A little church mouse

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MIBs

1st day of 1st Grade

All was well for John's first day of 1st grade. His only comment was that they didn't spend enough time in the cafeteria due to it being a half day.

When he got home, Annie immediately came over to share about her first day of kindergarten. She also reported a bit of disappointment:  The monkey bars are off-limits if you're not yet in 2nd grade. 

Then they were happily watching Garfield in their matching outfits until I disrupted the movie to attempt a photo.

Sam & The Crew

Sam is back with Hannah part-time right now (full time after next week), and she is also temporarily working for her "old" family, whom she was with since Catherine (far right, age 4) was a baby.  They spent the afternoon at the zoo. 

Zoo Trip (mama's perspective)

Zoo Day

Today we went to the zoo.  These are some of the pics I found on John's camera.

This last one initiated a fun conversation, as you might imagine. 

Ah, the zoo.  It's the only place where you can get -- in one day! -- both a sex ed primer and a preview of what it might look like if you decided to do meth.  I'll spare you a picture of the latter, but can school just please start?  Please.

A Late Summer Update

Somehow, for the first time in nearly 7 years, I forgot about this blog. You probably didn't notice, but it's been a few days, and honestly, I haven't even thought of Goose Bumps.  Wow.  That's just one letter away from Goose Burps, which is WAY more appropriate considering the number of boys around here.

I know other people sometimes forget to post on their blogs, but let's face it: I am not Other People. 

We had a really fun blast-from-the-past friend (like, Teach for America '99 corps past) stop in last Friday night for a fun catch-up-on-10-years dinner party.  And she mentioned that she keeps up with my blog!  I nearly died.  She lives in Seattle.  I'm famous. 

And it reminded me that I had not even thought about the blog in a few days.  So either this is a great, relaxing summer vacation, or I'm getting old. 

She brought salted caramels. 

Go back and read that again: Salted. Caramels. 

This gift, a beacon in the night of a no sugar/carbs phase for me, has totally opened my eyes to a whole new world of chewy candy.  It was like light at the end of a cave.  And now if I could just make chiropractic adjustments to my own neck, I'd be happy for life with my salted candy and my always-in-alignment spine.  (Sometimes, when you're eating the candy, you actually get big chunks of salt.) 

This from someone who was once given the gift of "Morton Salt Family Size Shaker" from an office mate.  One who salts cantaloupe and watermelon and butter.  I'd salt soy sauce if Brian would let me.

Thank you, dear Emily, for the candy.  And please don't think that we always eat over-cooked shish kabobs and dry pesto pasta.  It was an off night. 

So, let's get caught up, friends!

The boys went to Wisconsin to visit the Paternals. They did a lot of swimming and lego-ing. I couldn't go. Someone has to work and pay the bills around here.   These are the photos from the MiL, photographer extraordinaire. 












































Yes we do too feed him. 

And so, dear friends, I'll leave you with this bit of brotherly love. 

OUS,
k

We have a few tomatoes coming in.