Wednesday, May 31, 2017

In the nick of time

I'm sneaking one post in on this last day of the month of May. Life's been busy! These 50 days of Easter have been busy - and full of treats and sometimes "too much fun things", as Paul has said more than once only half-complaining.

For background, during Lent, we hold off on special for no reason treats, like grabbing lunch to-go while we're out or chocolates and candies for "desserts" at 11am, etc. But during Easter? Fair game! So bring on the sweets every day, the hot dogs or pizza after a Costco run, the sharing of muffins or gummies at the playground with friends, and even the special trips to the zoo, fancy playground visits, long walks in a new direction, friends over for dinner, or shopping trips to new stores. It's been a full few weeks, and sometimes the kids (especially my introverted Paul) just needed, yearned almost, for a relaxing day at home with n o t h i n g planned. Like, it's raining and we get to stay home?! Yaay! kind of response. With zero (or very minimal) bickering and lots of laundry. They eat it up. Which reminds me but is a completely separate idea: these kids of Dylan's and mine are really so, so good. Sure, we get on them for this or that, but our complaints make up quite a short list. We love them so!

Anyway.

So to catch-up on our goings-on and just to give myself a reminder of this beautiful weather-ed Spring, this post is a bit of a hodge-podge of one-liners and taglines I'd thrown in a draft at multiple occasions during the month of May, knowing I didn't have a full amount of time to sit and write it down properly.
  • Dylan told me once while I was lamenting our space and its to-me-apparent chaos, "You keep a tight ship", which, I, of course took as a compliment, though I understand others might not want their home kept tight as a ship. The whole thing made me laugh a little, but it also made me oddly proud.
  • Ada said this to me over the (real) flowers of a Chick-fil-a table: "I like havin lunch wif you. You so beautiful. And so sweet. <heehee giggle>". I was eating and feeding others each with the sort of half-attention that is due when there's a lot going on, and as soon as I heard her little voice start to say something matter-of-factly, I zoomed my face around and looked straight into her sparkly eyes for this, and I'm so, so glad I didn't miss it.
  • I was out one evening, maybe taking the bins to the curb or bringing in dried diapers from the line, and the first sound of a wave of locusts caught my attention, reminding me that summer's near and that I really love that sound. 
  • After naps one day: 
    Me: I need a cuppa teeeea
    P: I bet you do!
  • Walking home from the playground one almost hot Thursday, Paul and Ada picked weed-flowers for me, again, and I loved them, again. Then they went on to talk about who would pick flowers for whom when they're older and the following conversation took place:
    P: I'll pick flowers for you, Ada.
    A: Yes, when I'm a grown-up lady.
    P: And I'm a grown-up man. And then maybe our kids will pick flowers for us, too.
    A: Yes (decidedly)
    P: When we're all grown up, you'll be in Heaven.
    M: Wait, what? Oh, yes, I'll be in Heaven when you're all grown-up. But hopefully I'll get to see your kids before then. And maybe they'll pick flowers for me, too.
    P: Yeah, like we do now for you and Nana. But when it's our kids and you're the Nana, then Nana will be in Heaven.
    M:Yep ... you're right.
    There were a couple of other little things in there that I can't relate word for word, but this was the gist. It lasted a good long block before getting to our street. So for a meandering stroll home "smelling the roses", or in this case, stopping to watch the woodpecker, this 5-year-old pretty well grasps the passing of time and who and what comes next. Obviously he won't know what it feels like to not have Nana (or Pappy or GranSusan or PaGerry or PoppaWayne or Dylan or me) around or on skype whenever we want, but he gets that he'll get older, as will I, and as will they until we die. It may sound like an odd or morbid take-away, and perhaps it was on one level, but it was really beautiful in the moment, given their squeaky voices, the talk of picking flowers, and all of the bright early summer sunshine touching us. I kinda teared up a bit, and I'm not the most touchy-feely of gals; so I wanted to remember it.
  • We finished our pre-school homeschool! Here we have the full alphabet of virtues, saints, and activities behind us, and it was very enjoyable.
Now, without further ado, some photos that will illustrate without long anecdotes the things we've gotten up to and the messes we've made.

The kit to make this was in the kids' Easter basket. We've all loved it! Definitely a new tradition! Thanks, Holy Heroes!
These first few are all from the octave of Easter and the special things we did then:
 A "treat" trip for beignets in the park with friends. Baby's first beignet!
 A "treat" movie in bed after naps
 A "treat" lunch at Rouse's
And to cap the week off, we threw an Easter party at our house, of which I have no pictures. We had about 50 people, dined on baked French toast, fruit, and champagne, and even had an Easter egg hunt. It was a lovely morning! Then we skipped naps, powered through, and saw the end of the Air Show with the Blue Angels! It was awesome, and ever since, Jack has been so keen on airplanes.
 Divine Mercy Sunday, after the church's Easter party, complete with burgers, hot dogs, and egg-dyeing.
We moved Jack into the kids' room! Heaps-a space!
Falling Slowly, which Paul can also play on the piano
 A dinner out at the Irish House
 Afternoon around-the-house fun; mornings bring on the planned or errand time, and afternoons are for this, and it's the best:
The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, LPO, put on their free annual Swinging in the Oaks, which we love! After claiming a spot on the lawn, there was some time for playgrounds and big oaks, and this closed out April.
More LPO later in the week for Early Explorers, their early childhood program.

The beginning of May brought with it a weekend getaway to Galveston for a cousin's wedding in TX.
Paul made friends with a neighboring family
The wedding itself was lovely, and it's always such fun to see the family! Here I am with my godparents (and cousins) Jimmy & Franny!
A walking rosary on the church grounds, and, yes, the baby in a suit.
 Neighboring area, Gretna's, spring festival
 Neighbor-friend's 3rd birthday party
 Here he comes!
 This one sums up our life pretty well...
Jack helping with Paul's dishwasher job
 Paul's photography
 Magnolias <3
 Our backyard sky view
The Audubon Zoo!
Ada wasn't in a sour mood but somehow was terrified of the carousel this time
 Hansen's sno-balls on the way home - full day! One of those "too much fun things" days
Flubber Friday! It's been whittled down to one Friday a month now, and we'll be out of town for June's; that leaves just July's FF for Paul before he starts school - whoooa! By then, it'll probably be time to sign Jack in properly, as in, he'll be able to actually make art instead of just eating the paintbrushes.

Somewhere in there, we booked flights for Australia for late July/early August after much hemming and hawing about going next Easter. That means we need a US passport for Jack and an Australian passport for Ada ... which means dum dum dum passport photos. These are some that are not acceptable. It's ridiculous how many shots we go through to get one sorta okay one...
 Neighborhood Confetti Kids fundraiser dinner out event 
 Picnic on the levee, watching the Natchez steamboat
Trip to the north shore of the lake for a Memorial Day bbq at Dylan's boss' camp on the bayou + 
Paul eating his burger on a crawfish mound he thought was a tree stump

Left: Brauds on October 30, 1987, Peter's 12 mos & Right: Jack in the same outfit at nearly 12mos


Beautiful, muddy baby - and standing!
the mud wore him out... poor 3rd baby.
 baby yoga?
And now it's Pentecost this weekend, which is, apparently, the next greatest feast day in the Catholic year after Easter! When you think about it, it makes sense, like so many things in the Church; it's when God the Holy Spirit descends upon the remaining apostles, strengthening and inspiring them to go out and proclaim! To celebrate, we're having red beans, crême brûlée (fire), and either a bonfire or lots of candles, depending on the weather.