The Janky Tooth, One Year Later

A year ago this week (why yes, I am my own personal TimeHop app), Anneliese fell and shoved one of her teeth up into her jaw, which will* go down as the most bizarre childhood injury our family has to deal with. (*I hope, good grief.)

I am sad (happy?) to report that the thing I was worried would happen -- that her new smile would date older pictures and look like someone she used to be, as her janky smile looked more and more like her -- totally did happen. I can barely remember when her grin didn't look like this:

I'm worried that when I go soon to put together a birthday video for her, it will mostly be a year chronicling the janky tooth. But at least it will show progress! The jammed tooth has indeed slooooooowly worked (is still working) its way back down into place, so it looks... well, at best, less odd than it did a year ago. I guess because of elasticity in the gums (or something? (I have no idea y'all) it sort of stays sucked around the tooth and it doesn't fall back out, or even feel loose, even though it is not exactly hooked to her jaw anymore? Yeah I don't know. I REALLY DON'T KNOW.

But the janky tooth is there, not falling out, and looks fine itself although it has damaged the teeth around it (to the point of gray), and likely janked up the adult tooth it smashed into, meaning she will probably need dental work in five years, but we are fine to let that be five years from now's problem.

And I would also like to thank this whole incident for ensuring that janky and janked up are now normal parts of our family vocabulary. Nothing is better than Anneliese earnestly telling the dental receptionist that she is there to have pictures (x-rays) taken of her janky tooth. Nothing. Okay, fine some things are better. Nope, I take it back, nothing is better than that.

I am actually kind of a teeth-squeamish person; I don't like teeth, loose teeth, lost teeth, weird teeth stories, any of it. But I kind of feel like when this janky tooth falls out, we should put it in a shadow box over our mantle or present it as a gift at her wedding or something. Too weird? We'll keep thinking on it.

First Grade So Far

It has taken a good solid month, but Nathan finally seems into a rhythm at school. He hit a few snags at the beginning, nothing he wants me to tell about in detail, but it's mostly just.. playground politics (isn't it always that?) which seems to be sorting itself out as he finds his way.

Mostly he is so tired, which I guess is normal for any kid adjusting to an all-day schedule. And after going to the open house and hearing how much talking his teacher expects them to do -- not just reading out loud, but explaining through math processes, re-telling stories, presenting to the class, and more and more, every day -- we can see why he often comes home quiet and desperate for rest. We've learned that giving him some time to be quiet and alone and decompress after school means he is far more likely to want to talk about his day or visit with us at dinner and later, which is just fine. (It makes me want to burst, obviously, but I am trying to respect his introvert ways.)

I apparently took just enough pictures of him at the bus stop during the first couple weeks of school that now he wants me to and seems confused or disappointed if I don't. "Mom do I not look cute today? Do you want to take my picture?" Oh Nathan. You are forever bright and ado:rable, do not worry. Yes I will text you to whoever you want. (Anyone want a bus stop good morning at 8:20 my time some day? Say the word.)

Okay what else. Ahhhh he has homework! Which is both not a problem, and also yes a problem. He is glad to do it, and can do the work itself just fine on his own, but the assignment calendar/instructions are basically written out for parents to manage, in no way clear enough for a first grader to read and understand, which bugs me. And it's not that I don't want to help or be involved (hello, have you met me? I border on micromanaging, I have to be very intentional not to) (no seriously, let me be clear, the person who implies that I am being a lazy or un-invested mom with this stance will get smacked; it's not what I am saying at all), but -- yeah, what about the kids whose parents suck, or work evenings, or don't read English well, or aren't on top of things? I feel for them. It seems unfair or something, the kids being limited by how much their parents are able or willing to do. Especially when the solution is SO SIMPLE -- write assignments to the student.

So, that's what I do: I take the assignments from his teacher, bottom-line it in an email to Nathan, which I then print and stick in the front of his homework binder so he can see everything he needs to do that week. If I can type it out simply for a first-grader, why can't it just be assigned that way to begin with? I just... why is this so hard? I said it in preschool, I am saying it again now, and I have a feeling I will have to say it again: homework should be for students, not parents. This will apparently become my mountain to die on. *sigh*

Okay I didn't mean to write all this about homework. Anyway. Homework! Nathan is doing it! Happily and compliantly! Which of course is not shocking in the least, and I am already trying to just appreciate it every day without dreading the fact that I know I will not get this lucky with all three kids.

