Say Awwwww...

Today the girls all had their yearly checkups. I'm pretty sure I missed last year. It was one of those things that occurred to me in July when I should have had Lucienne in for hers (which I didn't) and realized I hadn't taken the other girls either. I have to be fair.

So we took over the Doctor's office for a good hour. The nurse asked if I could undress Lucienne to get an accurate weight. Undressing her is never a problem... getting clothes back on is another issue. I'm just hoping she doesn't think it's now okay to take off her clothes in public places. None of the other girls have ever done that but if one of them is going to it would be Luci. It really is cute watching her watch her sisters though. She really wanted to get measured and weighed on the "big girl" scale like the girls and the nurse kindly obliged.

Then comes the wait for the doctor. There's nothing like cooping up four children in an office full of things they shouldn't touch...one of them being naked. They all got to play with a glove. Take turns standing on the scale. Getting up on the table. Sitting on the swivel chair. Sitting on the stool. Playing with the lamp. And that was only the first two minutes. All this while trying to prevent Lucienne from going through the file drawers and typing on the computer (still naked of course).

Have I mentioned Lucienne has mastered the little-girl-piercing-scream? The kind that makes your ears ring for a minute after? Well, that scream sounds GREAT in a small room. Especially when it's repeated over and over and over again because she wants to climb everything and touch everything and stay naked. The doctor (once she came in and went through some examination questions) mentioned we might want to encourage her to use words. Will keep that in mind.

Audree stood on one leg while spelling her name in the air...she's doing great!

Evelyn is "backed-up" a bit and was encouraged to drink more water. The doctor also asked her to show me her poops so I can get a sense of whether we need to be concerned about constipation.  I told her I'd give her an empty container in her lunch just in case she went at school and would need to bring it home for me to see. She looked at me then at the doctor with the best expression! I haven't seen any of Evelyn's yet but Audree has shown me all of hers!

Amelia needed some blood work done. Nothing serious, just ruling out a few minor concerns from being connected. I didn't tell her until we were en-route to the lab. When she was four she had some blood drawn and it was less than a pleasant experience - I knew this would be the same. After freaking out in the car for about 5 minutes we were good to go in. She did amazing! They were so good there. She barely even flinched and on the way back out to the car said, "That wasn't as bad as I remembered." I told her to erase her four-year-old memory and replace it with this one.

So, in the end we are a happy, healthy family.

Audree is 4!!

As we continue with our birthday marathon....Audree is 4!!! I think this has been the most highly anticipated birthday of the group. We started counting down last summer and the excitement was almost unbearable every morning for the past ten days when we were able to finally count on fingers. When she came down this morning and saw all the balloons and streamers and the Happy Birthday banner pinned up she exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot it was my birthday today!"

So, my top four favourite things about Audree (some might be technically more than one but how can I really limit myself to four without combining?):

1. When they say girls are made from "sugar and spice and everything nice" they are talking about Audree. She has such a sweet and gentle disposition. Her smile travels to her eyes and she just oozes sugar. (I just read last year's list and I wrote the same thing...she REALLY is!)

2. I love that she is soooo helpful. I know this might be a stage (I'm hoping not!) but if I need help with something like dishes or cleaning or laundry she is right there. She loves to have jobs that only she can do like wash the tuperware or fold diaper wipes or arrange the dolls and pillows on a bed. When she feels like she's the only one who can do the job right she glows with pride.

3. She is a great dancer. And not just the normal twirls and dips. She listens to the words of the music and acts them out as she's dancing - very expressive  Now that we have a huge 50" screen tv in the livingroom she loves watching herself dance in it and can get quite self-absorbed (not in a bad way...just that I can watch her for awhile before she realizes I'm there and gets all bashful). One of her favourite games is for me to mimic her moves. I don't watch myself for this one. She doesn't mind sharing the dance floor with her sisters and will try to incorporate them into her dance, especially Lucienne who is turning into her little shadow. She also often acts while talking. Today she asked her friend Benjamin to look for a tiny lost crown and when she asked him to search the house she bent slightly at the waist with her hand shading her eyes. Must be the french in her.

4. She has the cutest adult-like manerisms. Rolling her eyes at something or someone being silly, hand on her hip and a shake of her head.

5. She loves to try to speak French, and her sisters love teaching her. The first time she realized the word croissant was actually french and she knew it she was beaming. Thanks to Dora, Spanish is often confused as French or often she'll just speak nonsense and call it french...sounds the same to me!

