Sittin pretty

First, let me apologize for my excessive lack of communication. I do feel bad, and hope the 4 of you haven't given up on me altogether.

The truth is, there's just not much interesting/insightful/exciting/funny happening lately.

But I must say, life is really, really good. Things have been humming along here in such a nice way that I have absolutely nothing to complain about. The boys have been getting along really well and are both liking school. They have both been more helpful as they work towards achieving their goal stars on their star chart, to maximize their weekly allowance, to get themselves closer to whatever they are saving for. Jack, who is generally cheerful, has been even more cheerful. For example,

"Mom, is the basement a big mess?"
"Hmm, I don't think it's too bad right now."
"Oh, because I was going to say, if it was a big mess, it would be my pleasure to clean it for you."

The funny part of this story isn't that he offered to clean up the basement for me, because he has always been very helpful, but the fact that he said it would be his pleasure. Even Luke started laughing and said, "He said pleasure!"

I have focused nearly every morning during the week on exercising, either walking with a neighbor (BONUS-if you hate exercising really try to do this with someone else-I actually look forward to the walk now because of all the chatting) or nearly putting myself into cardiac arrest during a '60 Minute Cardio' class I signed up for twice a week. Apparently there is actually a verbal warning given at the front desk when people sign up for this-I didn't get that warning. Probably a good thing. The first day of class, I left feeling nauseated (I actually thought I might throw up), followed closely by heartburn, a headache, and heart palpitations, leaving me with no appetite for the whole day. I know you are asking right now where you can sign up.

We've been pinching pennies lately, which often leads to fun times spending the afternoon in the park, or having our second weekly movie/pajama/pizza night in as we are tonight. It's cold and rainy, we put on our pj's by 5 or 6 in the evening, and enjoy each others company. Here's a self portrait of last Saturday's event:

Here's another fun Friday night we've had lately:

Anyone who says only girls are obsessed with clothing has not met my boys. They only want to wear "cool" shirts, and only about 4 shirts in their closets qualify as cool. So, to elimate daily fighting, I instituted a policy which states that Jack can pick his own clothes on Monday and Friday, and Luke can on Fridays. Apparently, a keen interest in hairstyle is also taking place. Jack has been sneaking up right before we leave for school and wetting his hair on the top to make it look spiky. I'm not sure why he thinks he has to sneak, but he does. Rob was home when they left for school the other day, so he was able to take part in their hairstyling, adding what's known in our house as "gello" to hold their styles better. Really, Rob is living vicariously through them, glad that he has someone's hair to style now as his own has been letting him down as of late.

I hope things are going swell this week for you too.