Also, aside: I should stop right here and say I think his teacher is outstanding. The homework thing is maybe the only thing I am not downright thrilled about. Truly. Every time I show up at his school for anything, I feel happier and more at peace with the choice we made sending him there. Really, it has been excellent.

Okay so in cuter-than-homework news, he has also started a track club thing on Friday mornings where we all pile in the car and drive him to school early and walk around the track for a while. It is a small track (nine laps to a mile) and the kids get arm bands to count how many times they go around, which get added up over the school year, towards earning these plastic feet to wear on a necklace, which should not be an exercise incentive, but apparently when you are a grade-schooler, it is. Because they all want the feet. I am pretty sure that 85% of the reason Nathan wanted to do it was for the necklace. School status symbol, I guess. Which is fine, because it is sweet and adorable and they play music on giant speakers and people bring their strollers and siblings and dogs, and dang this will sound cheesy but it is fun. Kids pour in off the buses to get extra laps in, everyone in the school high fives this super PE teacher, Anneliese beams every time someone thinks she is a kindergartner, Nathan slows down his run every few laps to do one with Charlotte toddling behind, and yeah I don't hate any of it.

(Although I should say: he is so, like... goal-driven that he makes himself almost miserable running fast enough to get a whole mile in before school. No matter how many times I tell him it doesn't matter, he can go fast or slow or whatever he wants, he just can't not keep racing. He takes himself so seriously! He so elated he almost cries. Actually tears up. I mean... is he having fun? Does he like it? Does he just want to have done it? I don't know. Stay tuned.)

Oh! Here is a funny thing. The other day on the bus ride home, he took the index card we had written our names/numbers on, and erased it so he could do some math "homework." Not actual homework, he just wanted to write something or do some math or something. Which is fine, but he erased our card. Who does that??

Mark and I didn't know whether to hug him or shake him. And then we got very busy pointing at each other saying he gets it from *you* which, let's be honest, is probably true on both counts. (Let the record show I totally would have created fake homework to do on the bus but I think I would have been aware enough to know not to erase something my parents wrote to keep in my backpack, just so I would have paper for my fake homework. I mean. Really now.)

So he now has a notebook just for the bus, and, yeah, that's how first grade is going so far.

Press! Charlotte!

It only took six months from Charlotte being introduced to the inward-facing cell phone camera to become full-on obsessed with taking selfies.

She has become my sweet baby who is pretty much always happy to smile for the phone. It comes out and she says press! press! and then Charlotte! (which she pronounces Shaaaaah-lit, adorably) (but yes if you ask her what her NAME is, she still says Night-night because she likes to make me sigh, apparently) and anyway she grins at herself and points and pushes the button. Press! Charlotte!

And then my camera roll looks like this:

Yes, I said MY camera roll. Because this even happens on MY phone now. MY PHONE. I don't even know who I am anymore.

Not that I am really complaining, I love selfies as much as the next person. (Next person = everyone. Either you love taking selfies or you are a liar.)

Blathering Vlog

Okay so I have mentioned that I have plans to go to Charleston to meet up with some blog/twitter/internetty friends, none of whom I have ever met in real life, and said meetup (the Blathering; it has a name and everything) is happening soon... in a few weeks. The organizers made a list of questions for us to answer on video so we can know each other's names/faces/voices before we go, so... here is mine.

(I am such a dork. It's basically nine minutes of me being a dork. Do I always make weird eyes and faces when I talk?)

(Also I now officially know why so many people mis-hear me when I say Anneliese's name. Anneliese! Not Emily!)

(Okay stop reading all my parentheses and just watch.)


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch on YouTube.)

Coffee Date Plus One

I was just dumping pictures off my phone and found these from a coffee date a few weeks ago, a day Anneliese tagged along. (An extremely rare event that Wednesday coffee dates* are a with-kids outing, but I'm kind of remembering -- based on her dress? -- this must have been one of the mornings she thought it was her first day of school and it wasn't.)

Anyway, these just made me smile when I found them. 

Me smiling at pictures on my phone = blog post. Apparently.

*As many Wednesdays as we can, Another Nathan and I have a coffee date after I drop my kids at church and before he goes to work for the day. Obviously this happens less often in summers, and when I've had a newborn too young for my Freedom Wednesdays, but most every week for the past three-plus** years, I have started*** my Wednesday mornings in the Starbucks inside Harris Teeter down the road from our church, chatting for a few minutes and sipping**** coffee with him.

