Day at the Museum

When I first brought up going to the science museum, Jacob was less than thrilled.  I guess he's just not a museum type of kid.  Carter was definitely more open to the idea, especially since he likes dinosaurs and I knew there were some dinosaur bones in the collection in Buffalo.  In fact, that was one of the few things I remember of the museum from when I was a kid.  I have two distinct memories of going there--a field trip in probably third or fourth grade, and with at least one of my parents when I was somewhere in my tween to early teen years, which is the last time I was there.  I probably went more than that, but those are my two solid recollections.  From my field trip, I remember a room full of dinosaur bones and an exhibit on extinct and endangered animals.  From my last visit, I don't remember a lot, but I do recall the pendulum they have there, as well as the geodes in the gift shop.

Well, this trip made it clear it's a totally different museum than it was back then.  In the 30 years since, museums have come to rely upon hands-on exhibits, and this one is no exception.  Our main reason for going there now is that there is a Lego exhibit called "The Art of the Brick".

We were able to get a time slot immediately upon arrival, so we started our visit immersed in Lego.  I took pictures of almost every piece we saw, but can only share a fraction here.  But suffice it to say that between the recreations and the original pieces, it was really impressive--almost unbelievable that everything was Lego!

The Kiss in 3-D form

David - Jacob was highly amused by how they censored him.  He does look a bit like a Ken doll.

This one had multiple layers to the waves.

Starry Night - such detail!

Mona Lisa

The original works were mostly in human form.  This was a full body, but I wanted to show the heart situated in the middle of a clear chest cavity.

The boys loved this castle and boat, but how cool that it was within a book, complete with a poem written inside!

Note Andy Warhol, 3-D crayons, and an artist self-portrait in the background

The kids were very impressed by how tall this one was--this doesn't do it justice!

This one was creepy, but very cool!

Around the corner from the human figures, we had this big guy!

So big and very detailed!

The end of the exhibit focused on a series of pictures that looked normal to the naked eye, but upon further inspection, elements of the picture were Lego.  In this case, you can see the towel and the flip flops in Lego next to the photo they're featured in.

At the end there was a building area with tables that each had a different theme or challenge.  Of course my boys just decided to build, or build on whatever else they happened to find. 

Jacob made a hoop.  It's hard to tell, but there's a camera and all sort of other accessories that a real NBA hoop might have.

Carter built on to the foundation of someone's house.  He had all sorts of stuff he added in.

Of course we had to take pictures with the Lego man on the bench...

Having a conversation

Back out into the museum, we came across the Foucault Pendulum I remembered from my last visit so many years ago.  In case you've never seen one, it just keeps moving, and it appears to change direction throughout the day as the earth rotates around it.  It was almost straight back and forth here, but when we saw it later it was creeping closer to the first line to the left.  In reality it swings in the same path as it always has, but the setting around it is what's moving with the earth!

In the space section...who doesn't love one of these things!

They had an activity where you could simulate the night sky if the planets were like our moon.  Here's the Buffalo skyline with Saturn as the moon!

There's an observatory on the top of the museum, and while we couldn't go there, I did snap this shot of the Buffalo skyline from the lobby up there.  There were also some amazing churches to see that day, both from there and from the top of the Broadway Market parking garage, which took on additional significance given the Notre Dame fire in Paris earlier in the week.

There was a section about weather and other natural forces, and Carter did the most hilarious video weather report since he couldn't actually read the script.  Maybe someday I'll post it, but it was green screen awesomeness, for sure. 

The boys really liked this activity that aimed to show erosion.  You could haul very coarse sand/tiny rocks up to where water was flowing, and use little walls with different cutouts to change the flow of water and see how the rocks moved as a result.  They probably could have stayed here for a long time, but I was a little nervous about time and had to keep them moving.  We ran into that in a lot of spots, actually, including the next area where you could play with building pipes to direct air flow and keep a ball floating in the air.

In this section on the human body, we measured our heart rate before and after 10 jumping jacks...and yes, it definitely goes up!

We came to a section of oddities, including a chicken with a crazy long tail, a dinosaur egg...

