First Day

The tears weren’t because Tate didn’t want to go to school for the first time;

they were because we dragged him away from the car door to take a picture, delaying the start to his first day.

There were no tears after we left the house.  Rush and Tate were both so excited about school and I;m positive they were both ready for a change of routine.  Hurray for a new school year!

Rush’s BFF Barrett is in his class again and was already playing with trains when we arrived, so I don’t think Rush even said good-bye to me.

And then, for the first time that I can remember since before Tate was born, I had five solid hours of free time.  I recognize the value of that, because who gets five hours to themselves?  Retirees, maybe?  It’s amazing how much you can get done, especially when there is no one following behind you undoing your work. 

Almost Back

They boys have been practicing for naptime at school- they’re ready.

What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a-happening

We’ve reached a tipping point.  Tate and Rush are old enough and Trent is still Trent, so we’re officially a house that’s 75% male and everything smells like a boys’ cabin at camp.  It’s the smell of gym clothes that have baked in a car all day and people who need to focus on aiming when they go to the bathroom.  We had an extended Target trip this morning where I spent our life savings on ‘sport’ laundry detergent, bleach related cleaning products, and make-up to drag myself from the filth.  I kind of get the feeling that my Christmas list will be perfume and Scentsy refills. 

It’s just about time for a change of seasons, because I’m running out of conversation topics.  The boys and I brief Trent on the days activities during dinner –pool, grocery store, watching The AristoCats- so after they boys go to bed I’m more or less spent for discussion ideas.  The other night we were just staring at each other and finally it was, so, want to talk politics?

So I finally saw Casablanca for the first time last week. Anyone else want to talk about it as if it wasn’t already acknowledged as one of the greatest movies of all time and old enough that everyone else saw it years ago, possibly back in the 40’s? I want to talk about it. I watched it with my parents last week and while they were appalled that I had never seen it, after they movie they weren’t interested in discussing it at all.

The Olympics left me with a little fantasizing about Rush and Tate winning gold medals.  I mean, one day that picture might be shown during a montage before the 200m butterfly.  I’m pretty positive that I don’t have a pushy sport parent persona hidden inside me, but maybe my kids will have Olympic dreams on their own.  If so, I hope the 2032 summer games will be somewhere awesome.

Chicago

Trent recently went to Chicago for work and was able to arrive a day early to take in the town.  He had great intentions of posting his own experiences, but he has also been waking up at 4:45 AM to hit the gym before work, so…I’m posting for him.

Willis Tower, the tallest building in the U.S.

deep dish pizza

and Wrigley Field for a Cubs game

Maybe next time we can all go?  That pizza looks tasty.

Grandparents for Us Regular Folk

Unlike celebrity spokeswomen for at home hair dye (Sarah Jessica Parker is dyeing her own hair in her bathroom?) or overly smart or wealthy political candidates (Wait, we need an educated president!  Don’t downplay it!), Martha Stewart never pretends to be like a regular person.  She likes to give even her biggest fans little reminders that while we can read her magazines and attempt her crafts, she’s functioning on a different level.  She doesn’t even pretend that she doesn’t have an army of staff helping her either, talking about calling ahead when travelling to one of her homes to have the staff start baking so she can arrive to warm, fresh cookies.   Actual caption under a photo of her granddaughter's bedroom in this month’s Martha Stewart Living:

“The Arctic-themed mural in the nursery was a gift from Martha, who created it with the help of crafts editor Hosanna Houser and her team.  Made from caribou hides (which Martha brought back from our trip to Arctic Canada) and felt, the mural was designed with the room’s ice-blue color palette in mind.”

Back in the real world, the boys recently spent some time with their grandparents too, sans-caribou hides.

Trent’s family came over recently to celebrate Trent’s dad’s birthday with a big Saturday morning breakfast.  It was one of those birthdays that deserved a bonus pancake rendition of Happy Birthday in addition to a regular cake.  We spent the rest of the morning at the pool, where the boys played with their aunts and Trent tried to reteach me to do a flip turn.  Flip turns are in the same category as jump roping, meaning that just because you could do it in your youth, it doesn’t mean your body will have any recollection of that.  It’s going to take more practice and water up my nose to perfect it. 

A few days later I went to visit my parents.  The day we arrived the boys were playing in the pantry, and they suddenly got very quiet.  When my mom when to check on them, she found that they had located a can of Pringles and polished off half of it.   

When Rush woke up throwing up at 3 AM, I blamed the Pringles, but only until we all joined him.  I don’t know that my parents were all that happy about catching a stomach bug, but I’ve never been happier to be sick in my life.  If I’m going to be miserable and taking care of children, there’s no place I would rather be than with my parents, who could help me.  Being home by myself throwing up with Rush and Tate (who thankfully stayed well) or with my mom?  I don’t even need to answer that.

After everyone had progressed past saltines and Sprite, we took a quick trip to the beach. After a rainy Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, Sunday turned into the most beautiful day of the summer.  The seaweed was gone, so hopefully we can fit in one more beautiful summer beach weekend before fall. 

I’ll take pancakes with store bought syrup and saltines and Sprite over ice-blue murals any day.  Although would it be pushing it to call ahead to the grandparents for fresh baked cookies on arrival…?