(**Holy whoa I can't believe we have been doing this for that many years, actually.)

(***Ha that is quite a euphemism, as if in most cases I haven't been awake for hours and hours already.) 

(****Chugging. I rarely drink coffee slowly. This will surprise no one.)

Still Summer, Til Brad Says So

Just wanted to point out, for anyone starting to reeeeeally feel the temptation of sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes, that it's actually still summer. For four more days.

Mark and I do not hate September in these parts, because duh.

But even though it is still technically summer, I have decided (since I am the decider of these things, obvs) that fall will start when Brad says it starts, because that sweet brother of mine has not had a real fall in seven years (yes, there are downsides to a life in the Caribbean). Which is both kind of sad and also kind of exciting for him, because fall is so so lovely, right? (Basking in the loveliness is why I have been digging in my heels at the pumpkin-pushers recently. Don't make me sick of the loveliness before the loveliness is even here!)

So whenever Brad says hey! fall! I will have that pumpkin spice latte now! then I won't look at the calendar or the weather, I will just smile and feel happy for him. Welcome back to a life of Carolina autumns, baby bro. They are exactly as wonderful as you remember.

(Marky and I will still be in the pool as many  more weeks as we can stand it, though.)

Nathan, Dinosaur Author

So, here is a cute thing Nathan has been doing recently: writing books.

(I promise not to do this kind of thing all the time HAHAHAHA I can't even finish that thought, I make no such promises, I am a mom and I have a blog so I will be telling alllll the cute things.)

His elective this quarter (yes, he has electives), after some disappointment at not getting into a group piano class (story for another day) is a writing class, and we think this has somehow made him feel empowered to write All the Books.

One night he crept down out of his room at like 10:30, after (apparently) being very busy for hours at his desk with printed coloring pages, scissors and crayons, talking something about hey mommy daddy I wrote a book, and like any excellent parents, we were all, mmmmkay buddy sounds great GO TO BED.

Well, come morning, we found this gem (gem I say!) stacked and gluesticked and stapled together:

And then another:

And then there was an informative booklet on dino predators, with this as the final page culminating his thoughts:

And another book after that, and another. He wrote one for Mark about about a stegosaurus fighting a spinosaurus. He wrote one for Another Nathan about an allosaurus fighting an ankylosaurus (I think?) and one about an apatosaurus being bigger than a house -- so yeah, there is a theme to this series, you could say.

And then there were several books on airplanes:

(I like Plans better. I would read a book about Plans. I love Plans. Let's make Plans!)

Apparently he is also a librarian, and here are his "Dinosaurs Books Choices" if you would like to check one out from him:

My favorite part of it all is that colorful spinosaurus towering over the fallen t-rex. I cannot not laugh. CANNOT. Every time.

When he wins his first Pulitzer I am going to be really glad I scanned this crap in.

Saturday to Saturday

Hey! A whole week went by! Lots to tell! It was thrilling! (It was not thrilling.) (It was normal.)

Because of that whole protective-of-Saturdays thing now that Nathan is in school and I feel like our all-together-as-a-family time has become PRECIOUS and GUARDED (raise your hand if you're sick of hearing me say that yet) (y'all put your hands down!), we decided to go have some "family time" at the playground. Which involves all three children running in separate directions and two grownups trying to play zone defense (heck yes I know sports terms). Family togetherness! Obviously!

Anneliese went on the swings:

Charlotte loved and then hated this monkey bar thing:

And Nathan went on the slide and raced in circles pretending to be a spinosaurus and refused to pose for pictures. What was that about five forever? Ahhh new eras.

He did smile for me at the bus stop one day though:

Sometime early this week (Tuesday?) I spent some time cursing preschool homework because IT JUST KEEPS COMING BACK EVERY YEAR. An "all about me" collage. Cute idea, still too much parental involvement required, y'all have heard my spiel a few times before.

So basically this year Anneliese just... didn't want to do it. She put her picture and the letter A and a rainbow and then was ready to turn it in. (I give it two more years before I throw my hands up and let someone* actually do that.) (*It will be Charlotte. Poor third child.)

Anyway Anneliese was a pill and whiny about it, but I was being a whiny pill about it too, so I didn't hold it against her. Finally she thought of some things she would like me to print and add to her page, and I did, and we did, and then she stuck all manner of stickers on it, and we called it a day.

