Settling Back In

It always amazes me how long it takes to get caught up with everything after being away for a few days. It seems like there are still piles of sandy beach towels and car toys everywhere!


And along with getting organized again at home, I need to go back to some photos lost from last week before we went to Michigan. Jamie took Katie to the driving range for the first time, and she really enjoyed it. I suspect this will become a recurring father-daughter activity, since Jamie can go guilt free! And hopefully, I won't overhear this backseat conversation again:

Caroline: "I see golfers"
Katie: "They're all boys"
Caroline: "Do girls play golf?"
Katie: "No, they like to stay home and clean."

Surely I have failed as a mother, if my children think this is the state of the world! Although, I must confess, that as a small child of probably three, I reported a similar state of affairs to my parents after having a conversation with my grandfather: "Womens don't play golf," I said to them.

Along with enjoying a short week of work, we had lots to keep us busy. Jamie attended a concert on Friday night with friends, so the girls and I made it a root beer float night, which was very exciting to them. They view root beer as aspecial treat (the non-caffeinated kind, of course) and Caroline is not allowed to have pop yet except for very special circumstances (like Mom's out of town and Dad takes them to dinner and they order Caroline a root beer under a strict pact of secrecy!)

The rest of the weekend flew by. Saturday there was a memorial service for my friend Joy's mom who passed away several weeks ago, so I attended that, and then Jamie and the kids joined me at their house for a luncheon. It poured rain, so we were among the few who ventured out to the tent in the backyard to sit. It was a delightful place to entertain the kids as the rain poured down around us, and we enjoyed a nice visit with friends. As usual, Caroline managed to collect a good number of treats!



In addition to exciting activities like cleaning out the garage, I let the girls start work on creating a "puppet theater" from a saved TV box. It quickly got very messy and Caroline mixed all of the colors together, so it ended up being a greenish black color. We'll have to keep working on this project!

I will close with a video of Caroline singing one of her favorite songs: "Five Little Pumpkins." Very timely for July, don't you think?