Extreme Birthday Challenge

They say it's, like, 50,000 degrees F on the surface of the sun. Wait, let me Google that. Hold on. Oops, it's about 10,000 degrees. Me, exaggerate? Never. Anyway, as hot as that is, could that really feel any hotter than it was today? I can't imagine. It was the hottest day of the year, and as far as I'm concerned, the weather was categorically miserable.

But...we couldn't let that stop us from having a special celebration this morning. This week, my wonderful mom turns 60, and we took her and my dad and brother to The Odyssey to celebrate over a champagne brunch. The brunch was, most mercifully, inside and air-conditioned. We took a few quick pictures outside before heading inside to chow down.


The Odyssey is the restaurant where Brendan and I had our wedding reception twelve years ago. We've been back for dinner a couple of times since then, but never for their brunch. I don't think I've met a brunch I don't like, and this one was no exception. Where else can you get sausage, sushi and chocolate mousse...on one plate. I had two glasses of excellent champagne, which was, in hindsight, probably two glasses too many. Nathan declared his ham and cheese omelet to be "better than chocolate." And Evan got to do a face-plant in some cake. We enjoyed a lot of good food, a great view, and the chance to celebrate someone who is, herself, better than chocolate, too. Happy (almost) birthday, Mom. We love you!

First Day of First Grade

Despite all the talking and talking and talking we did about how long we had left in the summer and when the first day of school would be and what the new year was going to be like...I think it still took us by surprise when we had to show up and send Nathan off for another year of school this morning.

Here's the big kid and the little wannabe, wearing his backpack from last year:


Here we are in front of the house.


Here are the boys at school, in a blissfully shady spot.


Nathan and his sweet buddy, Abe. They were in kindergarten together and now they're in first grade together. Plus, he lives around the corner!

Another friend, Sarah, who was in kindergarten with Nathan and who's in his class this year, as well. He may or may not have said, at some brief point in the past, that he was going to marry her. You didn't hear it from me.

More friends from last year, although not in his class this time around.

His new teacher was nice enough to stay outside in the million-degree heat on the asphalt and take an individual picture with each kid. She may have done this to make us all so miserable that we were happy to leave our kids and go, but this shutterbug appreciated it. Even though we were...er...the absolute very last class to be out on the playground!

So, with the oppressive August heat comes the school routine once again! Now Nathan gets to be with all the "grades" for recess and lunch, and I no longer have to walk him to the kindergarten playground in the morning. Actually, that would be frowned upon since he's in first grade. I'll be dropping him off at the side gate. I might even slow down and even stop the car. We'll see.

Fingers crossed for a great year! So far, so good! And so hot. Phew.

Cousin Fun

Today my cousin Tina visited with her family. So glad we got to have another get-together before summer is over! Here's the cutest picture ever of the four kiddos:


And one of Vera flying at a terrifying height above my parents' community pool:


And one of precious squishy toddler bums.


I love toddler bums so much.

Top Down

Because Evan is a semi-typical two-year-old, he has semi-typical weird eating habits. One of these, however, we've come to describe as "uniquely Evan." He has a tendency to eat foods starting with whatever's on top. Now, I'm sure there's not a toddler around who doesn't eat cupcakes by doing a face-plant into the frosting at the first bite. Heck, even Nathan still does that. But Evan eats lots of foods this way: waffles, peanut butter toast, English muffins, pizza, and even tacos. It looks kind of funny and is not a particularly efficient or neat way of eating, but since when did toddlers care about efficiency or neatness? Their lives kind of revolve around putting objects in inappropriate orifices and throwing stuff. But when you think about it, the top-down thing isn't really a bad idea. It kind of goes along with the "eat-your-dessert-first" philosophy in life. Desserts, like tomorrows, aren't something to be taken for granted. So, I think there might be something to his top-down method. After all, the best stuff is usually on the top.

Oh. Before I forget. It still works best with fudgesicles.