Hello, Again.

Not too long ago, Cassie posted on her [new!] blog about how marriage is a series of peaks and valleys, how it's important to remember when life just feels hard that good times are just around the corner.  And it works out that way, doesn't it?  We could extend that metaphor to include parenting, and, really, life in general.  It feels like, lately (and forever), just when things feel totally and completely shitty and dark and I start to feel like I just want to crumble under the pressures that life brings, solutions arise, kids start acting like darling angels instead of tiny terrorists, and everything is great again.  Depending on the week, you can find Matt and me either cursing our two babies in two years plan or smugly patting ourselves on the back for it.

Fortunately for me, this week is a peak.  My students had their last day of school last Friday, and I've just been tying up loose ends at school and turning my thoughts to summer break (my first that I won't be pregnant or nursing or both since 2010): the beach, the pool, taking turns sleeping in, getting around to tackling house projects, trying my damnedest to savor the moments with our kids at this age (and then, I'm sure, taking a number of solo trips outside the house when I've had it with them).  I'm so incredibly excited for the next couple of months.

And I guess I should fill you in on what we've been doing around here, too, Grandma.  (I'm pretty sure my grandma is the only one who still reads this blog.)  We had a joint birthday party for Charlie and Matilda which was super fun and during which I only took like one picture, Charlie turned two (ack!) and Tilda turned one.  We've gone to the beach and to the pool and out to lunch and to the park.  We enjoyed a relaxing spring break that already feels like it was ages ago.  Mitch had surgery again to remove a tumor from a place on his body where you really don't want to have a tumor (I mean, is there any place on your body you do want to have a tumor?).  We have spent the last month and a half (except for the last week or so) taking turns being sick.  I got poison ivy all over my face again, as I am wont to do.  I fixed the elliptical but have yet to lose the two million pounds that I need to lose.  I've been making popsicles like a fiend and teaching myself to make felt bows because Cassie has forbidden me from cutting Matilda's bangs.

I'm sure I'm forgetting other very important happenings (like cooking stove-popped popcorn and watching True Detective and Mad Men!), but for now, let's just look at pictures so that I have them stored somewhere when Charlie sets this computer on fire.