Knott's with Nanie

Mark had to go to Korea for work so my mom came to keep us company. We had lots of girl time - shopping, lunch, hours of talking. And we went to Knott's one afternoon and made my mom get on all the rides. There was hardly anybody else there so we did a few things we've never even tried before - the bounce house and the wild west show. We also went around on the trucks 5 times without getting off. We ate some serious nacho-style cross-cut fries and then I had to go on the swings with Audrey (Mark's job, usually) but I managed not to get deadly dizzy and barf. Audrey refused to go on the log ride so my mom decided to go on her own. I was poised to take her picture coming down the chute but when I heard her shriek I started laughing so hard I missed it. Later she and Audrey went on the roaring rapids ride twice and came out soaked. I got some good film of them going by the second time around. It was a memorable day.

Funny faces

My kids crack me up. They need a lot of help - meals, rides, new shoes and kisses for their many injuries. Thank goodness they make me laugh so much.

Girl Scout Encampment

Audrey's Brownie troop went to the Fall Encampment in Long Beach - a full day of crafts and games, songs and skits, with costumes and trick or treating at the end. I took her after her soccer game and we had a great time.

90 degrees in October

Fall keeps toying with us - cold then hot then cold then hot. We had a few sweltering days early in October and went to the beach to cool off. Claire stepped on a bee but luckily it didn't hurt until we got home.

School started weeks ago

And finally, I'm posting a few pictures. Audrey got a good teacher this year, has lots of friends in her class, and luckily gets year off from the "bad" boy she's had in her class the last two years, the boy who taught her bad words and whose behavior dominated much of our after school exchanges. Phew. She was not too excited to start out but when she saw her friends she cheered up. Second grade does not offer parents any time to say goodbye - we were asked to leave as soon as the bell rung without any kind of orientation or photo ops. I guess that's appropriate. Claire bawled and I definitely felt her pain - she and Audrey played together almost nonstop this summer and they really love each other; I cried, too, just facing the truth this milestone makes so glaring: my little baby is not a baby at all anymore, in fact, from here on out she's just going to be more and more independent of me. Mark took it in stride, as he does with most things, but I know it hits him, too, that our kids are moving into a new stage.

A few days later Claire went to her first day of preschool with her cute backpack and wearing her new outfit. She was more than happy to wave goodbye to me, didn't hesitate or even shed a tear. She has the same teacher that Audrey had years ago at Good Shepherd preschool, Mrs. Dewart. Several of the teachers there remember Claire's birth and seeing her as an infant, and they all share my surprise that she's already old enough to be enrolled.







Mark offered me as much comfort as he could and went to work. I cried my head off all the way home and when I walked in the door I knew it was a good thing I had planned to play tennis with a friend. The house was so empty and so inexcusably messy with no kids in it to justify the jumble of toys and clutter and clean laundry waiting to be folded. I also felt a strange sense of foreboding and realized it was 8 years of habitual vigilance with no outlet - I had no one to look out for - all of my protective and intuitive inclinations were still going strong, but there was no one who needed them. So I grabbed my racquet and ran out as quickly as I could. Tennis was a blast and I felt better. Three hours goes by quickly and Claire was home with me again, happy and tired. It's been a few weeks and I have adjusted. I am still a little uncomfortable when she is gone, still working out that maternal instinct that tells me if I can't see my little one she must be in danger, but I'm not crying that's for sure - I can get a lot done in three hours, or nothing. Claire loves school and wants to go every day like Audrey. I think we'll both be ready when kindergarten starts, but thank goodness that's a year away. Baby steps.

Goooooooaaaaaaallllllll!

Audrey's soccer team is called the Ladybugs - Claire is a great mascot in an old Halloween costume. These pictures are from the first practice and first game in September. Audrey has not scored yet, but last week Mark offered her a highly desirable "incentive" and she sought out the ball and made a couple of drives toward the goal. Maybe this Saturday will be the day.

Perfectly good tortillas...

Like many of our dinners, this one dissolved into a goofball showcase. Whether they are belching, farting, telling potty jokes, playing with their food, or singing songs they just made up about the meal they'd rather be eating, my kids think dinner is comedy hour, not meal time. Sometimes I have to eat my food and just walk away completely giving up on the meaningful conversations I delude myself into expecting; sometimes I get annoyed and squash their playfulness with talks about good manners and the effort a good dinner requires and the respect it and its preparer deserve in return. But the night they made masks out of their tortillas I just laughed and took pictures.

We made summer last as long as we could

Our school year didn't start until Sept. 8 so we had quite of few days of fun left after our block party. We spent them going to the beach, hanging around the house enjoying all the weird things kids come up with to entertain themselves, and swimming in the backyard blow-up pool. I think Audrey was looking forward to school just for the fun of seeing her friends, but definitely not for the homework; Claire was happily anticipating her first day of preschool; and I was wishing I were the kind of mother who could home school - I'm not, for many reasons, but we won't get into that now - because then we could all stay home together together playing, sleeping in, eating picnics, running in the sprinklers and enjoying the freedom of a wide-open schedule. I could not express my lack of enthusiasm to the kids, but I sure felt it. However I dread the monotony of homework and packing lunches, soccer practice and cold weather, I also look forward to the holidays, starting choir again and having just a little time to myself. But if I felt free to complain without offering that cheerful sentence about the good times ahead, believe me I would gripe away without pause. I really like sleeping in.

Block Party 2011

If only all my posts didn't have to start with an apology. I know this is late, but it was fun and definitely worth adding to our blog. We have a friendly block with a diverse mix of retirees, partiers, shut-ins, and families with small children. The retirees and the shut-ins avoid the party for their usual TV and microwave dinners with 30 cats, but the rest of us live it up. The block party lasts all day with barbeque, potluck, DJ, bounce house, water slide, games, and even the fire department shows up with their tallest ladder and sets up the hose.





The kids run wild, ride their various vehicles in the streets, eat a ton of junk, have their faces painted and become more and more frantically joyful as the day progresses until they have to be drug home way past their bedtime so they can fall asleep twitching from high blood sugar and exhaustion.





Mark and I are not so wound up, but right around clean up time I did the Thriller dance, laughing hysterically, with a woman I don't even know, and that was one of the highlights. We represented ourselves well in the games portion of the day - I made a good showing trying to eat a vanilla wafer off my face and Mark was 3rd in the cherry spitting contest.




The day was marked by really unusual weather, first heat and then two waves of very light rain that did nothing to slow the festivities, some lighting that had us bit concerned, and then a gorgeous double rainbow and brilliant sunset. A great day from start to finish.