Expect lots of pictures like this here from now on.

Yes, we got a bunny. Our friends Cat and Jason needed to find a home for this little guy and we were in the market for a bunny so here he is, in all his lop-eared glory.

Now, my experience with bunnies has been mostly with the kind who will eat my garden in broad daylight, staring me down all furry and tough whilst I wave my arms and holler nonsensically to try to get them the hell away from my strawberries. Bunnies are cute, but they’re like storm troopers, each one a clone of the other, marching on towards the destruction of my peace-loving vegetables, guided by some evil force beyond my comprehension.

Then, I met Gizmo. Gizmo is basically a dog that hops. He chases you, wants to sit in your lap, fetches stuff, whines when he’s lonely and will walk with you on a leash. I was shocked. I had no idea that bunnies could be, you know, personable. He’s basically litter trained which means he’ll make a trek to his hutch if he needs to do his business so as long as we’re hanging out downstairs, he’s just hanging out too. I wuves him. Yes, I said wuves, because that best describes the gooey, motherly, OMGHEISSOCUTE, ridiculous overwhelming emotion I feel for this bunny.

The one issue we’re dealing with is that he is not neutered which means that he also needs to have, uh, friendly time with a stuffed animal. Now this in and of itself is not so much a problem and after one viewing of said friendly time, not one of my children has left a stuffed animal on the floor again which is, you know, a bonus. What is a problem though, is that Gizmo is in love with my feet. Madly, deeply, passionately in love with my feet. It does not matter if I am wearing jeans, shorts, pajama pants or slippers, Gizmo just wants to be with my feet. He chases them as I walk around and when I stop, he immediately plunks his butt down on them and snuggles with my toes. If he’s feeling randy, he starts jumping around them and if I don’t put them up right quick, I will find one of my ankles on the receiving end of friendly time. It is adorable and creepifying and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it.

Still, I wuves him. Even if he has a weird foot fetish and occasionally poops the floor in a pattern resembling a shotgun blast.

Awh.

This has been the scene at my house lately.

Little boys, huddled over something mechanical and/or electronic, dismantling it and occasionally putting it back together. This evening Jonah took apart a remote control car and then put it back together perfectly, only to throw a complete tantrum when it wouldn’t work again. Turns out he put the batteries in backwards. Once we corrected that, it worked exactly as it had before. He was so proud of himself.

The weather has turned cold after a solid week of beautiful weather and the boys have revolted against having to be inside by tearing the house apart, running wildly everywhere at all times, randomly shrieking and whooping, building forts in every conceivable place I would find totally inconvenient, using their clothing as napkins, emptying the linen closets and using the extra sheets for what was explained to me as, “A castle made of cheese!” So, basically, they’re driving me crazy in that way only little boys can. The only remedy is some decent weather that will allow for the hours necessary to really burn off all that energy. Until then, I’ll just have to keep providing them with enough stuff to take apart to distract them from the linen closet.

Phew! Busy, busy week! Birthdays, tours, and starting something new…

Club Layton is a non-profit started by my sister’s cheerleading coach. The thing that I really love about this, not that I didn’t love GiGi’s, but the thing that’s different and better for my family is that it benefits Jeremiah as well as my sister, being open to all disabilities instead of just being specifically for people with Down Syndrome. As you can see in above picture, it makes me really happy to be involved. It started out with a few families on a special needs cheer squad and now we have a soccer team, dances classes, fitness classes… I’m going to teach a basic sports skills class starting in June. We’re really hoping to become an official Special Olympics program, but there’s a waiting list for that… but we’re on it, so I have hopes that in a few months, we’ll have that going for us as well. We had a couple open gyms and a kickoff and I was shocked at how many kids came out. This is going to be way bigger than I thought. Anyway, I’ve been managing their blog cause I’m a geek and I like stuff like that. You can check it out here.

Other than that, we’ve been pretty much living outside as much as possible, in between all the running around.

Watching the big boys at baseball practice.

I have completely cleaned out my work space and reorganized so I am ready, oh so ready, to make some stuff. I have made some serious scores at the local thrift stores & junk shops which I will share with you soon. I’m heading over to Mix Tape Makers with an update and after that, I am making my annual spring mix for all of you. It will be posted very, very soon. Promise.

Today is World Down Syndrome Day. So here’s this. Just watch it. Every time I see this, I wanna hug the life out of this kid.

Tag monster! Okay, so is my little prototype and he’s not perfect (although I love his wry little smile) but I think he’s coming along. Tag monster number two will hopefully happen at some point today… I’ve cleaned up my living room, washed all my new fabrics and am ready to start another round of sewing. Anyway, there seem to be a lot of babies around these days and I’ve amassed this ridiculous collection of ribbons so I think a collection of these little guys might be a good thing to have on hand. Anyway. Work in progress.

Today is going to be good. Also: I’ve been inspired to make a new mix which I am going to work on today. I promise it will make an appearance over at Mix Tape Makers… I’m so excited about the art for this one. In fact, I can’t believe I hadn’t had this idea before.