(My favorite is the bed sticker at the bottom. I don't even know.)

For Charlotte's collage (wait let me interject here. she is still a baby. she cannot remotely do this project by herself or even with help. BABY.) I got a little stuck because, um, what are her hobbies and interests? SHE'S TWO. She likes eating yogurt and crayons and ripping pages out of library books. Her life goals are learn to pee in the body and not fall out of her bed at night. That's collage gold right there, y'all.

I desperately wanted to make a collage of her picture smack dab in the middle of some gluesticked ripped book pages, but I didn't. I am not That Mom. Also I am not trying to craft a serial killer persona for my toddler.

Also I maaaaybe had a moment of parenting existential crisis when I realized that when Nathan was two the first time we (I) had to do one of these for him, and I am prrrretty sure I didn't have any problems coming up with his interests and hobbies. Why don't I know what Charlotte likes? My poor third child! Do I not know my kid at all?? Then I suddenly remembered Nathan talked a lot more at this age, which helped, and also that I do know what Charlotte is interested in, of course I do, and it isn't just ripping up library books (although, that too).

(Parenting existential crisis, averted.)

Anyway I found some food wrappers and family pictures and book thumbnails and something something mumble grumble something aaaaaand DONE. It is perfect.

TWO A+ GRADES FOR MOMMY. Through the course of the day I realized I have gotten pretty dang good at this collage thing and I could actually make them for most people I know. You want one? I can be commissioned. It is my new side business. (Side business. On the side of my normal day job and career haaaaaaa.)

Also, quasi-related, can I take a minute and be glad that Mark is the play doh maker in this family? Y'all remember THAT debacle, right? Preschool parenting is some hard ish. I will stick to my genius collage making.

ANYWAY.

On Wednesday Mark and I were sooooooo looking forward to our first Freedom Wednesday of the school year (everyone in their church and school places, all at the same time, AND Mark wasn't working) but then Nathan was a little vommy and clammy and stayed home, so. *sigh*

Mark decided to use that time instead to clean the pool and backwash the pump, and in the process he accidentally pissed off a NOT SMALL nest of wasps living in our pool pump hut.

Yes, he got stung, and yes, he is fine now. However, holy terrifying pool cleaning day! (He has since sprayed and killed all the wasps and gotten the hive out with a stick of some sort. He said it was heavier than he was expecting. I stayed inside for all of that, because obviously.)

And by the end of the day, Nathan was clearly fine:

On Thursday I went to the spa and had a massage, like any good Real Housewife. (Kidding! I am not that! Thursday was our "weekend" and I will not feel guilty for redeeming my Groupon SO THERE.) It was lovely and relaxing and I creeped a picture of these chairs in the waiting area because I thought they were cool, and also it had been a while since I creeped any pictures.

they look way  more urban fancy feng shui classy relaxy in real life

They are super comfy, too. I was very busy relaxing in one and thinking holistic wellness thoughts (read: checking twitter on my phone) when a lady in black linen scrubs (spas are so weird) offered me some iced herbal tea. She was all, "it's caffeine free!" like that's some kind of BENEFIT. Picture me with very wide eyes.

(I already told this story on twitter. Eh some of you can read it twice.)

After my massage I stayed in creeper mode and did this:

Because it never stops being fun (for me). (Also already tweeted.)

On Friday I took my butt to the mall (looking like a slob and I don't care) in search of easy dresses. I am going to Charleston in a few weeks to hang out with internet friends, which is apparently a thing I do now (?) and if it is an excuse for a new dinner and date dress, then I will be procuring one. I took a lot of dressing room pictures for text opinions. And then I bought a short-sleeved sweater and an iced coffee and went home. Exactly what I came for!

And apparently I couldn't stop taking pics of myself in the mirror because I took another (for text new-shirt approval) (I am learning to wear orange and pink) before I went to dinner with Marky. Yes I wear jeans on dates. Yes I own that bottle of spray dry shampoo on the counter. Yes am leaning on the bathroom wall. Don't pay attention to anything except my really excellent hair day.

And then it was PRECIOUS AND GUARDED FAMILY TIME day again (Mark off work, two Saturdays in a row, his schedule is about to change, we will enjoy it now) so we played hide and seek in the backyard.

Things to know about playing hide and seek with my kids:
1- Anneliese cannot count to forty-four. She tries, then stops somewhere in the teens, then yells forty-four! Good enough.

