We have relatively few family pictures of us - formal and informal - but my parents snapped this one not long before Accalia's recital, so I though I'd share it. Hmm, it looks like Cory and I are somewhat coordinated. Not planned at all. I guess that's what nearly 10 years of marriage does to a couple.

Cory, Accalia and Cole left around 1 p.m. to see Spiderman 3. Those were three extremely excited people leaving the house. Ella just went down for a nap, so I have possibly two hours of ME time. Whoa (said in Joey from Blossom's voice)... Even if there's still one child in the house I need to care for once she's awake, I haven't had a quiet, empty house like this in such a long time. I don't even remember when that was, to be honest. So I'm going to force myself not to do one bit of work, even though it's very tempting to get a start on my semi-annual reports for LLL. I'm going to sit at the computer and surf to my heart's content. I'm going to sit and read my dirty-little-secret-of-a-magazine. I'm going to think only of me for now, okay?

Last evening Chloe and Alexia came over again, and we had to leave almost right away to get Chloe to the soccer tournament she was playing in. While Chloe played, Ella and I hung out on the sidelines, and Accalia, Cole and Alexia ran around nearby. They spent most of their time collecting pine cones, so I brought my backpack home filled with pine-scented goodness.

All of the kids were exhausted by the end of the evening, but Ella was the only one who fell asleep relatively quickly. Accalia, Cole and I didn't get to bed until around 11:30. Accalia and I have been reading Pippi Longstocking before bed, and last night Cole hung out with us while we did that. I haven't read that book since I was a little girl, but it's amazing how familiar all of it is to me. Accalia adores Pippi.



I tried to sneak out of bed at 7 this morning, but Ella and Cole were up with me (much too early for either of them. Cole was just a tired, emotional mess and spent around an hour crying on and off about me going to the LLL meeting and him missing me. We talked about him coming to the meeting with me, having Jadon at the meeting, too, but he was excited about having Jadon at our house. He just didn't want to be sad and miss me and cry. So we talked about what and who I miss and what we can do when we miss someone or something. Most important, I just let him know I knew he didn't want to miss me and that it might make him sad.

After a while, Cole just wiped his face, asked how long I would be gone and went about his business. When I returned from the meeting (me, my friend Michelle, a newcomer, and at the end a nearby Leader), Cole greeted me at the door with "I didn't miss you at all, Mom!" Ah, isn't that nice to hear? I think he conquered a bit of a fear he was having about being apart from me, so he was without a doubt ready to see Spiderman 3 this afternoon.

Now I shall go about my ME business and look forward to cuddling with this litle sweetie in the not too distant future.