Skipping Town

(This is a very belated post about the kids' birthdays. Better late than never. I wrote this but never posted it.) October is almost over, which means both of the girls’ birthdays have come and gone. They both had excellent birthdays this year.  Lucia, as always, was beyond excited about her birthday, and the lead-up was almost unbearably thrilling. She gets excited several weeks in advance; she looks forward to October 15 so much. We have our birthday traditions: the day began with giant number balloons, flowers, and a birthday sign at the table in the morning, along with one present to unwrap before school. Mom and Dad came to Pittsburgh after school, and Lucia unwrapped her gifts first thing. Mom had made scrippelles for the birthday dinner (Lucia’s request--a sneaky way of getting scrippelles outside of the traditional Easter season), and Andrew made a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. It was all delicious. I put a few figurines on top of little girls who balance on

Late in August, as the school year approached, a couple of things happened: First, I finished a revision of my new novel, three-hole-punched it for a binder, and gave it to Andrew to read--the first and only person to lay eyes on this thing. And second, without a messy trashpile of a draft to actively work on, I thought it might be an interesting idea to take on a job outside the house. Gasp! I applied to a couple of temp organizations at Pitt and CMU, and as of today I have a job with Pitt through the middle of December, and the prospect of temp work with CMU starting in January. If I want it. If I want any of it! I was filled with instant regret the second I agreed to the Pitt job. But I'm in it now, and I'll see it through. I mean, it's a good job--office admin at the Writing Center--and the hours are pretty much perfect for still being able to pick up the kids from their after-school activities. And it's about seven minutes from home. Can't complain about any of

The kids had off today so I had them try on all their fall clothes. I always put this off and am then blindsided when the temperature suddenly drops and they have nothing to wear. The state of their fall clothes is a pretty good window into how last fall/winter went: they had almost no 'real' clothes, just some lounge pants and a bunch of long-sleeve t-shirts I'd gotten at a rummage sale two (three?) years ago. None of it fit. Did these clothes even fit last year? Did it matter? No one saw the kids but us, and they really only wanted to wear pj's when they got home from school. It's a startling reminder that we really did not leave the house last fall/winter to do anything at all.  We have to start their wardrobes from scratch this fall. They don't need a ton of clothes, since they wear uniforms to school, but they need more than what they have, which is nothing. So: online shopping we go. 

Another school year is underway, and, like last year, we're so grateful to have landed here, at such an amazing school. Greta's in fourth grade, with a fantastic teacher; Lucia's in sixth grade, her first year in the Middle School. She has a lot more independence, a lot more time to manager herself, and a lot of choices in the classes she takes. She had to choose electives this week, ranking 13 choices for each of three days; I can't wait to see which three she gets.  Lucia's doing cross-country this trimester, which lacks the organization and transparency of the rest of the school; I had to put Andrew in charge of trying to get information. Lucia was not a fan of the practices that took place during the super-hot days this week, but she did much better yesterday and today when she got to run in rain/cooler temps. Greta's going to do cross-country too. Though I myself loathe running, I would like the girls to love it. We'll see how they fare. Perhaps cross-c

The last week of summer! We went to the pool; played lots of Chinese checkers; had a fun evening in Connellsville with Mom and Dad and other family; Lucia went to a birthday party at a trampoline park; Greta went to a sleepover; and we had our block party, where we met so many nice neighbors. It was a whirlwind. And now it's the end of the summer. It feels like it lasted forever and also a second.  Final reading tallies: Greta: 10,000 pages Lucia: 7,000 pages They both read so many good books this summer. I asked them to pick their favorites, and here they are: GRETA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: When You Trap a Tiger Song for a Whale Fuzzy Mud The Unicorn in the Barn The Grimm Legacy When You Reach Me The Storm Runner Nessie Quest Counting by 7s Wish Tree Nuts to You The Fire Keeper LUCIA's FAVE SUMMER BOOKS: Once Was a Time Out of My Mind The Heroes of Olympus Aru Shah and the Song of Death The Unteachables City Spies A Whale in Paris Keeper of the Lost Cities

The week continued to be busy. Thursday I had a haircut, an HVAC guy came, a plasterer came, a plumber came, Mom and Dad came to stay with the kids, and Andrew and I went to our first in-person parent event at the school. Friday I had an eye doctor appointment and Andrew brought our car in to the service shop so we can finally--hopefully--get the duct tape taken off. And today we went for a walk, then to the pool. We had leftovers for dinner and watched Wish Dragon. Andrew's still feeling tired and out of it from his wisdom tooth surgery. Next week is our last week of summer vacation. Already it feels like summer has quietly slipped away--I learned today that Lucia starts cross-country practice on Monday, and will have that each day; and both girls have orientation events for their classes. The long free days have already come to an end, I'm afraid. 

