strange feeling

Dr. Dave is gone for the weekend. It's weird to not have him home at night. The kids cried when he left this afternoon. I will admit I almost did too. The worry-wart in me thinks that something bad will happen while he is gone. He is having fun though.

Dave loves pig-tails, when the girls wear them and me too. ;) I thought I'd send him off in style this afternoon. I really should take the 10 minutes needed to do my hair more often. I felt a little different, a little fancier, all day. I know the Mister noticed my hair even if he didn't say anything. He was running around trying to pack while his friends waited for him in the living room, so it was understandably a little crazy. Dave has been working on 2 different things lately that have come together this weekend. First, he has been training to do a mini-triathalon the end of May. Holy smokes, it's May already. One of Dave's patients, who was going to participate in the Wildflower Triathlon in Monterey County this weekend, asked him to swim her leg of the relay. He is excited to try the new wet suit and do his first race tomorrow morning.

Second, Dave joined a chiropractic group that travels to various events around the area to provide support for the athletes and participants. He has done 2 events so far and is already seeing a little boost in business, which is the end goal. Plus Dave's having fun at what he does and that is the best part. His group had planned on going down to Wildflower to support the event before Dave knew he could swim, so he is stoked to do both!

Even though we miss our Dad/hubby tons, he is having a fun, productive weekend with colleages "camping" in a double wide trailer.

Dan & Lauren and Tom & Kristy came over for dinner and a movie to keep us company tonight. The kids love getting crazy with their uncles. They watched movies on the couch and played while the girls sewed in the kitchen. Kristy and Lauren made blankets for friends' babies and I started making rice bags for Dave to sell to patients.

After the kids went to bed and everyone left I realized how eerily quiet the house is right now. I actually stopped and thought about what I should do. It's too early for me to go to bed, especially after eating 3 chocolate chip cookies, and Dave's not home to talk to as usual. During the day when the laughing, screaming, fighting gets to be too much, I dream about time to myself with total silence. Now I have it and I'm a little lonely.

What should I do? My top choices are blog, (which I'm almost done with), wrap up in a cozy blanket and watch a chick flick without getting up to take care of someone else, read until I fall asleep in the precious silence. We'll see. I might do all three.

Typical morning lately

M: Logan would you like some oatmeal or cereal for breakfast?

L: Mmmm..... a meat sandwich!

M: So you want some oatmeal?

L: No, a meat sand-wich!

M: You can have a meat sandwich for lunch. We're having oatmeal if you don't decide.

L: Okay....oatmeal.

M: Do you want cinnamon in it?

L: Gross.

* 5 minutes later when oatmeal has cooled *

M: Mr. Cooper! Here's your oatmeal.

L: Bop (my nickname), I'm NOT eating this oatmeal. (Grrrrrrrrrrr!)

M: Eat your oatmeal. It's got brown sugar in it.

L: I HATE brown sugar!

M: No you don't. That's what cookies are made of.

L: I hate it!

This kid is beyond frustrating with food sometimes. He finally realized the oatmeal on the table was his only breakfast.

I am a picture nerd. Capturing part of my kids personalities, catching that elusive smile that I fell in love with from the Mister, or freezing a moment in time that would otherwise be forgotten makes me so happy.

We were leaving Toby's Music for Minors concert at J's school last night when we walked past this cool mural wall. I had to stop for a few snaps. When I glanced at this picture in the camera last night I couldn't wait to get it up on the screen. I love it. This is so Toby.Sydney discovered airplanes last week at Toby's T-ball game. Whenever we are outside now she points up and says, "Pay!" for airplane. She knows the sound of an approaching jet and won't stop until we find where it is in the sky. This is what happens when all the kids except Syd see an airplane. I didn't even see until later that it looks like Syd has a halo above her head. It's appropriate since she is our sweet angel. All the kids love showing her new things and rejoice with Mom and Dad in her milestones. Kids are the best!

We had one of those bounce-from-one thing-to-the-next days yesterday. I think we were home for about 3 hours all day. I'm glad my schedule does not demand more of those days. I really don't mind having nothing pressing to do and making my own schedule for the day.

We started with a trip to Home Depot with Uncle Tom (my brother) to buy new countertops and kitchen sink for an apartment. Tom is doing all the work I can get for him here at the apartments. It's a slow time for construction so he's grateful for some work. I think Tom is almost done with all he needs for his contractor's license which is exciting!

