Skipping Town

Grets, Happy birthday, Miss G! Finally, it was your day. Yesterday you brought birthday cupcakes and Halloween pencils into your class, which you'd been so excited about. For birthdays, your teacher has every kid write a letter and draw a picture for the birthday girl/boy, which she binds together, so you came home with a lovely book of messages from your classmates. Last night, we let you and Lucia open your presents from Gra and Pop-Pop, Bobby and Nina, and Aunt Katherine. Lots of American Girl stuff (I was tasked with picking out most of the gifts this year from the grandparents), which you both loved. Then--finally--your birthday. Last night I put a new doll dress on Wee Wee and one of your small stuffed cats, and of course put a balloon in your room tied to your desk chair, and balloons at the kitchen table. You got up quite early this morning, and when everyone else got up we went downstairs so you could open your first presents of the day--an American Girl lasagna dinn

Happy happy birthday, firstborn! You were SO excited about turning nine. You've been waiting for your birthday for months. Every year your excitement and expectations seem more extreme; this year, however, they were easy to fulfill with not too much stress. Your top wish was a new American Girl doll--Tenney--and Greta, too, wanted a new doll for her birthday, Josefina. So a big day out at the American Girl Store was a given. Saturday was a long day to get through, but it actually wound up going quickly because it was our block party. You and Greta got to go to the bounce house early with the little girls who live in the house whose yard sported the bounce house; so that was fun. You got your faces painted and loaded up with glow sticks. Then, finally, it was Sunday, the long-awaited AG Store day. We drove into the city. When we got to the store, you made a beeline for Tenney. (I'd made two calls to the store in the days prior to our visit, nervously checking inventory; Te

Summer ends, and my blogging goes right out the window. I'll try to do better. We just spent a final weekend in NH. In years past we've gone later into October and even November, but this year, other plans and travels are taking up our time, so this was our last visit of the year. It was gloomy and a bit chilly, perfectly moody. We arrived Friday night, and spent the morning on Saturday hanging around the house and walking in the muddy fields. After lunch, we went to our favorite farm to pick apples and go through the corn maze. We ate one last maple creamee while overlooking the river. The kids each bought a tiny gourd-pumpkin (we can't get big pumpkins yet since the squirrels will eat them). It was just a lovely afternoon. Back home we had steak frites for dinner in the dining room, with candles. And AG dolls. Today we spent the morning doing a long nature hike in the woods. It was drizzling, but in the woods we were protected from the rain. Then we had to clean up an