6. I love her imagination. She can play for hours with little figurines or just stuff. The other day I caught her playing with the juice jug, a telephone and a plastic lizard. She sat there for 20 minutes playing our some sort of scenario from her mind.

7. She loves carrying around novels and pretending to read them. In her church bag there is usually 10 novels. No picture books or colouring activities, just novels. She'll sit and flip through the pages one by one, not saying a word (maybe she really is reading!)

8. She loves being outside and would often rather walk or ride her bike than take the car (which in a few weeks won't be an option, we'll officially be car-less when Rene's carpooling buddy retires). And her bike, she has no fear. I'm even wondering if we'll be able to take training wheels off this summer.

9. I love that she loves sleeping in our bed. I love that we can provide such a safe, warm, comfortable feeling for her. I know these days won't last forever so I'll soak them up while I can. I'm sure nights will come when I'll wish she was in our bed as I wait for her to home in the wee hours of the morning.

10. I love when she plays her masterpiece on the piano - three high notes, three low notes, and repeat. If  you didn't hear the song and saw her face after you'd think she'd just pulled off Mozart.

Okay, that was more than four. And I could probably keep going but dinner needs to be made, Lucienne is running around naked and Audree is fast asleep on the couch (and needs to be woken up so she'll go to sleep tonight).

We sure do love our Audree. And she loves to hear how much we love her.

I almost forgot. I love Audree snuggles. And Audree tickles. And Audree giggles.

Now I really need to go.

Girl's Night In

Rene is winter camping this weekend...brrrrrrrrr. I think this is his 5th year. He doesn't like to be cold and he doesn't really like these winter camps. Neither do any of the other leaders though so he sucks it up and goes. I asked him why they even do these camps if no one REALLY likes going and he said it was so the boys (and leaders) learn how to be prepared to survive in the cold. I had never thought of that...I thought it was all for fun. I'm so glad that if we ever need to leave our home in the middle of winter we have the ultimate winter camper as the head of our family. Because apparently under my watch the girls are wearing thin little cheap gloves in subzero weather. He did bring 3 sleeping bags this time so I hope he's warm enough to sleep.

On the flip side that meant it's a girl's night tonight!!!! I told the girls we could all camp out in the livingroom if they wanted...just like dad...except we're inside, where it's warm, with a t.v., and a fire, and caramel popcorn, and a bathroom. But they brought up their sleeping bags and set up camp on the floor. Movie of choice was BIG. I remember really liking that movie but it's funny the things you realize went over your head and hope it will go over their heads too. The language isn't too great and there's a bra scene which luckily Erica (with the amazing memory) knew exactly when it was going to come up but I couldn't get the remote to work so instead I jumped up and over all the girls with a scream to try to block the screen. Used to work on our little 27"...harder to do with a 50". At some point near the end Evelyn turns to me and says, "Well now I know all the swear words." I don't mind if they know them, as long as they don't use them.

I personally didn't feel like sleeping in the livingroom so I gave the girls the choice of sleeping on the hard, uncomfortable floor or everyone climbing into our soft and comfy bed. Thankfully they picked our bed so in we all climbed. I think Amelia probably had half the bed to herself with the other two snuggle-bugs flanking my sides. What are we going to do when Lucienne is old enough to join? We might have to do the floor so we all fit.

And so we slept, to the lovely sounds of Ginger caterwauling and Evelyn complaining she had no room and Audree giggling and Amelia tooting (her night ones are the best - which is why she was assigned an edge).

Sleep warm Rene.

Random Day-to-Day Stuff

Starting to feel a little housebound here. It's been soooooo cold that I haven't ventured out anywhere. Add to  that little fact that I don't have a car this week and you have a recipe for disaster. We did have to walk to swimming lessons today (Rene picks us up once he's home so it's only one way) and I failed to do a wardrobe check. Halfway there Audree starts crying that her hands hurt...I look at them and she's wearing thin little dollar store gloves. It's -20C!!!! Poor thing. She wouldn't take my mitts so I held one hand and Amelia held the other to try and warm them up. I don't think we'll be enrolling again until the spring. Which is a shame because all the girls are finally enjoying it and I don't have to drag them there kicking and screaming (literally some days!).

Paris hasn't had any walks so she's going a little nutso, more so than her usual rambunctious self. She's had a couple of treadmill runs but it's not really the same. She's starting to chew toys again (she was doing really well there for awhile) and the cat is getting stalked on a regular basis. Oh, and the cat is in heat AGAIN. She was just in heat a couple weeks ago. She's walking around the house with her bum in the air caterwauling all day and night. No wonder Paris is taking and extra interest in this crazy cat right now.

