For C.

Sometimes, the girls say funny things and I wish C were here so that I could tell him, or so we could laugh a little bit together. I almost never remember to tell him when we are on the phone or in an e-mail, so I am posting a couple here for him.

On Sunday, Maggie was on the phone with one of her friends from church, planning something for Activity Days and somehow the conversation turned to homework. Maggie - "When my dad is here, he helps me with math, but he helps me the old-fashioned way, not the way I learned it. Half the time I don't even know what he is talking about, I feel kind of bad."
I can't remember anything in particular that Ashlee said, except that she was making plans to turn the school into a haunted house, gets sick about talking about "fashion" with the "girly girls" at school and she spent 40 minutes on the couch with Paige, reading Junie B. Jones to her. So Paige went to bed with her "chaper book."

Paigie - sitting on a plastic bag (for about 2 minutes) during a soccer game on Saturday. On the way home, Maggie shared some of her Gatorade with her and Paigie said "That's refreshing." Things like that are particularly cute coming out of a two-year olds mouth.

Love you C!!!!! Be safe!

Back to School

We are back in school now - 2 days down, 178 (school days) to go! Here are the girls on their first day of school. Ashlee has 28 kids in her class this year, almost double what she's had every other year of school here. It must have something to do with budgets. But, her teacher seems very capable and very happy. She looks a little bit nervous because she doesn't want to be late (it's one of her goals this year). We went back to school shopping last week and they each got to choose 1 outfit - Ashlee chose a dress with leggings and new shoes. I asked several times in the dressing room "Is this what you love and can't wait to wear?" Anyway, the morning of school, she decided she wasn't "really comfortable" wearing dresses to school -and wore shorts instead. Thus continues our streak of buying first day of school clothes that are either worn only once or not at all to school - I think this is the 4th year. Oh well, the dress is dressy enough for church, so we will hopefully get some use out of it that way. This is Maggie after school - she hated that sign, I think it made her feel too young. Paigie is so happy to have her sister home. Look for that "Cinderella" dress again and again and again. It's one of 2 that she constantly wants to wear.

Good-bye summer!!!! We are sad to see you go. Welcome fall - I am trying to embrace your return and the return of schedules, bed times, busier routines that you bring!

Jersey Shore

Today we went to the Jersey Shore for probably the last swim session of the summer. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE it there. I love getting out of the car and feeling the sticky air, I love hearing the waves before we see them. I love that first glimpse of the ocean, it's always exhilarating. I love people watching, I love jumping the waves, I love to attempt boogie boarding. Tonight we stayed late enough to watch the real boogie boarders and surfers. We don't usually stay that late, they have to wait for the lifeguards to leave at 5, and it seems like they don't really start showing up until close to six; it was really fun to watch them. I love all the beautiful houses in shore towns, and I also love the not so beautiful houses. I love the boardwalk (although if you stay too late, it's not so great to have young kids with you.) I just love it and if we ever move, I think the shore will be the one thing I will miss above everything else. In my dream life, we would own a Jersey Shore house and visit it often and stay for weeks in the summer . . . and then when we get old, we have grandma and grandpa camp at the shore. . . doesn't that sound wonderful? Although I'm fairly certain that the Jersey Shore doesn't really show up in Christopher's plans (real or imagined) for the future.

Lessons Learned

Well, we are home now and I have been trying to catch up with mail, weeds, back to school (4 days!) etc... Here are the last of my summer pictures - they're not in order.

Lessons Learned from our Summer Vacation

#1 Lagoon is fun, especially if you go with fun people. We were able to go twice and had a great time both times. It's also really nice to have someone bring dinner in to you while you are riding rides. (Thanks mom and dad!) This was taken while we were in line for the last ride of the day...the Ferris Wheel, which is almost as scary for me as any of the big roller coasters. Lesson #2 - Aunt Heather has lots of pretty things and is really generous with them. From shoes, to dresses, to jewelry, all three girls had great fun playing dress-up with her closet. She also gave Paigie her first pedicure, which she loved.

Lesson #3 Thirty....something is a long, long, long way from 20, 22, 24. That's me playing for a few minutes with my family's indoor soccer team. It was ugly, and the picture is blurry on purpose. It's a long way away....really long.


Lesson #4 Grandma's House is fun, and My Grandmother's backyard is still a magical place.


#5 Cousins are fun.

We had a really fun summer. It was great to spend time with family and establish stronger relationships, I'm really glad we went. Thanks to everyone who took time out to spend with us, and to my mom and dad for letting us stay so long and disrupt their lives.

School starts on Tuesday and we have everything just about ready...we are looking forward to a great year. And, we are at the halfway mark for the deployment - YAY!!!!!!!