(1) Mon Apr 05 2004 08:32 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Life Goes On . . .: Today is going to be a georgeous--the first day this year to get into the 70's. We will go to the park for sure. Another really great omen is that my kids slept in until 7:45. Let me tell you, that is a rare and glorious event, anytime Atticus and Samuel sleep in later than 7:00 am. Granted, a lot of this is due to the Daylight Savings change, but hey, I'll take extra sleep any morning, even if it is mostly in my mind.

Mon Apr 05 2004 21:29 Dare Devil: Atticus was a brave boy today at the Aquatic Center. He was jumping feet first in the two foot deep pool, letting his whole head go under before popping out of the water. At home, he lined up two chairs and jumped from the first over the one beside it to the floor, all the while chanting, "Dare Devil, Dare Devil."

I'm sure our down-stairs neighbors love us.

(4) Sat Apr 10 2004 09:20 A Whirl of a Week: This week went by so fast, and somehow it was so busy I've hardly had time to just sit idle. I'll try and review all the fun we've had. Monday was a swimming night. I picked Dave up from campus around 5:00 and we took off for the aquatics center with a bag full of peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. Somehow those always hit the spot with our hungry boys after a few hours of swimming.

Tuesday was book club night, and the book of the month was Pride and Prejudice, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We enjoyed a guest lecture by Valerie Hodges, the head cataloger at the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library who is an active member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. It was our best meeting yet, and all of us enjoyed discussing the novel so much that we didn't notice the time passing, and our meeting lasted until 10:00.

Wednesday I spent trying to finalize my plans for the presentation I was to give at Thurday nights' Relief Society Enrichment activity. Those preparations were not complete, though, and I also spent most of Thursday afternoon finalizing my presentation notes and my handout. This presentation I gave with a friend, Alyson Von Feldt, on gardening and cooking with herbs. Alyson taught the cooking aspect of the class in the kitchen, preparing wonderfully fresh salsa, a Southwest salad with lots of cilantro and basil, pesto, tortellini with a sage cream sauce, cream biscuits with dill, two different herbed cream cheeses, and a lemon verbena pound cake with fresh strawberries. All of the food was heavenly, and the cooking-class style of teaching was fun and different.

I talked about gardening herbs, and considering I am a gardening dummy, this went pretty well. I had seeds for a few types of herbs and a seed starting mix of soil for the ladies to begin their own plants. It was a fun activity.

That's my week in review, including all highlights except our trip to the ER, but that's another story. . .

Sun Apr 11 2004 09:25 Visitation of the Easter Bunny: The Easter Bunny made a visit to our residence last night. He left two baskets of goodies: each with a chocolate bunny, a matchbox race car, a classic Cadbury filled egg, a toothbrush, and a package of stickers. Samuel's basket had Elmo stickers, and Atticus' had superhero stickers. Dave and Atticus are now drawing a city so that the superhero's have a place to fight evil (Atticus insisted that the city must be dark). The Easter eggs that were hidden in our front room contained yummy treats: jelly bellies, trail mix, yogurt covered raisins, and yogurt pretzels. Atticus found all of the hidden eggs while Samuel enjoyed his chocolate bunny in his high chair.

Sun Apr 11 2004 22:54: Hey--our pics are updated. Check it out at www.matkin.com/dave.

(4) Tue Apr 13 2004 21:15: There is good evidence that Samuel is turning out to be left handed. He eats and draws with his left hand. This is very ironic considering how rare lefties are in addition to Atticus' uncommon struggle with his left hand. Life continues to be interesting.

(3) Wed Apr 14 2004 22:00 Blunders of a Beginning Swimmer: There was one other swimmer doing laps tonight at the natatorium when I arrived. I took the lane beside him--there are only three lanes, and he was in the middle. As I eased myself into the water, I noticed that at the end of every lap, when he reached the wall of the pool, he would dramatically flip under water and push off to continue his strokes without the slightest pause. Very impressive.

I thought this would be a nice transition to learn, so I observed his form for a few minutes, and then struck out to give it a try.

I swam a few warm up laps, and then, reaching the side of the pool, I thrust my front toward the bottom of the pool, trying to turn. My hind quarters floated to the surface, and I inhaled water. Choking and hacking, I heaved my head out of the pool and struggled to clear my sinuses. At the opposite end of the pool, the life guard stood and walked the office behind her to get the floater thingy that most life guards keep on their laps while on duty.

This was a pretty embarrassing ordeal. I will not be trying this stunt again without an expert to advise me.

