wow

This, I just had to share. Tonight, my little family went up to Cody's parents' house. Toni & Todd and family are in town to finalize a few things with their house, so after we spent the entire lovely day outside doing yard-work, we went up for dinner. It was a fun time and the kids very much enjoyed playing with their cousins. Here is the amazing part. We ate dinner and then sat at the island and talked... and talked... and talked. Our kids were so happy playing, that I was able to sit there for probably an hour and a half and chat. This is a milestone in my eyes.

My kids are getting older. Seeing as Cody has 4 siblings, I have seen this happen - I have seen people sitting around talking while their children play, and they didn't have to be constantly interrupted with diaper changes, and any of a hundred other requests that tiny children tend to make. It usually happened to me that I would sit, try to be part of a conversation, and as soon as it would get good, I'd be called off to handle some emergency, put out some (figurative, usually) fire, etc. Or, conversely, I wouldn't get involved in the conversation at all because I knew I would just be disgruntled when I had to leave it.

Tonight, they played. They were well behaved. They had fun. Tonight, I talked, I visited, I held an actual adult conversation that lasted more than 20 seconds without interruption. I had fun.

My kids are getting older. My kids are becoming a little more self-reliant. I can see it in the little things every day. Tonight it stood out for some reason. It was really lovely.

Easter & the zoo (and pictures, not necessarily in that order)

We took our first trip of the year to the zoo this week. 70 degrees. Perfect. We took a different route and even saw some things I don't think we've ever seen before - which is interesting because we go to the zoo several times a year and it's not that big! But I don't think we've ever seen the wolves (which we did - up close and personal) or the rodent/insect house. That was pretty cool. We saw the new baby elephant for the first time, and shared our condolences with the giraffes (one of the baby giraffes died a while ago - failure to thrive). We rode the train twice and the carousel once, which is our standard operating procedure for the zoo. I was also smart and bought a season pass the first visit, instead of wishing I had each subsequent visit.

This guy was the cutest thing ever. It's called a sand cat. I wanted to take him home.



Notice the very large tiger in the background.



We always have to take a picture on the train!

The first nice day - they lobbied to eat lunch outside.

It's fun to have a girl :)

Someone's been eating Easter candy!

traveling

so it's been a while, suppose I should update. I think I post all of my stuff on facebook these days and forget to keep my blog up to date. If you are on facebook you saw that I went home for a long weekend earlier this month. I flew in on Thursday and left on Monday. My sister had the same flight schedule. Despite the fact that we were there for a funeral, it was actually a fantastic weekend.

My Aunt Deana passed away on St. Patrick's day. She had been battling cancer for three years. I am glad that she is at peace and out of pain. She was a great lady.

So, it was me, my sis, Mom & Dad. Just like the old days. Pretty cool. We flew in on Thursday, and although I offered to take the train, my dad insisted he come to get me at O'Hare. (Thanks, Daddy). So we drove the long way back to my folks' house in Indiana. My dad drove me through Dunkin' Donuts since I can't get those here. yummm. We stopped by uncle Lou's for dinner (fresh caught Lake Michigan perch - my Marcanio family sure can catch and cook a mean plate o' fish!!!), then went back out to get my sister from O'Hare. A LOT of traveling that day!!
The next day we didn't have plans so I was able to go out to the garage and go through about 20 boxes. I consolidated them and threw away about 15 boxes worth of stuff. It's amazing what you think you need and then realize you don't after so many years of NOT having it! I also found a lot of old pictures which was fun. (I much enjoyed scanning them all and posting them on facebook to embarrass my high school & college friends with as well).
Saturday was the wake (or "viewing" if you're from Utah). That was not the most fun day. My sister told me she was once at a funeral and all of a sudden broke into a giggling fit and couldn't stop. I kind of did the same thing except with crying. I think giggling would have been a lot more fun. I just had a lot of thoughts in my head and had a pretty emotionally draining day.

The next day, we drove out to my uncle Jack & aunt Marta's house, about 2 hours away. My grandma is living there with them. She will be 98 in a couple weeks. I haven't seen her in a while, since she came out here after Burgundy was born. She has aged a lot and that was sad to see. But we brought her a cake and celebrated her birthday early since we were all there together. I'm not sure if she knew who we all were, but I think she had a good time anyway!

Monday, I flew home. It was a quick trip - but I so enjoyed spending the time with my family. Living on opposite ends of the country from them kind of sucks. I wish I could see them more often, but as it is, I try to enjoy every moment. It was a good trip.

I sure was happy to see these cute faces again...