...and a mummified cat that was found in the wall of a Buffalo home.  And yes, it was done on purpose by some sort of immigrant.  It was creepy but fascinating!

The main hall of the museum is probably one of the few things that remained similar over the years.  I don't think Seymour the Mastodon was the centerpiece back then, but the hall was so classic and beautiful, just like you imagine an old museum should be.

There was a biodiversity room with tons of taxidermied animals, and I found this seal intestine coat fascinating.

This Buffalo diorama was one of the other few intact spaces from when I was a kid.  I don't remember it specifically, but I recall this type of display being more of the norm in museums back then.  There was another one in the extinction room of sea life that had been there since the '30s.

I remember learning about endangered and extinct animals on my school field trip, and while that exhibit was no longer intact, they had a very cool room of endangered and extinct animal exhibits.

One thing I remember specifically was learning about the dodo bird, and look, this is what it looked like!

In that room the boys had a blast covering up the fossils in the fossil dig.  It was getting late in the day and things were getting much quieter, so the boys spent quite a while moving the rubber pellet "dirt" back over the built-in bones.  Of course, kids came in a few minutes later and started unearthing everything again, but I guess maybe they could enjoy the kids' excitement of their "discovery"?

It was almost time to go, but out in the lobby (a new atrium built on to the outside of the building that connects it to a magnet school), we got to see this guy, who has apparently been welcoming guests to a couple different sites in Buffalo for many, many decades.

The boys were enjoying these pressurized rockets.  You could pump the levers until the pressure gauges stopped changing, then release the foam rocket.  Both went well above the 15 foot mark and nearly reached the top of their guide wire!

One last set of dinosaur bones on the way out--an Albertosaurus.  His name is Stanley...after the Cup, I presume, since he and Seymour both came from the same donor, and Seymour would seem to be after Seymour Knox III, the Sabres' original, long-time owner.  Just a guess, but that would seem to be a very Buffalo thing to do :)

Anyway, we left the museum to find a very breezy but absolutely lovely warm day, hence the rush to get back to my parents' house and get some outside time for all of us.  Although Jacob was hesitant about the museum and wouldn't admit he actually liked it, I think both boys enjoyed the experience.  Even though the museum was almost nothing like I remembered, it was fun to see it again and give the boys a little bit of an adventure on their spring break.

Spring Break-ish

It's been a while...sorry.  I guess not much has been going on, at least not in comparison to all that I knew would be happening later this week into the weekend.  I'd been spending weeks waiting to get to mid-April, and it finally got here!  Last weekend was my cousin's baby shower.  It was on the Niagara River, and the sunset as we sat there was gorgeous!

The next morning I captured this shot of a blue jay outside my parents' house...

The boys were on spring break this week and Craig and I split the week.  He was off with them on Monday and Wednesday, and I was off Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The weather early in the week was pretty awful, so it meant a lot of time in the house.  On Tuesday the boys and I did our annual egg dyeing.

Ignore Carter's face...he was doing it on purpose.  Grrrr.

Jacob made Toronto Raptors' themed ones, and we experimented with rubber bands and white crayons.

His old school purple and red Raptors one was pretty cool :)

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon working on the reorganization of our office.  I dismantled our desk, moved the old dresser/changing table into its spot, and moving Jacob's old bookshelf in.  It definitely opens up the room a bit!

On Wednesday we decided to do frozen yogurt for dinner to use up coupons the boys had that were expiring.  Why not, right?
 

The weather had improved by Wednesday, so the boys went out to a playground in the city so Jacob could play on a nice basketball court.  Craig took this picture of Carter, who was apparently channeling Star Wars as he played.

Our big plans were Thursday, when I wanted to take the kids to the Buffalo Museum of Science, where I hadn't been since I was probably just a little older than Jacob.  But before heading there, we did a detour to the Broadway Market, which is an Easter tradition in Buffalo, especially if you're Polish.  We only make it every other year or so, and even though the boys weren't thrilled, we made it work.

Butter lambs!