(2) Thu Apr 15 2004 20:17 Kite Issues: I never had a kite when I was a kid. This has left a deep emotional void in my adult psyche. I think my mother was so busy that she didn't realize what a depravation not having a kite is for a child.

Today was so beautiful, sunny and windy, that I went straightway to the Children't Toy Store downtown and bought two kites. One is a small kite made of "rip stop nylon" for Atticus, the other is a stunt kite with interactive CD-Rom that supposedly teaches a person how to perform kite stunts.

We went kite-flying as a family this evening. This was such a pleasure. Magical. The stunt kite is untouched in its packaging. Today was for Atticus. Tomorrow I will have my turn. . .

(2) Wed Apr 21 2004 20:26 School Days: I started a little preschool with two moms that have kids Atticus' age. We take turns organizing activities for our three-year-olds and hosting a class on Wednesday mornings for two hours. Today was my first day. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!! Samuel went to play with one of the moms (who lives next door), so it was just me with Atticus, Matthew and Julia.

I made a large tree out of that butcher paper like stuff, and tacked on little blossoms with songs on the back. The kids loved that. Then we talked about Kansas--the state bird (western meadowlark), tree (cottonwood), flower (sunflower) and such. I gave each child a coloring page of the United States with Kansas colored in so they could see our state placed in relation to the others. Then we talked about the letter "I," listed a few words that start with "I," and traced a capitalized "I" and lower-case "i" cut out of sandpaper (thanks for the idea, Frances).

Our number for the day was "1," so we talked about counting only one thing, and then I pulled out the potato stamps I'd carved out of "I," "i," and "1." The kids stamped their letter and number, and then looked really interested in painting, so we dug out the paint brushes and painted, talking about mixing primary colors to get secondary colors, etc. Our last activity was making a yummy bird food concoction. I had each ingredient in a separate bowl, so the kids counted "1" bowl of p-nut butter, "1" bowl of bird seed, "1" bowl of cornmeal . . .

This class was so fun. The kids were so interested in learning that I felt totally rewarded.

(2) Thu Apr 22 2004 12:35 Mourning Doves: Our bird treat has attracted all sorts of birds to our backyard, mostly robins, of course, cardinals, and different varieties of finch. We are really hoping for a visit from a blue jay. I must get a bird guide so that we can identify the birds that live in this area. Atticus and Samuel really love to stand at our back window and watch the wildlife.

There is a pair of mourning doves that must have decided our yard is a friendly habitat, because they are building a nest on my bedroom window sill. I heard dove purring before I got out of bed this morning, and low and behold, we have new neighbors.

Thu Apr 22 2004 12:38 Its a bird, its a plane . . . :

Dave asked Atticus, "Do you hear those birds chirping?"

"They're not, Papa, they're landing safely on their feet." (Atticus thought Dave had said 'tripping').

Sat Apr 24 2004 13:57: Dave popped popcorn out of a pot today. It's really good! I guess you could say Dave pot popped popcorn. Mmmmm.

Sat Apr 24 2004 14:05: Someone smashed the rear-quarter window on our Subaru wagon last night. The glass stayed together until we went to go clean it up. That is when it broke apart into a million pieces. The worst of it is that the weather is ominous and raining continuously. Ah, well. I certainly have very little to complain about except for the mess we had to clean up. The vandal(s) didn't try to force entry at least.

(1) Mon Apr 26 2004 10:36: When Samuel woke up at 4:30 this morning, I decided that today was going to be a bad day. Now I've spent all morning trying to change my mind on the matter. Atticus even said to me, "Mom, it is hard to be nice on a Monday." But now my luck is finally turning. Bring on the rest of the day.

(2) Mon Apr 26 2004 21:38: Okay, I never pulled out of my slump today. I even overheard Atticus tattling on me while talking to Dave on the phone: "Mama is being kind-of grumpy," he said. Well, I had What-About-Me? perched on my shoulder all day long, and I find it extremely hard to keep a smile on my face when I can't get over myslef.

(3) Wed Apr 28 2004 07:20: For his exercise routine, Dave has been swimming a mile every afternoon. I decided to actually count my laps instead of journeying to La-La land while in the water. Yesterday I swam 3/4 of a mile. In the past I've simply swum 30 minutes and that was the end of it. The 3/4 of a mile took just over 36 minutes, and it was invigorating.

Fri Apr 30 2004 22:42: We went to the Young Women/ Young Men's silent auction, and now we are listening to old Bob Edwards NPR clips. Dave and I will miss hearing him daily on Morning Edition.