Goodbye Summer, Hello School!

The boys' first day of school was yesterday. They were both so excited and had been counting down the days for weeks.

On the way to school:

Dean with his best buddies from 1st grade who aren't in his class this year:

Drew trying to shoo me and the camera away 'cause it's not cool for a 4th-grade-boy's mom to take his picture:

After school. Both reported super-fantastic days:

The 2nd day of school is the 1st day they get to ride their bikes:

Go World!

We are loving the Olympics! Every night the kids look forward to watching them. They take baths without protest because the reward is more Olympic minutes. Dean is contemplating taking up diving, his reasoning being he can already flip into the pool. "Too bad it's in the deep end," he said.

Edie loved the opening ceremonies. She ran and put on a costume and participated in front of the TV. Here are photos. The first is a self-portrait that I think is adorable. I had a video of her crazy dance moves, but it just didn't capture the funny, so pictures will have to do.



Drew likes the track and field, I think because he thinks he can run that fast. I remember feeling like that, too. Watching Mary Lou Retton in 1984 I could totally picture myself doing all those flips. Now I just find all of it amazing.

My Most Embarassing Moment Since Junior High

I had a hard time choosing a title today. Others I was considering:
"Self-Banned From Michael's"
"The Mystery of the Missing Poo"
"Evan, I Still Love You"

My story today is surprizingly similar to Beebe's story of a week ago. Go ahead and re-read it. Then come back and compare.

The blondies and I had a few minutes to run an errand this afternoon while the big boys were at piano lessons. I needed 3 pieces of cardstock to finish some scrapbooking I started this morning. Just enough time to run into Michael's and grab it. Evan gets in the shopping basket. Edie says she won't touch anything if I let her walk.

Of course anytime we're on any kind of schedule, Evan needs a diaper change. He's talented like that. I'm not too worried 'cause I found what I needed super fast. I put my papers in the basket as I take Evan out and we head into the bathroom to one of those diaper change things on the wall. This is when I get my first clue that things have gone terribly wrong.

My arm has brown goo on it. So does my shirt. What is that? Oh. Yuck.

Apparently the diaper wasn't on, just kind of hanging around one leg. Poop is everywhere on Evan from the waist down, except in the diaper, especially on the bottom of his feet. His clothes are covered. I have with me a total of four wipes. That cleans up his bum, but nothing else. I put on the clean diaper and then take him out and give him a mini bath in the sink. (I'm very grateful no one else has walked in at this point!) I have no clean clothes for him, so we have to go out into the store with a naked-except-for-a-diaper baby. Talk about PWT.

For some reason, I decided to purchase my papers anyway. I really wish I had thought that one through for a split second.

I'm holding Evan in front of me, to hide the poo smears, and moving quickly because I'm embarassed he has no clothes on. A cashier is open and waiting for me as I walk up. I'm glad I won't have to stand in line. I toss my papers up onto the counter for the guy to ring them up and start to turn to reach for my wallet. But I see a horrible sight. Poo smears on the counter where the papers slid across a little bit. I stare at it for a whole second as the guy reaches for it slowly and picks them up by the corner closest to him. Apparently the poo that didn't go in the diaper went into the basket and I put the papers on it and then slid them to the cashier.

He slowly says, "I'll be right back" and walks away. He comes back with cleaning spray and paper towels. The whole time I'm trying not to look at the line of people waiting to check out while fighting the urge to run out the door. I help him clean up his counter and I pay for the poopy papers, throw them away and then run out the door.

I was a few minutes late getting the boys from piano lessons. I hope their teacher understands.

Preparing to Be Prepared

I've been bitten by the preparedness bug. For the last few days I've been going through canned stuff in our basement pantry. Arranging, pulling out expired cans and putting expiration date stickers on everything else so I won't have to waste so much in the future. I made a list of things we need more of and put it on the door so next time I go shopping I can easily see what to buy. That's the idea anyway.

Beebe made an appointment at the Cannery so Monday we went with Mary and canned lots of wheat, oats and sugar. I need a lot more wheat. Gotta go back soon.

Last week for FHE we put together our 72 hour kits. The kids were commenting on how they wished we would have an emergency so they could eat beef jerky. Maybe if they're good I'll buy some more so they can eat it without the house falling down around them.

Train Museum in Old Town

Last week Rocklin's resident expert on trains (Conrad) took us to the train museum in Sacramento. We all enjoyed it: Beebe, Con, Grace, me, Drew, Dean, Dean's friend, Edie and Evan. The kids had lots of fun learning about trains, going inside train cars and playing with trains. Here are some photos:

All the kids in front of an engine


Inside the engine


Edie, etc. in front of the collector trains display


Con demonstrating the correct way to play at the train table


Evan is learning quickly!