The State of Things: A List

Recent conversations with Jemma:

Looking at a photo on the wall at Annie's piano lesson with Miss Jody:

J: "Who is that man?"
Me: "You know him. Who do you think it is?"
J: "Oh, I know! Mr. Jody!"


Eating breakfast this morning:

J: "I'm not in a hurry for college to get here!"
Me: "What? No, no hurry for you to go to college. Someday."
J: "I want to live here with you forever."
Me: "Oh, when you're eighteen and nineteen, you'll want to live with your friends."
J: "How many rooms are there?"
Me: "Where? At college?"
J: "Yes. For sleeping."
Me: "Oh, hundreds or thousands. It depends on how big the college is."
J: "Are there pink ones? I hope there are some pink ones."

*****

Things the kittens have eaten or tried to eat:

-cream cheese
-butter
-chicken noodle soup
-homemade dulce de leche
-brownies
-oatmeal
-Boursin cheese
-peanut butter
-carrots

*****

Times that Annie has had her seat moved in the classroom since the beginning of the school year: Three.

I assume we'll be hearing about that at conferences . . .

*****

What I spend my time doing, now that the girls are in school all day:

-getting groceries
-cleaning the litter box
-working out
-making food

*****

 Things I thought I would do while the girls were in school all day that I basically never do:

-luxuriate with a book and a coffee in my house
-keep a cleaner house
-write
-nap

*****

I have purchased a single thing ever from Restoration Hardware, and that was an end table on clearance about two or three years ago. But now they send me their ENORMOUS, RIDICULOUS catalogs on a regular basis. I need to make it stop. THREE of the behemoths came yesterday, and it is enough to make me join the Sierra Club. Restoration Hardware: Think of the trees! We have this new thing called The Internet where you can show your overpriced items without killing all the trees in North America!

*****

What I want for Christmas:

a DSLR camera
cute boots
every candle in Anthropologie

fin.

My Very Favorite Writing

I think that if I could freeze my children at any ages they've been so far, I'd pick either 18-24 months (so cute! such chubby cheeks and squeaky voices! and they haven't started saying 'no' too much yet!) and kindergarten. The writing and drawing skills from the kindergarten stage are particularly my favorite, so it is no surprise that I adore every single thing Jemma brings home these days. I love the inventive spelling, the backwards letters, and the scrappy little drawings so much that it's hard to part with any of them, though I do guiltily sneak a fair amount of them into the recycling bin during the day when she's at school. I try to photograph some of my favorites, though. To wit:

I like strawberries. I like cherries. (Other things she "licked" during that stage included friends, donuts, and her family.)

"Me and my family." Awwwww.

A recent self-directed art project with stickers and the most adorable spellings of Halloween words ever.

Speaking of hilarious and adorable writing, Jason and I volunteered in Annie's classroom to help with an oil spill simulation, and this is the thank-you note she wrote us a couple of days later:

That's a keeper, for sure.

Good Things, Fall 2012

No installment of Good Things since July?!? Let's remedy that:

One last swim at the outdoor pool

Buddies since birth enjoying ice cream together

Slingshotting into Lake Michigan

Dunes on a Sunday afternoon

Reading as you walk down the sidewalk (and your sister  . . . pretends to be a duck)

Vacation

Checking out the kindergarten classroom

If you have to go to soccer practice, you might as well show up with some style

Lost-teeth twins!

Having a leeeetle trouble adjusting to the world post-cottage, post-nap

First! Day! of! School!

 . . . and coming out happy at the end of the first day.

Saturday mornings are for soccer.

Getting fancy for my cousin's wedding.

Turning 8 with a chocolate cake and your cousins over.

A glorious college girls' weekend brunch . . .

 . . . and cocktail hour on the lake.

Hilarious possible kitten names.

Snuggling with those kittens.

ArtPrize!

Annie, learning to use a sharp knife to make applesauce.

Downtown with friends on a Friday night, post-pizza, pre-art exhibits.

Lights in the Night, the best reenactment of Tangled you could hope for.

Sleepovers with buddies.

More Artprize . . .

 . . . and more . . .

 . . . and more.

A lucky, luxurious lunch with my husband (on a weekday!)

We knew it would come to this.

Spider swinging with MC.

Prevailing in 39 degrees and rain to win the soccer game.

Annie's absurd arm strength (she did at least 15). (I can do zero.)

Reading with grandparents.

Dreaming about summer 2013!