...That's not great.

Mom interrupted.

After six and a half years into this mothering thing, I have finally spent the night alone (ALONE) in my very own house. Now, don't get me wrong - I've traveled for work, spent the night at MY parent's house,  or the kids have spent the night at friends' houses, but I have NEVER been ALL ALONE, ALL NIGHT in my own bed. RD and the kids headed to their Auntie's house to bask in her love, the Portland Zoo, and, of course, Auntie's air conditioning.

I had lofty plans, and, for the most part, accomplished alot in my family's absence. On Thursday evening took the train to pick up a car for my sister's family (you really don't want to know more detail, I'm already bored myself). I then slept THE WHOLE NIGHT without waking and blissfully awoke, refreshed, at 7:30am. I worked for a few hours then began my BIG weekend task: the painting of the family room in the basement.

It may seem like a simple task, but when your basement is about 1000 square feet and the family room pushes 800 of that, you have your work cut out for you. I painted for about 12 hours on Friday, and at about 11pm I discovered there was no way in hell I had the strength to move the mammoth sectional couch (with chaise!) that lives in the family room. I'm just too pathetically week. I figured out how much I could complete (tastefully, of course), leaving about 1/3 left to accomplish (not to self: figure out when I might have time to finish. Related: never).

Saturday morning found me adding my beloved second coat and then in the afternoon I headed over to my friend and neighbor's house for a BBQ. It was truly weird to be there without the kids. I kept referring to them and gesturing in the direction of the sandbox and kiddie pool (where everyone else's kids were) like they were actually there. Afterwords, another friend and I headed to see (500) Days of Summer. Trust me when I say it is a delight.

Sunday, I cleaned the house, restocked the fridge, and shaved my legs in peace. The family returned home, happy, around noon. Bubba, who has quite a sensitive heart, would not leave my sight the rest of the day. He kept wanting me to snuggle with him and have him tell me how much he missed me and how his heart was happier now that we were together again.

And then my heart imploded.

The only downside of the weekend was the knowledge that the kids, once returned to me, would be mine alone for the next few days as RD had a work conference to head to. For me, the mornings, with the hustle and bustle of breakfast/clothes/teethbrushing/driving/two drops offs is the worst part. Otherwise, I enjoy some time to myself with the kids.

Mostly.

Monday evening (after watching How I Met Your Mother, natch), I stumbled upon a documentary on HBO called Boy Interrupted. It's the story of the suicide of Dana and Hart Perry's son, Evan, when he was 15. It was probably one of the most poignant, heartfelt and moving pieces of film making I have ever seen. Evan's parents, who are documentary filmmakers, wrote and directed the picture, which was shown at Sundance. While no suicide is ever simple, the film shares all the uniqueness of Evan and his family's journey, his bipolar disorder, his treatment at Wellspring (which has seemed to bring him out of the darkness), and the impact of his disease and death on his family and friends. Because they are filmmakers, they had alot of personal footage to share. Evan did as well - as he, himself, was an aspiring filmmaker. About 1/3 of the way through the film, we learn that this is not the first suicide in his family. His uncle and namesake, Scott, killed himself at 21. The tell his life story, essentially, from birth until his suicide. You feel the pain of a mother and grandmother trying to understand why her flesh and blood would kill themselves. The destruction in the eyes of Dana, with her complete disbelief that it has actually happened. I found the interviews with his psychiatrist the most interesting and insightful.

After crying hysterically for the better part of 90 minutes, the movie finished. I stood in my bedroom, alone, and all I could think about was going to hold my soundly sleeping son. I went into his room, still sniffling; sat on his bed, and leaned in for a snuggle.

He wasn't having it.

He was sleeping, and very deeply at that - the poor kid.

It made me smile a bit through my tears, remembering that he was just a boy trying to sleep. And I am just his mom, trying to love him just a bit more.

All the rest would just have to wait until the morning.

Things I don't currently understand about camping.

We're about to venture out on our second camping trip of the summer.

What this means is that in the past month, I will have camped as many times as I have IN TOTAL in my entire life before this summer.

So, here's things I don't currently understand about camping.

1. Getting prepared to camp is just about as exhausting as actually camping.

2. Camping (apparently) gives men of all ages the idea that it is okay to have jeans, a belt and no shirt be your camping uniform. For the record, it is not okay.

3. That my kids will eat pretty much anything (including things they won't eat at home), as long as it is cooked over the campfire.

4. Sis will spend and hour "sweeping" the campsite, which is the longest she's ever been occupied by one activity. Well, she's do it as long as she can dance while sweeping.

5. I don't mind camping as much as I thought I would. SHOCKING, BUT TRUE.

Easter, or something.

