Elation and Advent

Well hello! I feel a bit like a big ol' mama bear emerging from her den in the spring, blinking in the sunlight and surprised to see life happening all around. I just finished off my last exam of the semester tonight and am ELATED. Oh happy day!

So what's been going on around here, you ask?

Well, this guy has been pulling way more than his fair share of the weight, keeping us all afloat and fighting off the wave of clutter and dirty dishes that would drown us if I was in charge right now... and for that, I am truly grateful. Mitch has always been a good dad, but it's fun to see the kids in settling into an easy day-to-day relationship with him. (Even if it does sting just a tiny bit when the do eeny-meeny-miney-mo and the loser gets me.)

Maren is continuing to blossom into her own unique self, more and more everyday. When the three of them came to pick me up today, Maren came with me on a few errands around the halls of the university. It was so funny... I felt such a glowing sense of pride, just so proud to say that this smart, radiant, joyful, kind, creative kid? Yeah, I'm with her. She also lost another tooth yesterday, which makes her all new again.

And Malcolm? He's such an interesting guy, all cuddly and cool at the same time. He and Mitch have been having some interesting talks lately... seems the boy is rather concerned about how being an adult works. Where will I live? he wants to know. How will I know how to live by myself? Won't I be lonely? How will I get money? What if I don't get enough money, then where will I live? Will I have to sleep outside by myself? How do I know what clothes to buy? It's all very stressful, apparently.

What else? Friends got married (yay Liz!), another little nephew should be arriving any day now (yay Seth!), I've been spending way too much time with Boomshine (soooo soothing) and "facebook therapy" to get me through papers... now that I've come up for air, maybe we can do something about getting ready for Christmas! We've completely missed out on our usual Advent traditions this year, which is kind of a bummer.

But we have been thinking a lot about Christmas, and I'll leave you with this video, which is part of all that thinking....