Whenever I am sweeping — which is a frequent activity these days, especially around a certain little boy’s high chair — Gregory almost always gets the dust pan out and scoots over to me, holding it out for me to take. Isn’t that helpful of him?
We were doing so well in the whole dodging the winter cold thing (only one small bout at the beginning of December!) but now it seems to be visiting our household again. This time though it isn’t just Emma, Gregory has a (fairly minor) cough and stuffy nose and I have a sore throat, sniffles, and an aching body. All that wouldn’t be that bad if it weren’t for this amazing level of fatigue I’m feeling! It certainly makes it difficult to get anything done. It started yesterday and I ended up going to bed with Gregory at about 7:30. I napped with him today for over an hour and a half, which is probably the only reason I’m still awake right now. I haven’t been this fatigued for ages, and I’m not liking it! However, I’ve decided to just go with it for the evening (Matt said he’ll finish the dishes, yippee!) and I’m going to sit around and eat popcorn and read this evening. Now that my popcorn has finally finished popping, I’m going to go ahead and do that. Good night!
Me (surveying a very cluttered bookshelf top where Emma keeps her finished art projects): We have a problem here.
Matt (looking over at the bookshelf): What?
Me: Do you see the bookshelf?
Matt: Yes…
Me: Doesn’t it look awfully cluttered?
Matt: Well…
Me (pointing to the bookshelf): Is this what we want to be encouraging our children to do?
Matt: No, it isn’t. But I am the one who arranged it like that because Emma was moving too slowly.
Me (laughing): Oh, well, oops.
At least I know where she gets it from… 
Wow, where did the last two weeks go?? First we had Christmas, then it was off to Tahoe to spend some time at my parent’s cabin, then it was back home for a couple days only to leave for Erie, PA on Wednesday night. After a rather epic journey (Wed night at a hotel near the airport, 4 a.m. shuttle to the airport, 6 a.m. flight to Denver, connecting flight to Pittsburgh, 2+ hour drive to Erie) we made it there, safe and sound. We went for Sarah and Nathan’s wedding, and while I’m very glad we went I am also glad we do not have any other occasions that call for such travel anytime in the near, semi-near, or even not-so-distant future. The kids really held up well, no luggage was lost, and no flights were missed but wow, travelling with little ones and luggage and car seats is a really different experience compared to when I travelled for work!
The wedding was fantastic though - going to a wedding of two musicians who also have a lot of extremely talented friends is quite an experience. I feel quite lucky just to have been there to enjoy it. I’m glad they recorded it, because I hope I can get a copy just to listen to all the music again!
We also got to go to Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie on Sunday, and that was a really neat experience. It is a beautiful cathedral, well worth visiting. Since it was Ephinany, they still had their lovely Christmas decorations up as well as their Nativity scene. Emma paticularly enjoyed looking at them after the Mass was over. The sun actually came out for a few hours that morning, greatly enhancing their stained glass windows. It was the only time we saw the sun during our whole trip! It was the only time I’ve been at a Mass where a pipe organ and the choir loft was used, and that was interesting in itself. It was a little funny though because the tempo of much of the music was about a quarter to half slower than what I’m used to, which was a little distracting. I’m not sure if that was because of the organ, or just the church’s preference, or if my church just likes to step things up a notch. *grin* But even though I couldn’t sing as I usually do, I still very much enjoyed the experience.
Now that we’re back I have a ton of laundry and cleaning and everything to catch up on… not to mention our looming move (April is going to be here before I know it, I can just tell already) and all of our house plans that we need to be firming up. Yes, even though we don’t have any more travel planned right now, I don’t think it is going to slow down at all!
OK, I think I’m going to try to at least plan menus and map out some sort of game plan for the rest of the week before I collapse. Good night!