Another year older (and I mean OLD!)

Hello! Not much is happening here--just the normal routine of work, school and after-school activities that make me the taxi driving mother that I am.

Monday we celebrated my birthday. Yes, I am getting seriously OLD! The kids all made a picture or card and hung it on our sliding glass door. Spencer was so excited for me to see it. He said, "When you go downstairs, you're going to find a pot of gold." Sure enough, he drew a leprechaun with a pot of gold. During the day, the kids begged me to make a cake and even got out all the ingredients for me so I made a lemon cake. I told them they had to wait to eat it until Daddy got home. He arrived home with a dozen roses and a chocolate cake which he picked up at the store. So after I blew out the candles (only three--gotta save my breath since I'm so old) we each had a little slice of both cakes. Then Paul and I went out to dinner at Cherubima, a little gem of a restaurant here in town that has absolutely scrumptious food. It's been so long since we've been anywhere nice that I forgot how good food can actually taste. Obviously my cooking is not to the chef level (more like cafeteria food.) It was a great evening with my main man!

I had to laugh at Spencer yesterday. I was going around the house collecting laundry from all the kids' baskets and asked him why his clothes were piled up on the floor instead of in his basket. He said, "Now that it's not your birthday, you have to pick them up." I'm glad I thought it was funny because it was certainly a disrespectful comment and I could have gotten angry. But I did use my birthday as a way to get kids to clean their rooms so it might be partially my fault. Not to worry, I did follow up my chuckling with a little lecture and waited for him to put his clothes in the hamper before I moved on to the next room. Ah. . . the joys of motherhood. I feel like I have to constantly remind children to do their chores. If only I could find a reward system that worked every day and never gets old. Alas, my children are motivated by different things at different times so the system continues to evolve. Sometimes it would be easier to do it all myself but the goal remains the same--teaching them to contribute to the well-being of our family and our home and helping them develop skills that will help them to be productive adults.

Even though it's not exactly warm, the kids have been spending a lot of time outside for the last few days! I love that! They love jumping on the trampoline, playing on the swingset and running around the yard. Last night, just as the sun was setting, they were all playing tag together. It is fun to watch them enjoy the outdoors and it's nice have more activities to keep them happy and busy.