Zoom, zoom...

"Schmabbers, can I sleep with you?" "Sure, Banana. Come on up!" Aren't sisters great?

This month has flown by! With hubby away at school until last weekend and juggling school and extras without him, blogging was at the bottom of my priority list. Above trimming my toenails, but way below forcing time for a daily shower. In order to conserve energy our water heater is timed and usually only functions for a couple of hours at a time each day. If we don't jump in before 0700 (Yeah...right! I'm going to get up, have quiet time, work out, make breakfast, AND take a shower by 0700!) we're often out of luck until close to dinner time (another really convenient time for a stay-at-home mom to wash the daily grime from her tired, squishy body!) or after 1900 (7:00 pm for you civilians). Sigh... But hubby's home again so we're back into our normal groove while we wait to hear when he'll have to fly Stateside for the final 7 weeks of this course. Hopefully sooner than later, so it won't interfere with our vacation plans. Oregon coast here we come!!!

School's going well. A and K are a few weeks behind in biology because the pond water required for several experiments is locked under inches of ice. Who knows how many microbes survive months of winter ice anyway; so we wait for the spring thaws. They're going to jump ahead to disecting the poor stinky creatures that have inhabited the dark recesses of our storage cubby and catch up on the pond water later. The kids have all voted for doing school year-round rather than take 3 months off in the summer, so it'll all work out. ("Summer's too long, Mom." "It gets boring after a couple of weeks.") We're shooting for 9 weeks on, 2 weeks off, but will keep it flexible to fit with travel plans and company.

Our big excitement lately is an upcoming trip to Rome! We leave on the 8th for a 5 day trip with others from our parish (congregation). We have aschedule full of sight-seeing and eating "real" pizza and have been invited to have tea with one of the Cardinals in his private apartment! The kids are going nuts with excitement, and we're just hoping nobody drops a cup or breaks something.
"I'm so sorry about your grandmother's cup, Your Eminance! If you have some seltzer water I'm sure I can get that stain up!"
"M! Get your feet off the coffee table! And J, do NOT lean over the balcony railing!"
"It's not a dress, girls. It's a ROBE."
"Boys! 5 sugar cubes is more than enough!!"
"What's that, Your Eminance? Yes, children ARE such a blessing, aren't they? More?? Why, we'd just love to have as many more as the Lord sees fit to give us."

(Note to self: Practice sincere tone of voice.)