First Dinner of 2009!

Before Kelly e-mails me to tell me she’s sick of reading about John Daly, I’ll try to assemble a few thoughts that might be interesting. Our lives have been happily dull and slow paced, so I don’t have much to share.

Wait. I guess I haven’t even told you our children are back home safe and sound. I’m back to vacuuming up Barbie shoes and stepping on Legos. Truthfully, I didn’t pick up any of Alex’s Legos while he was gone, so technically, I’m just still stepping on Legos. And while I’m being honest, I also haven’t vacuumed since they’ve been home.

Despite their protests, Brandon and I went to Nashville on Friday to pick up Alex and Meredith. While they claimed they wanted to stay longer, I haven’t had that many hugs from them in awhile. As I put Meredith to bed at home she said, “Oh, clean sheets! I glad I’m home again. Mom, did you know we were separated while I was away?!” I guess it took her awhile to notice. I thought she was bright.

While we were in Nasvhille we had lunch with my friend Stephanie and her husband Jason. We hadn’t seen each other since their April wedding, so it was fun to catch up over fried pickles.

Sunday, we finally had Christmas with my in-laws. So, just when I thought I’d put away every new toy and rid our house of the smell of cardboard, in came another crop. I should be putting away the cupcake machine and washing the new pajamas instead of updating this blog. Brandon is always quick to point out the correlation between the number of blog posts to the order of our home. I don’t really understand math, so I just ignore him.

Brandon flew back to Minneapolis Monday morning on his usual early morning flight. The kids and I started our day and went to my friend Annie’s to photograph some of her latest works. Every time we go to their house, my children act as though we arrived from Ethiopia. “I’m hungry.” “Can I have a granola bar?” “Do you have any turkey?” Whether it was a coincidence or not, Annie suggested we pack up all five of our kids and grab some lunch. We went out for burgers and Annie and I sat at our own table. Granted it was attached to the table with all the kids, but still.

Today the kids both went back to school. I’ve really enjoyed having them both home with me, but we are a family who functions well on a schedule. We love routine. Aside from poorly made beds, we’d probably do alright in the military. I was pleasantly surprised that Alex was ready in time to catch the bus and Meredith and I left for preschool on time.

I was also surprised to find out we missed ballet yesterday. (We ran into another ballet mom at school.) I wasn’t aware there was a class to miss. The mom informed me an e-mail was sent, but I deleted it along with the studio’s invitations to buy leftover Christmas sweatshirts and something about a Barbie Fairatopia-themed movie night. (There are two people reading this who will find that funny.)

I’m about to make dinner. It’s the first real meal I’ve cooked since Christmas. Sadly, I’m not kidding. First we ate Christmas leftovers. Then when the kids left, Brandon and I ate everywhere we’re normally afraid to eat with the kids. We ordered pizza on Sunday and had the leftovers last night. I made a giant trip to the grocery today, so the fridge is my oyster. I just need to figure our which gourmet creation that calls for ground sirloin (there was a sale) I’m going to make first!