More film

Some of the better non-Whistler photos from the rolls I got developed the other day…

Oh, and this one of a plant.

Fourth grade!

Got the school pics back. Now you know why I only buy the cheapest package. Maybe one day they’ll smile for real. Still cute, I suppose.

Number 117

Why yes, I AM a big dork!

I just couldn’t help myself when I realized the boys were going to be 9 years and 9 months old. Yeah, 9 and three quarters.

I know, I know. But I can’t help it, I love Harry Potter, OKAY!?

Then and then and now

August 2012

7867845480_9e86ce6d20_k — Boys: 4; Ellie: 7; Evan: 42

In April 2015, we recreated it:

And today, September 2017:

Life as of today

I haven’t posted a normal post in a while, just an update on what’s going on in the world. So let’s see…

The boys are a couple of weeks into fourth grade. So far so good. Except they’re not super fond of the bus driver, who is apparently very strict and gruff. Which is exactly how bus drivers should be, I’d say. Well, except for last Wednesday when he forgot that school got out an hour early so we waited at the bus stop for over an hour. Fortunately, the bus stop is the mall, so I dropped into Ulta and made an appointment to get my hair did. Fun colors to come!

Speaking of fun colors, last night, I put in some extra-orange color (blood orange, to be exact) into Oliver’s hair because it was getting too hard to tell him and Linus apart at a glance. Better now. Pics later.

I have a work trip coming up in a couple of weeks, to Whistler again. I’m super excited to see everyone, but the forecast for the next ten days is not making me happy. I need some autumn weather while I’m there, dammit! I’ll get there a few days after the end of the forecast, so all I can say is, a cool front better arrive before I do.

Speaking of weather, it’s very weird here, thanks to Harvey. Pouring one minute, clear blue skies the next. Can’t complain, though. Seeing what’s going on in Houston makes my heart hurt. Just sickening.

If you’re looking for something you can do to help people in Texas, this page has some great links.

I made pesto (no nuts, George is allergic to most of the ones that would go in pesto) out of the basil I grew this summer. First time it really thrived, probably due to the very wet summer we had. It was not bad, but maybe I’ll put one fewer clove of garlic in it next time (sorry person I worked out next to this morning!)

A good thing this week – Evan and Ellie are in town! I love seeing that girl (okay, both of them, really) and I can’t believe how grown up she is! (Look, we’re both bigger! Hahaha)

2005

2017

Ooops, I went down a rabbit hole looking for old pictures of Ellie and me, and found this…gah!

One last cute thing…Ziggy now has his https://www.instagram.com/ziggymcziggerson/ so you don’t have to look at boring pictures of my kids to see what you really want – DOG.

Decorating the stairwell

When we were in Virginia, we spent a very very fun day at the King’s Dominion theme park. I told the boys they could get one souvenir each, and after passing a caricature artist, Oliver declared that’s what he wanted. So at the end of the day, just before we left, we stopped and Oliver sat for his portrait.

Well. After that, I couldn’t resist having the other two get their portraits as well. (And yeah, this meant I had to buy second souvenirs for all three.)

I finally got around to buying frames for the pictures and hanging them…(well, I say finally but let’s face it, it took me less than six months so it’s really quite fast for me.)

Hard to get pics in the stairwell, but here they are! Love them so much.

First day of fourth grade!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

I know I use the line from my favorite Christmas song a lot (first time I see Honeycrisp apples in the store, for instance) but in this case, it is so true. Because not only was today the first day of school after a summer with very little camp and a lot of boys staying home rotting their brains while I worked, but it is also the first day of RIDING THE BUS!

YES! No more driving them to/from school! (Granted, we carpooled, so it was normally only one 90 minute round trip a day, not two, but still.) The bus stop is 10 minutes away, and because they get dropped off early and picked up late, I can now fit my entire work day in when the boys are at school! No more coming home at 8:45 and leaving at 3:15. Now I can get home at 7:30 and leave at 4:30. Amazing!

Now, you can see that my standards are falling very rapidly. Since we have to leave for the bus stop just before 7am, I didn’t have time to get my nice camera out, so cell phone photos it is.

Yes, there have been some hair changes. They all got haircuts, and Linus wanted to go blond, and Oliver wanted to go ginger. Linus’s isn’t too dramatic, and Oliver’s looks pink from the front because the purple from before isn’t going anywhere. But it looks better than I expected when he told me he wanted orange hair like Andrew from the Great British Baking Show:

So anyway, we headed to the bus stop where there was a crowd of kids from their school, with more ecstatic parents. The principal even showed up!

Of course I have (not great) photos of the boys getting on the school bus for the very first time…

(But you can see the color of Ollie’s hair better there.)

I think Mary Catherine summed our excitement about the bus best in the following photo:

6 years ago and tonight

The boys and I are visiting Kristina and Mike, and I was reminiscing about the first time we all visited when I realized it was six years ago tonight that Mike made the boys giggle like crazy by laying on the floor in the kitchen, pretending to be hurt.