Easter was only, like, a week or so ago, right? So, it's totally cool if I toss some photos out here and call it a post, right?

It was a CLASSIC Seattle Easter, meaning, it rained all day. The family headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's to do the whole church/egg hunt/ham dinner thing.

Sis showed everyone at church her new dress (Costco special).

They did a little egg hunting.

I took some awkward self-photos. Though, that's not new.

After church, we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma's house, where the kids did what they always do at Grandpa and Grandma's house: watch On Demand cartoons on one of Grandpa's flat screens.

Grandpa got them SIlly Putty, so the holiday wasn't a complete loss.

Spring Break, Seattle style.

Our trip to Idaho for Bubba's Spring Break was more enjoyable than I thought it would be (although, in retrospect, it was clear that I should have expected it). It was just the two of us: Bubba and Mommy. Since the kids aren't on the same schedule yet, it made more sense to keep Sis in daycare/preschool (we're already paying for it) and let Bubba enjoy a visit to his only boy cousin.
 
While challenging at times, when Bubba is one on one (minus his sister!), he is really quite easy-going and compliant. With this ex tended time together, it became clear to me just how much Sis is REALLY AND TRULY going through her terrible 3s.
 
But enough of the negative! We had a snowy ride over the pass, a fast food lunch/refueling/play stop and arrived in Idaho greeted by 4 inches of snow. WOOT! The boys just had so much fun together the entire time, with just a rare fight or two (honestly, I really can't rememeber one!). They enjoyed playing together so much that it provided The Sister-In-Law and I many hours of time to chat, read or DO NOTHING (my favorite. Together we played Legos, went to gymnastic glass, ate at Taco Bell and shopped for tie-dye together. Plus, it's just nice to be away from your own house - there's no laundry to deal with, food to shop for, bathrooms to clean, or mail to deal with.

Also? We talked my brother into joining Facebook; just so he can play Scrabble with me. He gets to kick my ass and I get to connect with my brother more. It's win-win, really.

 We can't wait to return in August. And we just may bring Sis with us this time. Maybe.

Christmas and New Years.

I wish that I could be sitting here on this lovely Sunday - the last day of winter vacation (well, for my son, not fore me) - and report that the snow has left us.

Because it has not. It started snowing on Wednesday, December 17 and pretty much snowed off and on until, well, TWO DAYS AGO. In my entire life of living in the great Pacific Northwest, I have NEVER, EVER experienced a time when there was snow on the ground for three straight weeks.

I'm over it.

The holidays continued, of course, and, except for a few travel adjustments and a minor FedEx tragedy (my 2009 family calendars were supposed to be delivered on December 18 didn't show up until New Year's Eve), we proceeded forth as usual.

We headed up north to join my extended family at my parent's place in Bellingham (which is, naturally, just too small for all of us, which adds to the CHAOS).

We sang songs to Grandma.

And opened some presents.

We played a little airplane.

And went to the museum.

Of course, all this fun, change in schedule, PRESENTS(!!) and sleeping in a hotel caused a couple of MELTDOWN CITIES to occur.

But, all in all, we had a wonderful time.

We also attended a family wedding, were I, apparently, had a few glasses of wine, causing the following behaviors.

Hugging my brother VERY closely. (Probably TOO closely if you ask him.)

And dancing like this.

It's the robot. Or something. (You're welcome.)

We also held our third annual family-friendly New Year's Eve par-tay.

Where I served my famous cosmo-by-the-pitcher.

And either said something very interesting or listened to something very interesting.

I also tried to take an artsy-fartsy photo of our party decorations. FAIL.

>

Happy New Year!

What I did this weekend: pumpkin addition.

We spent Sunday out on The Farm in Snohomish.

We picked some pumpkins.

And gourds.

We hugged (some more happily than others).

We did some hay bale jumping (to note: this is how Sis broke her leg last year).

Bubba drove a truck.

And I did some digging.

I even got solo jump in. Note to self: don't quit your day job.

This is the first day of the rest of his life.

Bubba's first day of kindergarten was yesterday.

He was ready - socially and academically, FOR SURE. But was I?

I'm not sure if my worrying was based just on my general malaise regarding change, my inexperience in the public school system, or just my generalized worrying.

Now, I want to be clear about this - even though I spent all my years as a student in parochial schools, RD and I made a conscious choice to have our children attend our local public schools. (It doesn't hurt, though, that our local schools have an excellent reputation and excellent test scores [regardless of what your beliefs are in terms of standardized testing - they are a general indication of the health of a school].) I just don't really know how to navigate the system, and I DESPISE not knowing exactly what is going on.

My worrying or not - the day finally arrived - KINDERGARTEN!