Lucienne has been a bit under the weather (runny nose and cough we just can't seem to get rid of) and has been giving me a hard time with naps. She can go to sleep at night no problem - I'm even putting her into her crib awake and she's fine. But naps...she can be fast asleep on me and scream the second I lower her into the crib. I've also tried putting her in awake, following the same routine as nighttime and I still get the same result. There is no way this kid is giving up her naps. Especially since for the last month or so she's getting a head-start on her to-do list for the day by getting up at 5am. On the other hand, Audree has been taking naps almost every day this week and then not going to sleep at night until way-late. She usually comes downstairs asking when we're going to bed and saying "I think I need to try to go to sleep in your bed now, mine's not working." She's still in our bed at some point in the night probably about 90% of nights now. She's warm though so I don't mind at all.

Every morning Audree asks how many more days to her birthday while Evelyn gives a moan because she's the LAST, and life's NOT FAIR and why doesn't anybody LOVE her? Thank goodness her birthday is only a mere two weeks after Amelia's. I hope Lucienne doesn't have this same reaction when she has to wait 6 months after our birthday marathon.

Amelia is having trouble adjusting to iPod boundaries. It was brought to swimming lessons, and chiropractor (stayed in the car for that one) and she waited (naked I might add) in the bathroom for 30 minutes not having a bath but playing a game. In her defense she had apparently called for me to help with the shower curtains and I didn't hear. Rene is too. They were up together until 9pm one night playing "just one more game". We got her to bed and Rene slyly tried to get back on only to find Amelia had locked it with a passcode. Smart girl.

And that's a day in the life of the Lalondes.

New Glasses

Evelyn FINALLY (her word) got new glasses. I was thinking her old pair was about 2 years old. Turns out they were only 1 1/2 years...but by that point I'd already promised she could have some and there was no way to wiggle out of that one without serious consequences. What's 6 months anyway?

It all started with a check-up visit to the optometrist. I said if he said she needed a new pair then she could certainly get one. I had dropped Lucienne and Audree off at a good friend's place because the optometrist is probably the WORST place to bring young kids. Think dark room for about an hour exam, no toys and super expensive equipment. I've done it once, never again.

As usual they were running way behind. We ended up getting a student about 3 months shy of graduation. I'm not sure if it was because that was the plan all along or if our doctor saw my exaggerated eye roll and heard my heaving sigh when he came out to get a different patient (we had already been waiting about an 1/2 hour). I'm hoping he either didn't see it or thought I was exasperated at something in the magazine I was reading. Either way, we ended up with this student who was very good with Evelyn. But she's a pretty eager patient when it comes to eye exams.

Turns out her prescription didn't change...ie, no need for new glasses. He did make an offhand comment about how scratched her lenses were though and her eyes lit up with a huge smile and she looked at him and asked, "Does that mean I need new glasses?" with a ever hopeful glance in my direction. I don't think I'm much of a pushover parent. Rene and I definitely don't get the girls anything they want but there was no way I could say no to her right then.

We had already spent our waiting time trying on over-priced glasses at the office and she had her heart set on ones with a clip-on shade. I didn't like them at all (she wasn't going for overall look, she was sold on the sunglasses part).

We did a quick jaunt into Walmart once Amelia came home from school and settled on a purple pair. Poor thing didn't realize that they aren't ready to take home, that it was going to take a couple weeks. She went from over-the-moon excited to devastated in about 3 seconds. However, last night we got a phone call they were ready (luckily only 4 business days compared to the 10 they originally told us). I think she would have walked to Walmart in this -25C weather we're having right now to get them but I told her she'd have to wait until Daddy came home the following day.

I don't even think he got a hello from her today. He pulled in and she was pulling on her boots saying, "Come on Mom, lets go get my glasses." So off we went with Rene left to finish dinner.

She got home from school today and thankfully friends of hers had noticed the new look (including some boys which I think made her blush although she could have just had rosy cheeks from the frosty weather).

Lets hope now that she's a bit older these ones don't take as much abuse as the others and we can get more than a year out of them. So far so good.

Poor, Sweet, Lucienne...NOT

What am I going to do with Lucienne? There's no way around it, she's a bit of a brute. A very cute brute, but a brute nontheless. She had her poor cousin Clara running for her life all of Christmas while they were here. It's like she surveys the room for the "weakest" link and just terrorizes them every time they're around. She'll pull hair (her favourite pasttime), pinch skin, scratch (arms or face) and hit. Biting happens when they have something she wants and won't hand it over, the other things are all unprovoked.

