It's Beginning to look alot like Spring.....

The new yard is blooming with Magnolia, cherry, pear, and perhaps a scanty five plum blossoms. (Stefan was a pruning maniac). We have an abundance of lovely pink tulips scattered about and a Ceoanthus that should start blooming soon. The early spring welcomed a huge flush of daffodils in the front yard, hellebores, and camelias. It really is the yard I had hoped to make at our old house, but about ten years ahead in size. We scored huge terracotta pots off craigslist at a killer deal and I am seeing veggies, vines, herbs and some summery flowers in the sun next to the deck. The drowning hazard (aka hot tub) is slated for pickup to some happy sot who likes to lounge about half naked in his backyard. "Not I!" says the Megan.
Speaking of growing, I am eleven weeks pregnant and .....whoops. Someone needs a bottom wipe. okay. back from the bathroom to my random thoughts....yes, eleven weeks and starting to not be sick everyday....Hallelujah. It is amazing how debilitating the first trimester can be and this was a doozy: neck problems, flu virus, colds, teething. I have barely kept up the child rearing or food on the table....forget school...that went away for three weeks too. Lots of fresh air when it wasn't spring showering, outings to Goodwill (how can the smell of that place not gross me out when pregnant I don't understand), whining to my mother (not that I got her to visit), praying to not be so irritable to the kids and my husband, falling asleep on the couch for an hour while Gideon napped (another reason for no school...that is our prime time). So now we have a on and a half inch baby to speak of and for that I am grateful and trying to be reasonably sympathetic to the actual work my body was doing.
Quick notes (since these will apparently be the only record of my children's lives...pathetic and infrequent)
Tryn is growing like a fiend. Her two top teeth remain to pop in, although they popped out long ago. I think I should be taking more calcium. (It really is all about me). We are having an actual Medieval birthday party with more than just family guests. We are doing it every seven years....as this every year party for kids seems to grow adults into a personally exhausting birthday fetish which I cannot quite understand. Or maybe some folks just get told when they are 18 to "grow up, no more jumpy castles for you!" Being that we are having more than four kids it is not sustainable to have a party for them every year...nor wise....at least for the person their mother is. Every seven years because every kids birthday is a multiple of seven....tada.
She is not busy enough. I had her make scones from the Usborne Fairy cookbook and suddenly her entire demeanor changed to delightful. Lack of school for her is not healthy for her brain.
Annika is so much bigger and actually listening occasionally to stories read out loud and discussions we have. If candy is mentioned it is a magic memory elixir. She is tons of fun with Tristan and they play fairly splendidly together. She is fast. She is intuitive. She is practical. She LOVES food network and then playing food network. She might just grow up to be a chef. Oh, wait, or a hair designer....Tristan had his bangs remodeled care of Annika this week. She will play sports.....like her mother she has to get the energy out to focus. Yeah, I haven't gotten any energy out lately (once again, all about me:)
Tristan. Currently his favorite phrase is "yeah, but....." which leads me to ask him if he wants something done TO his butt. But beyond that he is remarkable cheerful in the morning, even when listening to Gideon yell from his crib, "MAAAA, MAAAMA......MOM. ...mom....?" He is the kid that actually plays sincerely with toys. He is constantly building with Duplo or dressing up the Playmobil knights or zooming around the house on the plasma car. He is very affectionate to school, asking plaintively "Mom, can I do my schoolwork now?" Which is usually cutting or tracing....now I am going to start with his letter sounds. He is learning to be a big brother even if that means sometimes giving a little back to Gideon to make sure he knows his place. He loves going on walks and running, although not being as fast as his sisters is dissappointing he is learning to encourage them and stay ahead of mama.
Gideon. Whoa. What a bullhead. Adorable, quite charming bullhead. Only gives up if the consequence is serious. I remember this same malady myself (I would like to say it was when I was a child, but it persists). He only speaks in one word sentences and even those are hard to decipher. However, if I give him a two step direction he has no trouble following through. He LOVES to do the hand motions to "Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus," "Jesus Loves Me," and raises his hands and chimes in on the last word of each part of "Glory Be to the Father." Blues Clues is his favorite show. He keeps all the kids laughing at the table as the entertainer of the family.
Well, time to make a lemon cake for Tryn's birthday. Signing off, hopefully for less than six months!