Admittedly, with a gluten-free kid it's a bit more of a minefield, but he did enjoy sampling flavored popcorn and both boys ended up with a little bag of flavored nuts, which made the trip much more tolerable for them.  I got a couple new Polish eggs to add to my collection.

I'll skip the museum for now to give it a post of its own!  After the museum we headed back to my parents' house for the evening.  It was a pleasant 70+ degree day, and even though it was mostly cloudy by that point, it was still a good night to hang out outside.  I went out for a run shortly after dinner, and then I made good on my promise to get Jacob to a basketball court.  Unfortunately, the really nice one was occupied so we ended up back in my old neighborhood at a different one.  The kids at that one were closer to his age, so he was able to play for a little while, as Carter and I went over to the playground.  

This playground was the site of my main childhood playground.  It's completely different now, but as Carter played I was picturing exactly where each and every piece of equipment was.  I bet I could guess it within a few feet!  I was trying to explain one piece of equipment, a spinning ride, to Carter, and ended up using my Google Photos app to bring up a picture from my scans of my parents' pictures:

That's my brother at about five years old.

On the site of the main playset now was once a giant tornado slide!  It was so big and clearly wouldn't be up to safety standards now.  Between the height and the metal surface that could burn you on a hot day, it was a force to be reckoned with!

There used to be a public pool on the site, as well, and the swings backed up to it.  Here's me on a baby swing...

This picture is a sweet one--if only our whole relationship was that sweet!  Ha!  These swings lined the back of the park.  When I saw this picture, I marveled a bit...

...because if you look in this picture (toward the basketball court Jacob was playing on), the green house to the left of center and the tudor to the left of that are both visible in the picture above.

I would have loved to raise my kids in a neighborhood like this, with tons of kids and easily accessible play areas like this.  And that I can see that the area surrounding it hasn't changed much definitely made me marvel a bit at how it's been so many years since these were my stomping grounds!

That field beyond is where the pool used to be, and just beyond that walkway I found what I think was a footer for the swings.

Carter loved spinning on this thing!

My crazy little climber!

There's still a pretty big slide, but not quite what it once was!  He even managed to climb back up this one!

It was a fun little stop for Carter, and a little dose of nostalgia for me.  Unfortunately, the kids Jacob played with weren't the best, but I think it was important for him to get in some basketball on that pleasant day.  We had a fun one, and were all pretty beat that night!

We had a church and family day on Friday, and today is just a chill kind of day with a couple plans before we head back to Rochester for the night.  Craig is working a game, and then tomorrow we'll be back to spend Easter with his family.  Easter weekend is always a good one.  But first...our trip to the museum!

Boy Mom Blues

You may recall that when I found out Carter was a boy, I was pretty torn on the whole subject.  I mean, I was super relieved that his ultrasound showed he was healthy, but the boy thing was tough for a bit.  It meant I'd most likely never have a daughter, and that made me sad.  I value my relationship with my mom, and I felt like I'd be missing out on something by not having that with my own daughter.  After all, when boys grow up they "leave" their mom and their wife becomes the most important woman in their life (and if that's not the case, it gets awkward), but for girls, their mom can always be their best friend and it's completely socially acceptable.  Eventually losing that connection with my boys definitely bummed me out.

The thing is, I know I'm probably a better boy mom than I would be a girl mom.  I loved dolls as much as anyone when I was a kid, but now some dolls are weird and little girl stuff is oversexualized, so I think I'd have a hard time with toys and clothes.  I was never good at hair or makeup, so I'd be lost there.  I only liked shopping trips with my mom because I got to hang out with her alone.  The actual clothes part was miserable.  Buying bras was awkward enough the first time around, and giving a period talk probably makes me more nervous than any of the stuff I had to discuss with Jacob a few weeks ago.  My never-solved low self-esteem issues as a tween/teenager leave me at a loss to help anyone else through that era.  I feel like I'd be completely clueless.  Empathetic, but clueless.

