je regrets

my apologies for my lack of blogging and reading blogs. (turns out i don't like to visit my own blog when i haven't updated my own in forever). after repeatedly telling myself that i should take my blog down if i wasn't going to update it, i have decided maybe i should just. update. the. d*#$. blog. so here i am. i have indeed missed all of you. my thanks to those who responded on my most pathetic previous posts. (kayla, thanks for the kick in the pants; sorry it has taken me so long to actually respond with more.) hopefully, i will give you much better stuff to comment on in the near future.

i have decided to start using nicknames for my children. if i could go back and get my last name out of my URL, i would. since i don't feel like going through the hassle of a new blog, i thought i would at least try and be discrete with their names and bury the old posts with their names on it through a mass pile of new posts. i also continually debate making the blog private, but for now i'll just hope my famine of posts have killed off any psycho strangers that may be reading. (psychos that i personally know and love are always welcome to read!)

looking back

if i could go back for an hour, i would....

hinckley kids... circa 2005 & '06

one of my all-time favorites of grace

a little something

hoping to re-enter blogland soon. (susan, i've a read a few of your posts - will comment as soon as i catch up on more of your musings.)

for now, this picture at sarahjane explains how i feel lately. when did time start to go by so fast? i've started to continually beg my kids to "stop growing" for which they just laugh in my face or flat out ignore me. it was also pointed out to me about a month ago (by a dear, but honest friend) that i am now old enough to be the mother of a missionary. where has the time gone? while i can't say that i want to go back and relive much (except maybe when i wrote evan's name on his birth certificate), i feel a growing desire to slow down and savor moments more. now i just need to put that in action and stop let's say arguing with my 10 year old over the timing of a song which just might have happened yesterday when we were practicing for our an upcoming talent show!

the color of the week

ok, boys and girls, here at the hinckleyhouse the color of this past week wasss..........

orange

as evidenced when i dyed lily's socks orange for her halloween costume....

or when i dyed this girl's hair orange for her halloween costume....

...and for when i completed my second half-marathon on oct. 10, 2009. ING sponsors the hartford marathon and their signature color is orange. among other things, we all got orange sunglasses which pat and i are sporting in this post-race pic. i have to say if you are feeling depressed, put on some orange sunglasses. they really brighten your view. it's fun seeing the world through orange.

p.s. just for the record, jake's wheelchair is also orange.

race day

here are some race day pics that do NOT include me.

pat and the kids arrived early in the morning with me so that they could get parking (and wouldn't have to park in the next town over like last year).

fritzy ready to cheer

i guess the kids got to say "hi" to a fridge at the park. lily didn't want to meet the fridge.

at bushnell park again ...my dad graciously came down to help pat with the kids.

my dad, the kids and pat cheered me on from 3 different places on the race course. it's a great feeling having people cheer you on - even complete strangers.

the kids ready to cheer at the starting line which somehow ended up as the last pic for this post. (as always, no finish line pics of me.)

birthday present

pat's birthday was this past saturday. for his birthday, my good friend, analia, and i negotiated and then bought him his dream car - a mini-cooper S. i got to sing "big guy in a little car" (think chris farley in "tommy boy") to him and feel like i've assured his happiness for at least the next 10 years or so. here are some pics from when we picked the car up. my parents and my niece were with us (hence the extra child in the pics). later, my parents watched all the kids so we could take a drive and go out to eat.

diddle, diddle

diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son, jake

was dressed for school after he did wake

with one shoe off and one shoe on,

he was sent to school like dumpling john

and while this rhyme is a tad bit lame,

it's there to show that mom's to blame,

and sometimes she just does not think,

and dad must give her a knowing wink...

(...after he comes home for lunch and sees jake's shoe on the floor. have i mentioned that a week ago sunday, we had to drive 2 hours round trip to retrieve my purse at a restaurant in rhode island? fun times at the hinckley household!!!)