We have been on holiday; my oldest is at home and goes back to college in a couple of days. As he says, in a month he’ll be halfway through his college undergrad years!
The kids played Settlers of Catan yesterday after we got home from Easter Mass and family festivities. They were going to play Mystery of the Abbey today but I don’t know if they got around to it. The “Easter squirrels” (as we termed them since this is the time of year when they dart in front of your Suburban just as you’re going by; we haven’t hit one yet but that’s not to THEIR credit; so we are joking that they are rather impulsive emissaries of the Easter bunny) brought the kids plenty of sweet things since we were dessert-free during Lent. So yesterday and today were a bit emotionally fragile for Paddy, who feels sugar ups and downs more than the rest of us. The rest of us just like sugar but it doesn’t whack us out.
Aidan’s OT is coming on Mondays now instead of Thursdays. Today she didn’t have any toys so she just massaged him and did the Wilbarger brushing protocol.
Sean just finished reading a four book omnibus — the Midshipman Quinn Collection. I guess he liked it since he read it in a couple of days. Now he is reading Cleared for Action — another omnibus. Kieron has been reading Redwalls.
A bunch of online orders all came at the same time so now Brendan has 2 NFL footballs and Sean has a costume fedora and the kids have the soundtrack to Pirates and I have a bunch of fine point pens.
Another little jackpot — the tiny local library is getting rid of a BUNCH of books and the librarian, who considers us wonderful patrons of the library since we are there so much, called us to let us know there were absolutely piles of books on sale there. Furthermore, when we made our choices she let us have them free! (they are normally 10 cents each but still, free beats that). There were even a bunch of picture books on tape. Thrilling! I know we got a Landmark “Balboa” and a Albert Marrin biography of Hitler, plus “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” — can’t remember what else but there were some nice ones. Now we really need new shelves.
She is hoping that the county budget provides some new books because they probably discarded about a fifth of the children’s collection.
The weather has been beautiful and the kids are out pretty much every day. I need to steel myself to start going outside with the little ones. Because it is a holiday, I am reading up a storm; working through a volume of the Summa, part of Newman’s Grammar of Assent, and reading several of the books that my Dad has written. The one I’m reading now is “Must we All Die? Alaska’s Enduring STruggle with Tuberculosis” — it is actually really absorbing reading.
Music around here at present: Baroque.
For dinner: Homemade pizza.
Boring, random post, I know — I could go on and on about the books. AH! I’ll be sorry when the vacation is over. It is SO fun just reading and reading, and hanging around with the kids and Kevin.
Paddy in tux at Easter — he is going to be ringbearer in his oldest cousin’s wedding this spring. 
