wherein my husband left me because I overslept and failed to get the kids to school on time and then failed to pick them up at all, (I woke up hyperventilating), unlike that dream, it appears that the whole going back to school thing was indeed reality. It wasn't so bad. Aaron stayed home a little later and cooked eggs and bacon and pancakes and other such brain food, and we all walked to school together (Much to my kids' chagrine).
Now we are just trying to figure out if Finny and I will survive without them. Particularly since Finny does not go back to preschool until after Labour Day. (Save me!) He is already standing here instructing me to "get on your exercise clothes so we can go for a run now". Little task-master. (As time goes by he has moved onto making comments regarding the size of my rear to encourage me). Ok, so quickly:
Here's Big Ben. And holy what?? 5th Grade? I told him, "Ok put up 4 fingers so we know you're in 4th grade" (I am easily confused when it comes to anything involving numerals) and he said, "well how about 5 for 5th. And I'm all, well you aren't in 5th...) By jove! The boy is right! He is in 5th which means that next year will be his last year of elementary school. Which is frankly, ridiculous.
In this one you can see his snazzy new shoes. They're taking him places.
Goofy Gabe here
He's in 3rd grade. I knew that! (Well after Nathan told me the other day, because you can always count on your friends' husbands to know what grade your child is in. Um...does anyone else think there may be something seriously wrong with me?)
Here's gorgeous Gracie. And what in the world...this kid is a first grader! Yes! Apparently so! She, as you can tel,l was completely dreading the day.
We were both much delighted with the matching mani-pedi. And if you look very closely-her bows have apples on them to match her dress. Oh! we could just die dahlings!
And then! We found the matching back-pack. It was matchy-match apple nirvana here I tell you.
Here they all are, looking comfortingly little I think. Gabe has snazzy new shoes too.
Sweet kids..I'll miss them. Sniff.
And...we're off.
The anxious ok-we-are-here-mom-no-more-pictures-ok expressions. And there's the Finnster!
It's just you and me babe..how about it?
Proof on the way home that Summer is not even close to being over.
So whatever! We had a little lesson in pollination although this bee was really uncooperative about staying still to get his picture taken. Bees! Sheesh.
And now I suppose I off to exercise some of the vastness off of my derriere with my little trainer. It will be a good distraction from how very quiet it is here. (Sniff). Of course you know once they get home I will be pressing my temples and looking pained about how very loud it is here. I am praying they all have a happy day. I'm sure they will.
Unlike my dream last night...
Already???!
Did I not just post that school was out for the Summer? Yes! I believe I did. This is insane. IN.SANE I say people. We really must do something about it, the briefness of this most lovely of seasons. Or at least the briefness of the time our children are given to enjoy it.
School starts tomorrow. Despite having labeled every pencil, crayon, marker, glue (and lids) in triplicate, filled out forms asking me for my address 25 different ways on the same piece of paper, (in triplicate) and despite having planned everything from the first day of school outfits to the first day of school breakfast, I am in deep denial. I am thinking we are all going to wake up tomorrow and say, "haha, I dreamed it was the day we had to go back to school, good thing we have 3 months left of Summer eh?"
I'm sure that's what is going to happen.
Have you ever wondered...
what you (gosh my face looks particularly moon-like in this picture),
would look like with Angelina Jolie's hairstyle?
or Ashlee Simpson's?
If you had Cameron Diaz's cut (but you tweaked the colour)
Jennifer Garner's do (or what I might look like if I ever bothered to style my existing hair)
How about Jessica Alba? (which may technically be impossible since I have a cowlick that makes a fringe stick up or it would so I have been told).
or if you were trying to be just like your big sister
Channeling JLo (without the face, butt, voice or money)
When you realise that Jennifer Aniston's colour which you have so long coveted, is really not that hot on you:
Reese Witherspoon or the picture which prompted my mother to shriek, "you must NEVER GO BLONDE"
What your little brother would look like as a drag queen (or Katie Holmes)
I always knew that boy would make it big someday.
If you have, you should go to InStyle's Hollywood Hair Makeover
But you are forewarned, it is highly addictive and the fun can go on for hours. You should see me with Scarlett Johansson's bouffant. It is really quite glorious, I was born in the wrong era.
But before you go, stop! Wait! I'm polling. Which hairstyle do you like best? Or are you laughing too hard to regain your breath enough to type?
My husband gave me a gift certificate for a very fancy spa for a graduation gift and I have yet to redeem it. They are VERY good with hair so I'm thinking I should take advantage. On the other hand.. you may think I should just continue to do what I am doing which is almost always to wash my hair, brush it (on a good day) and scrape it back into a knot like a librarian? I'm leaning that way because I have very little tolerance and patience for matters of grooming and just sticking all those hairstyles on my mug was enough work for me. Maybe I will just get a facial instead.
Making a splash
Here's a few of the plethora of pool pictures I have taken this Summer. I make no promises that there will not be more later. The pool may be my favourite place to take pictures. Be thankful that I spared you the frame by frame sequence of every dive. That paparazzi fast camera is so much fun.
Gabe is such a clown. This is his la-dee-dah-dee....whoah..!
(you should blow this up to see his smug little expression)
Here is Benj's "oops I slipped" move
Synchronized jumping
Less synchronized jumping
Gracie caught some good air
and learned to..crawl(?) on water. Maybe next Summer she will be walking.