Because we’re all six years older, I didn’t make Mike recreate one of those pics, but instead one where everyone is standing up.

August 7, 2011:

6030866166_186957d09f_o

August 7, 2017:

Look how short they were 6 years ago! So teeny!

9 years, 8 months

This month, co-starring Andrew, who has lost his first two teeth since we got here and is totally adorable. Emily gets home from camp tonight, otherwise she’d be in the picture as well.

The 8th month photos seem to be on trips a lot. Makes sense since that’s when we usually travel.

Music by triplets

The boys had their end of camp performance yesterday, and obviously I am going to record here for posterity. They were only at this camp for a week, but they learned so much! I was practically bursting with pride every time any of them were “on stage.”

Without further ado…

Oh, well, just a picture of the “pop band” performance because instead of hitting “record” I, uh, didn’t. Imagine a slower version of “Baby” by the Biebs.

Dangit. So mad at myself.

But at least I didn’t miss this one. I’m surprised you can’t hear the tears rolling down my cheeks during the second half (the first half of this video is the chorus singing “The Saints Go Marching In” but in the second half, they soloed on Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran and I was just so, so proud at how brave they were. (I remember as a kid not even wanting to sing one note by myself, just in front of the music teacher so she could figure out where to place me in the choir. There is no way I would have been able to do what the boys did.)

(Skip to about 2:30 for the better stuff.)

Then Linus and Oliver did a duo of the James Bond theme (but the teacher kept saying it was the Peter Gunn theme, which it wasn’t, and Miles was confused, which is why it’s not a trio here.) (So if you guessed James Bond in my previous post, you win!)

There was a drum performance that was by their own admission not very exciting, and a few little acting bits where you can’t really hear what they’re saying well, but take it from me, it was all adorable as shit.

Sneak peek by Linus

The boys have been in camp this week at the same school they take guitar lessons at, and Linus came home excited to show me what he learned today (and performed in front of the other students at the end of the day, which is huge for him!)

Can you tell what the tune is?

Good stuff vs bad stuff

Good stuff: My coworker Sarah’s new podcast. I love it. It’s funny, smart, and random. My favorite things. It’s called Hey, Bestie, and Kristina and I have already bugged her for a guest slot. (Which doesn’t even exist yet, but I already even came up with the perfect title for the segment: “Hey, Guestie!” so I think we definitely deserve to be on.) There’s a new episode that I haven’t listened to, and I am doing my best not to listen because I hoard podcasts I like.

Bad stuff: I mentioned Miles was going to be in an episode of Claws last week. Well, his part was cut. I was super sad, but Miles was like, “oh well.” He’s obviously more cut out for the cut-throat world of showbiz than I am.

Good stuff: This apple slab pie I made for the fourth of July. As usual, a Smitten Kitchen recipe. This was my first pie crust, I think! It wasn’t easy (mostly because my bowl was too small) but it came out pretty well. No one complained, anyway.

Bad stuff: I’ve been terrible about blogging. I’m working on finishing up a post about Kristina’s and my adventures at Epcot, so hopefully I can get back on a roll.

Good stuff: The boys start camp tomorrow! And it’s the only week of camp they’re doing all summer. It’s at the same performing arts school where they take guitar lessons. Hoping they’ll have fun.

Bad stuff: We all put our bathing suits on and it immediately started thundering. I think I could probably help out in areas that are susceptible to drought by just getting the boys excited about swimming and putting our bathing suits on.

Good stuff: Our new grill. I have been using it a ton, and it turns out I’m a natural at grilling. I’ve made pizza (okay, on a storebought crust – homemade crust is next), pork chops (divine), hamburgers, hot dogs, veggies, corn…and all delicious. What can I say? I have finally found my calling.

Bad stuff: My allergies have been horrific this summer. What is up with that? Not fun. I’ve been sneezing constantly for the past six weeks.

Good stuff: Kiki’s visit! I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half. Not good. Not good at all. It wasn’t a long visit, but we’re going to Virginia in August so we’ll get to spend more time together then. (And also to see cousins!)

Bad stuff: The job I have been doing at keeping the boys engaged and off screens. We just bought a Circle (recommended by Deborah) so hopefully that will help with managing that. They’ve been doing a little reading and a little guitar practicing, but not as much as I wanted. Work has been extremely busy for me, so I just haven’t had the bandwidth to monitor them as closely as I should have. Sigh. MOTY.

Good stuff: Speaking of MOTY, I bought 15 Lunchables for the boys’ camp lunches. Yeah, that’s good stuff. Not having to make 15 sandwiches.

More good stuff: Seeing babies! So far this summer, I’ve gotten to snuggle a coworker’s adorable baby, my cousin’s new son, and Lindsay’s little monkey. And there’s another cousin’s new baby yet to be snuggled!

Even more good stuff! Slumber parties for the boys! Getting rid of the climber in the backyard! Making fun tank tops for working out! Blueberry jam on toast from the coffee shop down the street!