One of the few things I was looking forward to with having a girl is having someone who wanted to just sit down and color, or cut and paste, or just be crafty.
Eleanor loves to do those things.
It is so fun. We do playdough we color, we cut and paste. One of the leaders of my church gave a great talk on how women are naturally good at creating. We are.
My grandma asked me all the time, "And what about those two boys, do they get along?" then to my affirmative answer she says, "oh good. You know my two brothers always did. The were the best of friends."
Don't get me wrong. Jack and Henry know how to fight. They know all too well what will annoy the other one. But they do play together very well. They do best at things like this. Crazy, outdoor things with no rules or limitations. Just acting silly.
I love it.
I loved school. Always. I love it now, for lots of reasons. But mostly because I really feel like. My kids are better behaved after school. Maybe it is the routine, or just spending all day being obedient to another adult that makes it easier to listen to me, whatever it is, I like it.
I simply cannot believe Jack is in third grade, I member third grade. I remember it very well, actually. I remember Mrs. Winningham who was also my Kindergarten teacher. I remember her singing "Witches Brew" at Haloween. I remember that a boy copies my Easter egg paper mâché design it it was very upsetting. My Cassie and Carly got braces. I could go on and on.
Henry is so beyond ready for Kindergarten, he came home the first week, completely disappointed by his math homework. "When do we get to do pluses?" he asked.
Ad then there is Miss Eleanor. I took her to get her picture taken at the boys' school and when she was melting down in the parking lot after the picture I realized that she thought it was going to be her turn to go to school, and was so disappointed that it wasn't. But we do a neighborhood preschool now, and she loves that.
My beautiful children.
Months and months ago we had dinner at my friend Ugo's house. They had face paint. It was beyond fun. I had to get some. It has been a blast, to just get your face painted whenever you feel like it.
Henry has really embraced this concept and we do it fairly regularly.
The vampire and Frankenstein are his favorite.
I like all the pretty princess and fairy faces, but this time Eleanor wanted to be something scarier.
As an ironic finale to our Staycation, we didn't stay, we went. Camping, that is.
Jared has this thing against camping. Well, not exactly against camping, it is more against the combination of small children and open fires. As a result, our camping excursions for the last four summers have consisted of setting up a tent in the back yard.
So we were all (well, four of us anyway) really excited to go camping.
Especially these two.
We even brought the dog, which makes five excited about camping, I guess.
But we can't all be happy all the time, can we?
It was a beautiful and quiet campground. We took a nice walk and came back to build a good fire.
We cooked and devoured our tin foil dinners to which Henry exclaimed, "This is the best food I have ever tasted!"
We finished off the evening with roasted marshmallows. Jack discovered an ingenious way to expedite the s'more process by actually roasting the chocolate with the oversized marshmallows. Delicious.
But while tents and campfires and s'mores are all camping staples, I think the most telling evidence is here:
