Me and My House

Another one of my infrequent family updates:

• Len went to a veterinary conference in Roanoke last week. He's experimenting with blogging! The head of the house is also the ultimate team player; yesterday, for example, he drove the afternoon carpool (5:00 p.m. in northern VA--ugh!) AND took David to (and from) Sea Scouts.
• Lauren continues to spend lots of hours on her school work and art projects. Spring break is coming up, so she'll be home for Daniel's Confirmation. We'll see her for a few days as we are just one of the entries on her social calendar.
• David is looking forward to the spring lacrosse season. Practice has been delayed by SNOW! (We all enjoyed Monday's snow day.) He's become more fun with age. Dave's not my buddy (that would be weird), but we have been sharing some enjoyable experiences: rounds of bananagrams, crossword puzzle cooperation (our team can just keep up with Len), and a new tv show. It's too hard to watch a PG-13 show at 9:00 on a Friday night (noisy siblings who may not watch, bedtime for youngers, etc.), so we've been watching together a few days later on his laptop.
• Daniel will be playing on the middle school lacrosse team. He's 14 now (NO!), and had a fun party with school and neighborhood friends. They shared pizza, ping pong, and a diabolically difficult treasure hunt (an hour and a half?). Saturday he will be confirmed. We're looking forward to sharing the sacrament and celebration with family and friends.
• Joseph is happily tearing through the Ranger's Apprentice series. I think they're the Cliff's Notes version of Tolkein, but that's part of what he likes--quicker reading, more action per page. Joe participated in a violin recital last weekend. I thought he was fine, but he specifically asked me to NOT post the video here, so you are out of luck.
• I think Marianna may be turning into one of our bookworms. She is required to read for 30 minutes a day, but can often be found with a book during her extracurricular time. This is amazing because she is still very sociable, enjoying her time playing with any of the many girls in our neighborhood. Marianna seems to be maturing lately, noticing needs and offering help. She's a wonderful roommate for Rebecca.
• Rebecca's cast came off last Thursday, but she is still convinced that she can't walk. The doctor told me that some children take 7-10 days to get back up to speed, but I'm surprised with her apparent lack of progress now (day 6). She'll haul herself onto chairs and stools and scooch around the house on her bottom. She'll stand up, too, but without bearing weight on her cast-foot. Becca hobbled on it a bit on day 2, but no more.
• As for me, I have spurts of productivity, but feel I'm focused mostly on laundry, food, and other basics. (I'm definitely more Martha than Mary!) And by the time the day is winding down and I can start on projects (big or small), I rarely have the focus or energy. Something to strive for, I suppose.