I have 5 million thoughts in my head right now, some blog worthy, some not. It is just a jumbled up mess in my head right now and I can't (or rather don't feel like) sort each of them out into a complete train of thought. I have sat, ready to blog and I type and type and type and then I reread what I just wrote and it is hard for me to follow, let alone you wonderful readers, who would only get a snippet of the information. So...in times like these I turn to the bullets...

• Swimming has become something that we all look forward to each week. Last week, as we were drying off, Donny Barley and his daughter came in to go for a swim. Donny Barley is a pro skateboarder and it's really awesome to see how excited R.C. gets around him. We occasionally see him around town (he has a skate shop downtown) and R.C. has been to his shop to talk with him in the past...but maybe he wasn't prepared for a family of fans to greet him while he was in his swim trunks.
• I have been making yogurt for our family and LOVE how delicious, healthy and cheap it is. This last week I attempted to make soy yogurt just for something different. I failed miserably. It was horrible to look at and smell. You would think that those 2 things would deter me from eating it, but it didn't. After just half a spoonful I had enough. It was HORRIBLE! I have had soy yogurt before and enjoyed it, but this had obviously gone bad. My lesson learned...you can cut the sugar amount in anything you make except jam and soy yogurt. 
• The boys have begun a music class at the Y. Once again I felt like the proudest mother in the world. As most of the other kids (even the kids older than Russell) ran, screamed and interrupted the class, Russell and Max followed the teachers instructions beautifully. When the kids were sitting on the floor and the teacher asked, "how does piano sound?" Maxwell raised his hand, waited to be called on and then yelled out, "P". While he was correct that piano starts with the letter P, the answer she was looking for was "quiet". He was very proud of himself none the less.
• R.C. has been working, working, working. We look forward to every chance we get to see him, but we all understand that he will be home very little for the next few months, and very stressed/tired.
• After playing a family game, in which I won, called Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, R.C. said a few words that just melted my heart..."We are both smarter than 5th graders, but you are smarter than me." I will cherish this quote for the next 70+ years.
  
• Sleep has come to me once again. I am able to enjoy roughly 3 good nights of sleep out of 7 and that is a great improvement. 
• The boys are learning states and capitals. Russell is doing fantastic and has about half (yes, that would be 25) of the states and capitals memorized. One night during supper we had a fun quiz to see who knew the most capitals. The outcome was surprising. Russell was able to say the capital names before R.C. and was correct on several that R.C. answered incorrectly. (This should not be taken as an insult to R.C.. It was all in good fun and everyone was laughing and having a good time. In R.C.'s defense, he has his mind full of other things right now. I don't blame him for putting states and capitals on a back burner for the next few months.)
• The fiasco with the car was the final straw for me. Other things have happened in the neighborhood over the last year and a half and I have been able to turn my head and pretend I don't see them, but this has made it impossible to turn my head. There is a completely different vibe in the neighborhood and it's not a feeling that I want to feel each and every day. I'm ready to move. I'm not object to living in a city, I think I did a fairly good job of adjusting, but I know that I don't want to live in a neighborhood like this one.
• We went to the beach last week. We all needed a break from everything and it was a warm day (mid 40's) so we took a drive to our favorite beach. I love the beach period, but the beach in the winter is AMAZING! We were the only ones there. We had the entire beach to ourselves. While R.C. took a nap in the car (he had worked very late the night before, but still wanted to get away for a bit with us) the boys and I walked and ran along the beach as far as we could and yelled and screamed as loud as we could. R.c. did wake and joined us after a bit. 

That's all for now.