A LampPost Flickering

Today Lily and I met my sister Jamie and her daughter Emmaly for a day of shopping (low budget!), lunching and just being together. Every year we celebrate each other's birthdays, which are only six days apart, by spending a whole day together. It's been a LONG time since we've been completely alone without any small ones crashing the party, but today we actually chose to bring our four-year-old daughters so they could spend some time together, too. They were SO cute together, holding hands, skipping, running, draping arms around each other, like long lost sisters. Jamie and I both had coupons to a local portrait studio, so we even took the girls in for a photo shoot. Don't they look cute? I've been wanting a portrait of Lily wearing her beautiful silk dress we purchased for her in China, but just haven't gotten it done. We did that today, too. Coaxing a smile out of her was a little torturous, but I was pleased with the final results. And, the sweetest surprise

I know it's officially spring, because literally overnight my weeping cherry trees erupted into full blossom. What a lovely splash of pink they lend to my home! I thought I'd share a few pictures. Sadly this will be my last spring here with my weeping cherry trees. No wonder they're weeping. My favorite tree Lily examining the flowers. "I picked this for you, Mommy!" The loveliest flowers in the garden. (*Notice Caleb and Gabriel sweetly holding hands. I love their precious innocence and love for each other.)

So it's not as golden as I thought. Rob's new job is not going to work out. I feel bad that Rob had to put up with very poor business and management in his employer for even one day. He gave it a try, and he could tell right away that the flexibility his new employer promised was hers not his and that it was a bad employment match. His first clue was when he showed up and the owner did not bother to give him any direction or provide tools for the piddly jobs she wanted done. He learned over the course of the day that she is a strong personality who knows what she wants, but her employees must simply read her mind, correctly, or bear the ill consequences. Minimum wage is not enough to put up with that, that's for certain. Not to mention the long drive and the high gas prices. So, we keep looking.

I gave my little blog a face lift today...do you like it? It took more time than I care to admit, all of which should have been devoted to the landslide of laundry directly behind me. Right now, the computer desk is renting space in the laundry room. You can imagine how easy it is to get distracted when I am supposed to be matching socks. "Oh, I'll just check my email while I wait for the drier to be done." An hour later, the clothes in the drier are dry and cool, and I'm still tapping away. Oops. I promised you an update on my hair. Remember my last post? The color is...I'm not really sure. The box says "Carmel Glaze" but that sounds yummier than hair is supposed to look. I took a picture for you, but it doesn't look quite this red in real life. The evening sun is shining down on it. Here ya go anyway: I like it well enough. I'm not in love, however. My favorite part: no more grays! We have some good family news to share with you. First of all,

I hate coloring my hair. I hate the thought of all those harsh chemicals soaking mischievously into my scalp while a cloud of toxins fumes about my face...for 35 minutes. But...I really hate the ornery sprouts of gray hairs that are crowding out my youthful-looking brown ones. I guess having four children and turning 33 next week is to account for that. So here I sit, with my slimy, chemical-infused hair piled up like a heap of toxic waste on top of my head. I bet you're wondering what color I chose. Have I gone for a summer blond look? How about a strawberry red to match my youngest son? Could it be warm mahogany to match take me back to my old natural state? Or perhaps jet black to make my blue eyes stand out? And what about streaks? I'll let you know how it turns out.

Such a glorious, warm, sunny, earthy, springy weekend we were given! The older boys played outside for a while each day, but they kept coming back in for various reasons (wanting to watch a show, play with Legos, transform Transformers, get a drink, have a snack, rest on the couch, etc.) "Outside!" I ordered at least a dozen times. The little ones happily went outside and were so content out there that I had to keep having "Seth and Lily checks" to make sure they weren't getting into trouble. I forced them inside, with much protesting, for lunch and potty breaks. "Inside!" I ordered at least a dozen times as darkness approached. But today is also a springy day. The air is dreary, damp, chilly, gloomy. The kids want to play outside, but the 40 degree temperatures that were such a relief three weeks ago are bone-chilling and unpleasant today. Today is just as much a spring day as Saturday and Sunday were. If you want spring, you've gotta take both ki