Snapshots

Two snapshots from my day, sans photos. You'll see why:

1) Late afternoon. Carson & Satchel are reading books on the couch. Will is working on something for school. Reed is eating a snack, (and talking, of course) and I've got my music playing while I think about dinner. The dog is just sleeping. The light is soft, coming in off the back lawn, and the pines are waving in the breeze.

2) At dinner, Reed alternates between laughter and tears because the older boys built a barricade of cereal boxes around him, to keep him from spraying everyone else's dinner when he laughs or coughs. So after dinner, because his shoes are soaked from playing in the sprinklers earlier, he tries on his "heelies" while I try to clean the table and make Carson do his homework, which he's been putting off all day. The older boys have bailed on cleanup. Marley (the dog) sees Reed in his bike helmet, rolling across the floor, and goes nuts, barking and jumping around. So I drag the dog upstairs to his kennel, and send Reed outside to practice on the walk instead. That makes the dog start yipping and trying to escape the kennel, while Reed falls and bonks his butt on the cement. Satchel is trying to read his book upstairs where the dog is now yipping, so I let the dog out, dry Reed's tears, and try to calm things down. Carson comes in, thinking that two sentences, badly spelled, are sufficient to summarize 3 chapters of a book. So I send Reed up for a bath, and start in on the long tooth-pulling that is getting Carson to do his homework. Meanwhile, the dog throws up on the carpet I shampooed two weeks ago. The only thing missing to make this scenario complete would be Will & Satchel wrestling in the office, but somehow they've missed their cue and aren't... instead, they wait until I'm occupied with C & R's bedtime to start mixing it up downstairs.

Both of these are accurate pictures of my life. Though I could wish for more of the former moments, and fewer of the latter, I'm afraid the balance is otherwise. Still, I wouldn't change it for anything. *

In the meantime, Geoff is in LA, but I can't be resentful because I know that Will and I are heading to Santa Fe next weekend for three days. Maybe a snapshot of one of those days will be a little different!

Maya,
signing off while W & S swordfight with my wooden spoons. Aaaaaaagh!
Oh no! Now they've scared the dog (unintentionally) and he's under my desk and tangled in my mouse cord. Must go!


* Not true. G and I agree that we'd change our lives just slightly, if we could: less debt, and real vacations. But that's it!