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*Yesterday was the big Social formal. Beautiful. Wonderful. Beyond stressful. Getting three boys down to the civic center in the pouring rain while trying not to fret about getting a good seat because our oldest is Cotillion and the evening is A lot About Cotillion. And it all worked out. I could go on (and on and on) but let me just take things down to the most basic: a lot of time and energy went into preparing for last night; it was worth it.

*But let me add: it was a little difficult for me because we had a fancy dinner we went to after the dance so I had to dress up a bit more than usual. My goodness I’m the kind of gal who prefers to have comfy clothes and shoes on. Especially when it’s cold and rainy. If I had known that I could have gotten away with a nice black ankle-length pant and (hmmm, resisting the urge to say clogs…) a shoe less strappy than I wore, I would have been a few notches up on the happy scale. Still a fun time, but I’m sad to admit that the temporal sometimes affects me.

*We celebrated my dad’s birthday today with a little surprise gathering. What a gift. At school assembly on Friday, my four big boys got invited out to honor their Papa. My friend Mollie sent me a picture and oh my heart, it was beautiful. What a memory. Here’s something amazing: I remember being fourteen when my dad turned 40 and all the students of the school (my dad was the headmaster back then) stood in a line and each student got a chance to say something about my dad. I remember standing there with my friends waiting for my turn. Then we gifted him with a VCR that weighed four-hundred pounds, and I thought I was going to pass out I was so excited for our family.

*Mostly y’all, I’m just really, really glad that dance is behind us. It was wonderful. But…oh, complicated feelings. Do you ever have an event on your calendar that sort of looms, even if it’s a fun and happy event? If there is just enough stress involved, those events turn a little heavy and usually I don’t even recognize the weight until things are behind us and I find myself so relieved. I think I feel that way about: Pinewood Derby (definitely, that one I recognize); Christmas Eve Mass (sorry that I had to admit that, but it’s true. Crowded events where seating is something I have to consider…); Last Day of School Awards Ceremony…

*Happy Sunday. Too much talk of stress? Nahhhhhhh…..

(adding this late! Because I totally forgot!)

In honor of Star Wars day, May the Fourth be with you!

Continuing on a theme of “I’m posting every.single.day. this month,” I’m joining Jen and crew to share a few thoughts on this fine Friday evening. Today’s theme: Let’s Confess!

1. I spent almost the entire day cleaning my house. Henry had school and then got invited to play with his buddy John, so I kept the party going as long as possible. Isa sort of followed me around the house, “helping” and then breaking up the action with some episodes of Dora to keep her sane and happy.

I don’t know why I feel so sheepish about my love of cleaning. It’s not that the house is always immaculate, don’t get me wrong. It’s just this feeling of satisfaction I get from caring for my home. Especially if things are feeling run down, when I take the time to scrub and polish, I go away feeling like all is well with the world. I’m simple that way.

2. I’m trying a little experiment with a few friends called “The 21-Day Complaining Fast.” It is every bit as basic and impossible as it sounds. Or maybe not. Maybe I can swing it. Going on a diet from focusing on the negative is probably going to be quite the….um…challenge. I wanted to say it would be cathartic, but sometimes I consider “venting” to be cathartic — so now we take note of the line between “observing/getting things off my chest” and “dumping/toxic negativity”. Where is that line and what, exactly, does it look like?

3. I got an email from a talk show representative today wondering if I’d like to be a guest on a certain popular show next week. The topic? Self image and how that impacts intimacy with your spouse. The idea would be for me and Paul to fly to New York this week to film and be on the show together. To which Paul said, “I don’t think I’d be a good candidate for that discussion. I always feel great about myself no matter what I weigh, and I always think you look awesome no matter what you weigh.”

Typical man. Men are so, so lucky that way.

4. This morning at First Friday Mass in our school gym, Ethan led the music and he was AWESOME. I’m including this in my Confessions because sometimes I worry that talking about how proud I am of my children borders on bragging. Isn’t this the stuff you save for telling your mom and dad? But then I think, sometimes we really just need to let it out. We SHOULD be proud of our kids and it’s good to (here and there) share that joy in a healthy, grounded way? Am I right?

So my boy Ethan led the music at the Mass in our gym! And he did great. I was indeed one proud mama.

5. On that note, all five of my other children were well-behaved during Mass. I think this might be a first for us — we were all there, staying quiet and part of the action the entire time. It certainly helped that a) Mass started at 7 a.m. and b) Mass was over by 7:35 a.m. But I will take what I can get. It’s been a long time since I could say the entire family was at a place in our life where each member had the self-control to get the job done. Sweet, sweet victory!

6. Okay, here’s a TRUE confession: I told my friend Anne that I would run the Athens Half-Marathon in October. There. Maybe by publicly proclaiming this I won’t get a mental hiccup and back off when things get intense.

7. That’s enough confession. Augie just came in from his friend’s yard across the street where a bunch of boys have been working on making spears for “catching” squirrels, a tall piece of bamboo with a whittled point on the tip. He has big plans for tomorrow.

Checking in at the very end of the day to say “oh yeah! That resolve I made…yesterday.”

The highlight of today was an incredibly disgusting smoothie I created for dinner tonight. The plus side of smoothies is that you can serve it at dinner and say “drink this and you don’t have to eat veggies.” The downside of course is that if the smoothie itself is barely edible, what’s the point.

I think my problem with the smoothie was the recipe. That and the execution.

Here’s what I did: I googled “spinach+avocado+bananas” to see what I’d find. Then I threw in some blueberries and then (when that didn’t taste right) I added some frozen peaches for HELP!! I tried a splash of milk (and okay, fine I’ll be honest, some half-and-half). Nothing made a difference. It was all the consistency of liquid glue with none of the flavor.

“You know how in art class you have that glass of water that you dip your brush in while you paint,” asked Elliott as people white-knuckled their way through each sip. “This looks exactly like that.”

It’s true. The “smoothie” wasn’t smoothie at all. I finally decided that I used too much avocado, thus whipping what could have been a delicious treat into something far less enjoyable. Too thick. Too guacamolesque.

So there you go. May the Second in a nutshell. Some other stuff happened today as well. But that was the most noteworthy.

Well, besides our compelling trip to the library. I WILL put the fear of God in these children, so help me.