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My mom made me a super cute circular needle holder from the pattern in the Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook, and wouldn’t you know I sent my camera to Canada with my daughter so I can’t post a picture! I am so excited to put all the needles in there.

In other news, it’s our anniversary this weekend and we made plans to do absolutely nothing. Isn’t that great?! I am hoping to start and complete a little hat for a baby shower next week. And, I am working on some of my websites, such as renewal of the Great Name Award and other projects.

Legally related, I plan to take the 40 hour mediator training so that I can be an “official” collaborative law lawyer. More news on that later….

Today is my 16th mother’s day.  I cannot believe how the time flies.

I always look forward to the cute gifts/cards the kids bring home.  They are always filled with beautiful portraits of me and anecdotes of why they love me.  I never really thought about how my children perceived what I do before and was tickled, albeit a bit surprised, when I read the cards my littlest three gave me.  Apparently, I spend all of my free time watching TV and knitting.  I did not realize this.  🙂

The cutest thing; however, is the description of why I am a good person as viewed by my 8 year old.  She says that I am a good person because I help people get divorced and through harsh suits.  Ha!  I think the general public would have a differing opinion. 

Today is a good day.

Today, as it was taking 15 + minutes to get loaded in the car and buckled in, I was doing a happy dance because next week, the twins will be 6 and will not have to sit in the car seats anymore but then, I remembered in June, 2007, Washington law is changing again and kids will have to sit in car seats until they are 4′ 9″ tall*. 

So, as I was driving down the road and thinking that with 2 grandmothers barely 5′ tall, my youngest daughter might possibly be driving before she’s 4′ 9″ (she’s currently about 3′ 6″).  Ugh.

I remember when I was a kid, and there were no seatbelt laws, riding around in the middle of my parents in our tiny Porsche 914 (only child) with no car seat and not a care in the world.

I am a firm believer in car safety, but one of the best mile stones is getting rid of the car seats.  Much like when you get rid of the bottles or get rid of the diaper bag.

Ahh well, at least when they are 6, we can switch them to booster seats as opposed to big bulky 5-point restraint seats we have now, and may all 5 of the kids can have another inch or so of seat space in the mini-van.

*I looked up the new law before posting and it actually caveats 4′ 9″ or 8 years old.  This is a little better (I really was afraid she’d be the only 16 year old in a booster).  Only 2 more years to go and we’ll be free!

I cannot believe it has been 2 months since I posted!  Ack.  I have been swamped trying to parent 5 children in school, run a business, and be a lawyer…  I thought life would be easier once everyone was in school, but alas, it is much much (did I say much) more hectic.

So, what have I been doing?  The high school band was very busy this fall because the kids had to play at every home football game and they were required to attend weekly evening practices.  Keep in mind that it takes 20 +/- minutes to get out to there, so each night took roughly 2 hours of travel.

The other kids have also had tons of back-to-school activities…

Anyway, I purchased a couple of books, Allen Carr’s Easy Way for Women to Stop Smoking and The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method. But, I haven’t quite made the jump yet.

This morning I saw the cutest baby. She was 4 weeks old and sweet as could be. I thought “I could use another baby!” Ahh. There were three adults, two bags of baby things, a car seat, and some other baby paraphernalia. Fast forward three hours. The boys (my babies) had their kindergarten orientation today and tomorrow will be their first official day of school. I cannot believe how time flies. I called my mom and said I was coming to pick up the boys, I got there, they hopped in their boosters, and off we went. I remember back to the first time I took them out of the house. 1 of 5 and 2 of 5 were at school, but 3 of 5 was 19 months old. By the time I got the babies fed and changed (and again), 2 of 5 set to go, and every packed into the car, it was two hours later. Maybe I need another baby not so much?

 

Normally, they do not dress alike; however, I know the kindergarten teacher and, although they are not identical, she doesn’t believe she will be able to tell them apart, so I thought it would be fun to mess with her the first day. (tee hee)