maybe you're wondering...

...why I haven't been posting much...

Yes, that's a boot Lucy's messing with. On my foot. I injured my heel (bursitis) running. At least that's the theory. I was in the boot for two weeks, which really slowed me down in more ways than one. I am now gradually returning to normal with the help of physical therapy. I have successfully completed two short runs on the bark track, and one yoga class, so it feels like things are on the mend. And I'll try to be better about posting pictures for our fans, now that I'm mobile and have a better attitude about life.

family day on fern ridge

Recently my grandmother, uncle and soon-to-be aunt visited from New Hampshire. Roh and Nathan took us sailing on Fern Ridge. 

Sailors...or loungers...in training.
Rohanna and Ruth.
Padma and Liam.
"Gruncle" Scott and Lucy. Scott's my dad's little brother.
Trying to keep ahold of Lucy on a 24 foot sailboat....
Back on shore: Milo, Nana Roz, Liam, Scott.

year's end

This June completes three years that our boys have gone to the Drinking Gourd Elementary School. (Yes, odd name. But the kids will tell you without blinking that the drinking gourd was the slaves' name for the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper guided slaves northward to freedom. I'm thinking that the connection is between education and freedom...) This was their last year. Next year they're enrolled at a public school that's closer to our house, has a larger social pool to navigate, doesn't require families to provide snack and attend "work days" - and it's free!

We'll miss the Drinking Gourd though. Liam and Milo have thrived there, and I believe that the education they received is unparalleled by any school in our area, public or private.  With only 27 families, we knew all the parents and had an individual relationship with each child in the boys' classrooms. We'll miss that next year. We'll be overwhelmed by the huge classes and noisy halls and playground dynamics - but we all have to get out into the world sometime. We feel good, and a little nostalgic, about these three years at the Gourd, but we're ready to move on.  

At the end of the school year the kids set up displays in their classrooms about some of the things they learned throughout the year. Here's Milo explaining ceramics to his papa (my dad).

Liam's standing in front of miniature covered wagons his class made during their unit on the Oregon Trail.
Each class (there are only two) put on a play. Here's Liam as a pilgrim in a musical about the 13 Colonies.
And there always has to be a recorder performance. Is that a requirement of every elementary school education?
Milo was the narrator of a play based on an African folk tale. Yes, he really is that much taller than his classmates.

Steep Hill Chase

Joel took Liam and Milo, along with some family friends, to run their first 5K last weekend. 

A local runner and friend puts on an annual 5K called the Steep Hill Chase - this year the steep hill was pure mud. But the boys loved it, and Liam is already planning to beat his time next year.

Liam's time was 31:04 and Milo's and Joel's was around 34:00. 

Post race glow.

and here's what happens...

...when Joel takes Lucy to work with him. 

In all seriousness though, every day I am so grateful for our flexible schedules. This picture is from last Friday - Joel took Lucy to work for the morning so I could sleep (I had put on a party the night before and hadn't gotten enough sleep for days) and call in to my meetings without a baby on my hip. And it's not just the baby - this very afternoon I packed all three kids in the car to take Liam to soccer practice and the car wouldn't start. Dead battery. Joel was able to leave work at 4:00 to save the day. Our combined flexibility is a luxury, and it facilitates a quality of life for which we are extremely grateful. We both work full time, but a parent is here when the boys get home from school almost every day and Lucy is with her nanny only 28 hours a week. It's crazy at times, but we make up the hours where we can, and so far it's working out... We pay for it sometimes with things like missed dentist appointments and forgotten school snacks, but I guess that's a small price in the end. 

three

Most people I know have, or are planning to have one or at the most, two kids. It's probably the smart thing to do. Fewer bedrooms needed, fewer bikes to buy, fewer college tuitions to pay for. Not to mention more sleep and greater family mobility. In this uncertain world and unstable economy it's certainly a leap of faith to have a big family. I always wanted three. Maybe I'm greedy. Maybe it's because I love each of my own siblings and the varied ways they came into my life - whole, half, step, adopted... I have a unique relationship with each one, and would not trade even one of  them for a bigger bedroom or fewer college loan payments. I hope my three feel the same someday. 

It is sweet to watch my boys care for Lucy. At the park they'll climb the trees and practice their karate moves on each other for a minute, but soon they'll come find us on the baby slide or the swingset. They carry her around, help her sift sand through her tiny hands, and push her on the swing. And Lucy loves her brothers. Her face lights up when they walk in the room, and she follows them around the house like a puppy. 

I'm sure there will be days when she annoys the hell out of them - I'm thinking four, ten and twelve might be a hard year. My boys are constantly driving each other crazy - in fact I just had to stop writing this to intervene in a yelling match about a gameboy. But I hope it will be worth it for them in the end. I'm hoping that they'll be able to lean on each other when things are hard. That they'll come home for holidays and make toasts at each others' weddings, and that their kids will be friends too. Siblings force you to learn, sometimes the hard way, about accountability and trust, and I believe that having each other will make their lives fuller. I hope their shared history will bind them together and they will always know that they have each other to count on when the chips are down.

35

I was in Woodstock, Illinois on Joel's birthday. Before I left the house at 5:15 am I taped our traditional birthday banner to the kitchen wall, which the boys and I had made the previous afternoon. That was about all I could muster. I called him when I was in line for my rental car at O'Hare airport and he told me a sweet story about getting out of the shower and seeing Liam and Milo in our bed. They had gotten Lucy out of her crib so she was there too, and they had made him breakfast - scrambled eggs and toast. 

When he got to work  his co-workers had decorated his desk, and later in the evening my sweet sister babysat so he could attend Brew 'n Stew, the bi-monthly beer brewing (and beer drinking) man gathering. So I guess he managed to survive without me.

When I got home I made him a carrot cake, like I have every year for the past 13 years.

And we had a family party on our patio.

And Lucy, a girl after her dad's heart, found a beer can to play with.

Happy birthday Joel!