Winding down and gearing up....

Another summer is almost gone and the school year is about to begin. Our final week of freedom has been one of laughs; when Grace went to answer the phone and saw it was Josh (who spent a couple of days last week for work in Tampa at a conference for black journalists) and handed me the phone saying, "It's the black journalist." or when Lily went into the bathroom last night while Ella was soaking in the tub and commented, "You're a naked American.". And one of tears; when Ella got scolded and my tenderheart bear took it badly and cried for about a half hour worrying that because she didn't tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth she is doomed to be a bad person.

We've participated in some fun events. Supper at Casa Del Rey and then the Canaries game on Tuesday night. The girls enjoying the game or more accurately; Grace enjoying the people watching, Ella enjoying the game and Lily enjoying how her hair feels on her back when she tilts her head way backs and shakes it back and forth.
Ella and her daddy.

Things became exponentially more exciting when Cagey made a stop directly in front of our seats.

On Thursday we ventured out to the fair to take in the Heidi Newfield concert which was met with mixed reviews. Lily and her daddy had a fabulous time complete with hand clapping and foot stomping. Grace, with a stoneface, claimed to have loved it but I suspect it was the wide selection of people to watch that she actually loved and Ella leaned over to me after the first song and asked, "Is this the last song? It's annoying, too loud and giving me a headache". Apparently we don't have to worry about her adding "Groupie" to her list of career choices. By the time the concert was over, all the good exhibits were closed~much to the dismay of my little duckies but we made do with a ginormous sno-cone, a bag of mini doughnuts, an Indian taco and one stray swingset just off of the midway far from the terrible sounds coming out of the Alice Cooper concert.

We occupied ourselves for the remainder of the week with school supply kit delivering and double-checking, friends over to play, a rousing scavenger hunt ending with the discovery of a bountiful booty of Camp Rock related loot, several scrumptious dining out experiences (HuHot, Boss' Pizza, Rollin' Pin and Fryn' Pan), roller blading, bike riding, the girls serving Jason and I breakfast in bed this morning (a ham and cheese hot pocket with a Diet Coke for me and a bowl of Frosted Mini Spooners with a Sierra Mist for Jason~a miniature Reese's Peanut Butter cup and a Cherry Frootie Tootie for dessert, of course) and good old family time. I made a very conscious attempt to say yes more frequently than no. I tried to soak up the miracle of having three beautiful, healthy, energetic, spunky daughters and sisters. I tempered my melodramatic, maudlin feelings about school starting with thoughts of the peace and quiet that comes with one versus three. I did lots of laughing and smiling along with some yelling and exasperated sighing. Overall, it was just a normal week in our lives. Nothing extra special. Nothing extra memorable. Just us doing our thing and it was just the perfect ending to another perfect summer. Monday morning will come and so will the tears but ultimately I can think of worse things than sending my daughters to a terrific school for a day of learning and growing while I spend the day with this little tiny face....