2- Nathan pretends he can't find the girls when their hiding spots are too easy because some things about him growing up are pretty okay.

3- Charlotte's method of hiding (and seeking) is mostly to run around in circles yelling AH COME! AH COME! which is basically the best part of the game for any of us.

Tonight before bed we ate popcorn and watched the original Toy Story, which none of my kids had actually seen. (Nathan: "hey Rex is in this movie!" Ummm yep that's why he even exists, buddy.) Anneliese is reaping the benefit of being the middlest baby: she gets to hold the popcorn. (She lasted about five minutes before it was too warm* and she handed it to Nathan.) (*Clearly it was not her fleece pants in the lingering summer that was too warm. Definitely the popcorn.)

I'd like to thank my mom for training Bowden to go ape sh!t anytime we make popcorn, and stand around at attention, ready to pounce on any person's missed kernels.

Oh! And also one thing that happened this week is that Charlotte moved from wearing my gym headbands as necklaces, to wearing them as actual headbands.

In my mind this means it is because she wants to be just! like! mommy! so don't tell me anything otherwise, I will just be over here saying awwwwww and taking a million pictures on my phone.

(Thrilling.) (Normal.)

Daily Charlotte, Just Because

I can't get it up to write anything real today, because the lingering summer sunshine is calling my name. I make no apologies.

So here is a picture of Charlotte instead.

She is happy just because.

And now, back to reading by the pool.

(It's a tough life.) (Mark is off work, it's basically our weekend. All week. I don't hate it.)

First Day(s) of Preschool

The girls have kicked off their preschool year! I feel like it took a long drawn out several days of "first" days and I didn't know what to consider the actual FIRST DAY, so I just took pictures of them all week, because yeah.

On Wednesday, Charlotte had her first day of mmo (which she will do one morning a week, in addition to preschool two mornings a week -- not because she needs it, but because it was the only way to stack the schedule for me to have one morning alone, which *I* need). And that same morning, Anneliese had her preschool meet-the-teacher too (she has the same teacher Nathan had for 2's, when he was Charlotte's age; she was his teacher when Anneliese was born! fun) and y'all, there was no convincing her that it wasn't her first day of school. No way, no how. We tried to explain that she'd go to her class, meet her teacher, fill out some papers, see the toys, and we'd head home* (*to Starbucks). But all she heard was go to her class. Her preschool class. For preschool.

I decided it wasn't worth arguing with her about any more beforehand, she would see when we got there, so I threw my hands up and decided if it's the first day we're going to the preschool (it wasn't, we had been the day before for Charlotte's meet the teacher) (also we're there all the time anyway because it's our church), we could just treat it like the first day of school. Whatever.

So, before we went to take Charlotte to mmo, Anneliese put on her back-to-school dress, and we took pictures. Even though technically, it wasn't the first day of preschool for either of them.

Kicking off the school year! Or something!

first day of mmo... does that count?

meet the teacher day... does that count?

But on Thursday, Charlotte did have her real first day of preschool. Preschool! How is this child old enough for preschool?? To be fair, she's barely old enough -- her late birthday makes her the third youngest one in the hundreds of kids in the program at our church.

lest you think this is very rock and roll of her...
she was pointing at someone walking a dog.

She found her sunglasses sometime before breakfast, wore them all morning getting ready, and then pitched a fit when I tried to take them off. So I sighed and resigned myself to glasses pictures over crying pictures, and let her just wear them.

Oh, third baby, the battles we don't feel like fighting because mommy is tired. In the end I decided it wasn't uncute or unfunny, though, so... win?

And today, finally it was Anneliese's turn for back to school. She has been ready since Nathan started almost two weeks ago. She came downstairs this morning and stood in the dark by my bed with her arms full of clothes, asking if today was her first day. (How many times has she come down this week, asking that question?) The look of happy relief on her face when I could finally say YES! YOUR FIRST DAY IS TODAY! was adorable. Even by 6am standards.

And then she pulled from her hamper the dress she had already worn for her (not really) "first day" on Wednesday, and I DID NOT SAY ONE. WORD.

My mom is right. I really have amassed quite the collection of first/last day photos on these steps at church. I don't hate it.

Anyway so both girls did just fine at school. Charlotte was a little sobby at dropoff, which I was not expecting, but calmed down fast from the sounds of it. Anneliese just marched right in, grinning, waving and blowing kisses. (She was ready to go.) (We might have been running late for her first day.) (Poor middle child.)

