just a little something...

in the mood for a flashback

From exactly two years ago...

Oliver at almost 7 months old.

listening to right this minute

Oliver crying in his bed, resisting sleep or just wanting attention.

Giggling from Madeline as she watches Bolt on my bed.

The washing machine finishing up.

A dog barking outside.

Sam pulling out of the driveway to go play poker.

The gentle hum of the refrigerator.

More crying from upstairs.

an hour with the butterflies

One day over Madeline's spring break, we made a quick trip to the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History. I took her about a year ago, or maybe more, but this was the first time she was really into it. In fact, she actually wanted to stay longer than I did, and I had to bribe her with lunch to get her moving.

We saw lots of gorgeous butterflies, and we sat for a good 20 minutes on one of the benches waiting for butterflies to land on us. Madeline was so patient - it was amazing. 

Finally the waiting paid off and a butterfly or two or three landed on both of us. 

There were butterflies of all colors, but lots of blue and green ones in particular. It's really an incredible place. 

a recent debate

Sam and I have been debating whether to put in a swimming pool. We went to a couple of homes this past weekend on the biannual Parade of Homes. The two homes we looked at are in our neighborhood and were just gorgeous. Part of what I liked about them was that they each had a screened-in pool area with plenty of space for entertaining outside.

Right now our backyard is simply that. A backyard. Luckily it's fenced, and it's actually somewhat bigger than many of the other backyards in our neighborhood. We have room to add an in-ground pool if we wanted. 

The downsides: Cost. Losing at least half of our backyard. The safety issue (although it's mandatory to have a pool fence and we would definitely have one). Cost. Maintaining the pool. Cost.

The upsides: Instant entertainment for the kids. Instant entertainment for me. Surviving the hot Florida summer would be much, much easier. A place to entertain when we have friends or family over. The screen would keep the bugs out and we can enjoy our back patio even when the mosquitos are out. 

We're still undecided but leaning towards the pool. Any thoughts from those pool-owners out there?

alligator farm birds

green heron, originally uploaded by merryjennifer.

Click on the photo to access more photos from our trip to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm on Flickr,

things you don't want to encounter

Finding out at the gym as you unpack your gym shoes that the cat puked in one of them.

Hearing from the teacher at the daycare at the gym that your son has thrown toys at other children. And pulled his sister's hair. And spit on a beanbag.

The smell of rotting seafood in the garbage can after you throw away a frozen lobster that your husband has been saving for several months. 

A snake in your window.

gators galore

While we were in St. Augustine last week, we took a trip to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. We put it off until our last day, mostly because we -- I -- thought it was just going to be a tourist trap with some alligators and snakes.

We were thrilled to find out we were wrong. We were also more than a little disappointed that we haven't discovered the Alligator Farm before now -- it is an amazing place. There were alligators, snakes, lizards (small and huge), massive tortoises, and birds, birds, birds. 

I have some more photos to share, but Oliver is resisting going to bed. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow...

kindergarten approaches

Tomorrow is a big day for Madeline. We're registering her for kindergarten at the annual Kindergarten Round-Up. I have all of her papers collected - birth certificate, social security card, proof that we actually live on this side of town - and we're all set. 

I'm a little nervous, actually.

Part of me is so excited for her to be entering the public school system where she'll meet her closest friends and have (hopefully) wonderful memories years from now. I'm happy that she'll be exposed to lots of different types of people in her new school, and I'm thankful that it's one of the best elementary schools in town. She should get a fantastic education and I hope she'll thrive in the environment.

The other part of me is sad to be leaving the little private school she's in now for prekindergarten. We've come to love that place, and we know most everyone there. The classes are small and her teachers are so loving and caring. Everyone knows Madeline by name and they all love her. Part of me just wants to keep her sheltered there, protected from the crowds at the bigger school. It's just so comfortable there.

We're making the switch, though. I think it will be great for Madeline, and it will be great for us, too - once we get over the growing pains that come with change. Sam and I were educated in the public school system. I didn't have a choice when I was in school. Public school was all there was. And I did just fine, I think, and so did Sam. 

