Pictures on the Fridge....

Tonight Mike and I were talking in the kitchen. I caught sight of my fridge, covered in family pictures. It's how I stay in touch (in my heart.) I go to get the milk out and there are Dave and Char and their kids smiling at me... Any time I reach for a drink, I see Tammy and Toby cutting their wedding cake... There are my brothers in Steeler gear, my nieces and nephews. (The missionaries came to dinner once and looking at my fridge said - why do you have pictures of the Walker family on your fridge? They didn't know they were family....) Anyway, I could have a nice, pristine kitchen and maybe someday some stainless steel appliances but I would have some heartache giving up all the pictures on my fridge.

Anyway - looking at the fridge tonight we discovered a cute adjustment to Andrew's football picture. WHO DID THIS????

1000 Pieces - All In Their Place!

We love to do puzzels! This is our Christmas puzzel - it only took 3 months. And we are done! (It took a lot less time to take it apart - about 3 seconds!) Why do I love puzzels - let's see, 1000 little pieces all in their own place, contributing to a big beautiful picture (that sometimes you lose sight of along the way,) but it all comes together in the end. Sounds like life and raising kids and step by step progress on any project. Puzzels... who knew?

Happy Easter!

Eleven Years of "11 Second" Easter Egg Hunts

This year marks the end of an era - our kids are now officially TOO OLD for the Liberty Lake Easter Egg Hunt. It was Melissa's last year in the 11 second scramble for candy and prizes. (I may be generous here - it's closer to 8 seconds. Professional bullriding has nothing on these kids in search of chocolate.) We've been to every one of them over the last 11 years in Liberty Lake.

Over the years we've learned some things. Never arrive late - even by 10 seconds. Sometimes you find the golden egg - Katie did one year! Not much candy fits in those eggs but it makes for a great breakfast. It is just as fun to help as to participate - Katie and Dad had a great time with that last year! Happy Easter!

Holes

Melissa and I just finished reading Holes. She was reading it for school and was assigned a few chapters every night. We took turns reading every other paragraph. We were really GOOD and didn't read ahead - though we were tempted. Holes is a great book that combines a bit of "tall-tales" storytelling with the realities of growing up. Melissa is a great reading partner!

I get so excited to share my love of reading with my kids. When we read the same books and can have a conversation about them it is great! They all like to suggest books for my book club group to read. Actually I love young adult books. Katie just shared one with me - Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar. I read it in 3 days, loved the humor, sarcasm and teenager point of view. Let me introduce you to the Tom Swifty...."I love to read," Tom said bookishly. "I have to go to the bathroom," Tom said peevishly.

Funny - one of my memories of 6th or 7th grade is being assigned to read The Yearling (you know - Flag the little deer.) After we read it, we took a test and I scored 100%. I remember thinking, what a dumb test. It was just questions about everything that we had just read. What was the point, give us good grades for reading? I'll take that! That's why I was an English major before I switched to Nursing. "I guess the blood and guts were just too tempting," Deb said gruesomely.

God Bless This Irish Home

Celebrating all things IRISH! My favorite criteria for being Irish comes from Melissa. (Thanks to my very sporatic journal - I can now enjoy this little comment.) When she was about 3 or 4 she said "Aunt Carol is Irish." "How do you know?" "Because she is fancy!" We love fancy Aunt Carol!

I put food coloring in the girls milk for breakfast and Megan asked me if it was spoiled. Gee, Megan, like the color wouldn't have tipped me off. I decorated the girls lunch bags. All their lunch table friends are jealous I am told. (Katie and Andrew are way past this stage and would DIE if I broke from the plain brown bag mode....)

We enjoyed corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Did I say WE - I use that term loosely. I mean Megan, Mike and I. The rest of the kids moaned and groaned and talked me into leftovers. Oh well, more corned beef for us!

Top O' the Morning to Ye Lads and Lassies! Love the O'Mullins!

Date Night for Mom and Dad

Katie, Megan and Melissa planned a great DATE NIGHT for us this weekend. They set a table for two in the dinning room with our best china and chargers, and served us dinner, complete with candlelight, menus, and ambiance music. They dressed in black skirts and white shirts and served everything very properly on gold serving trays. It was a complete SURPRISE and we had a great date! It was actually very fun to sit there and talk and be served a wonderful, made to order dinner.

We had pretzels dipped in brownie batter for our appetizer along with Melissa's Famous Smoothie. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes for a main course and Mike had the spaghetti. Warm cookies and ice cream for dessert and even some live piano music. It was a very fun surprise from some very creative girls.

We overheard a bit of fighting and arguing from the kitchen crew every once in a while. (Melissa almost lost her job because she was spying on the guests.) Katie has decided that management is over-rated - they don't always do what you tell them to do! But it was a FABULOUS date for us - even if I had to do the dishes!

Did I Speak Too Soon?

Okay, it is snowing as I speak - well, as I write actually. I woke up Sunday morning and found SNOW - regardless of blooming crocuses and an order for warmer weather - there was snow on the ground. Cruel Mother Nature is teasing us with a few warm and sunny days and then a relapse. But, it melted quickly. BUT, tonight it is snowing again! I just went to get the mail with Annie and we both came back covered in SPRING SNOW. I am not "dreaming of a White Easter" but I do remember one once back in Pittsburgh!

Spring - Please Come!

We watch every year for the first little bulb to poke its head through the ground. The girls get so excited - me too! We have had a VERY cold and snowy winter here in the northwest and it seems that a month ago we were having school cancelations for snow - but here is our first crocus! There is hope for spring! YEAH! We discovered this brave little flower when Tammy was visiting.

Can I Do This?

Tammy tells me I can DO this. I can blog even though I am over 40.... (just barely.) Did you know that blog stands for WEB LOG? Cool huh? A log of our happenings on the web...

So as mundane and boring and normal (we think) as our life is here in the Mullin household, maybe I will "web log" about it every once in awhile. (That is when I am not DRIVING a carpool, DOING laundry, COOKING dinner, READING a good book (every once in a while...) doing something for church, GUIDING kids thru homework, HELPING husband, TAKING a walk, reading someone else's blog... and generally RUNNING nonstop from sun up to sun down.)