Two, and three.

It's a bit late, but these pictures are sooooo cute. If you're wondering why I'm not in the pictures it's because I was going to work later that day and did not look nearly so pretty:) (Note their silly faces:) (Did you see Minorc's little tie? Isn't it adorable?) (The Orclette wore this dress last year, I think. I really need to update her wardrobe, although it still looks great on her:)

Now that the Bataan is over I can step up the training. That might sound odd-I mean, I should have been stepping up my training for the Bataan-but I was very concerned that I would injure myself enough that I couldn't even attempt it. I didn't injure myself, in fact I feel pretty darn healthy, so I have been increasing the intensity and frequency of my workouts.  Man does it feel good. Here are my running shoes. I'm very fond of them, especially now that I'm using them for running and not just walking. I feel like me again:) I'm following a run/walk rotation of 1/1 (one minute running, one minute walking) which I will be adjusting as I get stronger. I'd like to run a 5k or 10k at some point this year.  You see here my heaviest weight, which I am now able to incorporate into my workouts. I've found that training one side/arm is easier on the joints than lifting conjointly. Apparently it's the in-thing to do right now. Muscle & Fit...

The Orclette, displaying the tiny bug (which you can't see) on her dinosaur. Gladiolas. Wisteria. Something? I had the markers in the pots but two little someones took them out. Miniorc wanted his picture taken. The water toy, which has been permanently banished to the front porch. The

We launched into Spring Break about two weeks ago. I got on my laptop maybe once or twice but otherwise had a laptop-holiday. It was very freeing. It's also the reason I managed to go three weeks without posting anything (I thought it had only been two). We were glued to the t.v., however, and the kids saw new shows such as "Godzilla" and movies such as "The Fly". I was in the mood for campy SF. We ate way too much. My sister-in-law and mother both like to cook and they flow seamlessly from one meal to the next. I can make pasta, pancakes and eggs (and I love to make bread-that I'm good at) but anything else requires thought and planning and it certainly doesn't feel effortless. You should have seen the change that occurred in our refrigerator: one day it was packed with food and the next it wasn't because my mom had flown back home. We made it through the Bataan Memorial Death March. I managed to get myself dehydrated and ended up in the medic...

As I think I've mentioned, the Orclette is being home schooled. I've been fairly consistent this semester; we do our "regular" school three days a week and then ad lib it the other two days. Some days all we want to do is this: Other days momma decides to be a bear and we hide from her. What's really rewarding, however, is when the Orclette remembers something I taught her. We are learning about the moons, space and the planets and I found a cute little video on YouTube  that explained the planets in song. One point it made was that Mars had the highest mountains in our solar system. Lo and behold, later that night the Orclette was telling Damm about her day and remembered that interesting little fact. Nothing beats a four-year old telling you about the "red planet".  I must be doing something right:)

Miniorc had croup, Orclette had a nasty cold and then I came down with what the Orclette had. I held it off for as long as I could, worked through it but by Sunday afternoon co-workers were telling me I should go home because I looked awful and customers were avoiding me. So I went home, got to the couch and didn't move. Monday I felt better, Tuesday fine but then this morning (today's Wednesday, right?) I had that stuffed feeling again. I made it through the morning but by the afternoon I threw in the towel and spent the rest of the day on the couch reading. My kids are thoroughly tired by the t.v. and itching to get outside. Maybe tomorrow ... Anyway, that's where we've been, ensconced on the couch. I'm hoping to be myself again soon.

It's been a rough week. First the Miniorc developed croup, which worsened, as croup tends to do. We went to the doctor on Friday, got the meds and figured it would go away. Lo and behold Sunday the cough worsened and Minorc had a few instances of (apparently) fighting for breath. We took him to the ER and experienced the incredulity of the staff (they obviously though we were overreacting about his cough) turn to concern as they discovered that it actually was good we brought him to the ER. He's fine, he's got the equivalent of a nebulizer (spelling?) and he's not coughing anymore. I haven't quite recovered from the doctor rolling his eyes at me when I said the words "I went on the internet ..." (in order to find out if his symptoms were severe enough to warrant the ER) but hey, my kid is fine and the doctor did know what he was talking about. Seriously, though, do doctors think their patients aren't going to go on the web? And what's wrong with We...