this is a temporary change. i like the idea of the coffee in the background. let's face it, we are pulling some delicious shots in this house currently. we hope to expand soon to downtown merriam. look for it.

but to be honest, the newspaper with the stocks on it kind of ruins the background for me. when we did get the paper i savored the funny pages.

where am i? i'm sitting on my couch, having just finished maasen's new blog layout. thanks to some help from the big c i think i'm pleased with it. check it out: http://maasenphotography.blogspot.com/

we are busy beyond belief over here. even the nights that we don't have anything scheduled turn out to be full. tonight is one of those, although one could argue that there was something scheduled on the calendar: maasen's last game of the regular season. after torrential rains the night before, the field cleared out and the double header was on.

(i realize this is a baseball field...)

i love going to games for several reasons:

1) maas is my gal and i like supporting her

2) maas is my gal and i like to see her in her element (she's kind of a big deal with those girls)

3) it's my alma mater
4) it's outside

5) i get to show off my adorable children

6) i get to spoil my adorable children (don't tell tom)

the huskies went 1-1 tonight, which was a nice little ending for them, although we left before they actually won the second game. we also got to see maas's mom and brother, double bonus. it is strange to talk with them since they are both "maasens" but i call her "maasen" and they call her "ang" or "angela". i found myself switching over to ang for the sake of being on the same page. we also got to interact a little bit with her friend coach b and some of the players. i got a little caught up in the game so i hope i was encouraging and the look of sadness (they lost the first game 7-1) wasn't too apparent when i saw them.

i'm hoping to get out to their regional game next week where they will upset whatever team they play and continue on to win the state title... a girl can dream, can't she?!

here the kids are talking with their favorite coach. this was taken at the last game we went to when cass bit it on the concrete ramp pretty badly. christy the trainer, the woman in the left of the picture, helped out and gave her a band-aid. she tried to give her some cool purple wrap but cass was beside herself with the injury. the scrape has healed and has since been replaced by other ouchies.

variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor- william cowper.

today was a beautiful day. warm sun, cool breeze; we felt it through our windows. but today i needed to get some things done inside and that means not playing outside. beautiful weather is a great distraction. i said that.

so i convinced the kids that playing on my bed was an exciting change from playing elsewhere in the house. and they believed me. i also pulled out their lunchboxes which contain special toys. i keep certain toys in these roy rogers/dale evans lunchboxes and then put the boxes on my dresser. when we go to broadway or somewhere that i want them to be able to occupy themselves i pull out the boxes. and it worked again. there are the typical dolls for cassie and some astronauts for wyatt. but then there are some different characters, like the animals with interchangable body parts. they are an odd but intriguing distraction. they played on the bed long enough for me to eat breakfast and get the kitchen cleaned. another small success in the book of motherhood.

the influence of big cass

it's time to plant. i'm sure you've all been digging in the dirt this week, or at least itching to, and so have i. although i had it on good authority from a family tree nursery employee that it would be safe to plant my vegetable garden, i didn't jump the gun. i'm sure the freezing temperatures are long gone, but the torrential downpours that destroyed my lettuce have made me a little gun-shy. therefore i only put in onions, figuring they would be safe underground for a while. turns out i was right and here they are, starting to pop up:

i'm pretty excited they're showing their little green heads. these bulbs were given to me by a friend, who got them from another friend, so i wasn't intending to plant onions, but i'm blessed by them nonetheless (is that really a word? is it a compounded compound?). now i'm wondering when i can actually use them. i'll have to consult my midwest gardening book. or just ask cassie.

in other news...

i repotted the zamioculcas zamiifolia plant big cass gave the kids. (this picture is hilarious to me). it grew quite well in their room for the last month or so, but now it needs more room to flourish. i am very pleased with this little guy and look forward to all of his coming leaves. i was worried about uprooting him, but believed cassie when she said it shouldn't be a problem. turns out the little bulbs have roots, but i think everything turned out alright.

i actually repotted the repotted z.z. because after i put it in the terra-cotta pot i noticed the pot was dirty. and orange. and then i realized this would not work in tom's house. i think the look on cassie's face says it all. sorry honey, my mistake.

i found another, more attractive pot, in the garage and put the plant in there. i'm relieved to have made the save before the little guy moved into the house in his unsightly orange container. the kids seem pretty happy with the new situation too. when i water the plant  the kids ask about him (just as in some people's minds all dogs are boys and cats are girls, green leafing plants are boys and flowering plants are girls). most common question: is he not dying? this is in reference to the flowers that tom gets me. sometimes i put some of the flowers in their room, but since they're cut flowers they only last so long. it's a sad question really, and i'm trying to reassure them that this z.z. plant, also known as the eternity plant, will be just fine for a while.