Quiet Time

I love a quiet house. It is pretty rare around here and it is a treat to just sit in the stillness. The little girls are in bed and the big kids are at scouts and mutual with their father. I finished the dishes, read for a little while and then sat at my computer to catch up with the news. Then I realized that it has been weeks since I have updated my blog. Lots has been going on. I have already forgotten what most of it was but maybe, since it is quiet and I can think, I can come up with a few highlights.

Lauren won a first place in her school's science fair and earned a trip to the regional competition. Her project was "The Effect of Temperature on a Pendulum Clock". With some programing help from her dad, she was able to measure the swing of the pendulum as the temperature was adjusted from 40 degrees to 100 degrees. Her physics teacher liked her project very much. She didn't win anything at the regional competition last weekend but it was fun to be there.

William has been busy with Cub Scouts. We celebrated the cub scouts birthday with a fun Blue and Gold party with a Hawaiian theme. Another day his pack took a muddy hike around a lake to give them a chance to identify birds, trees, poisonous plants and to pick up trash. They were able to pass off a lot of requirements on that hike and they had so much fun. Here's a shot of the boys showing off the trash they collected, as well as a few favorite sticks.



Ralph and the older kids devoted a weekend to the mulch fundraiser the youth hold every year to earn money for scout and girls camp. It was a marathon weekend. They worked for a few hours on Friday evening and then for about 12 hours on Saturday. The kids came home dirty and very tired. The large bags of mulch were wet and heavy. Some of them were frozen making them even more unpleasant to move around. Ralph came home beat. He was part of the brains behind the routing of the deliveries and spent all night two nights in a row getting the routes set up. He is getting too old to pull all-nighters anymore.

I decided to cut my hair short. I have been bored with my hair for a while now and have wanted to get it cut. I was getting ready one morning and realized that it was a good day to go get it done. When I picked Geral up from preschool she said, "Don't worry Mommy, you hair will grow normal again someday." It was nice of her to comfort me like that, even if I wasn't worried about it. I got a stronger reaction from Rachel. She cried. And cried. And cried. She likes to hold my hair for comfort and felt that it was much too short for that. Geral still asks me when my hair will be normal again, but I am rather enjoying my short do. It only takes 5 minutes to blow dry after a shower and will be nice for the pool this summer.

One more milestone we have celebrated was Steven's 15 birthday. He was hard to shop for this year because all the "toys" he wants are expensive electronics that I wasn't springing for at this time. He ended up getting another Wii remote so the kids can have multiple players on one game and the movie Inception, which he has been wanting to see. Lauren got him another crazy shaped Rubik's cube. It took him a few days and a little you-tube help, but he has now mastered it.

We had fun visits from my brother Brian who was out here on a business trip but managed to get to our house for two evenings and from Ralph's nieces, Elizabeth and Alice, who came down to see us and tour DC. Lauren took a day off school to go downtown and see the museums with her cousins and we spent one afternoon at the Air and Space Museum. Alice made us gooey rolls one evening which we all enjoyed. The good news is that there is plenty left for them to see and do around here so we might get another visit sometime.

The thunder and lightening that have been predicted for days has finally arrived. I hear a little girl who should be asleep stirring around upstairs and Ralph and the big kids are due back any minute. Ah, quiet time, I am going to miss you.