While most days he'll be going to a program at the school for before and after school care, for the first day RD and I took him to school at the regular start time - 8:30am. (He was very much bummed to NOT be on the school bus.)

We parked at school and followed the crowd into the gym; where the students lined up according to their class assignment. Bubba's teacher come over to him said hello and gave him a nametag to wear. He sat in the line, along with his jacket, backpack and lunch, until the classes were ready to be dismissed to their classrooms. We were invited to stand near the stage and wave goodbye. I only got a little teared up as he happily waved back and walked behind his teacher.

He did go to his after school program and he must like it because he burst into tears when I came to pick him up early (BEFORE THE SNACK, God forbid). I think he was really excited to be playing with an older friend from the neighborhood. So, I went to pick up Sissy and then came back. By that time, he was prepared to leave, but said he was excited to go back to the program BEFORE school tomorrow. We specifically choose this program because our friends' son loved it so much, so I was glad he seemed to be having such a great time.

Bubba couldn't (or wouldn't!) really give details on his day until I started to ask specific questions, and I can tell you from our conversation that he knows one boy's name in his class, who sits in the same desk area AND also goes to the before and after school program (which, apparently, is VERY important in his mind!). He really liked PE, lunch was in the gym (with some big kids and no adults - although I doubt that!), they had three recesses, and they take a rest after the lunch recess ("We did 5 minutes to today, then 10 tomorrow, the 15 after that - then that's as mush as we'll do each day!"). I would say he's taken to kindergarten quite well (so far, at least).

Also, that he has informed us that he would like to be called his given name from now on (rather than Bubba, although he says, "That's okay some of the time"). He is asserting that it is his "real name".

Do we really have to do this all everyday? It's exhausting. At least they are both in bed (ASLEEP!) by 7:30 pm. Apparently, kindergarten is quite tiring. It is for us parents, too.

Into the palouse.

It actually happens each year during the worse possible week for our family in terms of work schedules. Our daycare is always closed the last week of August; the week before Labor Day. Unfortunately, the last Friday in August (EACH DAMN YEAR) is a huge work deadline for me, and RD is scrambling to get ready for "opening day". We usually do some trade offs with other parents (and ourselves), but this year I decided to take three of the days off and take the kids to Idaho to visit my brother and his family. While the drive was long (six hours), the kids did great and we had a fantastic time. Hopefully, we'll be taking this little vacation for years to come.

We visited a water park.

Which they LOVED.

I thought it was okay.

Sissy painted and walked the dog.

                                  

Bubba played cowboy and with Play-Doh.

                                  

They enjoyed sno-cones at their cousin's t-ball game.

Sis made me (and her new horse, Sarah) tea.

Bubba learned some "science stuff" (his words).

We were able to settle down for a moment (or two) to take a picture of the three of us.

Lost Kevin lullabies.

Our vacation was fantastic, thanks for asking.

Each year, my family (my parents, siblings and spouses, nieces and nephew) congregates for a week of family fun (disputed) and bonding (confirmed). In years past, we traveled to central Oregon to enjoy the dry heat and sunshine. My mother's health decline has moved this reunion a little closer to home (well, my home at least; my siblings still travel from out of state).

This is the second year we've stayed on Lake Whatcom; in a friend of a friend's log cabin. It's a lovely location, with comfortable accommodations. Technically, it should be called a log home, but we enjoy calling it the log cabin. SO IT SHALL BE.

Except the kids have some trouble even with that name. My niece, The Bug, calls it the "log Kevin", while Bubba calls it the "lost cabin". Funny names for the log cabin = ADORABLE.

So what did we do all week?

We "boated" on the lake (technically, the South Bay).

If you count floating on an inflatable raft boating, then YES. (Also, I apparently SQUINTED alot.)

We started a fire.

(I'm sort of a pyro.)

And enjoyed s'mores.

We frolicked in our "pool".

And snuggled up for warmth.

We played Battleship (Bubba and I won, natch).

We enjoyed our cousins and are already looking forward to next year.

A little CityMama link love never hurt anyone.

I discovered CityMama and her (at the time) Portland-mama blog in mid-2004, just after she moved to the city and gave birth to her second (lovely) daughter, Wallie. I loved reading her stories about raising kids in Portland, the city of my childhood.

So, when I heard she was hiring bloggers to writer city-centric posts for The Savvy Source, I jumped at the chance to be involved; and I am honored to be part of the Savvy Team.

Today was the BIG reveal (go there NOW - she has giveaways!) on her personal blog, and I want to welcome any readers who have made their way here. If you live in the Puget Sound, I hope you'll hop over to Being Savvy Seattle, where I am posting and insider's look each weekday on adventures and activities for you and your preschooler to enjoy. And if you have any insight to offer on Seattle, I'm all ears.