I'm probably wrong, but for whatever reason, boys seem harder to screw up.  I've still probably managed to do just that with Jacob anyway, but with a girl with a fragile ego or a (completely foreign-to-me) independent streak still seems harder to wrangle.  I'm not sure anyone can truly keep up with the energy of little boys, so I can't really be judged on that, but otherwise I don't feel like boys are as hard.  Or at least, if I take Jacob out of the equation as he has to be an exception for so many reasons, Carter has been infinitely easier than I would imagine any girl would be.  Dressing boys is easier and toys seem way less complicated.  They are probably defiant but tend to have a lower level of sass, which would probably drive me nuts coming from my mini-me.  Lower drama and lower maintenance are both right up my alley, but as my kids get older, I'm discovering my next challenge.

I'm finding it very hard to relate to my kids right now.  I'm sure a girl would bring her own fair share of issues-- i.e., who is this crazy person and what did she do to my daughter--but I'm finding myself having less in common with the boys as time goes on.  Luckily Carter is still pretty cuddly so I'll always take some quality snuggle time, but I know my time is limited in that realm, too.  But when it comes to quality time and conversations, it's getting so much harder.  When they were little, we talked about simple things--their day, their toys, simple TV shows, or other familiar things.  Our playtime was simple, and we had lots of cuddle time.  But now...they're both in school all day, and the stories that come out of there are far more complex than anything at daycare.  Keeping track of which friends they're cool with and which friends aren't friends is very hard, considering it can change on a day-by-day basis.  I also don't know these kids, or at least not well, and playdates just haven't been a thing--in either direction--and honestly, I'm not sure when we'd have the time anyway.

They both gravitate toward screens, and I admittedly have little-to-no interest in what they're doing.  Carter plays every random, weird game possible, and Jacob spends his time watching weird YouTube videos and searching shopping sites for basketball equipment and sneakers.  Carter's TV choices are getting far less educational and far more like brainless entertainment.  Both of them talk about this stuff all. the. time.  And because none of it interests me--and because it is so constant--it's so hard to really pay attention to the degree that I need to.  I'm constantly multitasking, be it around the house because I have to or flipping through my phone because I need a mental break, and you'd be shocked how hard it is to truly pay attention to something that you're just not into, to the degree of detail the conversation might necessitate.  I know that parental wisdom dictates that I should be into their stuff no matter what because it's their stuff, but that only goes so far.  Here's the thing--my brain is full.  On any given day, between home and work, I already have so much on my mind.  And when you've been "on" all day, sometimes you just want quiet, which makes it extra hard to listen.  There's only so much detail I can absorb about every type of basketball shoe or ball, or this player or that team, or how you play this weird app or who the character is in this weird cartoon.  And when it's all coming at me at once, it's impossible.  My brain literally blocks it out sometimes.

I try to play with them as much as I can, be it shooting hoops with Jacob or racing Carter, but when I'm home I usually have an endless to do list, so it takes some effort to set that stuff aside (and not end up in a deeper hole).  When we're not outside (like all winter), options are limited.  Carter needs to be forced to play with real toys, and Jacob considers himself too old for any of that stuff.  I can't even relate to him on music because our tastes are completely different, and even food has been a sore subject lately because Jacob is tired of our limited gluten-free options for meals at home, meals out, and snacks.  Add in the fact that I'm constantly yelling at the kids to stay away from each other, and you can see I'm not the most welcome conversation/play mate right now.  We're just not connecting on anything, and I can't help but wonder where we go from here?

I wish I had an answer.  I feel overextended and overwhelmed by life in general, and unfortunately I know my kids feel that.  The fine line between self-care and selfishness is a tough one some days.  I need to make time for my kids, but mentally sometimes I can't process another random detail.  I want to stay in shape, but is it selfish to take 30-45 minutes every other day to squeeze in a workout when so many other things need to be done?  I can't say no to housework forever (it's bad enough even with what I manage to get done), and we can't eat out that often so I have to take the time to shop and cook.  Maybe if I cut out evening TV and social media time I could go to bed earlier and wake up refreshed, but that cuts into time alone with Craig and I won't get much done during the little "me time" I have.  I know I'm not alone in this struggle--most moms feel it--and I really do know that I have a good life.  I have all I need and I am blessed.  For real.  But I still have struggles and it's still something I need to work through, not just for my sake, but my kids'.  They need to know they're loved and feel connected, and right now I'm not sure that's happening.  I'm hoping next week when I'm off with the kids it's an opportunity to make some new connections, but I fear it will just be more time than usual for me to tell them to get off electronics and stop bugging each other.  Sigh.  We shall see...