We had a playdate with a new group of friends today and there was a 3-year-old we'd never met. She was a dainty, petite girl, just the kind Lucienne likes to pick on. It's so hard at this age because there isn't much I can do other than remove her from the situation. When it's her sisters at the receiving end I'll move her away and cuddle them (which is probably the worst thing I could do to her as she's a bit jealous of any other use of my lap other than her bum). But when the other children aren't mine I can only move her away, which doesn't always feel like enough when she's holding a fistful of their hair. I hate the whole forcing them to say "sorry" when they're probably not so we've always used "are you okay?" but that doesn't even matter at this point as she doesn't speak yet and doesn't have any sense of other's feelings. Yesterday this little girl finally gave her a shove. The other mother was mortified, I just said, "finally, they're almost even."

I know it's a stage she'll eventually grow out of but I hope it's soon. She's so full of spunk and life this one. She loves making people laugh. She has the cutest I'm-trying-not-to-smile smile. She wants so much to be a part of everything and do exactly what Audree is doing. She never runs out of hugs and kisses. She loves to climb and has figured out that dragging a chair around makes counters and tables much more accessible (with the Jaws theme running through my head as the chair comes scraping across the floor). She loves putting on hats and boots but her favourite thing to wear is her birthday suit. She's often running around naked in someone else's boots. She is so 18 months. 

The Coveted iPod

There are things in life that either bring two people close together...or push them apart. The jury is still out on this iPod.

We went tonight to buy the thing. Amelia's fist tightly clutched her semi-hard-earned money. I can't really say hard-earned since 60% of it came from asking her friends to donate to her iPod fund instead of bringing presents to her party, 30% came from family members donating to her iPod fund and a measly 10% came from her actually saving her allowance (which is a result of her completely tasks around the house). Just writing this makes me realize that she probably didn't learn too much about "saving" for a big-ticket item. It didn't really take her that long to get most of it. However, I liked having a birthday party and not coming away with stuff she doesn't really need...or already has.

Anyway. We went to Walmart to take advantage of their iPod sale. In hindsight, Evelyn probably shouldn't have come but it's just so cute how excited she gets when Amelia's excited. It was a quick and easy transaction and Amelia practically floated out of the store. However, poor Evelyn's skip slowly turned to a drag. I hope she was expecting at the last minute I would rescue her from iPod woes by purchasing one for her but I don't think she realized how much it would physically hurt to see Amelia carry out the tiny bag. I feel like this is going to be her life. Looking up to an older sister who gets to do everything before her (flash back to last year's birthday ear-piercing drama). All the way out the store I got to listen to how unfair it was and how I didn't love her and how EVERYONE has one except for her now and on and on and on.

So far we have a few rules:
1. iPod is left downstairs at bedtime.
2. iPod may be played with before 7am in the morning as long as personal scripture study has been done. It may also be played with AFTER all other morning preparations are complete.
3. When friends are over, the iPod is off. Human interaction takes precedent.
4. When someone is trying to speak to you, earphones immediately come out of your ears (I'm debating this whole earphone thing but we'll see how it goes. I feel like she's shut off from the family).
5. I may make new iPod rules as the need arises.

I spent an hour tonight trying to connect it to iTunes and the computer. I want different accounts so that I can get all the kid's music off mine. I made the mistake of putting in her actual age without reading the Terms & Conditions. Turns out you can't have an iTunes account under the age of 13. I think they must flag emails that try because when I went back and changed the date it still wouldn't let me register. So then I had to create a new email and try it all again. Very arduous process (wish that brother of mine lived closer sometimes) but I think we have it all sorted out.

We'll see how this all transpires. Lately I've noticed she's become less moody and I see more of pleasant-happy Amelia (so nice!!) so I hope it will all work. It will depend on how much she tries to push the few rules we have. I don't want it to become the source of consequences or a way to modify behaviour on my part....I'll have to watch that. I hope she shares with her sisters. I hope I don't loose her to technology. I feel like she has gone through a rite of passage, taken a step into adolescence. But, maybe it will be good to have the novelty wear off while all she's really going to do is play games and FaceTime me. There's no sense in trying to hide the girls from all this stuff. It's going to be a large part of their world so they'll need to learn now how to make boundaries for themselves and use it wisely. I'm sure there will be many more posts on this subject.