Maddie will do just fine, too. And so will we.

dad to the rescue

This was in our window at the end of last week:

I had heard something in that window the night before, when I was sitting in the office using the computer. Since it was late, and since I didn't want to investigate and chance finding something unpleasant, I chose to ignore the sound. Madeline discovered the cause the next afternoon as we were sitting outside in the rocking chairs.

Sam suggested that we let it die in the window, but I didn't think that would be such a great idea. After a frantic phone call to my friend Julia to see if her outdoorsy-and-nature-loving husband was available for snake removal (he wasn't), I called my dad. Dad finished up his chores and drove the thirty minutes or so to our house to get rid of it.

First he tried removing the screen from the outside.

Since the snake was wedged up in there, the screen wouldn't budge enough to remove it. The only other option was to take the snake out through the inside of the house.

The snake was not happy at all that it was being forcefully evicted from its new home.

The snake bit my dad on the finger and drew blood, but Dad managed to extract the snake without any injury to it. The snake now is residing somewhere outside, but NOT in my window. 

Thanks, Dad!

happy easter

marineland

Can you tell it was windy? And cold? And that the kids were cranky from being cold and windblown and bored? 

Marineland is not quite what it used to be, and unless you want to spend lots of money on feeding the dolphins (which is probably worth it in warmer weather) or swimming with the dolphins (definitely worth it in the heat of summer), a general admission ticket is just not all it's cracked up to be. The dolphins were beautiful, but we really could only see into a couple of the tanks - the rest were roped off for those who had shelled out at least $26 (per person!) for a 5 minute dolphin feeding session. 

We lasted about 30 minutes in the park, and the last ten or fifteen minutes only because we were able to bribe the kids with fuzzy stuffed dolphins if they would stop complaining and let us see one or two more real dolphins. I really hate doing that, but as I mentioned yesterday, vacations with the kids are all about survival.

st. augustine beach

We got back from St. Augustine Beach yesterday after spending four nights in a two-bedroom condo. We chose a two bedroom rental thinking that one bedroom would be for the kids and one bedroom would be for us. The sleeping arrangements turned out to be a little different than we anticipated. Oliver slept with me in the king bed in the master bedroom while Madeline slept in the closet of the master bedroom. Sam got the second room all to himself. The kids refused to sleep in a room by themselves. 

Some might argue that we let the kids run the show. And they wouldn't be wrong. It's all about surviving the week, and that's what we did. Granted, I didn't sleep much, but the kids went to bed on time and slept until 7 am. What more could I ask for?

The weather was beautiful the first day and then it got windier and colder the longer we were there. Even the first day was a little chilly. The kids loved what little time they spent on the beach, though.

One afternoon towards the end of the vacation, I took Madeline out on the beach even though the wind was gusting up to 20 miles per hour. We donned our jackets - unfortunately we didn't think to pack pants, and I'm not sure Madeline would have worn pants if we had remembered them - and braved the wind. Our legs were sandblasted by the sand blowing off the dunes, but we had a nice time finding starfish and other creatures.

We usually stay at Crescent Beach, not St. Augustine Beach, but those two beaches are really back-to-back. We were just a few miles north of where we normally stay. I liked our location a lot, actually. We were much closer to the center of things (i.e., restaurants and Publix). We've already decided we'll go back again soon, even if just for the day. 

beach

spring break

Ah. The weekend is finally here. Since I've worked for 12 straight days, this weekend means a lot to me. I am SO looking forward to turning my pager off. The weekend means even more since it begins my first official spring break in a long, long time. Madeline's school follows the public school academic calendar, and her school is closed for spring break next week. Which means that I get to stay home with her! 

I'm actually very excited about it. It will be really nice to spend a week relaxing. After a handful of days at the beach, we're going to simply hang out and maybe go to a museum or a movie.

I'll hopefully get back to posting more regularly next week. I miss this blog, but I've just been so darn busy and stressed out that I had nothing good to say. And if you can't say something nice...

Have a wonderful weekend. We sure will.