Life and Death

Last week was a bit of an odd one.  On one hand, I had babies on the brain.  On the other, my thoughts were at the exact opposite end of the spectrum--death.

My co-worker is a month out from her first baby, and it's been a long time coming.  It took so much just to get pregnant and some very good luck to stay pregnant, and now they're in the home stretch.  It's so exciting, and we finally got to celebrate her this past week.  It was fun sitting around the table and reminiscing about babyhood.  It's shocking to realize how far out we are from that phase now.  When I think about how Carter is six, it blows my mind.  My cousin's baby shower is this coming week, so it will be more of the same.

I tried to figure out why I get so excited about babies, particular first babies.  They're exciting, no doubt, but why do I find it darn near intoxicating?  I think it's because it's the beginning of a total game-changer.  You're in the final home stretch of your time as just a couple, with so many "new" things ahead.  The entire dynamic changes.  And while it can go very bad--which is probably one of the factors that always makes me a little anxious on others' wedding days--there is just something unique about that first baby experience.  Trying to figure it out together, to find your new normal, to see another side of your spouse come out, to relive your childhoods together through this new little person...it's life-altering.  To see someone in the final stages before all of this probably seems novel to me now.  As spring was in the air this week I was thinking about this time of year when I was pregnant with Jacob.  I had a few months to go, we had showers coming up, and we were starting our childbirth and parenting classes.  Oh, and there was also the complication of a car accident and new car buying, but that's another story.  There was so much happening and it was all so new and exciting.  Hard to believe that was 11 years ago now.

This week also sent my thoughts to the other end of the life cycle.  On Wednesday I found out that an old co-worker of ours had passed away.  She was only 43.  We worked with her for a year or so early in our days with the Amerks.  She was a couple years out of a very successful college hockey career, and had already beat Hodgkin's Disease.  She was such a positive, energetic person--always smiling.  That was pre-Facebook, so when she left we lost touch, but Craig saw her a year and a half ago at a lacrosse tournament, and last summer she swam across Canandaigua Lake with a former co-worker of mine from my last job, who had become a great friend of hers.  But apparently in January she started having some health concerns, and it turned out to be a rare form of liver cancer.  She battled it so hard, but near the end she went septic, and I have to think that hastened things along.  She left behind a husband and four kids.  It's truly heartbreaking, and she's been on my mind a lot.

Then a couple days ago, my high school friend's dad passed.  He'd had cancer, but it seems that he must have gone downhill fast because he was doing okay just a few weeks ago.  I didn't really know him--we'd met maybe a few times--but he was a pastor at a church in my hometown, so he was pretty visible.  But he was too young for this and it's just a shame.  He was beloved by so many people and it hit hard to see him go.

Lesson learned, yet again...life is short.  Maybe that's why I woke up on Saturday like a woman on a mission.  I was determined to finally patch and paint the area around our thermostat--the thermostat that was changed out with our central air almost three years ago.  Oops.  There was a patch of white wall behind it as it was much smaller than our old one, and the thought of trying to figure out how to sand it and paint it just left me panicked.  And yet, I woke up and had to do it.  So I did.  It was a solid effort but not without drama.  I didn't get it as smooth as I would have liked, and then I accidentally picked the wrong paint color.  Who knew that our fireplace wall (that I knew was "Latte" from a previous patch job) was an accent wall, and all of our other walls are a shade lighter ("Beige")?  All this time I thought it was how the light hit, but now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it.  Drama aside, it's done.  Maybe someday I'll try to do it better, but it's done.  Then I put out eight bags of mulch.  I did a load of laundry.  I dragged the boys out to three errands--to pick up my new smoothie blender that I ordered last week and now need because the one that was on its last legs officially bit the dust that morning; to the dollar store to check for a couple things; and to Walmart to pick up some stuff for my big organization project.  Oh, and in the middle of all that, I decided to try cleaning some mini-blinds in the shower.  Ours are filthy--dusty, oddly sticky--and I've been meaning to do it for months...or maybe years.  But I finally pulled down one set, rigged it up in the shower, and did some trial and error to figure out how to clean them (scrub brush with shampoo, change the venting and flip for essentially four rounds of scrubbing, rinse with the handheld shower attachment).  I ended up finishing three sets.  Four more to go--six if I dig into the basement office.

