Seven Snippets

A glimpse into life around this joint this week:

• We are currently in a glorious place of in-between.  We are in-between basketball and baseball, and I have to tell you, it's mighty fine.  No practices this week for either, and no games this weekend.  I love both sports, but I'm not gonna lie - staying closer to home for a couple weeks isn't a bad thing.  We still have musical practice and fencing lessons, but without three boys in a sport on top of those things, it's a welcome breather.  
• In that vein, but on the other end of the crazy spectrum, I signed my five-year-old up for gymnastics.  Her sibs may have tried out a sport or a little class by now, but she has been happy (and in my opinion, not the worse for wear) to tag along to her sibs' activities.  However, she has been watching an American Girl gymnastics movie and is desperate to give it try.  This spring, therefore, will mark a first - the first time all five kids will be involved in an activity.  Can you understand then, dear reader, why I am relishing this tiny hiatus?  Tis a little calm before the storm.
• Holy Week is upon us!  Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and my little preschoolers will be singing in church - I can't wait to hear them praise Jesus!  This week, I hope, will afford many moments to contemplate the great sacrifices our Savior made on our behalf.  
• We had good friends over for dinner last night (and by dinner, I mean we ordered pizza and I did no work whatsoever in the entertaining department).  How lovely to enjoy the company of dear friends! What a blessing true friends are!
• An added bonus to having company over on Friday night:  The frantic house-cleaning session after school to bring the house to a presentable (not spotless - I don't have those kinds of standards) level means that this morning we don't have to vacuum and dust and clean!  Woohoo!  Just laundry and grocery. . .
• My mom visited this week for a couple of days, and it was lovely.  We spent Tuesday shopping with little K, and mom and I soaked it all in.  Mom bought K a Build A Bear, which K was super excited about.  When we got to the naming portion on the birth certificate (if you haven't made a Build A Bear, you haven't lived), I asked her what she'd like to name her pink bear.  "Fluffy", she answered after deliberating a moment or two.  Wanting to prolong the moment and her creativity, I asked her if she wanted Fluffy to have a middle name.  Without hesitation, she said, "Linda!", and so it was that Fluffy Linda was born.  I have to say, when I gaze upon her pink fur, she does indeed look like a Fluffy Linda to me.
• And I'll leave you with this little gem:  Says a child of mine this morning:  "If all of my relatives died and I got to live with my best friend, guess what would happen?  We'd be a brother from a different mother!"