Countdown

There are 10 more days until school starts. We made these construction paper loop chains and hung them from the light fixture. Each kid can tear a loop off their chain everyday until August 10. Yeah for school! 

Pouting Girl

Maddie does not like to smile for pictures. It doesn't prevent me from taking them. I want to remember her in all her 13 year old glory. Her friend Victoria is a little more accomodating. 

Puzzle Boy

Sammy loves to do puzzles. This is Chewbaca Star Wars puzzle. Sadly, when he finished it there was a piece missing.

Catalog

The girls are checking out the new American Girl catalog that I picked up on a recent trip to Chicago. Ellie got an AG doll a few weeks ago, so I went by the store in Chicago and loaded up on "accessories". So far I've only given her the matching t-shirts for her and Crystal (the name she chose for her doll). I'm hoarding the other stuff in my room, because I couldn't just walk in the house with a giant bag of stuff for Ellie and only t-shirts for everyone else.

The American Girl store was incredible. They have three stories of dolls, clothes and assorted stuff. There is a hair salon for the dolls, a photo studio where girls can have their picture put on the cover of American Girl magazine, even a cafe with little chairs for the dolls to sit by their owners. Ellie is pushing hard for our next family vacation to be to New York City, so that she can visit the store located there. 

Cookie Monsters

Saturday afternoon we bought a tube of sugar cookie dough and baked some cut-outs, then decorated them. The thing with the five red dots is a foot - those are the painted toenails. The dough expanded a lot during the baking process and most of the shapes were kind of blobby. 

Back from Girl's Camp

Maddie returned home from girls camp today - she had lots of fun and was very sweaty. A week is a long time to go with minimal air conditioning in the Texas summer.

Elmo's World

In the past few weeks we've cleaned up the bedrooms and playrooms, finding all sorts of lost treasures. One of them was Elmo, his clothes, and even his sneakers. Sammy was quite happy to reclaim him. 

Ruth

My friend Ruth Joslyn passed away at the age of 43 on July 17. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, went through surgery and chemotherapy, then into remission. The cancer returned in her bones about five years ago, then recently in her liver. She fought for a long time, but in June was finally told there was nothing to do.

I attended her memorial service this morning. It was filled with people who's lives she had touched, each in a different and amazing way. Ruth was a true friend and one that I valued greatly. She always made me feel so special, so cared for. To see that she had this affect on so many other people was amazing, beautiful, and so very sad, because she's gone. It seems wrong and unfair that she's not here anymore. She left behind a husband and two children, 13 and 6.

Her service has also made me think about how I'm spending my time. I know that life is mostly made up of mundane things: work, chores, sleep. That's fine - I don't expect that every moment will be bursting with fulfillment. But I do want to make sure I don't waste those moments on things that will lead me nowhere. I want to spend more time with my kids, my husband, connecting with my friends. I need to remember this feeling and follow through with it in my life.

Ruth lives on through all the people she touched, through her husband, through her wonderful children. I can't accept the unfairness of her life being shortened the way it was - but I will carry her memory with me always.

Do you remember me?

These are interesting tests on face recognition. I got a 95% on the Old-New test and 97% on the Famous Faces.

How good are my face recognition abilities?

Agent Smith

Sammy dressed for church in his Spiderman tie and vacation sunglasses. 

Ahoy Matey

We went to see Pirates of the Carribean on Friday, the day it came out. We are big Pirate fans, as you can tell by all the gear. 

Breakfast Club

This is a pretty average morning in our house. Maddie and Ben are self-sufficient enough to get dressed and eat on their own. Sammy and Ellie generally eat their cereal at the kitchen bar, under the watchful eye of mom. Sometimes they like to pretend I'm their waitress and hand me play money in exchange for the cheerios. They can thank Granny Haddow for a legacy of low-sugar cereal and skim milk for breakfast. It worked for me, it will work for them. Cocoa Puffs are a luxurious treat in our house. 

One Woman Band

Master Chefs

Sammy helped Dave make Sunday dinner. Normally it's spaghetti & meatballs with garlic bread, but we changed it up a little this week and had tortellini with ham and cream sauce.