Busy Kids

Hello, everyone, from the still-frozen north, and the land of busy kids.

The other night, Dave told me to go into Laura Kate's room to check on her. What I found - in addition to her sleeping soundly in her bed - was a lovely "mural" that she had apparently worked on that evening before falling asleep. I've yet to find the hidden stash of crayons, but there really isn't much real estate left on the wall within her reach, so she's out of her medium now. "Daddy gotta paint it," she says. Ahem.

Last week, we had a bit of a thaw. One afternoon while I was browning a roast to put in the oven, and while Laura Kate was making a homemade waterfall off the counter with the sprayer attachment on the sink, and while the phone was ringing, I heard the very distinct sound of Andy howling. I looked outside and saw that he was stuck, barefoot, in the blackest, stickiest mud ever known to mankind. When the other kids saw him, they thought it best to join right in. Never let it be said that this mother is a stick-in-the-mud.

Aside from trying to keep up with (and clean up after) busy kids, I do basically nothing (it suddenly occurs to me) - except that I am reading Jane Austen's Emma in advance of its airing on public television next weekend. And I'm enjoying it immensely. We're awaiting Dave's return tonight from a one-day trip to Raleigh for work...... hoping he gets in ahead of most of the snow. Love to all!

P.S. I'm not complaining about my role in life - au contraire, I am relishing it!