End of Summer

It's always a little sad when the hot air balloons float over our house. It means summer is really over. No more swimming or camping. It's time to pull out the jackets and watch the leaves change colors.  

Being inside a little more, I've started a couple crochet projects. This little octopus is a baby toy, meant for kids in the NICU. I'm still working on making the stitches small enough to pass muster.

The kids pulled out the blocks to play with now the evenings are getting darker. The kids still play with the jumbo sized building blocks. I would have thought we had outgrown them by now.

I guess it's very rewarding to build a tower taller than yourself in just a few minutes.

Before we lost all our summer weather, we biked down to Camel's Back Park. Ethan still thinks he fits in the little kid toys. He is wrong. We all enjoyed a good laugh when he couldn't get out. 

We also had Goody's certificates it was high time to redeem, so we stopped for ice cream on the way home. Goodbye summer days of parks and ice cream; I'm ready for hoodies and pumpkins!

Corrupting the Kids

Michael and I bought season tickets to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival this year, because we thoroughly enjoyed the couple plays we were able to attend last year.  After we purchased our tickets we won a couple more at a school raffle. Hooray! We figured Ethan and Libby were old enough to enjoy it with us!

After perusing the play options, we decided a musical would be most enjoyable. We rearranged our tickets, added their tickets, and were able to get four seats together to Mamma Mia!, on a school night, with the play ending at eleven, and Ethan having early morning seminary starting at 6:30 the next morning. Sometimes we just have to make a bad decision or two.

When we got to the ticket office, about thirty seconds before the play started, we discovered our seats were not actually together. As Michael and I started discussing who would sit with whom, the lovely ticket agent offered us a table! Heck yeah!

We managed to make it to our seats while the director of Idaho Shakespeare Festival was still talking, so we didn't miss a moment of the play. We even managed to snap a couple photos:

Then the play began. Michael and I kept shooting glances at each other, "What have we done?" "Oh, my gosh, is that all they're wearing?" "Now they are dancing, and it ain't ballroom!" "I hope his short shorts don't ride up while he's hip thrusting, I already have enough guilt!" Our glances can say a lot. Ethan and Libby also have very meaningful glances "I don't want to see that forty year old woman's cleavage." "I didn't know it was legal to dance like that on a stage!"

We didn't realize quite how risque the play would be, and neither did our children. I apologized after the play and Ethan pronounced, "Mom, I go to junior high; it's not anything I don't see everyday." That didn't really make me feel better.

The play was more than we expected, but actually really enjoyed it and going as a family. If we do it again, we might opt for a little more research beforehand.  I don't need the guilt of corrupting my kids; that is why I send them to public school.

The 80's-Revisited

Some things were pretty awful the first time around.  So awful that they make a comeback. The 80's qualify wholly for this statement. Big hair, stirrup pants, t-shirts tied up in knots invaded the junior high. Libby, Ethan and a friend or two dressed in their 80's finery to attend the back to school dance.

Libby thought her hair was big enough, but her friend did need to break out the crimping iron.  Crimped hair was an 80's necessity. I waxed nostalgic just smelling the fried hair.

Libby's hair was made for the 80's. She just flipped it over to one side and was good to go.

Ethan threw a suit jacket over a t-shirt, jeans, and Converse, and was ready to party all night.  He also DJ-ed the dance.

These people! I can't understand how they are so big and grownup. And also why they feel it necessary to openly mock what was a wonderful (and truly ugly) decade.

Libby's Birthday

She has definitely hit the teenage years.  She is gleefully clutching a bag of makeup. She can barely survive unless she is at least wearing mascara, and smeared some on me, and on Grace. Ethan, Michael and Sam have managed to move quickly enough to have escaped her clutches. I don't know how long that will last.

Her aunt bought her a very apropos shirt. She wears it everywhere. She also received a pair of genuine Converse shoes. She got the shoes, the clothes, the makeup. And a vacuum-sealed water bottle because apparently she loves ice water.  She was very, very pleased with her birthday. Teenagers are weird creatures, but I kinda like 'em!

I'm not really sure where everybody went in this picture. I know her aunts and grandparents celebrated her birthday with us, but there seems to be only Grace in the background. I really don't know. On the other hand, see how snazzy the addition turned out? Happy birthday my girl!