing, far as I know.  

Hope that will do -- bath time!

7 Quick Takes on Friday (on Saturday)

1.  Reading:  Listening is an Act of Love -- check this out: http://storycorps.org        

Stephen and I had caught bits of this on NPR's Morning Edition.  The book is a selection of some of the interview recordings done by normal people in a sound studio/Airstream trailer.  The recordings are archived at the Library of Congress, so that the stories of everyday people will be remembered.  The book is really amazing, and as I was reading last night, I kept remarking to Stephen how many interesting, wonderful, good people are out in the world everywhere.

I'm thrilled to see that the mobile unit will be recording in Pensacola and Atlanta through March 13, though if it were inaccessible, I'd be off the hook and able to just enjoy everyone else's efforts.  I wonder if my mom would go for an interview.

2. Listening to:  Taylor Swift -- it's so cute.  Some ITunes reviewer wrote, "Unless you are a teen girl, you will not like this."  But I do.

3. Cooking: Nothing.  Eating out after Mass in Spartanburg w/ Stephen.  And the kids.  Always the kids.  

4. Oohing over this new collection at Target:  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/news/liberty-of-london-for-target-the-home-collection-109389       I think I'd like the bike.  Or the piggy bank.

5.  Every house on our street is for sale, and ours is the most expensive...  If it sells, it will be miraculous, and we will know we were really meant to go. 

6.   The girls are quietly coloring.  Jacob & baby boy to be will probably never get to an age where they will color quietly, as they are boys.  I wonder.

7.  I've been on a ridiculous quest for a sale coat for Abigail for next year, and I've spent an inordinate amount of time searching the 'net for the elusive coat, thinking that this is better than dragging them around the mall.  Surely it must be better.  

the first tooth

Here she is, my little girl w/o her tooth.  She is officially a kid, not a toddler any more.  Which is probably fine, as I have two toddlers running about and a baby soon to join us.  She lost it on Thursday night while brushing her teeth (all by herself) before bed.  I had just been marveling about how I could say, "Go get ready for bed," and she could, and would.  And then she bellows from the loft, "Mama!  It came out!"  

She was so excited, and hung around outside of the shower door in her too short princess jammies, walking in little fast circles and saying over and over, "And MOM, I can't believe it."  "And Mom, I'm the second girl in my class to lose a tooth."  "And Mom, I'm going to have the neatest presentation at school, and Mom, my tooth is so tiny."

She is so proud of her big kid grin.  I'm proud, too - what is a big deal to her is a big deal to me, but I'm also sad.  She is not a baby, not a toddler.  She helps unload the dishwasher and puts her laundry away all on her own.  Where I used to wish she was more independent, she now is.  This feeling is the one I had on her first birthday, on her second and more so her third, and her fourth and fifth.  And she will soon be six.  

Seven Quick Takes on Friday... w/ Lilly and Abigail

1.  Lilly:  Uh...  um... I wanna talk about PBS kids.  Um.  I like EVERYFING about PBS kids.  My favorite character is every character.  Abigail:  My favorite character is Arfur.  And Word Girl.  I just like them, because I just do.  

2.  Mommy: Do you think kids should watch a lot of TV?  Abigail & Lilly:  NO!  Abigail:  I mean, well... actually... they should.  Mommy:  Why?  Abigail:  Because it's very fun.  Uh, you get to watch it, and you learn everyfing. Um, I learned that dinosaurs have big poop, and what their names are called.

3.  Mommy:  What should kids eat?  Lilly:  Mmmmm.... healfy stuff before sugar.  Like, carrots.  And broccoli, and bread, and um, hmm.  Mommy:  What should they drink?  Abigail:  Um, water, and milk.  Lilly: Water. But if they don't like it, they shouldn't drink it.  Abigail:  If they don't like milk, then water and juice.  Mommy:  Is juice healthy?  Abigail:  No, but they can drink it at breakfast.  Lilly:  It IS sort of healfy.  No, it isn't healfy at all.  

4.  Lilly:  My question!  What is above our planet?  Abigail:  Um, Mars.  Mom, is that right?   No!  Sun!

5.  Mommy:  What do we with crying babies?  Abigail: nurse it?  Lilly: Um, phhh... it's gonna be a really fun fing when we have a new baby!

6.  Mommy:   What will our new baby do?  Lilly:  Just play w/ Jacob's toys.  Abigail: Well, I don't think when he's a baby, because he'll be too small.  He probably will drink a bottle.  And chew on passies.  (Note:  we use no bottles or passies here... )  

7.  Mommy:  What are our plans for today?  Lilly: learn?  Abigail: play games, and have tea time, and be silly!  And play outside!  If it's cold, though, then we won't, or maybe we will.  Lilly:  And play with Jacob!  

Snowy Day in SC