Speaking of the office, that's next up.  I changed out Jacob's bookshelf today with one we bought last night, so his tiered cube shelf is going to the office.  The desktop computer will be packed away, the desk tossed (it's been falling apart for years and it's so big), and I'm going to reorganize all the rest of the stuff that's in the desk.  I also used a couple underbed storage bags to hide gift bags and tissue paper under the couch in the office.  In an unrelated move, I also bought a giant bin to put all of our photo albums in, which is supposed to free up space in our dining room shelf/cabinet for extra food and/or appliances.  Turns out the bin weighs about a million pounds, so it will be going back to the store in exchange for two smaller ones.  I also need to buy an external hard drive to put all of our digital photos on that will be staying at my parents' house.  Since Flickr was my backup of choice and they changed their policy, I need a new backup, and I figure having everything in two locations is all I can do.

So, yeah, whether it was the urgency of death or the springing of spring or a perceived lack of control, I have no idea.  But it feels good to get things done.  There are probably a million more other things that should be more important (plumber, tree service), but when the mood strikes, I'll take it.  I also fit in a run and some races with Carter, and did a lot of kid separating.  So it was a full weekend.  Hopefully we'll have some fun ahead next weekend, and even more the following week for spring break and Easter, but I have a lot of work days to get through first.  I'm sure I'll be wishing them away, against my better judgment, but it's hard not to when we get a little break from the usual!  I can't wait!  

So many things...

I feel like lately my mind is just full of stuff that I keep ruminating on over and over.  Some of it's indecision, some of it is timing, some of it is the time of year.  Here's just a sampling:

1) Babies - Not mine, thankfully.  My co-worker is a month away from her due date and my younger cousin's baby shower is next week.  I'm so happy for both of them as this is the first time for each of them.  Neither had an easy road, so seeing them this close to the end is exciting.  Looking at shower gifts for my cousin and putting together a must-buy list for my co-worker (she's not having a real shower prior and has no local family so I put together a must-have, recommend, and nice-to-have/later list for her, that she can use to strategize once we give her a generous gift card tomorrow) definitely took me back.  This, after all, was the time of year when my showers were, and I remember just how exciting/terrifying those last couple months were.  We were readying the house, had a room full of baby gifts, were attending birth and parenting classes, and watching my belly get bigger and bigger.  And it was spring, which made it even better, and there was just so much to be excited about.  As crazy as it felt at the time, I miss the simplicity of those days!  We had no idea what was ahead, and it was fun to have such a big event ahead!

2) Spring - We are all just craving spring like crazy.  The weather has given us a few very brief, barely-there peeks of spring--enough for two outside runs for me--but that's been about it.  No extended pleasant weather, unless you count a solid week of sun we had when it was super chilly outside a few weeks ago.  We have seen more sun, and I think our grass is getting a little greener, but aside from some crocuses, it looks like real spring is still a ways away.  Jacob wants to shoot hoops, Carter wants to run, and I think we all just want to feel some legit warmth!

3) House Stuff - We have so many things that need to be done around the house.  We're months overdue on getting a plumber in to do a number of things, including replacing a pressure regulator valve, fixing our shower diverter, replacing our bathroom sink, and fixing the kitchen faucet and disposal.  We just don't know who to hire, so I keep putting it off.  We need to replace the side door to our garage since the window in it broke this winter.  It's still intact in the frame, but the door is old and probably needs to be changed out.  We have diseased trees in our yard that need to be looked at.  My dated kitchen (the one that was such a breath of fresh air when we moved in) is starting to frustrate me, but that's a whole huge can of worms I should not open just yet.  I also picked up an order from Lowe's tonight that had a new smoke detector (one of ours only beeped quietly), a new toilet fill valve (ours is getting stuck so the toilet won't refill properly), and eight bags of mulch (because the flower beds need it).  All of that needs attending to, but I did get the smoke detector installed tonight.  On the smaller side, I'm finally ready to pack away our old desktop computer, which means I can ditch our giant office desk and reorganize the storage in the office.  I'm currently stuck on just how I want to do that, but I'm eager to move that along--even though we're barely even in that room.  Still, it felt good to clean items off the old computer and take one step toward simplifying something in our lives!