Busy, rainy day. Greta had speech therapy at 10am, and then both girls got haircuts at noon. Lucia got a light trim; Greta got several inches taken off. Ready for school now.  For the rest of the day the kids were obsessed with waiting for the Amazon Prime van, desperate to get the new stickers they'd ordered. They checked the porch about every ten minutes. They also played with AG dolls, played outside in the rain, traded with the stickers they already had, did math review, and read HP #7 with me. After dinner we watched two episodes of Bluey. The Amazon delivery didn't come until after 7pm, and they were ecstatic to start the activity they'd been waiting for all day: laying out all 200 stickers, taking turns choosing, and then beginning a complex process of trading for the most coveted stickers. I expect this to take up much of the day tomorrow. Eight dollars well spent.  During tonight's reading time, L&G got out all their "take-apart" erasers. You neve

The weeks following our return from NH have been a whirlwind. We had only a few days here at home before leaving once again; we went to the pool one of the days, went shopping for sneakers with Mom and Dad, and finished buying school supplies. Then we were off again for our final trip of the summer, staying at a beach house in Rehoboth with our friends. Four adults, five kids. House with a pool. It was a fabulous week of beach, pool, and dinners out (at outside tables). We started eating out as a large unwieldy group way back in NorCal in 2007, and the kid contingent has grown since then from two baby twins to two high schoolers, two middle schoolers, and one fourth grader.  We got back on Friday, and this is the week where I scheduled everything--orthodontist consultation, speech therapy, haircuts for the girls and me, tutoring, Andrew's wisdom tooth surgery, eye doctor. Also lots of work being done on the Long Room. It's been a lot of running around. We also had a fun overnig

Fri., 7/30 Our last day in NH. We finished all the packing and cleaning in the morning, somehow got all of our stuff back into the car, and said goodbye to our month in the country. Lucia's hives were still hideous, and Greta's arms and cheeks looked inflamed and were itchy too. It was, it appeared, time to return to civilization. We crossed everything off our NH to-do list. It's very sad to think we won't be back till next year. Hopefully next year, once the kids are vaxxed and we can fly again, we'll be able to add a fall weekend into the rotation as well. We took a quick detour to see a piano at our cousin's house in MA--a family heirloom Steinway 118 years old. We stopped at a hotel halfway home, once again with a pool, and once again the weather was just not swimming weather--not rainy but chilly. But the hotel had a patio with a beautiful view, and we sat out there to eat takeout Applebee's for dinner.  The night was not peaceful. The girls were unable

Last day in NH. The day started off with Lucia coming downstairs with her face covered in hives. Who knows what triggered them--a different sunscreen? the berries she and Greta were crushing for Nature Cook? something in the pond? an old blanket? It could be anything. I ran to Rite Aid for some Benedryl pills and lotion; by bedtime, they'd gotten a little better, but not much. We'll see how she is tomorrow. I did a lot of packing and preparing while Andrew worked; it's always such a to-do to get ready to leave. The kids played with their phones, read, did math review. We took Farrah for a walk and played Chinese checkers. It rained all day. Andrew picked up clam strips for dinner from the Weathervane. We'll leave tomorrow mid-morning. I can't believe a month has gone by so quickly.  Some pics from our rafting trip yesterday:

Winding down. We leave on Friday, so we're starting to undo our month of living in this house. BUT! First, we squeezed in a rafting trip this morning. It was such a rainy month that we didn't manage to schedule it until now. But it was worth it, as always, and we had lots of fun. We stopped a couple of times to swim and collect rocks, and we didn't get too tired from paddling because the river was quite high. It was a perfect final thing to do. The kids spent some time today figuring out their phones and were obsessed with texting each other and sending each other pictures. We set up playlists on their phones and they were excited about adding lots of songs. It was pretty cute.  We also took all the floats out of the pond and deflated them. That was sad. And after one final spell of reading in the hammocks, I took them down and packed them away.  After dinner tonight, Greta got stung by a bee on her toe--her first-ever sting. She was hysterical. I got the stinger out and sh

Today we did the most un-New-Hampshirey thing imaginable: we drove to the Verizon store in West Lebanon and got Lucia a phone. It was time. She spent all of fifth grade as the only girl without a phone, left out of group chats and etc., and though I have always loudly claimed there was NO WAY ON THIS EARTH she'd get a phone before high school, I caved. I can't have her be left out. The years ahead will be fraught enough without forcing her to the sidelines from the get-go. As I wrote in the last post, we told her last night that we'd decided to get her a phone, and she was over the moon. It was like Christmas Eve, and it took her forever to fall asleep. Greta handled the news with surprising grace, probably because we said she could have my current iPhone to use for photos and videos after I upgraded to a new phone.  When we got to the Verizon store today, I had three clear goals: upgrade to a modest new phone for myself; add a line and get Lucia a phone; factory-clear my o