My Amelia

Amelia turned 9 today. Next year is double digits. I have only one year left of her being less of a tween.

9 things I love about my Amelia (in no particular order other than what came into my head):

She loves her sisters. Even if her and Evelyn can have their moments, she really does love them. She goes out of her way to play with Lucienne. She includes Audree in what she's doing even though there's a 5 year age gap. She likes helping Evelyn learn how to read. When Audree has trouble going to sleep I'll often tell her to go see if Amelia is still up and snuggle with her. I'll go in and check on them and Amelia's out with a still-awake Audree snuggled up close.

I love how capable she's becoming. She has a few meals under her sleeve now. She does a great grilled cheese sandwich, can make pancakes better than I can and can scramble eggs. She's even made cookies with very little assistance (I just double check on quantities with her). The ability to read certainly opens up a lot of windows. But I love that she loves doing this. She's often in charge of making Saturday lunch for everyone.

I love having late night manicures with her. It's usually as a result of me tucking her in and getting a glimpse of her cat-like nails. I'll grab the clippers, a nail file and some polish and do her nails while we chat. That's really only started since she got her own bedroom (can't really remember when that was...sometime last year when Rene finished renovating the summer kitchen and we moved the treadmill out there). If Evelyn got wind of it I'd be in trouble!

I love how she really knows the difference between right and wrong and wants to choose the right. She made a goal this year of reading the entire Book of Mormon by herself. I found a reading chart online that has her reading about 15 versus a day (Rene and I are trying to keep up too). But she really seems aware of moral actions and is making connections between decisions and eternal consequences. Now would be the time to get her to write down her choices around the famous pitfalls of teenagehood and post them on her wall.

She's neat and tidy!! I don't have to ask her to pick up her clothes and she usually remembers to make her bed. She always clears her place setting from the table without being asked.

She loves to try new things. I hope she never loses this. We have to work on perseverance when things don't come naturally to her but she's always open to giving something a try.

She likes to help. From cooking dinner, to chopping wood, to buying groceries to painting. I think right now it's the feeling of being "grown-up" and that we trust her to do tasks on her own. I love how she'll take suggestions and come up with ways she thinks will work too (and most of the time they actually do).

Whenever she does a craft of project it's for someone else. She's learning to knit and wanted to start off with a scarf for Evelyn. She's made bracelets for everyone except herself (friends, teachers, sisters, even me). She wrote a learning-to-read book for Evelyn. She made shell barrettes for Audree. I love how she thinks of others and what would make them happy.

And last but not least, I love when she's happy. She has a great laugh...a kind of bubbly cackle that makes other people laugh too. She has such a huge impact on this family - I don't even think she realized how much her sisters ride on her emotions. When Amelia is happy, everyone is happy (unfortunately it goes the other way too).

So that's our Amelia. We are so blessed to have her as part of our family. She's going to do great things in this world and I think she'll be a shining example of good to her friends.

We love you Amelia. Happy Birthday.

Evelyn's Talk

Evelyn gave a talk today at church. She's actually been assigned the last 2 weeks but the first we forgot and the second she stayed home because Lucienne was sick (and, cough-cough, so was she). Luckily we remembered an hour before church this morning that she needed to write something.

Evelyn is at the stage that whatever question you ask her about something churchy she asks back "Jesus?". Or gives some funny, round about answer that kind of answers the question but not so much.

All the girls are really into writing things on the computer right now so of course, we had to write her talk on the computer. So, here's her talk, just as she wanted it. The rainbow coloured text needs no explanation if you know Evelyn at all.

The theme this month is: I Am a child of God, and He Has a Plan for Me.

Before we were born we lived with Jesus while we waited for our turn on earth. I think I was feeling nervous and excited, kind of like when I had to wait for my turn to play the piano in a recital.

We are all born into a family to show us love and give hugs and kisses. We have parents to protect us and teach us. We can read the scriptures to learn about the commandments and what we need to do to live with Jesus again.

We are free to choose if we’re bad or good. I want to be good on earth so I can live with Jesus and be happy. I also want my family to be there. I can be a good example to my sisters and my Mom and Dad to help them choose the right.

I know that Jesus is real. I believe the commandments that he tells me will help me learn how to be good. I’m glad I came to earth.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Churchy News

Some new callings for us. Back in November I was released as a counselor in Primary and called as one in Relief Society. It's bitter-sweet. I've been in this Primary since we moved here 8 years ago (and in our previous ward's for years before that) so it was time for a change, but I love the girls I get to work with there and I know what's going on. Plus I love that all the kids know me and run up to me with things they want to tell me. I get to play games and sing songs for 2 hours of church...I don't think they play many games in Relief Society.