And now begins the fall routine. Nathan is gone all day, every weekday, of course. Anneliese has preschool Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings (plus lunch). Charlotte's preschool alternates with Anneliese's -- Tuesday and Thursday mornings (but ends before lunch). But on Wednesday mornings she goes to mmo, which does go through lunchtime. It all sounds more complicated than it is, which kid to pick up at which time on which day, but in a few weeks it will feel simple and normal.

And I am SO SO looking forward to this year of having some one-on-one time with each of my girls. I had a lot of that with Nathan as a baby, and it has always felt a little sad (although great in other ways, of course) to have shared so much of Charlotte's and Anneliese's infancies with such divided attention between siblings. This feels like my chance to bask in each of them, alone. I have known that the timing of this school year was coming since Charlotte was born, and it feels fun that it's finally here. Bring on the mommy-daughter time.

Oh, and in case y'all are wondering why I keep winning all these blogging awards, it's because I do things like make a Photographed Event out of it not being my kids' first day of preschool. Learn from the master.

Summer Bucket Did-it List

It was an easy first week of the school year with the girls here at home, since they aren't staring back til this week, and verrrrry graaaaadually. (Well, I say "easy" without accounting for the bickering, which I am about sick to death of, and also the fact that Anneliese has been stuck in The Grandparent Hangover That Will Never End, alternating between delightful and then suddenly sobbing, pushing my nerves to the outer limits of human understanding. And without accounting for the heavy job stuff still hanging around like a wet blanket over our ability to feel relaxed, or Nathan side-stepping a little to find his place, and yeah, suddenly now writing this it doesn't sound like an easy week at all.)

*record scratch*

Okay, well it was a slow week together with the girls, at least. I just couldn't make myself do much besides hang out here at home. After we get through our variety of first days this week and the mmo/preschool schedule officially kicks in, it will bring an era of one-on-one time with each of them, which is yay! for me but maybe not as super for them? So I just wanted us to be home and be together for a few more days. Normally I cherish and protect my afternoon quiet during their naps, but these days I have been pushing errands and appointments for that time instead of dragging the girls along in the morning, and reserving mornings for relaxing and playing.

I just want to BE.

Anyway.

(Mark and Another Nathan have been laughing at me for how often I say anyway. It seems it's not just a written tic in emails/blogs, but an out-loud voicemail disease I can't cure myself of.) (Leaving voicemails in the first place is apparently another one.)

ANYWAY.

What am I blogging about again? I don't know. The end of summer? Yes, okay. That.

It was a good summer, y'all! I wanted it to be, I was ready for it, and I was also prepared to feel over it -- but aside from a few frustrating days, I really haven't. Basically this summer taught me that I want all summers home with my kids, and whatever work I go back to (someday) will maybe need to allow that. Like, the content of the work matters of of course, but the "career potential" might matter less than the schedule. (I have to put that in quotes. It seems so laughable. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up! Still! "Career potential." Ha.) So yeah. Our super summer means that kind of thing has been stewing in my head a bit.

So! Super summer! We did (almost) everything on our bucket list:

1.) Eat hot dogs in the back of a pickup truck. DONE.

2.) Throw water balloons onto the side of the guest house. Oops? Totally forgot about this.

3.) Make surprise crayons. DONE, with side effects.

4.) Go to that place where everyone gets to choose their own restaurant. The mall food court, hell slash paradise. DONE.

5.) Take swim lessons. DONE.

6.) Take dance lessons. DONE. (I will post more about this. Soon.)

7.) Go on lunch dates. DONE.

8.) Go to the beach for the day. DONE.

9.) Read 99 books. DONE. Look at sweet Nathan with his complete and stapled list!!

10.) Make a cake that looks like dirt with worms on it. DONE.

11.) Go downtown and go up in that big tower again. DONE.

12.) Camp in the backyard with Daddy. DONE.

13.) Go to lego camp. Oh y'all. This was a heartbreak of the summer. We found out at 5pm on Friday before his camp started (Monday morning) that it had been canceled due to not enough kids having signed up, which, first of all, what. Not enough kids interested in legos? I don't understand. Also, a little more notice would have been great, considering it was the last week of summer and they gave us no time to make alternate plans and oh my heaven he would have been crushed, so good thing we had added Montreat in and were fresh off the heels of that. Boooo lego camp. This one is definitely happening next summer. (Also if y'all want to see Mark's rage face, which doesn't come out very often, cancel his kid's lego camp at the last minute. Rage face!)

