Musing on Monday

Happy Monday to you! My favorite-most day of the week.

Strange, I know, but I like the feeling of getting restarted after the weekend.

So another soccer season started for us last week. Our little "football" player had his first game yesterday after only one practice. They won 5-1. It was quite entertaining since most of the players were clueless. But they did their best -- on both sides -- and you could see they were definitely learning...and having fun.

We go to see our midwife tonight -- a highlight of the month. I'm about 18 weeks or so and beginning to feel little "Leech stirrings" in my growing bump. I know the sweet flutterings will eventually turn into all-out kicks before long, so I'm enjoying this time.

Tomorrow is Tax Day in our fair land. We've already filed our federal income taxes, but I have to finish the state and local ones. When we still lived in Reading, Stuart used to drive the local taxes to the main post office just before midnight. They had a parade of cars driving through the parking lot, all the drivers in a celebratory mood from having finally finished and mailed their taxes. We didn't have to wait until the last minute to do this, but he enjoyed it the few times he did it.

It's also Emily's "half-birthday" -- something fun we started with each of the children when they turned 6 months old to "prepare" them for the Big ONE. It's just something silly that we've continued that helps break up the year between birthdays. She'll be 10 1/2...already. Egads.

Our weekend was split between a beautiful sunny day with warm temperatures on Saturday and a cool, blustery day with crisp temperatures on Sunday. The kids enjoyed the warm weather and even went outside -- briefly. The problem with warmer weather is that the bugs wake up. And in the springtime they wake up looking for "love"...making them much more numerous. *grin*

I think Kiefer finally headed back to L.A. We're hoping this means that filming will soon begin again for 24's Season 7. I finished watching all six seasons. I'd been plodding through them, watching several episodes while I folded my laundry. Only nine months to go...*sigh*

Speaking of shows though, we've been enjoying a new drama called New Amsterdam. It has its season finale tonight...already. It's another cop show but with a different twist. Check it out here. We realized that we haven't finished the second season of The Closer yet. We still have to watch the season finale...but since it's a two-parter and I tend to fall asleep quite early/easily these days, we've been holding off. Hmm...maybe I need some No-Doze? *wink*

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5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• a shy child gaining confidence

• exploring a new part of town

• dignity

• budding trees

• a cheeseburger with bacon

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It's wonderful to see the trees all abloom in the last few days.

It's remind me of the line in that song: "Spring is bursting out all over."

And while the temperatures are still a bit "nippy," we know it's only a matter of weeks until the sun stays out and the thermometers show higher numbers.

Then Winter will be a distant memory as thoughts of Summer crowd our minds.

For us, summertime thoughts bring with them lots of preparation for the newest member of our family....who should debut at Summer's end.

It's weird to feel daunted and excited at the same time...