4) Coming Attractions - We have some fun stuff coming up in the next couple weeks, and I'm in one of those modes where time essentially can't move fast enough to get us there.  It doesn't help that I'm actually in a lull at work.  While this is a welcome first lull in about two years, I'm getting antsy because part of the break is waiting on other people and I know there will be a crush coming soon.  But in the meantime the days are dragging a bit, which makes the wait even harder.  The kids actually have a random day off on Monday (Craig is staying with them), and then I have to leave work early on Friday to pick up the kids (and possibly my aunt) and head to Buffalo for my cousin's shower.  Craig will be on the road, so the plan is to stay for a bit on Saturday and hopefully hit up an Easter egg hunt somewhere, or even try to go to the Broadway Market in Buffalo for a bit.  The kids are off the entire next week.  Craig will be with them Monday and Tuesday, and I'll be off with them Wednesday through Friday.  I'd like to go to Buffalo on Thursday and take the kids to the science museum, since I haven't been there in ages and they currently have a Lego exhibit.  We'll stay for all of the usual Good Friday family/church stuff, and while we could go home Saturday, Craig encouraged us to just stay the weekend and he'll meet us on Sunday morning after his Saturday night home game.  It's always a toss up between a lot of back-and-forth vs. having two cars there on Easter.  Carter really wanted to do the breakfast at my parents' church, so we'll see if the plan to stay sticks.  We'll actually be back in town the following weekend, too, for my cousin's daughter's first birthday.  It's a lot of driving, but it's all good stuff so even though these stretches are tiring, they're worth it.  I still have some stuff to do to prepare for Easter, so I shouldn't be rushing it, but I'd really like to get the show on the road.

5) Kid Stuff - As usual, the kids keep my mind preoccupied constantly.  There's always the normal frustration with them not getting along.  Jacob's been mouthy and Carter has been a bit pesky, and both of those things have made Craig and me crazy.  But when they start turning on each other--Jacob making fun of Carter and Carter bugging Jacob for no reason--it just gets exhausting trying to get them away from each other.  My bigger issue right now is technology.  Jacob either plays basketball (in his room or outside), plays Xbox, or plays on Craig's phone.  There pretty much is nothing else.  He has no desire to read, doesn't really watch TV, and is otherwise bored when any of those first activities aren't happening.  He wants his own phone, which is tempting given how much he complains about it--and yes, he'll probably need one next year at least to listen to music on the bus--but if he has one there's nothing stopping him from being on it all the time.  And Carter will have a screen in front of his face unless he's expressly banned from it.  He has a ton of toys and plays so nicely with them when he does play, but it's rare unless we force him to.  Otherwise, he's either watching a show or playing on the tablet or Craig's phone.  All. The. Time.  And yes, I know that's our fault, but I end up being the main enforcer and it gets tiring.  Last night I made Carter do a giant stack of sight word flash cards before he could play, and I think we need to keep that up because his reading isn't quite where I'd like it to be.  But between the two kids, the complaints when electronics aren't in the mix are intolerable and yet I almost want to ban everything outright for a bit just so they realize there is more to life than a screen.  I just need to have the willpower to deal with the misery.

Normal life is challenging enough most of the time and it's so hard to find room to deal with the rest of this stuff on a daily basis.  I know this is the small stuff, truly, and we're so blessed, but some days it's pretty overwhelming.  One way to deal with a lot of this stuff is to just DO it so it can be crossed off the list, but it takes some effort to take those steps, and some days it just isn't there.  But day by day...one thing at a time...