Best before June 28. 2008

First, the bad news: before all the fun, I fell down the stairs and broke my little toe. I'll make it.

Now the good news:

We went to the sisters (5-7) dance recital with the babies. I don't know why I thought that Silas wouldn't enjoy it. There was loud music, people dancing around the stage and lots of clapping involved. Those are the majority of things Silas loves. Joel's eyes are closed in this picture because he hadn't had any sleep. Besides L,K&S being fantastic dancers and definitly the best to watch, I thought the recital was fun because the boy's cousins Anabelle and Ava (4yrs/2yrs) kept dropping their toys over the rail into the aisle and telling Andrea after every dance "Mama, it's time to go home now." I was entertained by the variety of answers Andrea gave as to why it was not, in fact, time to go home. For some reason "No, we have to stay because it's about to get really great" and "Just 22 more songs before Laura dances her own special dance" did not deter them from asking over and over and over. I laugh out loud even now as I write about it. By the way, Joel and the babies didn't make it all the way to Laura's solo. They went home at intermission as planned.

So Joel headed home Sunday and the rest of us Fanks stayed on to help play with the various children coming and going throughout the week. At one point there were 12 children all under 4th grade, but 2/3 of them had mommies present.

We made it back to Little Rock just in time to welcome Phil and Kathleen in from Houston for a short visit. We walked the flat-double-jogging-stoller-friendly trail at Pinnacle Mountain and watched half of a new favorite movie: "Stranger than Fiction". I reccomend it.


Tuesday, I cooked dinner for a family I don't know with a new baby. I signed up through the spouses auxiliary because no one else was signing up. Then I found out that the family is living with mother's parents so I was supposed to provide a meal for everyone. I was kindof bitter about this (1. why do they need someone to cook for them? Surely it doens't take 4 adults to care for one little baby and a 5 year old! 2. We didn't have enough of what I cooked for us to eat so we ate mashed potatoes for dinner that night. OK, techically, that one was my fault.)
Anyway, since I had a bad attitude about it, I thought I should cook something nicer than I originally planned to see if I couldn't change the way I felt. I made pork tenderloin with fig and blue cheese, garlic whipped potatoes, mixed baby green salad with balsamic vinagrette, rolls (from the freezer) and chocolate chip pie. I didn't feel much better but I was proud of the menu I came up with.

We've nearly settled back into our routine here. We played with Garrett the neighbor and will play with Eleanor tomorrow- both activities scheduled into our weekly routine that I really enjoy about living here in Little Rock.

Here are developemental milestones worth noting:
Silas- has officially done away with morning nap/rest time. I miss this time dearly, but it also has allowed for time with just Silas and me. He is climbing and jumping on everything, including poor Lewis. It doesn't go over well with Lewis so we've nixed it. No more jumping on Lewis. It's a rule. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate another rule that fairly disallows children younger than 4 from grabbing things from off the countertop and carrying them around the house and up the stairs. So far, I haven't come up with anything, but it would sure solve a lot of problems around here if I could. Finally, Silas' most common phrase right now is "I'll be right back." But truth be told, he never comes right back.

Micah- is going to be mobile pretty soon. He likes to sleep on his tummy now so we dont' lay him on his back anymore. He just rolls right over, losing his paci in the process. I never know where I'm going to find him in his bed when he wakes up. In this picture. I put him directly under the toys. I'm not sure how he rolled over the green base. Micah is also trying new food. He likes oatmeal and squash- sometimes even together.


Joel-has one more night of night-float. I think his life will improve drastically when he doesn't have to work when everyone else gets to sleep. He'll be able to mow the backyard that has become very savannah-like, and join in our daily walk through the valley. There may even be time for a couple of dates.

I-have been learning things about life that are too personal to be adequately explained in a blog. Just know that I'm growing too.

Favorites

I took Silas to the LR Zoo this week with our new friends who live at the top of street. We had a nice time together and it was so great to see how excited Silas was when he recognized the real life animals that he had seen pictures of in books. His favorites were elephants, giraffes, fish in the fish pond and the fish food dispenser.

Micah loved the zoo too. He loved it so much he didn't take a nap the entire morning.

Father's day is coming up...
I'm really glad that Joel is the dad around here. He does a great job and I'm pretty sure that he is Silas' favorite adult. Even when he's tired from floating around the hospital all night long, he takes the time and musters the energy to play with the boys full blast for a little bit before heading off to work.
Good job, Joel. I'm really proud of you.

Real superhuman powers? Intuition? Divine providence?

This is a very strange series of events.

Sunday night, 7:00pm- Joel got in the car for work. I had a "feeling" he didn't have his ID.

Sunday night, 7:10pm- Joel pulls in the driveway and tells me he forgot his ID.

Sunday night, 7:45pm- I got bit by the spider. Called Dad. Dad asks me if I'm sure it wasn't a brown recluse. I am sure. I wash my swelling hand with soap and water. Everything is fine but I keep thinking about spiders because I've never been bit by one before

Tuesday morning, 10am- I post about my superhuman powers from getting bit by the spider because I'm still thinking about spiders.

Tuesday morning, 10:30am- Silas and I go play at the pool while Micah naps. From more than 4 feet away I see a small piece of dirt or something stuck to the hem of his shorts. For about 5 seconds I disregard it until I realize I'm having the same feeling I got when Joel left his ID. I thought about how I was right about the ID, and this new feeling that I should get whatever is on Silas' shorts ("it might be a spider!"; because I have spiders on the brain) off his shorts IMMEDIATELY.
It's a spider. It's a suspicious looking spider. I'm not sure if he's dead or not so I flick him off and he lands in the pool. He's NOT DEAD!!!! I catch him a plastic container with a lid and think to myself that I'll look him up to see if he is indeed what I fear: a brown recluse.

Tuesday afternoon, 3:30pm- I look up brown recluses on the omniscent internet, but I can't remember what my spider trapped in the tupperware box looks like.

Tuesday evening, 6:30pm- I tell Joel about the "feeling" and the spider and we return to the box.
It was a brown recluse.

Most parts of this story are non-fictional

I got bit by a spider. I paged Joel at work because my hand was beginning to swell. He was busy so I called Dad at home during Emily's 21st birthday party. He said if I knew for sure that it wasn't a brown recluse, the only thing I could do was wash my hands and that I shouldn't be worried. I knew it wasn't a brown recluse but what Dad didn't tell me (or Joel, when he did call back) was that I should be aware of possible genetic mutations that would give me super powers.

With great power comes great responsibility. I used my powers yesterday to clean off the patio and cook macaroni and cheese for supper. I responsibily made macaroni and cheese by adding broccoli. We also ate fresh peaches and kiwi.

There is not enough adult conversation around here.