Let the Good Times Roll!

Another busy week at the Big Blue House!

Helena started preschool. This is her first year, and it will be her last, as she will enter (full-day!) kindergarten next year. She has fallen in love with school and found a new school friend named Lola. We have a play date for Friday! I'm excited to see them play together and to meet Lola's mom, who sounds like a really neat person. Here's your mandatory First Day of School photograph.



Hunter's also had a fairly good week, except for Monday - he had to have his blood drawn to test for anemia and lead poisoning. (I was supposed to have this done months ago...yet another Mother of the Year award lost.) Poor thing. Here's how he looked later that day.



So, no lasting trauma.

We're all trembling with excitement over this Thursday's "The Office" season premiere. I've missed it, especially since last season was so short with the writers' strike interruption. I'm making (or buying?) a cake to celebrate. This is a nod to the "E.R." parties we used to have in college.

Dan's starting to lose his sanity over "The Wiggles." The thing is, Hunter wakes up early every morning and neither Dan nor I are really ready, so "The Wiggles" help make up the difference. Unfortunately, Dan finds the "Where's Jeff?" song echoing through his brain at home, at work, in the car...anywhere he's alive and breathing. (My favorite thing was hearing him sing the song. Good money can't buy that kind of humor).

I love my YW calling. There are some serious problems right now, but I'm overcome by the love, maturity, spirituality, and friendliness of the young women I now refer to as "my girls." I'm also fortunate to have six of the ward's best women serving with and supporting me (the ward's other best women are busy staffing the Primary and Relief Society!). I thought that this would overwhelm me, particularly in terms of how much time it takes, but so far I've been blessed to just appreciate this call.

More random stuff: We had a turtle visit our house about two weeks ago! This was no ordinary turtle. I saw it through the kitchen window while washing dishes. It had been very rainy for several days, and I guess he was out hunting for worms.




He was lovely, as you can see, although Bennie was a little too interested for my tastes. Not for long, though - he quickly retreated to the plants and bushes separating our yard from our neighbors' yard.



This week I took my copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" off the shelf to find a reference that I couldn't remember, and I read the funny, sweet, brilliant inscription on the inside cover that Rachel wrote to me. This book has a history: Rachel and I had discussed how and where we would purchase the book the day it was released. She had planned to go to a store (can't remember which one!) and agreed to purchase a copy for me. I was so excited about the book release that I couldn't sleep, and when I heard her put the book in my mudroom at 1:00am, I ran downstairs and read the whole book through that night and into the next day. And I cried a little at the inscription, particularly because I knew she would be leaving MI soon. It means so much to me, Rachel, and I wanted you to know that.

One last thing: I noticed that my early posts - 2005 and 2006 especially - seem to have so much more meaning and feeling than my posts do now. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it's because I know more people are reading my blog, and I'm more conscious of what I write. Maybe my kids are sapping my creativity, and I have nothing good to say (or can't say it with an appreciably unique turn of phrase). However, I am thrilled that they exist. It's the only journal I have.


"I have learned to love the fallow way." - Judy Collins