Scott's Handiwork

Pretty new flooring in the laundry and bathroom on the main floor. We may take a little break before tackling the rest of the main floor, but that's the plan. Scott has been a machine about getting this floor done. Well done, I might say!

P.S. Look and Enjoy. Because this is the cleanest you'll ever see the bathroom and floor, most likely. We had to remove the toilet in order to get the floor down. Scott cleaned it thoroughly and was hosing it down outside when our neighbor drove by and commented out his window, "You know, I can clean a toilet with the best of them, but I've never gone to that extreme."

Playdate

Zach's buddy Drew came over for a playdate after school on Wednesday. They did so well together, *see report to Drew's cute Mama. I did have one wee-ooo moment, however, when I believe I glimpsed the future.

It all began innocently enough at lunch, after prayers were done, and food was being ignored by me two and devoured by normal-kid, Drew. To set the scene, I'll share that Olivia was sitting across from Drew, and Zach was at the head of the table, between them. Oh, you've seen the video, you know how it was. So, Zach was busy chattering away, as usual. Olivia, not to be outdone, was also trying to impress "her" friend Drew with a running monologue as well.

Maybe they're on the same wavelength - or he's figured out her speech, if so I'll need some lessons, please - or perhaps it was just that she was in his line of vision, but there was a stretch of a couple of minutes when Drew responded to Olivia, and had tuned out Zach.

Wee-ooo, wee-ooo...

I just thought: some day, down the road, Zach's going to have his buddies who will come over, eat our food, watch our TV, leave crumbs all over the place and the toilet seat up, and probably genuinely be his friend, but they might also one day discover that he has a cute little sister.
!!What?!!

And where will Daddy and his shotgun be? And Zach. He'd better be ready to embrace the roll of "big brother."

Right now he's just content to embrace her. And that's super sweet, and his friends probably think Olivia's more of a pain in the rear. We'll enjoy that for now.

*Report to Drew's Mom:
Overheard:
Drew: (I missed the statement, but it included the word “die.”)
Zach: Don’t say die. (Pause…) Did you know that after you die you become an angel?
Drew: (ponders for a few seconds, then) Cool.

Drew ate ALL his pb&j, and banana slices. Had hot chocolate at 2pm. And the boys sang the Superman prayer several times during lunch. They also recited the Tick Tock prayer.

The boys did awesome. Drew was so sweet. When Olivia pulled Zach’s hair hard enough to make cry (and consquently be sent to her room), Drew asked Zach if he was okay. I thought that was so kind of him.

They ran outside for a few seconds after lunch, presumably to earn themselves a cuppa hot chocolate. But I made them wait.

They read a book on dinosaurs together, and played two or three games of Cars dominoes. So cute.

They did an awesome job of entertaining themselves and were pretty good about letting Olivia hang out too, when she was awake. [But, hmmm, I will be keeping my eye on those boys around O...]

They had great time making a train and tunnels in the basement. Guns (jeez!!) were quite omnipresent.

They did crash on the couch to watch some PBS cartoons for the last 30 mins, which I thought was okay since they’d been hanging in the freezing basement and could use a little quieter time.

Bottom line, he was a dear. It was fun to have him!

PS - Thoroughly annoyed by the spacing/formatting issue here. Not pleased, and not at all sure about how to correct it. Apologies.

Prayer & Chili's September 28th!

Hello!

I've written about my sister's friend's daughter Tess before. She's so close in age to Zach, and she is fighting a valiant battle against a rare cancer. Even after reading CaringBridge updates for nine months now, it's still hard to hear the words "4-year-old" and "cancer" in the same sentence. You'd think that some of that reality would have set in after all my college years involved with the Dance Marathon program, but I think some of it just doesn't hit home til you have your own four-year-old. And the fears become realities for you or your friends and family.

Tess is being treated through a clinical trial run out of St. Jude in Memphis, TN, though her family lives in Morton, IL, where I went to high school. It's amazing and uplifting to see how family and friends in town have come to the side of Tess's family, as they drive back and forth for chemo and testing and await Tess' stem cell harvest coming up soon.

Obviously, those of us far away cannot help her as much as we'd like, but there are few options. Prayer for Tess and her healing, for her sisters and brother who are also affected by the changes in their lives, for the doctors and care providers, for her parents and all who surround her.

Additionally, in the month of September, Chili's restaurants nationwide are donating a percentage of profits to St. Jude. All month long you can decorate a chili and make a donation, and know your $$ are being used to help a child fight cancer.

And, if you can get to a Chili's on September 28th, *100%* of the profits from that day will be donated to St. Jude. That is awesome. Don't you deserve a night out? In case you didn't know, St. Jude does not just help those within their hospital, but rather it shares all its research findings around the world and NEVER says no to a child who needs treatment, even if a family is not able to pay for the treatment. That is also awesome.

So, the 28th is Scott and my 7-year anniversary. I'm hoping we can get to Chili's. I bet Tess wishes she could be there, too.

Labor Day - RTLC

Our family made its first (of many, maybe) trip to Family Camp at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp just outside the small SW Colorado town of Hillside. Nestled on the mountainside, it couldn't have been more beautiful.

Even more fun (<- click for all the evidence): we joined six other families (Nelsons, Zinn Caulfields, Ternings, Scherers, Gunthers, and Hofmeisters) we've known through church for almost 10 years now. Needless to say, the families have grown over the years. Fun to see so many rugrats having so much fun.

The beauty of the Family Camp session is that it's not super structured. There are activities you can plug into when you want to, or you can choose to use the weekend as a family-focused time. Many of us stayed in the lodge (as opposed to the many cabins throughout the property), so we were able to put little'uns to sleep and then return to the common area for a brew or two and some Taboo ("manure?!"). We hope to make this camp a Labor Day tradition.

"Just you wait..."

Olivia: "Just you wait, little girl. One day soon, I'm going to push you right into the drink.
Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah!"


We only had to wait about 15 hours...thank goodness for life jackets!

At Large and At Small - Swallowtail Butterfly

I had taken pics of a visiting bi-wing last summer, as my sprained ankle kept me captive in a bucket of ice on the deck. My aunt, mentioned before, turned a few of those photos into another digital scrapbook page. Imagine the thrill as I noticed Anne (Fadiman, author of At Large and At Small: Familar Essays, our September book club selection) mentioned the swallowtail butterfly on page 6 as well!

I am loving the essays (all one that I've read)! I just wish I could be reading them with a cup of something-hot in an independent coffee house where the jazz is good, and the hum of patrons provides the background music. Sigh. I'll work on getting there in my mind, and just concentrate on the words...with the shrieks of swimming practice or hush of the humidifier instead.