14.) Go to the zoo and ask Charlotte what her favorite animal is. DONE. Her favorite is a dutt! (She calls all birds dutts.) (And dinosaur statues too, apparently.)

what is this, Daddy? this is not a dutt.

15.) Have a dinosaur pool party. DONE, and with gusto.

16.) Dance in the car. DONE.

17.) Have sleepovers in Mommy's room. DONE.

18.) Do a picnic at the airport. Ummm we forgot about this too. I went to the airport, more times than I would have preferred, for less glamorous reasons than I preferred (lots of picking up and dropping off and not enough of me going anywhere myself) but we did not picnic or watch planes and we should have!

19.) List item added by Grandpa: go visit Grandpa! (And other various grandparents and relatives.) So all the kids got to visit grandparents at some point this summer, but Anneliese really knocked this one out of the ballpark with a marathon ten-day trip to three different houses. Which was fun for her, and logistically/driving smart, but too achy for me. Will share more pics of that at some point too. You should see the outfits she (my mom?) picked for some of her outings. Internet gold.

Not on the bucket list but also completed: catch the kitchen on fire, have many Starbucks dates, play in the pool a ton, kill a snake with a shovel, have an incredible trips to Chicago and Montreat, watch the trailer for this upcoming dinosaur movie three hundred thousand times (that youtube link has 371 thousand views, and 300 thousand are from Nathan), eat a lot of post-gym dunkin donuts in our sweaty clothes, and drive ourselves nuts trying to solve The Mystery of the Sticker Mail.

That'll do, summer 2013. That'll do.

Smiles That Make You Smile Back

Because some days just need easy smiles:

Anneliese and I went back-to-school shopping last week and found a number of cute things, but nothing she loved more than these clearance pants, which are half hideous, half awesome, and very eighties. She calls them her rainbow jeans. I am prepared to see them a lot.

Charlotte has started doing this smile when we pull a camera out. She also proclaims herself so pittee! which... um. (And yet! I love everything about it.)

Nathan has unearthed a more creative side in the last  month or so. One day he was taking a load to the recycling bin and asked to rescue this gatorade bottle to make something -- and got very busy with tape and scissors and paper, and then it was a plane.

Pretty dang good, right? (Like, better than I could have done. No joke.)

Today is the first day he has even hinted at being less than thrilled with school. I think he is missing his old friends a little. The new schedule and tiredness is setting in, and with choir on Wednesdays he just goes goes goes all day. Also, Charlotte broke the tail off one of his dinosaurs and Anneliese ate all the animal crackers, and his Montreat bracelet finally fell off, so.

slightly less smiley today

But! *Brisk clap!* Back to the easy smiling! And hair that is, well... something.

Tomorrow is a new day, and in the meantime we have these awesome grins to grin back at, so all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

And Now, September. Whoa September. Simmer Down.

Well, September came in like a lion yesterday.

It started out mostly normal. Nice, even. I went to church. I had a lovely easy coffee and lunch with a Montreat friend. I snuggled with Marky all afternoon. I caught up on blog stuff at Starbucks (America's Office™).

Wait I need to interject here: why don't I take my computer and type in coffee shops more? It is awesome! Another Nathan talked me into it (it was not a hard sell) and we walked through youth choir plans for the year, and he did some conference and worship planning (mostly it's just easier to work when he has the motivation of a new computer) (like anyone) (the computer's name is My Precious, if you're looking for a way to get him to roll his eyes at you #psa), and I returned emails and wrote a little and I felt so mom urban trendy! Typing in a Starbucks (America's Office™) is way better than typing at home. Not because I need to. Just because I can.

"Are we in New York right now?" -Another Nathan

(I'm doing it again today, writing this. Because I am coffeehouse-typey indulgent like that.)

Okay so anyway that's not the lion part.

So after our business/church meeting at Starbucks (America's Office™) we all decided we wanted to go to dinner and a movie. No work today! That means DO something last night! Mark has had a hankering for Chili's, which is not normally the Grownup Dinner Out we would use babysitting hours for, but whatevs, we all like it, so we went.

