Home again!

First Day of School

They're gone.




More pics: http://family.webshots.com/album/565643272DrDJtf?vhost=family

Remember when?

Remember when you were a little kid and you played Pretend? And you didn't actually DO anything, you just kept saying to those playing with you, "Pretend I'm a seal in the circus." And they'd respond, "Pretend I just knocked you off the balance beam." And so on, and on, and on, ad infinitum.

Or when you were a little kid and performed Shows which you made your parents and others sit through? (Lisa and I actually charged admission to ours!)

Let me tell you, being on the receiving end is a whole new ballgame. Watching the girls play Pretend and do Shows is exhausting. The way a bad movie just seems to never end.

But it'll all be okay....school starts tomorrow! I'm so excited by this, but just today I've been feeling a bit melancholy about it. I'm sure I'll miss them....maybe sometime in October. No, seriously. To have been with them every single day for the last (almost) six years and now they'll be going away. I'm going to miss them terribly.

Avoidance

I will be the first to admit that I avoid doing certain things with the girls. Like cooking. The massive clean-up at the end is (to my mind) way too much work to justify the means. But today I relented. We made chocolate chip cookies. With my new oven (okay, well, it's almost a year old) and my new mega mixer that DOES NOT dance across the countertop. (Yay!) (And, btw, this new mixer ROCKS!)

And why today, boys and girls? Because I've been having a craving for chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips. I know it sounds odd, but it's been an ongoing thing since college. My roommates and I would occasionally (daily) whip up a batch to eat while watching "Santa Barbara".

The girls were all about helping me. And really, they were quite helpful. Just overlook the cracked egg that landed on the counter and floor instead of the bowl, the sugar that landed in the egg, and the crisco that got smeared around. The cookies are AWESOME. (Yes, I actually baked most of the dough.) The girls took some over to Grammy Gay's a while ago. They went over by themselves, and I told them they could stay for a few minutes. They've been there a half hour. It's kinda nice. I'm watching HGTV and baking cookies.

So, to Amy, Jen, Sara, Susan, and Laura....hope all is well with youse guys. I'm having some cookie dough for you.

Home Again

After a whirlwind tour of southern Wisconsin, we are back in PA and trying to recover. Although, if yesterday is any indication, the marathon will be continuing: Kindercamp, playdate at the park with Emma, grocery store, piano lessons, swimming, pick up jerseys at KoSports, stop by Pap Pap's to drop off beer, bedtime for the girls, heat press the jerseys picked up earlier. I slept like a rock.

Pictures of our WI trip will be coming shortly. Stay tuned.