I'm back!

So....sorry everybody.  I've been MIA for a few weeks in the blogosphere, since church, jam, family, and sleep have occupied every moment of every day for the past few weeks, and sleep has gotten the short end of the stick more than once.

My jam season started up a few weeks ago, with less of a bang and more of an explosion.  I've had two shows thus far, and was canning daily for two weeks to keep up with them.  I've got a couple week breather before the Farmer's Markets pick up on May 11, so I can sit back and do thing that I haven't had the time to do...like clean the bathroom.  Blog.  Read a book.  I've got new flavors that I'm working on that I'll have to have ready by the 11th, as well as can some other things that I'm out of.  However, I've decided not to do them this week.  I would hate to wear myself out and be sick of canning before the real work for the summer actually starts!  But in a couple weeks, you can look for a Ginger Peach Jam, Tropical Sunrise Jam, Aloha BBQ Sauce, and Rum Raisin Apple Butter.  I'm excited...new things are always fun.

The kids are doing well.  Melanie has been sick with various and a sundry things for a few weeks now, but I am hopeful that she is FINALLY on the mend.  Megan and Marina are in their last few weeks of the school year, and I got them enrolled for next year.  I can't believe Megan is going to Kindergarten!  She's so excited.  Marina will be in preschool three days a week next year, so it will just be Miss Melanie and I a few mornings a week.

In any case, we're all great.  Busy, and the summer only promises more craziness, but it seems to be how we operate.  :)

Just another morning...

Today, I got to kick off my morning by googling "How to get diaper cream out of hair." That's right, instead of decorating the couch this time, Marina took my life one step further into crazy by smearing A&D ointment (about 3/4 tube) in her hair AND MELANIE'S. This last part was the most deeply irritating, since Melanie doesn't understand why I have to scrub her down a billion times and was pretty perturbed about it. At least when Marina cried, I could tell her it was her own fault. Blergh.

Anywho, my Google search came up with a roaring consensus of Dawn dish soap, which worked pretty well on Marina. I'm still waiting on my neighbor, who is coming over to help me pin Melanie down to try and scrub hers. So yay for Dawn, which has the widest application range of any soap that I can think of...the go-to for degreasing seabirds after an oil spill, and scrubbing down errant three year olds.

On a semi-related note, somebody asked me the other day, "How in the world do you have so many grey hairs? You're not even thirty!"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit A: Marina Rogers.

"Spring" Break

I was asked the other day if I've given up blogging for Lent. Nope, there's just not much "blog-worthy" going on around here these days. Frankly, this doesn't bother me in the slightest, because that means no emergency room visits, catastrophes, and the like. (I am fully expecting Marina to bash through a wall now, just so we're clear. :)

Speaking of Marina, her preschool teacher commented the other day that if Marina was a boy, nobody would think twice about her energy level/accident-prone-ness/etc. It's because she's a girl, and looks deceptively quiet and well-mannered at first glance, that people are always caught off guard by her whirling dervish of energy. I have to say, I agree. On the flip side, people in my family take it in stride because she's exactly like my sister Jess was at that age. Since Jess has managed to turn out A-OK, I think I'm not going to worry about it too much...just keep plucking those grey hairs and plowing through.

Melanie learned a new trick yesterday. She's been pushing chairs around the room for awhile now, and up until yesterday, just liked climbing on them. Well, somehow she figured out that if she pushes a chair into the kitchen, and climbs on it, she can pull things off the counter. And so it begins...

Our Spring Break starts today. This statement is steeped in irony, as the snow drifts outside are taller than both my older kids, and almost up to my own shoulders in places. It is also 1 below. My gmail background has a picture of a beach and waves on it, along with a solitary pair of flipflops lying lazily in the sand. I could almost cry. We'll be spending "spring" break inside, thank you very much, cranking the heat and nursing mugs of hot chocolate. Grumble grumble...

Melanie's Birthday Pictures

Happy birthday Melanie!

It's hard to believe that just one year ago, we held you for the first time. We love you baby girl. Many years!

Melanie does more awesome stuff

In response to the Melanie walking post, I would like to now bring you the fireworks-worthy, champagne-drinking, break-dancing-in-celebration, following statement:

MELANIE SLEPT FOR TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT. EIGHT TO EIGHT, BABY: EIGHT TO EIGHT! THAT'S RIGHT. I'M SO EXCITED I'M STILL WRITING IN ALL CAPS.

This much-anticipated baby milestone did not bring a single tear to my eye. Not-a-one. No nostalgia here, people. She has, thus far, been the worst sleeper of all three of our kids, and it's been exhausting. Beyond exhausting, really. Mind-numbing, bone-weary, debilitating fatigue has ruled my days more often than not. Now, I can sense the sweet, sweet victory of just normal tiredness associated with raising three precious yet rambunctious daughters hell-bent on destroying my sanity one precious brain cell at a time (we just got home from a five hour trip into Anchorage, in case you can't tell).

But seriously. Love them. Especially when they sleep.

Melanie walking

Yesterday, Melanie stood up all by herself in the middle of the living room and walked all over the place. Repeatedly.

We were laughing and clapping because it was so cute, and she was so stinking proud of herself. I have to admit though, that my heart was crying a tiny bit. All I could think was, "And there goes my baby...she's growing up." And it hurt. Just a little.