Finny spent lots of time this Summer perfecting his cannon-ball..
which he loved every single time.
And working on his tan
Gracie's time to shine(r)
This is what happen when the handle of a hair-brush connects with the bone above your eye. It really makes for quite stunning eye shadow-perfect for the 80's. Thanks Finny!
Bird watching..
A little while ago Gracie found half of a beautiful bright blue (turquoise? robin egg blue?) egg shell on the path. This prompted us to look up. The other day Gracie discovered..babies! It would appear they have a very busy mommy. We were on our way to the pool, but had a rather long delay as we gazed..
With considerable delight.
And then pondered all the little miracles under (or above) our noses.
Doesn't this usually happen in Spring?
A very merry un-birthday to me..to ...ME.....
Today my children reminded me that it was my half-birthday. Remember when I postponed my real birthday due to lack of interest? Ie: it was a completely rubbish day from beginning to end? I may have mentioned that from now on my birthday would be on August 6th, when the sun was shining in a way that was worthy of the day of my birth.
Well I forgot about that until about noon when my ever diligent progeny (who keep a keen eye on the calendar at all times) remembered, whereupon I passed on the happy news to Aaron. He promptly sent me an e-card and brought home these.
Gracie made me a glorious necklace and presented me with an original pencil portrait of myself and Finny bestowed me with many a (bordering on disturbingly too-romantic-for- the-mommy) smooches (I am not sure where he is learning his technique, but he takes my head firmly yet tenderly in his hands, tips it to the side like a romance novel hero and lays one on me. After which he proclaimed, "You are HOT". I supposed that he was referring to the traces of salsa on my lips so when I asked him what he meant he looked at me with pity and said, "It means you're PRETTY". That kid scares me a little bit. He's smooth, likes to kiss, he's got those eyes and he likes the ladies.
As a special treat, it was decided that we would have Wendy's for dinner. And don't think I am not as excited for Wendy's as I would be for a 5 course lobster dinner at this point. Especially when it involves a Frosty with a candle in it.
Considering that this day is all about me, I thought I would take the tag that Kim threw my way a while ago. It's an A-Z type thingie. I get the feeling I have answered some of these questions before.
A. Attached or Single? Attached
B. Best Friend? Aaron
C. Cake or Pie? I love pie- Both! Hello!!
D. Day of the week? Friday
E. Essential Items? It really depends on the situation doesn't it? Lap-top? Bra? Chocolate? Running shoes? Toilet Paper? It really all depends.
F. Favorite Color? I so can't choose. I love turquoise, if allows me to pass onto the next question.
G. Gummy Bears or Worms? Bears. Or sour patch kids. Or Jelly Babies or Jelly Tots when I can get them from the Motherland.
H. Hometown? Johannesburg, South Africa.
I. Indulgences? Chocolate, whining, watching TV.
J. January or July? Do I really need to answer this question? No, I didn't think so.
K. Kids? Mine? The best in the world. Well-documented fact.
L. Life isn't complete without? My family. It's great I have such a nice little one here but it sucks (a lot) that the rest of them are so far away.
M. Marriage Date? May 18, 1995
N. Number of Brothers and Sisters? 2 sisters, 2 Brothers
O. Oranges or Apples? Oranges
P. Phobias or Fears? Highway driving and rodents....
Q. Quote: "Pleasure usually takes the form of me and now; joy is us and always."-Marvin J. Ashton.
R. Reasons to Smile: like everyone else, my family, being healthy, sunshine, people I can be myself with.
S. Superman or Wonder Woman-Superman
T. Tag 5 people: Carolyn, Julie, Kim(the other one), Jenn Lynn, Samantha
U. Unknown Fact about Me? When Aaron and I were first married I was obsessed with the show "Wings" I would watch as many episodes as I could find on the USA channel each day. It was sad.
V. Vegetables? I'm a fan.
W. Worst Habit? Speaking first, thinking later.
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Holy weird question. I guess an ultrasound is more often a happy experience.
Y. Your favorite food? There aren't too many foods that aren't my favourite. I especially love seafood, salads and desserts.
Z.Zodiac sign: Aquarius (this is the dawning of the age)
Baptism Boy...
Gabe was baptised yesterday. It was a wonderful day! He was baptised and confirmed by Aaron.
Grandpa Sayer and Grandma Enola came all the way from Idaho to attend the baptism. Grandpa was the witness and helped to confirm Gabe. It was fun to have them here.
The whole family was involved in the service. Finny passed out the programs
and entertained the Young Women (two of whom he has announced his intentions to marry, it has caused some drama.)
Grandma Enola played the piano, Gracie said the opening prayer, I gave a talk (a large part of which was a letter from Granny who wrote a personalized allegory just for the occasion), and Benjamin closed with prayer.
The Africa Randalls sent Gabe his own hymnbook
Here he is reading their inscription to them
And Grandpa and Grandma Enola gave him a matching set of scriptures with his name engraved on them. Now he is fancy!
Tiffany (what can't the woman do?) put together this slide show that was shown while we were waiting for him to change. Fortunately I got to see it beforehand so I only wept a little since I was already dehydrated from all the crying during my talk. Thank you Tiffany.
