Character Profile

Hello Pat the Bunny. This is for you, in response to the guilt trip in my inbox this morning that began with:

"Now you know I am not one to complain..."

and ended with:

"BLOG OR DIE"

Okay, I'm making that last part up. It was worded quite politely.

So here's what the crew has been up to:

Josh-- recently got over a man cold. going to school. taking tests. looking sexy. putting me to shame as parent of the year.
Seriously. I think the ages of our kids appeal more to him now than ever before. The evenings are a non-stop flow of board games, card games, book reading, wrestling matches, homework helping, fights-to-the-death, etc. I'm no longer sure that our kids are responsible for the majority of the noise in our house.
I've taken to trying to stay out of the way lest I have to join in on the games.
Not to be a jerk, but the 5-year-old's attention span while gaming is enough to make me run away screaming.
Josh is in charge of the oldest group of boys in Awana. He was a little nervous about that age group, but I think they like him already. I told him just to mention that he's a fighter pilot and they'd be eating out of his hands. Finally, a group of children old enough to care. Ours are so used to it that it doesn't seem so cool. What a waste, no?

But then he reminds me that he's not a fighter pilot, he's a Spanish student.
Details, details. 

Me-- spending way more time in the car than ever before. grocery shopping. dinner cooking. lunch making. book reading. appointment making. appointment taking. laundry queen. thinking about how I should clean the house. cleaning it only right before we have company instead.
We did have company this past weekend. Josh's friend Alex and his wife, Cat, came up from LA to spend the weekend with us. Monday was an incredibly beautiful morning, and we walked the mile down to Fisherman's Wharf and had crepes. The kids saw the bird man and got to hold his parrots. Alex held a bird named Seven, which thrilled her to no end since she is seven, and her classroom at school is also number seven. Will wonders never cease?
Tonight we're having some friends over for dinner who are visiting Monterey. We met them many moons ago while in Alabama for one of Josh's schools.
We all went to Alabama from Idaho for the 6 weeks of school, because Josh was deploying shortly after and we didn't want to miss him for longer than we had to. Alex was 2 and Derek was 8 months old. We lived in one room. The walls were thin and the carpet was dirty.
Derek didn't sleep well and I couldn't let him cry himself to sleep because of the thin walls and the 2 year old in the room. So I took to nursing him in the night again as if he were still a newborn. He was in hog-heaven. The rest of us were tired and miserable.
Good times.
But now he's 5 and he brings home pocket-fulls of playground mulch. On purpose. They are his swords and knives. Maybe he wants to use them in the fights-to-the-death?

Alex-- Alex has been going through a rough time ever since she acquired a brother. We keep thinking she'll grow out of it, but I'm starting to wonder. Five years is a long time...
But alas, she is doing well. She is constantly getting "blue bucks" at school for being helpful and well-behaved. She must just use it all up there, I suppose.
She is still enjoying gymnastics. I stopped turning the key in her palatal expander, and we go back next week to check on the progress. She is now in the oldest group of Sparkies at Awana. La creme de la creme.
Today was "dress like a character from a book" day at school. She is pink from head to toe, my Pinkalicious.

Derek-- Derek was pretty sure that the first school day of September was Apple Day, where they would taste different apples. He woke up with apples on the brain. It wasn't apple day. Neither was the next day, or the next. He's finally stopped talking about it now, but I'm afraid that his inability to distinguish days will cause him disappointment in life. He still hasn't figured out if tomorrow comes after quiet time or after night time.
He's kind of special.
The other day he got a band-aid on his finger and asked if he would still be wearing it when we moved to Spain.

He is the bottom of the barrel in Sparkies now. I have to remember to keep him far away from his sister, lest he be bossed to death in every arena of his life.
He's had lots of appointments lately with allergists, labwork, regular check-ups, etc.
Turns out that he's outgrown his egg allergy, his milk is as low as it's ever been so he's probably close to outgrowing that, and he's wicked allergic to peanuts.
He's almost perfectly average in weight/height for his age, but way above average in cuddliness factor.
He goes to bed at 7pm, for his little mind is overwrought with the excitement of life in general.

Another picture from my bedroom window.
I love seeing the water.

This is what the non-bay side of the Pacific looks like on a foggy evening. It gets chilly with the breeze off the ocean.

There are lots of little tide pools full of living things.
Like hermit crabs.

If it's clear, you can see the sunset. It wasn't clear.
But I still love hearing the water crashing on the big rocks out there.

 How's that PTB?