Turns out we're a pet family, after all.

Meet Zags.

I'd like to say that I caved to the idea of an animal because I love my children dearly. Not so. Not the part about loving my children, I do. We adopted a cat two weeks ago because I desperately want to have a successful crop of spinach. Is that too much to ask? Since our backyard borders an open field (home to all sorts of little critters) and we are the only house on our street that borders said open field that is(was) not home to a cat or dog, we became the gracious hosts to countless field mice in recent years. Apparently, mice love spinach. My spinach. So now my children have the pet they've always dreamed of and I will reclaim my right to spinach. Zags willing, that is.

Easter.

We stagger things around here - youngest first out of the box.

And the cutest moment award goes to Lily for helping Eve out (even though she had a full 30 seconds of hunting time over Lily)

These were all taken Saturday. Sunday we had stake conference, a lovely afternoon nap, and a lovely lesson from Anna on the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not as photo-worthy, but perfect, nonetheless.

Happy birthday to me.

I had a birthday a few weeks ago. In fact, I might have blogged that very morning (circa 2:00 a.m. - thank you migraine!). Lucky for me, I had scheduled zero obligations for the day so... I took Eve and Rachel to the art museum that morning. Then, because we could, we popped over to the zoo for about an hour. We went home for lunch to find that Tim had bought me flowers. Red roses - in a close tie with orange gerbera daises as my very favorite. .

Both girls slept that afternoon (unheard of!), and so naturally, I did too. At that point, my day could have been complete and deemed a complete success - I mean, flowers, art, animals, a NAP - who could ask for anything more? Oh wait, I could. Pizza for dinner. That I didn't have to cook. As varied as my tastes are in food - there is only one dish I could probably eat every single day and never tire of it... pizza. We hit up a place downtown that sells it NY style, went home for birthday cake and called it a night.

(Nothing says I'm a 35 year old mother of four like a toddler-sized graze mark along the side of my birthday cake.)

Can you tell I was ready to hit the sack? It was a rather ordinary, wonderful birthday. Thirty-five never felt so good.

I'm that mom.

I'm the mom who sent her child out the door two days in a row, only to have her sent back by the school nurse. As if that weren't enough, I was "unavailable" to pick her up not once, but twice. My neighbor so willingly obliged. Yep, I'm that mom.

I'm the mom whose nap this afternoon made possible an enormous lipstick extravaganza in the three-year-old's bedroom - oops. Yes, I'm that mom, too.

I'm the mom who lets her first-grader escape out the door without brushing her hair. Quite often, actually. Except that today was class picture day. Oops.

I'm also the mom that somehow, at the end of every day, after the children are sound asleep, of course, is completely overwhelmed with gratitude that I've been afforded the opportunity to be a mother. To these children.

Just when I thought I couldn't find the silver lining.

Any migraine sufferer knows one truth: they suck. Really suck. My mother is cringing right now because I used the word "suck" twice in one breath. Oops, I mean thrice.
I would venture to say, however, that without those 2 a.m. migraines and the caffeine that is necessary to keep them at bay, my blogging would be reduced by at least half. So cheers to migraines! (Is it even necessary for me to say that I never thought I would utter those words?)

On to sunnier topics (or not so sunny, as it turns out), our spring break was last week. Of the four years since I've had a child in school and spring break became a calendar item, I can count on one finger the number of times the weather has cooperated. And, as irony would have it, we left town that year. This year it rained every single day. Until Saturday, of course, which we'd already planned on dedicating to watching General Conference. I woke up, peered out the windows at the clear skies and said to myself, "Really?......REALLY?" As if it isn't hard enough to keep little children occupied and quiet for four hours on a Saturday. We bolted out the door right after the closing prayer for one last hurrah before resuming our usual schedule this week. General conference was, as always, thoroughly uplifting. Can't wait to read the talks. As for spring break - we managed to have a great time. The girls tackled spring cleaning chores with me (with unexpected anticipation, no less) like organizing closets and cleaning baseboards, walls, doors, and floors. I love it when I can convince my girls to jump on the cleaning train (and not expect payment). They were absolute champs! We combined our work with plenty of fun every day so all in all, spring break was a success.

I finished another "home" project. Two matching pillowcases for the throw pillows that came with our couch. What an easy way to give new life and color to your home! And I now know how to use my sewing machine to sew on a button (and buttonhole). So much easier than hand-sewing!



Any good parenting books out there on resolving contention in the home? The topic was mentioned a couple of times during conference (usually just as my kids were erupting into one of their shouting matches) but aside from "just stop it" I need concrete solutions as to how I can convince my girls that backing down is a viable option. Anyone?

And now, my bed is calling me. I'm sure there's something philosophical and enlightening floating around up there, but it's drowned out by my desire to hit the sack. So that's all I've got. Later.