Life as 5

Now begins the process of catching up on the last 20 months. Because mama don't scrapbook. And this is as good as it's going to get for my kids. Hopefully I'll be bombarding you with snapshots of our life as 5 over the last year-ish. (In my head this sounds do-able. But lots of things sound do-able in my head, so let's not hold our breath.) But for today, here's a quick picture of where our family is now. This sweet story from our recent trip to D.C. sums it all up:

So, we decide to walk to the monuments with our dear friends the Crawfords on Tuesday night. (Don't ever walk to the monuments with 3 kids. Just don't.) It doesn't help that it's a balmy 26 degrees with gale force winds. Things start out OK. We make it to the Washington Monument - which is under construction, so . . . lame. Kate's throwing gang signs. You know - the normal stuff. (what?!!)

And then we start the REAL walk. Under normal circumstances, the walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial is about 3/4 of a mile. That night? With those kids? In that weather? It was about 17 miles. For real. Anneliese is getting teary because it's sooooo faaaar. And she's soooo coooold. (Anneliese is not one for extreme's. Of any kind. Let's keep it 72 and semi-cloudy folks.) Deacon comes dangerously close to face planting in the reflecting pool. EIGHT TIMES. And Kate? Who knows - she's WAY to old to walk with us. Because she's NINE.

We finally make it to the Lincoln Memorial. Almost. All we have to do is cross the street. That's IT!! (Blake has already laid down the law about not crossing the street until the light tells us to, so we're all waiting to cross.) But Anneliese starts asking questions. "Sooo, is this where he lived?" "No - it's just a statue because he was a really important President." And I see the tears. And at THAT moment, Ben Crawford sees a break in the traffic and starts running across. Without the light signal. Oh man. Do we stay? Do we go? Well, Kate goes. Because she's NINE, people! BUT, she trips. And lands right on her hands in the middle of the street - and now there's traffic. Because the LIGHT!!! It didn't tell us to go!! And she's crying, and Blake's mad (you know, the light.) - so I scoop her up and run. And now Anneliese is putting it all together and she is NOT happy. Because it's just a statue. That's it. Just a really big statue. And she is NOT impressed. And Deacon? Sweet oblivious boy. Well, he saw an American flag. So he stopped. Right there. On the edge of the street. With oncoming cars. And Pledged Allegiance to it. And as if on cue, my sweet Anneliese starts SOBBING. And in between the tears and the heaves -"You mean we walked all the way here . . . for THIS?!" God Bless America.

And welcome to the crazy.

Pretending like we love it.