I thought this weekend was going to turn out completely different. We had two awesome plans: one, go to Virginia and surprise friends and family, maybe Jason and I could see ‘Iron Man’ with Becky Jo and Dave, or two, Jason would fly up to New York to watch ‘Iron Man’ with Mike. He’s turning 29 in a few days– Jason, that is– and his favorite thing to do as a birthday celebration is dinner and a movie. It turned out that everything was super expensive, and while we could actually afford to do it, we kind of didn’t want to. I heard this little story, like, fourteen years ago. All these kids were in Sunday school class, and the teacher asked them if they would give Jesus a million dollars. YES, the kids said. They would so give Jesus a million dollars if they had it. Yay Jesus! What about a hundred? Yes, FOR SURE. What about one dollar? All the kids who had one dollar were like, “…” Heh. It’s easy to part with theoretical money. When it’s actually in your bank account, it’s different. We got our tax rebate in on Friday: eighteen hundred dollars. We had all these grand plans about where the money was going, but now that it’s in there, it’s staying. We splurged on twenty dollars apiece for treats. I bought gardening supplies and flowers at Lowe’s, Jason is out right now watching ‘Iron Man’ with his boss, Robert. (Lest anyone think he was sucking up, he invited four co-workers, and only Robert was free.)

The neighborhood kids always tease me about my constant picture taking, but I literally have to look through my photos every time I post an entry to remember what even happened. My site is eventually just going to be digital scrapbooking.

Okay, photo exhibit one. This is Elias at the park. We go several times a week, which doesn’t sound that exciting except I have to walk two miles to do it. It’s an actual outing. The trick is to leave around 9 AM, and not high noon. High noon is why cowboys are always sweating profusely when they duel. We have a weird climbing gym that Eli and I like to do, and Addie just opens and shuts the park gate. She just learned she can open doors last week, so– it’s still novel.

Photo exhibit two: Elias and Jason playing Warcraft. YES! I got Warcraft back! I totally forgot! Thank God for pictures. Heh. I re-activated it for a month to help Val with a gift. If you’re on the Baelgun server, send spare gold to Zevlynn. We’re rounding up funds for a birthday mount for James. I leveled from a 42 to 44 (and a half) in the last two days, and am thinking I might even be able to knock out 50 before the month is up. Eli also made a character: a warlock gnome named Nirf. He just got his imp. He’s okay at the game. It’s a lot harder than Zelda, and he gets frustrated easily, but he loves throwing shadow bolts at enemies. Don’t we all.

Here’s me, ROCKING! Walking on water, Jesus-style. That’s my second Jesus shoutout in this entry. He and I are likethis.

Two other tidbits:

Spence, Thand says hi. You are missed.

Flying over the green fields of Loch Modan is what I imagine heaven to be like.

Here’s a picture of our cul-de-sac celebrating Space Day, which I totally forgot about until 8 o’clock last night. I thought it was next week. Space Day is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, and just involved a lot of snacks, space-themed activities, drawing planets, and goody bags. We were outside for almost two hours talking to our neighbors and drinking Tang. I LOVE random celebrations.

Eli also drew Voodoo Vince.

The biggest thing happening lately is not really my news– it’s something that is in early development, and when it’s safe to say something, I’ll make an announcement. It sounds like I’m talking about a baby, but I’m actually not. It’s still a huge, life-altering decision, and I know everyone who knows our family will be as excited as I (tentatively) am. Even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll let everyone know what’s up eventually. I hate when I get teased with Big News and then there’s no follow through. I won’t do that to you guys.

Alright– 11:55. Time to post. Jason will be home any minute, and I still didn’t get to read my guilty pleasure of a library book. Final little note: I feel like I don’t say enough about Addie. We always joke about her being such a drama queen, but truthfully she is a joy to have around. She helps me constantly, she adores her brother, she plays well with other kids, she’s funny and silly and the perfect size to squeeze. She went with me grocery shopping yesterday in her polka dotted Easter dress. “Hurry, we need to get back to the party!” I encouraged as we scuttled down the aisles. She agreed: “hurry, hurry, mama! get da cheeps! DA CHEEPS!”– pointing to the Doritos.

“I hope we make it to Space Day in time!” I faux-gasped. She gasped: SERIOUS. “oh noes!” she squeaked.

We made it to the register and she dropped all the food she’d been carrying, and climbed up my leg. I held her petal-soft little body against my waist. She smelled like lollipops, and looked like a mix of every woman I’ve loved in our family. I poked her nose, and she laughed. “we did it, mama,” she sighed. “i luf you.”