cookiecrumbexpress.com Blog

I see that I was asked to do this a month and a half ago now.  Boy, time flies when you’re having fun!?!   That just seems to be the way things go around here lately, but better late than never, right?  So here’s the update.  We just finished a quiet family vacation at home.  Temperatures were in the upper nineties and reaching into the 100’s a couple of times, so about the only outdoor activity that we really got to do was swimming.  Although, the heat wave broke the last two days of our break and we did go camping one night.  Mostly we did quiet, baby free things together during the day, like going to the movies and the Museum.  The kids got to overnight with grandma and grandpa one weekend.  They got to go to Chucky Cheese’s, which was so cool!  Maisie cried when it was time to come home.  She needs more grandparent time, they all do.  Then they spent a day during the week with the other grandma and grandpa.  Got to go to McDonald’s and play all day at their house.  Again, Maisie cried when it was time to come home.  The kids love their grandparents so much.  They just can’t wait to do it again.  So anyway, this means Jim and I got to have 2 dates in one week,  the first I think we’ve had since, wow, probably January.  Thank you so much Mom and Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That’s too long.  We need to fix that.  We just get so caught up in everyday.  Anyway it was a much needed break and I think the pain between my shoulders has faded significantly.  Other than that, things are pretty much that same around here as they have been.  Jim’s still working nights and I’m still watching other people’s babies. Our own children are still growing and changing constantly.  It seems that coordinating time in our household where everyone is awake and available all at the same time is a battle that is simply going to get more and more challenging every year. We are preparing to add even more to our schedule this coming school year.   Emily, our eldest angel, turns 10 soon (double digits!) and will be in the 5th grade at her school.  This means she can participate in the after school science club.  She is so interested in all things science , animals and history, she just can’t wait.  On top of that, she may play flute in band again, if it is still offered.  The school got a new music teacher, so things may be different now.  She is also dying to play basketball during the middle of the year and participating in track for the first time next spring. She’s so much more aggressive and independent that I ever realized.  She amazes me.  Noah, our fearless middle angel,  will begin the first grade this year.  He will be 7 after Thanksgiving.  He’s so excited about clearing a spot in his room for a small desk for homework.  He hopes it’s math.  He loves numbers and math.  He is very good at picking out patterns and doing mental addition and subtraction.  He also thinks that this year he wants to do a gymnastics class again.  The boy is freakishly strong and coordinated.  I think he’ll be great at it.  And of course there will be baseball (his favorite), but that just finished, so hopefully not until next spring again.  He just loves batting and sliding into home plate, and I just love watching.  He’s such a happy little spirit. 

Maisie, our littlest angel, will be turning 4 in a month.  It hardly seems fair that time flies by as fast as it does.  She will begin preschool 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours each and she can’t wait to take dance class with Sharon without Mommy.  But don’t be sad Mommy, she says, because I’ll be right back.  She has had tumbling classes, well, since she was born really, because she was always there for Noah’s classes and then her own.  She has blossomed into a little social butterfly just in the last 2 months since school got out and I know she will make friends quickly and easily.  As far as dance goes, I think she’s a natural.  She floats through everyday singing and dancing her way through everything.  Her favorite song? You Are My Sunshine - and she surely is ours.  Jim and I will be celebrating 14 blissful years of marriage this fall.  That doesn’t seem right, but apparently the numbers add up.  After 7 moves, in that time frame, we’ve decided to stay in this house.  We’ve here for 41/2 years now. We’ll be converting closets into bedrooms before we ever consider moving again.  In just 9 more years, Emily will be in college studying to be a Vet, Noah will be driving in demolition derbies and Maisie will be a teenager, talking on the phone incessantly and fixating on her hair.     I think I’m ready for another vacation.  Jenny 

Editor’s note for the story of the birth of Mr Smee click on this:

http://www.cookiecrumbexpress.com/Postcard/MrSmee

Jim’s Air Force photo is now on his page. He swears he wasn’t 15 when it was taken. But we don’t know.