Overheard this morning:

Abby (while folding laundry): Why does Dad have to have so many fricking dark blue socks? It's impossible to match them.

Jesse chokes on pineapple, spewing juice all down her shirt.

Kyle: What's so funny? I just don't get it.

<--- The T station


Good day yesterday. Our drive up to Beantown was uneventful. We decided to park outside of the city and take the T in as Dave thought it would be highly unlikely that there would be parking spots or an open lot near our first stop. The 5W!TS was fun. At first, we all looked at each other and thought "This is so lame - we're all too old for this" but, once we got into the "tomb", it was actually fun and the kids did enjoy themselves, although Kyle had to say afterwards for pride's sake "that was so lame". He later recanted, of his own free will.

So, we walked from there up to Back Bay, then took the T up to Union Street and had lunch at the Union Oyster House. I think they have the best clam chowder anywhere. Then, after discussing taking the T out to the cars at night, we decided to take T back to the cars and drive in to the Fine Arts Museum where we spent several hours happily immersed in art. The kids peeled off and Dave and I wandered through the asian art galleries. Abby did not feel she spent enough time with the art, of course. Kyle, typically, was very happy to leave the museum and felt that it couldn't have happened sooner. Jesse, typically, was disgusted and annoyed by Kyle's existence. Kyle leaned too far over an exhibit to look at something and set off an alarm. I had a piece of chocolate tort and a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea to cope with this terrible humiliation. And then we drove home, tired, but mostly happy.







Bubba and Daddy in one of the Asian Art Galleries






Today, we rest and recover. Julia spent the night as we got back around 11:30 PM.

Excitement reigns. We're taking off to Beantown tomorrow morning, and not only is Julia coming along but we are also lucky enough to have Dave with us as well. The children are so excited!

Our friend Julia came over for a visit today - we were very happy to see her! She's on spring break from the private school she goes to, so we'll get to spend a little time with the girl we jokingly call our 'adopted' daughter. She was sad when she came through the door and it did not take long to find out that it was because PJ "Kitty" had passed on Monday. The poor old lady was over 21 years old, and she brought a lot of happiness into our friends' lives with her gentle, girly kitty ways. She was always good company, always there to greet you when you came in the door and quite the cuddler. She was the easiest and sweetest pet to sit. She will be greatly missed and I'm certain that she is very happy in the great catnip field in the sky chasing mice and watching birds.

Yesterday a snow storm moved in and the state shut down around noon. Yes, that's right, the whole state. We got a total of about six inches - but that is because we are at a higher elevation. I think most towns in the state got quite a bit less. It's nice, though, the way everything gets quiet when it snows - like a thick blanket lain over your world. Out here, in the country, you can even hear the snow falling sometimes. We could, last night.

It's brilliantly sunny, windy and rather cold today - 22 degrees in the sun when the wind isn't blowing. But hey - it's March, and here in New England you know what that means - spring will surely arrive next month - at worst after Easter. Granted, we usually get snowfall on Easter morning, but that's a last hurrah (or a last $%&# you) from Old Man Winter.

So, the spawn are snowshovelling the piddly snowfall we got and the wind is helping by whipping it all around. Otis is also helping by running around like a moron - his usual behavior for snow days. The cats are sleeping in the sun spots - sun drunk and love-y.

Here is Otis, briefly looking noble.

We'll wrap up the last of our seatwork today and Abby has her dance class tonight. Kyle is looking forward to being done with his seatwork so he can chat with his mates in England and Australia while they play computer games together.

Great. No really. Just after writing the last post, Kyle brings me his seatwork. With a smile. Not one lesson, but three. Completed. In under two hours. Guess that talk about wasting time on worrying about not wanting to do rote work was heard. Boy grew up a little today. No guarantee it will carry past today.

Abby's on her last book of geometry - which is senior level high school. That's good. She has to finish her expository essay this week. And then we get to learn about persuasive writing!

This is what we used to call a Mexican Standoff when I was a kid. Happens most mornings. See the pain in Tombo's eyes? He just wants a friend to play with. Lilli, however would have absolutely no problem with Tombo just upping and dying one day. Preferably in some painfully grotesque way.

Some days, just getting through the basics is a challenge. Kyle just doesn't want to do his seat work. He's bucking me at every turn. Now, sometimes I can let it go, free him up and figure that we'll attack it another day. But, he's been pushing it since last Thursday - he doesn't want to work - he wants to do his own thing.

Ah well, parenting isn't always easy. It's just kind of funny that he'll expend so much energy on trying to convince me to let him go when just a fraction of that energy could be used to complete the actual work - whether it's a chore like the litterbox or dusting or completing twenty bloody math problems. That would take him TWENTY.BLOODY.MINUTES.

Hmmm . . . kind of reminds me of a certain nineteen-year-old. But, I'd have to say I'd still rather be doing this than working in the law office. Yup, hands down.