It's been an interesting transition. The current president works very independently  I'm over education and feel like I can really do what I want with it. My goals are to have daily meetings for the sisters in Young Women's and Primary who don't get to come to any lessons (having been in that position for many years) and I'd really like to create a sense of unity amoung the sisters. It's interesting that I'm noticing and thinking about sisters in the ward I'd never even given a second glance to. My previous world was Primary so if you didn't have a child in there I probably didn't speak to you!  Now, I'm going out of my way to speak to sisters I don't know and invite them to come to Relief Society. I'm conscious about making sure everyone feels noticed and loved and feel concerned when I see some of them leave after sacrament. Certainly a learning curve, but a good one.

Rene has a new calling...or assignment too - we're not too sure which it is. He's the newest, and only, cub assistant. The program has been struggling for dedicated people. In the past, assistants have been less than dependable and there was even talk about cancelling the whole thing, which would be a shame considering there are quite a few non-member boys who come out.

He's pretty excited about it. He's never served with cubs before and it's right up his alley. However, it will mean another night out. He is still a counselor in Young Men's so he's out Tuesdays at the activities and now he'll be out Wednesday night with cubs. Amelia's at Activity Day Girls twice a month on Wednesday so it's not too bad. I just wonder if they couldn't have called someone who doesn't already have a calling requiring a night out during the week.

Audree started into Sunbeams at the beginning of January. She was so ready to get out of Nursery. So far she's loving being with all her friends. The girls she considers her friends are all a year older than her so left nursery last year. She loves seeing them again. I'm kind of sad I missed the transition  If only I could have been in primary just a little longer to watch her being a big girl.

Lucienne is technically old enough for Nursery but she's the only one so it's not starting up until a couple more kids meet the age requirement. I felt that it wasn't right to ask someone to watch only my kid while I went to class. I pulled some nursery toys and put them in the Relief Society room and so far she's content at playing while the lesson is being taught. For Sunday School she just runs around the chapel. Rene never went because he said she was too distracting but I'm not going to sit in the hall and miss my class! I figure as long as she's not crying or being too loud it's fine. I think the next nursery child comes of age in March so only a few more months of this.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013.

Saw a cute thing on Facebook...when someone references "10 years ago" do you think of the 90s or 2003? I can't believe we're in 2013!

How did the Lalonde's party up the New Year? Well, I was sick on the weekend so the friends we were suppose to have over bailed. Rightfully so. They are going on vacation on Wednesday and didn't want to be violently ill at the hotel. We watched a movie with the girls and let them stay up until 9 (I know, not very exciting for them but who really wants to deal with cranky kids on the first day of a new year?). I came out from putting Lucienne to bed to find Rene and Amelia fast asleep in our bed. So, I grabbed some chips and watched tv. At 10pm the town of Orangeville put on a fireworks display. We can see them from our hall window so I tried waking up the girls to no avail. Thankfully Rene woke up so we watched some fireworks together. We were going to watch tv but the frustration of not being able to find our tv remote for the past 2 weeks had built up to the point of no return and we spent a good 1/2 hour looking in every crevasse of our couch. Love the couch but it's the lost city of Atlantis when it comes to losing things. It has so many unreachable nooks and crannies and impossible angles of hardware and cushions. Nothing comes apart yet each seat crack opens to the floor and only the reclining ones can be searched from the front.

I figured Lucienne had thrown it into the garbage (her latest fascination). We had searched every room. I had looked under every bed and in all drawers (only months ago I found a missing USB stick at the bottom of my drawer thanks to Miss Luci). The toyroom had been pulled apart and put back together. It was nowhere to be found.

The last place it was seen was on the couch so we were going to give it one last chance before buying a new one. 10 minutes before midnight Rene came out victorious  There's a drawer in one of the sections and it had fallen at just the right angle to be invisible unless the drawer was removed (which is what Rene finally did). I think we celebrated the remote more than the new year. But, we did the mandatory count down, Rene came out from the bathroom with 5 seconds to spare, we kissed and called it a night.

I've never really gotten into the spirit of New Year's. I think it was most fun as a child when Mom finally let us stay up to midnight. Games and movies and fun with the fam. Once midnight is accessible any night of the year the lateness of it looses its magic. And once kids come along, sleep becomes a precious commodity.