Tomatoes

Have we talked about tomatoes yet this summer? We grow tomatoes every year in a little garden on the side of our house. Fresh-picked tomatoes from your own garden totally annhilate tomatoes purchased from the store. I haven't had too many this year because Paige and Owen usually get to them first but that's fine with me! Paige collects them like they're precious jewels grabbing as many ripe ones as she can find. Actually, jewels aren't really on Paige's radar so I guess a better comparison would be that she collects them like they're precious cellphones.

Back to School Dinner!

In celebration of the beginning of school we had a fancy dinner. I saw this idea a long time ago and knew I would love to have this tradition once Owen started school. The fanciness was a little muted given the kid's ages but still quite a step up from a normal dinner. Wine glasses! candles! multiple courses! It was all very exciting! As the years go on I can imagine adding more fancy elements like: a tablecloth! dressing up in our nicest clothes! etc!



Mixed berry spinach salad served with poppyseed dressing




I'll bet you thought the kids wouldn't eat the spinach...




...these pictures are the proof!




Crunchy oven-fried ravioli with marinara dipping sauce




Cupcakes




I made Owen a card to let him know that we are very proud of him




The kids were pretty excited about blowing the candles out after dinner. I'm thinking we'll have to make that part of the dinner tradition too!



Kindergarten!

We dropped Owen off for his second day of school today and I'm happy to say there were no tears. Yesterday was a different story...Owen didn't cry, he was a little nervous but also very excited about his first day. I was a total wreck and cried at various points throughout the day which greatly confused Paige. As usual, Owen was not very generous with the details of his day but I got enough information to know he had a great time.



Before we left...





Waiting at school,  you can see he was a little nervous!




After school!

 


 

This is from this morning. I didn't get some of the pictures I wanted yesterday because it rained all day!

 

Today...

It's finally here. Owen starts Kindergarten today! I think maybe I cried out all my tears last week but we'll see what today brings when I have to drop him off at school. Part of me has that panicky feeling of "Did we do enough this summer?/Did I get enough hugs in?/Does he know how much I love him?"

He had his orientation, met his teacher and some kids in his class. He also saw the massive amounts of toys in his classroom so I know he's just itching to be let loose in there. I'm so proud of what a brave, fun-loving kid he is and, despite all my apprehensions, I can't wait to see how he grows this year (uh oh...here come those tears...). 

 



Photo Challenge Update

There's a week left in August and I'm still going strong(ish) on the photo challenge. I haven't posted every picture I've done but if you'd like to see the progress you can click on August Photo Challenge. It's over there. On the right. Or you can click on the words in this post. I've missed a few days and I could have tried harder on some others *ahem clouds...but I like a lot of the other stuff I've ended up with. By the end of the month I should have all the days in that post so check back if you want to see everything!

Day 13: From a Distance
It was a library day so there were books everywhere, the couch cushions were being utilized for a fort, and construction legos were still in the middle of the room. I was making dinner and the kids were watching some tv together. I snuck in and managed to get this picture without them noticing.



Feast!

Another year. Another Feast! Always one of my favorite summer activities, this is the 5th year in a row we've managed to get there. This year Paige got to wear the Italia jersey that Owen wore just last year! We got our traditional cavatelli and meatball (which Pat let fall to the ground!) and Owen and Paige got some pizza. Then there was gelato and cassata cake! The kids also went on some rides to end the outing. We thought they would be wiped out after everything but I think the sugar won out and they managed to stay up until bedtime.
Click the years for pictures from 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008

Trucks!

We went to an event on my birthday for the kids called "Touch a Truck." We've been to similar things before where the kids get to climb in vehicles like police cars, fire trucks and construction vehicles and meet the people that operate them but this was on a much larger scale. This was also the first time I've seen them let the kids honk the horns. Really, that's every kid's dream, right? Free range to make loud noises with big vehicles. Also, that's every adult's nightmare, right? Well, one of them anyway. Paige and Owen were enamored enough with the vehicles that they didn't pay too much attention to the honking but don't worry, we still made sure they got their turns.

Maybe it was bright?

Paige saw no reason to get off any of the vehicles once she was on them.

We finally found something they could sit in at the same time!



Me: It's my birthday. Stop with the honking.



Over 30

I'm over 30 now...because I had a birthday, yay!! Pat and the kids treated me to a fantastic day. I went for a long run in the morning, we took a family bike ride, had a picnic at the park, went to see some big trucks and ate out for dinner. The kids even sort of acted like they knew it was my birthday by sort of being sort of nice to me :)

Our view for the picnic

Yep

Paige insisted.

Columbus!

We finally visited Columbus after talking about it for over a year! We were able to visit with friends and see the Columbus Zoo. We didn't cover the whole zoo but nobody minded. I got to see penguins and my love for cookies and cream ice cream was rekindled! The visit felt too short but we were glad we had decided not to stay the night when Paige got sick in the car about an hour and a half from home. We spent quite a bit of time cleaning up Paige and the car at a creepy out-of-the-way gas station/laundromat. Hopefully our next visit will be longer and without that extra late-night stop. 







This picture was also day 11 of the photo challenge-Something Fun

Looks so innocent...no sign of what was to come later that night!



Repairs

I've neglected posting for almost a week now but I'm back! I was distracted by a sudden home repair, a trip to Columbus (more on that another day!) and a sick Paige...but no longer! The home repair is almost finished, our trip to Columbus is done and Paige is not sick anymore! Our house is pretty old so when something goes wrong it's usually pretty sudden and alarming. We found out a pipe that was original to the house was no longer functioning properly (or at all...) and we had to wait a bit to get it fixed. So we had to get creative for a bit but now we can all shower normally again :) Yay! Old houses! Owen was very chatty with the plumbers but my favorite was when he casually walked downstairs after lunch and said very loudly, "Mmm Mmm! That sure was a good lunch!" before asking them about all their tools.

Owen and Paige kept the plumbers chatting with their barrage of questions.

Veggies

We went to the Farmer's Market and all we got was this lousy picture. Just kidding, I like this picture. But we didn't buy anything. See what I did there? The kids were getting handsy with the produce so we skedaddled on out of there and went for a long walk in the park instead. I'm a rule follower (you're all shocked, I know!!) but Pat was still trying to convince me he knew a "shortcut" and we should just traipse off the trail (forbidden!) and through the woods with the kids. Nuh uh. That's crazy talk. Plus the direction he was pointing in was actually a steep mountain and Paige was insisting on being carried. By me. Ah, memories.



Something New

The photo assignment for today was "Something New" so I took this picture of Paige in a new sweater we actually bought today. She was working very hard to button it herself but her skills still need a little work : ) 

Paige's new sweater

Someone I Love

Photo Challenge-Day 5

My Self

I'm doing a thirty day photo challenge this month and while I probably won't post every topic... I thought I would on my first one. The topic was self portrait which is super difficult. I am not at all taking this "assignment" too seriously as I will be using my phone and the occassional Instagram filter but still...you notice things about yourself in a self portrait.    

This is the one I liked

Pat liked this one.
Pat-"It looks like there's a story there"
Me-"It was bright outside"

Owen (noticing me doing this blog post)-"Why do you have that face on?"

Smile!