The latest...

Today Avery had another mock meet. Unfortunately Griffin came down with a cold yesterday, so poor Linah was subjected to babysitting cranky, sick Pooky...which is even more difficult than normal cranky, busy Pooky. She survived though, and seemed to manage fine for the three hours I was gone. Avery did well at the meet, and handled the disappointment of falling off the beam well. (In the past, she has cried whenever she makes a mistake with people watching.) I don't think it hurt that just about everyone in her group fell off the beam at least once, but still, I am feeling encouraged. This was their last mock meet, and the first real meet is in two weeks. Eeek!

Other notable events this week: On Monday, we went to The Cheesecake Factory with our family to celebrate my grandmother Carolyn's birthday. Avery, Rhys, and I went; Bill stayed home with the uncivilized toddler. We had a good time -- how could you have a bad time if there's cheesecake involved?! On Tuesday, I had my monthly knitting night with my friends. I really look forward to it every month. It's so nice to get out and talk with other women -- and without our children around to interrupt every 2.5 seconds! On Thursday before Harry and the Potters, we visited Pieces of the Past, which is such a fun place to browse. We bought a really cool metal lizard to hang on our wall in the kitchen.

The project that has taken up most of my time this week is painting. Every part of our house needs a new coat of paint, and I'm determined to finally do it. I started by painting our mantel white...and today I'll be repainting it beige. (It was white when we moved in, and we painted it beige a couple of years ago because it didn't look good white. I'm not sure why I thought it would be different *now*, but yep, it still looks bad white.) I also have been working on the trim and doorways in our living room. It's slow going, but I figure if I do a little each night after the kids go to bed, I'll finish sometime before I die. At least I hope so....