Also on the agenda today:

1. Brownies
2. Postcrossing
3. The Park (We took our first trip to the park last week – oh, the thrill of these first warm days of the year never gets old.)
4. Writing (I have a new Venna song at the tip of my fingers. It’s right there, I can feel it.)

First though, I need to address this issue of lunch and maybe take a shower.

Also: Amazon apparently can’t find the new Deftones album, but that’s what I’m listening to. Hello, 1999. But, you know, in a new and good way.

I’m going to borrow this self-portrait by my brother Steven to express how I am feeling at this moment.

Also, to point out that he has, by far, the most interesting hands of anyone I have ever known.

I can’t sleep. I have a migraine. Marky is away on tour, I am sitting here watching My So-Called Life while listening to music while blogging. Yes, I am trying to distract myself, actually.

My birthday was on Sunday and it was pretty awesome. I was sick so I spent the first half of the day in the bath, reading, which, when is pretty fabulous when you consider that this is not the kind of thing that typically happens on any old day. Kids generally don’t allow such activities, so enjoying such a thing felt downright decadent. Later on, Gretch and Mark came over and Gretch showered me with, like, an entire new wardrobe for spring she had found while thrift store shopping. So I have been, unabashedly, wearing tank tops and the like that are totally weather inappropriate because I feel like it SHOULD be spring, even if we’re not quite there yet.

Today, Alli came over with eggplant parmigiana (Alli kicks ass at this recipe so when she asked me what I wanted for my birthday I knew EXACTLY what to ask for) and cake and we hung out and had birthday dinner. The kids played outside most of the day since it was so lovely, and everyone got good and muddy. I got the kids in bed just in time to catch the last few minutes of Girl Meeting via iChat.

Girl Meeting typically includes the band wives/girlfriends and we talk about our periods and stuff. Hopefully I’ll get to the city again soon to have an in-person Girl Meeting.

Tomorrow I HAVE to get caught up on mail. I have etsy orders to send out, care packages that have been in the making for weeks now… I just need to sit with my typewriter and stamps and padded envelopes and get it all together. I WILL DO THIS.

Speaking of letters and stationary, can I show you what my brother James made for me?

Those are Culpa lyrics and my name. I got like four pads of these to use for whatever I want. So freaking excited.

I’m obsessed with these mixes Lauren sent me, this song especially. I’ll leave you with that while I attempt to sleep.

I’ve been working hard…

to do this!

Because I’m feeling crappy and apparently totally unable to get anything done, here’s a “ten things I love” list for you.

1. These open-coat, snow-melting days that remind me that spring is, in fact, coming soon.

2. These fabulous earrings.

3. This medicine woman leather pouch I bought in the Everglades because I still just want to be Pocahontas.

4. I love that this place exists. I am visiting here the next time I’m in Chicago.

5. Postcrossing. Seriously, I love this. Why haven’t I been doing this my whole life?? I’m obsessed. Here’s my latest card, from Denmark.

7. The fact that apparently, I can wear metal again for an entire day at a time. I developed an allergy in my late teens and have had issues ever since. I’ve been experimenting wearing my old silver rings on my fingers and no weird reactions. Hooray for body chemistry changes! Anyway, it makes me want jewelry again. Especially mail-themed jewelry. This one I found at this etsy store.

8. Okay, so while we’re on the mail theme still, how about these awesome Playmobil mail carrier sets?! I think me and Micah would have a grand time playing with these. He wants to be a mail carrier when he grows up and I… just want to keep playing with Playmobil toys forever.

9.  This book my mom bought for me which I am loving. I’m a sucker for books based on correspondence, fictional or otherwise… it feels like I got handed a bundle of letters to sort through.

10. This Sparklehorse song. Mark Linkous took his own life on Saturday, but as it is with all artists who pass on, what was created remains. Thanks for making this song so that I could love it.

Through the eyes of my siblings. Most of these were shot and edited by Joe.

Yes, it was chilly enough to warrant a wool coat. Also, notice the Letter Writers Alliance pin. Represent!

I am not trying to look like a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi. I was just cold. 

Dad and Mom. I showed Christine how to use the Polaroid app on my iPhone.

Building a really pathetic sand castle.

Again, I’m not trying to look weird and mysterious here on purpose. I was just so freaking cold. The sun was so bright though, it was still wonderful to just sit outside.

So, yeah. The Everglades.

First off, if you are traveling with my mom, it is inevitable that you will end up at a place like this:

There will be some weird animal guy who does things like let birds eat cashews off his tongue and kisses snapping turtles. There will be weird ass taxidermy.

And there will be critters that normal folk find repulsive but that you find thrilling.

And it will be fabulous.

Also, the Everglades are unbelievably creepy. The Everglades are this massive, thriving thing and yet, you can only see tiny portions of it at a time. And oh yeah, don’t get eaten by the alligators cause they are fricken EVERYWHERE.