Thank you for all the well-wishes on my last post. My heart is still tender, but I’m going to be okay. I can’t give more details than that, but I hope someday I can. For now, no matter how much it hurts, I stand firmly in the garden of Love being worth it, and would not want to live my life any other way.
I’m grateful for a very mild January/February thus far. I haven’t had to shovel snow once, and there was only one time I should have but didn’t. It’s sunny today and 41* feels warm– maybe I’ve lived in the northwest too long.
Girls Night Out tonight with some friends. I need the diversion and it should be fun. Hoping to land a sitter here soon. Nevermind the homework I’m neglecting.
Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free chocolate cake mix makes good cupcakes, and keeps me from hurting myself with the Krispy Kreme’s I’ve been craving.
Bean hit a milestone this morning. He was playing with his siblings, and became quite agitated. I could hear him coming unraveled and starting to honk. I was heading down to intervene, and he ran upstairs, into his room, turned off the lights and shut the door. He crawled under his heavy blanket, and he calmed himself down. First time ever. I gave him some time, and when he was receptive, told him how proud I was of him. We made banana bread together as a reward for his milestone.
Took the kids on a bike ride while I ran along behind. Ran up to the church to play in the giant snowpiles in the back, got cold and wet, but happy, and then ran home, pushing Abby while she complained that her legs hurt. Winter has taken its toll on our muscles, and it’s time to whip us back into shape. Take that, atrophy!
Thinking really hard about a quick trip down to CA- I don’t know if I can swing it, but if I can, I juts might do it. I miss my family, and I miss the sunlight, and I miss the ocean. Seattle’s ocean, despite sharing the name, is not the same as San Francisco’s ocean.
Bean found his bugle. Take pity.
I’m ticked at Lego for their damnable new product line directed at girls. The people in the nauseatingly pink sets are not even Mini-Figs, and if you’re a Lego person, that’s just an abomination. Nevermind the ridiculously vapid themes they’re pushing at the girls. I wrote Lego, with the picture below. That’s what creativity looks like- it’s not sugar coated in pink and purple. I hope the new line fails miserably and they come to their senses.
Dandelion Mama 
I do, however, love the irony of Abby’s pajamas in that photo.
I just about shouted for joy reading about Bean today. What a wonderful step for him.
I pray that you are able to have all that you need and hope for at this time.
Indeed you have some creative children, Nice write up, But I couldn’t catch it all, Looks like I missed some posts in between. But i did understand the ocean part, I am sure It aint the same, though they have salty water in it and it all looks the same.
Hooray for huge milestones!
Boo-hiss on Lego ( I really want to know on which children they tested their product. I do not think they were like mine.)
Hugs for the heartache.
Have fun on a well-deserved GNO.
Hooray for Bean! That is a fantastic achievement.
I also don’t like Lego’s new line. I don’t plan on buying any, Legos are expensive enough that even if the “girl’s Legos” weren’t atrocious, we wouldn’t be buying separate sets for the girls than for the boys.
I don’t understand why they couldn’t make some purple Bionicles, if they wanted to market to girls. Seriously, Abby LOVES Bionicles, and makes them almost daily. Or throw some pink bricks into the multi-sets, just as a matter of practice. That, I wouldn’t have minded.
It’s the ridiculous little people who (AREN’T EVEN MINIFIGS!) and the “hair salon” and “kitchen” that they’ve made for their world. Grrrrrrr!~!!!!
And yeah, Em- I know, the jammies are all princess- I don’t mind girl stuff. I just hate that Lego assumed my daughter needed bs dumbed down stuff.
HALLELUJAH!! Congrats to Bean. That is HUGE!
Smiles for GNO, happiness, regaining your equilibrium, and cute kids. 🙂
Agreed, these new lego people er, girl figurines appear to be dumbed down. The “beauty parlor” set looks lame. While we like some pink lego mixed with the regular ones, we don’t need 100% pink, purple, and… orange?
Who did they test these sets on, girls from Beverly Hills that were 5 going on 16?
Yay for Bean – that makes my heart happy.
As for Lego, I agree. I have friends who are so excited about it but I love that my kids just all play with the star wars sets and HP sets and all the regular bricks.
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now, and count me as one more who is thrilled with your son’s hard work! I am too familiar with the need to use a different measuring stick when marking progress, so I know what a hard job it must have been for him. Bean & Mama, keep up the good work!