well that sprung quickly!

It seems like we're forever stuck in the throes of winter here in the northeast, then boom, everything blooms.  Those newborn baby leaves unfurling, and the tulips and the pear blossoms...we waited and waited and it was worth it.

We went to Target the other day...Sonja leaning on the cart with Achilles (in his baby sister Rhys' blanket), me, Camille, and Kathryn on the right...with Rhys in the cart...

I bought Achilles a new garbage truck...he is obsessed with garbage trucks...

Aldi hanging flowers, $7.99!

The pear tree...

Yesterday our Sonja Kathleen turned 20.  We celebrated very low key, with homemade chicken pot pie, and these are Camille's cake pops.  They're hard to make!  You bake a cake, crumble it up and mix it with frosting (I made vanilla buttercream), form little spheres and freeze them...then you dip them in melted white chocolate and somehow get the sticks to stay in them, which didn't actually happen too well.  But, they totally enjoyed them last night.

I took a quick trip to the small city with Abigail yesterday.  Sonja needed a birthday present, last minute much?  Beats, wireless ear-pods, a few pretty plants for her room, and a nice candle.  I already had some of the things, thinking I wasn't going to be here for it.  Abigail is working from home these days, she has her own bookkeeping business, so flexible hours sometimes.  

It was a baking and cooking day, with those cake pops going on, and the pie crusts...I made the chicken for the pot pies in the instant pot, so it shredded, it was so tender and flavorful.  The tiny cubed potatoes and small slices of carrots, and a bag of frozen veggies, a few chicken bullion cubes, and a quart of chicken broth, lots of rosemary, salt, pepper, onion powder...all on top of that cooked chicken, back on for seven minutes, and wow, ready to fill those crusts...some more rosemary, salt and pepper on top of the crusts and into the oven, oh the house smelled good.

All the things going on in the news these days...the abortion debate.  

I don't care one whit who likes it or not, I am totally against abortion.  You would be too, if you were me.  When Emily and Abigail were just little, I lost a baby at 12 weeks.  Traumatic:  it started suddenly, and before I knew what was actually happening, that tiny little perfectly formed baby was "born" right into my hands.  There are no words to describe the shock, but also the awe, of that tiny perfection.  It is absolutely and totally BEYOND my comprehension that someone can destroy something so completely innocent, on purpose.  Abortion isn't just something you go in and have done, and off you go.  It's ripping that small baby limb from limb, and flushing it away.  It's horrible.  Period.  There was a poll that indicated that around fifty percent of people opposed abortion after 15 weeks.  That means that around 50% support it.  I cannot EVEN.  I know, there are circumstances and conditions and things beyond what I know about, and there is rape...but the abortions performed as a result of rape are few in number, and I wonder if those pregnancies would be healing, as the baby is still a gift, but who am I to say that for anyone else?  It's mostly a deep sadness to me that people, so many people, would think that any of it is fine.  

That's my daily rant.  We have had quite a day, I went to my water aerobics class, then home to get Kathryn, Achilles, Rhys, and Camille, and off to Walmart...first, a coffee at the small coffee shop, I had a free one so Cam got the latte with all the fun stuff in it.  Then to buy a few new fans, as we are getting warm weather next week.  I was a bit surprised that they are now $23 for the simplest box fan.    I did find myself a pair of $3 jeans, and two $5 sweaters for Miss Cam.  We got body wash, two pizza doughs, two cream for coffee, and no paper plates.  Has anyone noticed the prices on those?  I like to have them for when everyone lands here, I mean I do have 25 real plates, but dang.  The big package of foam plates used to be like five dollars, can't even find them anymore.  70 paper plates:  FIVE DOLLARS and something.  Um, we'll wash dishes.  

Ah well.   It'll get worse before it gets better...the other day I saw a tweet:  "I'll just trust the dude who fed five thousand with two loaves..."