Week 38: Camping and carnival rides

Saturday was a Cub Scout Adventure camping weekend for Zach and Frank, while I took Gabe and Charlotte to an arcade birthday party for his friend. They rode the teacups dozens of times, and he and Charlotte also had a lot of fun playing air hockey (when I propped her up on my knee).

Week 37: A funny one

Capturing this video of Charlotte was a highlight of the week. A bit of background: the boys nicknamed her "deh-deh" quite a while ago, since there was a time when that was about all she said. It is hilarious when she comes to tell me things the boys have said!

Week 36: Here we are

Just a glimpse. Short week and long days. Zach and Charlotte caught the first cold of the school year. Frank and I finished Season 4 of Game of Thrones; it's so good.

The boys made up a game where someone draws what the others choose while blindfolded. Everyone took a turn and it was pretty funny.

Charlotte started speech with the teacher at the elementary school. She was so excited to go, and even more excited to get her own notebook.

She swings the entire time Zach is in his cub scout meeting. Frank's arm gets tired pushing her.

The kids picked our tomatoes. We tried them, I thought they were pretty good even though I'm not really into tomatoes, but the kids thought they were just okay.

Fun with the bubble blower.

Week 35: Trying to catch up

I've started to believe the last couple of years that seven to eight hours of sleep a night just isn't cutting it. I (and maybe Frank, as well) must be one of those people who needs a good 10 to feel really rested. But the thought of going to bed when the kids do, and never watching TV again, is just not realistic (or fun). I thought that exercising regularly would give me a leg up, energy-wise, but lately it seems to make no difference. So we are busy trying to catch up, on sleep, on cleaning house, on adding events and projects to the calendar for this fall. Life has just been really full.

Frank was in Las Vegas again last week. It was another conference, maybe not as fun overall as his last trip but with some exciting moments. For the rest of us it was a pretty typical week.

New school year, new routines. The boys bring their backpacks in, take their lunch/snack containers to the kitchen, and take out their folders to do homework or show me stuff.

Monday evening we went to the park to watch a friend play soccer and play with his siblings on the playground. It is still way too hot here.

It is always exciting here when the next book in the Captain Underpants series arrives.

Zach is learning to use a pocket knife at cub scouts. He whittled that bar of soap into a bear (it's pretty close).

I am in the middle of sorting 30+ years of printed photos and negatives (this is only a small portion of those!) It's been a bit of detective work, for sure, but I'm so thankful to have all of them.

The fun part of the conference: in addition to a concert, attendees were driven around the track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (only 90 mph).

And Frank won a GoPro :) We have no idea when/what we will use it for but it's still exciting!

Catching up on shopping over the weekend.

And a Labor Day family outing to Starbucks. Much calmer than when we tried this a year ago.

Week 34: Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

Last week was a whirlwind of cake, gifts, play dates, tea parties, dress up, and Charlotte's last sessions with her therapists. We can't believe she's three already!

Week 33: I'm jumpin'

I've always heard (and I've known it to be true) that once kids start talking you'll never be able to shut them up. After the excitement of the first day of school and walking to the bus stop, Charlotte was as relieved as I was that the boys were out of the house. We had a very calm Tuesday, and she napped, which she's been doing on and off lately.

Then I guess she realized, with her new conversational (and jumping) skills, that I was a captive audience. And she really hasn't stopped talking to me since. When Frank came home from work on Friday I had a huge headache and happily ran away to Target for a couple hours.

Hmm, what else did we do this week? Frank and I finished season 2 of Game of Thrones. Charlotte got her own world on Minecraft, went to the doctor for a check-up, played with a friend, and jumped all over the place (especially to and from the bus stop). The boys dug into their Legos again once I gave them a bigger table to play on. Gabe and I searched Amazon for the cutest Pikachu plush (way overpriced!). Zach enjoyed his annual end-of-summer water carnival with cub scouts. I made a big batch of banana bread, and that doesn't happen enough lately.

They're using a Disney timer app while brushing teeth.