On a related note, my Dad is still out of work in the same field. Construction is understandably slow in this economy, and Dad has been looking since the beginning of the year. Toby always remembers to "bless Grandpa Bob that he can get a cool new job" in his prayers.

Between piano lessons for Jess and her friend Jaime, errands, T-ball, and Toby's concert last night we were running the rest of yesterday. It's feels good to be busy and super productive sometimes.

the question box

Mr. Cooper enjoying some Veggie Chili and his canned-goods race car track. He had cans swirled all over the table and was driving cars on top of them because I asked him not to scrape the cars along the table.

This boy is made of chili lately. He asks for it all the time, but I draw the line at chili and chips for breakfast. That is just wrong. So I was not surprised when he came to me at 11 AM holding a can of Trader Joe's Vegetarian Chili and asked if he could eat his "mechanical chili" now. I had a good giggle about the word he substituted for vegetarian. Although there is definitely something mechanical about chili. For the record, it's pretty good as canned chili goes.
While driving home in the Jeep with the boys and Syd, Logan asks from the back seat, "Dad, where does Chinese food come from?"

Dad: China.

Logan: No, what animal does it come from?

Dad: Oh, chicken and pigs and cows and ducks....

Logan: And Pandas?

Dad: No, people aren't supposed to eat Panda's, buddy.

Logan: Then how come there was a picture of a Panda on that sign?

Then I realized we just passed Panda Express where we have gone for Chinese food before. Smart kid. ;)

Dad's the MAN!

Sydney loves saying Da-Da! When I ask her where Daddy is she repeats his name and points to the door. I love seeing the big smile on Daddy's face when he gets home and Syd says, "DA-DA!" as loud as she can. I imagine she is saying "thanks for putting in another long days work for us. I'm glad you're home to play with me." Then she toddles over as fast as she can, hugs his legs, and reaches up for him to give her a real hug. I know it helps Dave work so hard for our family when the kids show how much they love him, even our sweet toddler. Maybe I should switch Dave for a week or two so Syd will say Ma-Ma, a word that is sadly absent from her limited vocabulary at this point. I ask her to say MaMa and she gets a wicked grin on her face and whispers...........Da-Da. Little stinker.

We missed our Daddy last weekend because he was at a seminar for continuing-ed credits. It's fun to see Dave come home from a seminar reenergized and excited about what he does. Logan still asks him every morning if he has to go to work and when Dave answered "Yes" on Saturday morning there was quite a revolt. We made the best of the day by playing and avoiding chores all morning. ;) We got the basic chores done in the afternoon which consist of garbage/recycling (Toby), dishes (Mom & Logan) and sweep/mop (Jessie), clean the bathroom (Jessie), laundry (everyone) and vacuum (everyone). I'm tired just thinking about all that.

(It doesn't help that it went from 65 to 92 degrees here in a matter of 2 days, and the heat sucked all my energy today.) I'm currently sweating in front of the fan and wondering how hot it's going to get this summer.

I'm still keeping up with Project 365. I have missed taking pictures a few days in which case I just cheat and take a picture of something that represents what I want to say for that day. Considering the constant craziness I'm okay with that. I love knowing that those little things about my life/family that will be forgotten soon are now being recorded because I am in the habit of writing them down. I am really trying to see this through for the entire year and look forward to thumbing through the pages of our 2009 album often.
I was so lucky to catch this picture. Jessie is not asleep, but she would have been if I had left them alone. Dave is home late on Wednesday's, usually 7:30-8 PM. Syd was overtired and crying and I honestly don't remeber what I was doing, but I couldn't get away to put Syd to bed just yet. I asked Jess if she could help her sister be happy until I could get to her and this is how I found them. J was pretty pleased with herself.I got a little sentimental as I was loading the dishwasher tonight (Sunday) after the kids were in bed. Those little stacking cups in the middle of the rack were given to us at a baby shower before Jessie was born. They have been a staple in the bath for all the kids all these 8 years. I remember each baby trying to drink out of them and play with them in all the different bathtubs we've lived in. They have been used as a princess tower, to hold snacks at the table, and always find their way back together after one or two get lost. They are just a little reminder of how fast time goes by when you don't think about it and how much our family has changed in all these years.