And. It was a rainy stormy floody windy disaster all over Raleigh, so we had to drive around our ass to get to our elbow, to avoid roads blocked by cars stuck in standing water, and avoid getting stuck ourselves, and then were drenched by the time we walked the six feet to the restaurant entrance, and then the power went out right after we ordered.

Being IN A BLACKOUT AT CHILI'S is what I'm guessing the beginning end of the world might feel like.

Well after devouring a bowl of (free) chips and salsa and downing two (not free!) (even in a blackout!) (they will hand write you a tab, yo!) beers, we decided to give up on the movie, to turn down our server's offer to "grab some food that's already made in the kitchen, not sure what it is and we can't guarantee it'll be warm, but..." (YUM), to ignore the melodramatic proclamations of a fellow diner insisting we were flooded on all sides and couldn't get out of the parking lot if we tried (shut up, we're on a hill), and headed back out into the mess towards...

Another Chili's.

Oh yes we did.

So we made it there, all in one car (we abandoned Another Nathan's at the first Chili's, as one does when one is foraging for food in an armageddon) and we drank more (not free) beer and finally finally (after the world's slowest service, which our server seemed to be proudly smug about somehow anyway) ate our Chili's dinner and I HOPE YOU LOVED EVERY BITE MARKY and I also hope that you love this story, which, let's face it, will now be re-told anytime we eat there. Be ready. (Not that we'll eat there again soon. Not for a while. I mean.)

And that should be enough for this blog post BUT OUR CLOWN-CRAY EVENING KEPT GOING.

So we got home and paid our (new) sitter and brought her home, AND THEN we couldn't find Bowden. Like, anywhere. We searched the whole house and we woke up all the kids and we went out back in the wet mess with a flashlight under the decks and we drove around the neighborhood. Which was sort of pointless because she could have been anywhere -- we didn't know how long she had been gone or when she could have even gotten out, or how spooked she might be from the storm (very) and, just... OH MAH GAH it felt awful. We looked for hours.

Eventually, through my tears, I filled out lost pet forms with the county SPCA, and put a note on craigslist, and some website helped me make a printable flyer, the sight of which almost made me throw up. (I was planning to post it here right now, but suddenly... no.) I was sobbing and felt sick.

We went to bed feeling so worried and upset and not knowing what to do, yet feeling like we needed to do something, but resigned to waiting til the light of day. We kept reminding ourselves of her tag, her microchip, her size, all optimistic factors in someone finding her and approaching her and getting in touch with us. But in the meantime, bedtime not knowing where our pup girl is? Barf.

A little after 2am when I still couldn't sleep, I drove around again, crying and yelling her name out of my window (stay classy, dog moms of Anderson Heights) which was of course fruitless. It ended with me sending panicked texts from our church parking lot, through tears, to people who could do nothing and weren't even awake (xoxo Mom Ashley Brad Dad Another Nathan). And then finally crawled back into bed and slept the kind of sleep that only comes after crying yourself to sleep. We have all been there, right? And yes it was that bad.

But in the wee hours in the morning, I heard Charlotte in her room (up much earlier than normal) saying  Bowden's name. Over and over. Like, with a purpose. So I went up there and listened and looked and finally found that sweet pup trapped in the back of a closet, stuck behind a dresser. (We recently filled Charlotte's closets to the brim with all her drawer-accessible furniture because HOLY TODDLER BED FREEDOM MESS, BATMAN.) I guess it's where she went to hide from the thunder, and somehow got shut in by our (new) sitter who wouldn't have known to watch for anything like that, because who would?

And suddenly Bowden was out and down the stairs and the big kids were wide awake and Mark was stumbling out of our room and Charlotte was clapping her hands gleefully.

I was so freaking relieved and so freaking exhausted.

Someday this will be funny, right? The night I went into a panic spiral about our missing dog, who was missing in our own house?

She is back* and we are glad.
(*always here. whatever. still glad.)

So, happy September?

On a less-lion note, yesterday also already brought an opportunity for a nap-creeping selfie, since it's Mark's everyone's favorite thing. I thought I got him good this time; he didn't know I did it til hours later. But then when I showed him he didn't mind it at all, because all he saw was how great his arms look and it made him feel hotter than he thinks he really is (pssssshhht).

The moral of the story is if you want to make your husband feel hott, take secret pictures while he is sleeping. And this advice comes from a sound well-rested person who has had the most normal weekend ever, so it's definitely probably advice worth taking. (Everyone! Send me your husband nap creeper pictures!)