I'm a CRM. . .

. . .a Chronically Restless Mama. I am convinced that I completely lack the ability to slow down, relax, and stop looking for some way to busy myself. This is true on a small scale (right now, I could be soaking in the tub and/or reading a book with a glass of wine, rather than uploading pictures, responding to emails, and posting on my blog) as well as on a large scale (I have been working to convince Dave that it's a good idea for us to take the kids and live in Guatemala for a month this summer).

I have three kids, two fish, a hamster, and six tiny tadpoles who rely on me for absolutely everything--and I still feel like I don't want to wait too much longer before we add a dog to the family again. I just finished working on Thursday night and have taken the summer semester off from teaching night school--so now rather than looking forward to those two extra nights without obligations, I'm in the process of setting up a cooking lesson/computer lesson swap with one of my Chinese students (if you have to guess which one of us will be on the receiving end of the cooking lesson, you've never truly experienced my cooking). I'm also working on some short stories that I plan to send out to different print and on-line magazines with hopes of getting published sometime. And, I printed out the volunteer application for the local animal shelter.

What is wrong with me? Or is there nothing wrong about my excessive ambition? Am I just trying to live life to the fullest, find ways to do things that I enjoy? Or am I burning the candle at both ends due to some deep twisted issue that needs to be exorcised by a good therapist?! I just feel like there are so many things I want to try, so many others I want to get good at, yet more that I want to experience with my kids and/or Dave. . .life is too short, every day has too few hours, and my list just keeps growing even though I check things off from time to time. If I took the time to write down every goal, dream, and ambition that floats through my head on a given day--the list would be scary long!

Anyhoo. . . here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks, because I know that many of you come here for the photos, rather than my mental meanderings:

Our Easter hike on Sugarloaf Mountain. . .



(We found this natural see saw and had an interesting real-life lesson in physics--notice that Keller is holding Dave & Casey up in the air!)


Marley got some bike-riding lessons (bell-ringing included) from Casey . . .



Enjoying the backyard and our 85+ degree weather. . .(Also note the boys torturing Grandma Nancy in the helicopter!)




(This next picture is one of my favorites I have ever taken of Marley)



Keller had his first baseball games and track meet . . .




Although Marley is getting much better at feeding herself, yogurt is still mostly fingerpaint!


Casey's awesome bedhead. He came down stairs and said, "Mom, I have bad 'tatic'"