 Sat. 7/24 We fit a lot into the day. A hike in the woods in the morning, lots of pond time. The kids brought bowls onto the floating dock and caught tadpoles and salamanders with their nets to put into the water-filled bowls. They were absorbed in this activity for several hours. Andrew left at dinnertime to drive to MA for a friend's wedding, and the girls and I played Chinese checkers and read a lot of our book. I let they stay up very late and then I just went to bed at the same time. Farrah was restless at Andrew's absence. Sun. 7/25 The kids and I were on our own Sunday, with Andrew in MA. They had their "routine" morning, as they call it--wake up, read in bed, play with AG's, come down for breakfast around 10am. They did math review. After lunch, we drove into West Lebanon for some shopping. Later, they played on the dock again. It was supposed to rain most of the day but it ended up being beautiful. Mon. 7/26 The kids had their routine morning. Then math r

A landmark day: we had a snapping turtle sighting! The girls were in the pond this afternoon, kicking toward the cattails on their rings, when Lucia began screaming that she could see the turtle's shell. It wasn't moving. Greta started panicking, kicking wildly in an attempt to get away but not going anywhere, then changed her mind and tried to get closer to see it. They were so panicked / excited that Andrew, who was about to go for a run, got into the canoe and rowed out to see what was going on. It seemed possible that the turtle was dead, since it wasn't moving and it was kind of tucked into the cattails. But when Andrew got over to the girls, he didn't see the turtle--but then there was a dramatic movement in the lily pads, clearly a creature moving through them. The turtle. Alive. Returning to the deep. We'll see if the kids want to get into the pond again, after this.  The other exciting encounter today was when the girls and I were hiking around in the woods

A mostly nice-weather day. I did a grocery run early in the morning, and then after a long morning of breakfast, reading, and math review, we went to the creek--the swimming hole side. Farrah does not care for this side of the creek and sat close to me on the ground most of the time. She did explore the creek a little bit. Greta went deep into the swimming hole, wearing water shoes. Lucia, wearing rain boots, tried to balance on a fallen tree and, of course, wound up with her boots full of water.  Then they began bickering about taking doll pictures and we went back to the house. We spent some time at the pond, and then Andrew and I got ready for our dinner guests, cousins Sandy and Peter. We ate outside. We'd hoped their calm, tolerant dog would serve as a kind of mentor for Farrah, but Farrah proved to be inhospitable to a new dog on her turf, and alternately sniffed and barked wildly.  This was the first night it was uncloudy enough to see some stars, so once our cousins left An

No rain, some sun. We had our usual morning of late sleeping, playing, math review, and reading. After lunch, the kids, Farrah, and I went down to the creek, which is still rushing crazily after so much rain. We came back to the house so Greta could have a telehealth appointment with a pediatrician for a rash on her arms and face (nothing serious).  Andrew had a stressful two-hour call in the afternoon, so I took the girls (at their request) to Books-a-Million. Going to this bookstore is so exciting for them. Greta REALLY wanted to go because, since she hit 6,000 pages of reading, she was eligible for her "BIG FUN PRIZE" (I think I have the most fun of all of us creating the summer reading incentives). Anyhoo, they get a BIG FUN PRIZE every 3,000 pages, and Greta had chosen a black cat bolster pillow she'd seen at Books-a-Million, so we went and she bought that. Lucia bought a book. Lucia is handling the fact that she has not yet reached 6,000 pages with surprising grace.

Finally, some sun--hazy sun, but sun nonetheless. Marion left this morning--it was so lucky that this visit worked out. She brought the girls a boxed set of Jane Austens--her and Andrew's mom's favorite books. They're going to love them, in a few years. We spent most of the afternoon at the pond, though the kids squabbled a lot and couldn't get into a pond rhythm. We then read in hammocks for a while, but the rain from the past few days made the woods really buggy. After dinner, we all played Chinese checkers.  Now it's raining again. What is going on with this July??

Half rain, BUT ALSO half sun! Littell family friend Marion drove in today for a visit, and fortunately the rain had stopped by the time she arrived. We all walked down to the creek, which was rushing wildly after the past few days of rain. Once the sun came out, the kids went into the pond. We ate dinner outside and sat around the fire. It was a lovely day. It makes such a difference when we can be outside. Greta has reached a milestone of 6,000 pages read so far this summer. Lucia's at 4,000.  What we're reading: Lucia: The List Greta: Dragons in a Bag Margo: You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz Andrew: Swann's Way

Another rainy day. We've had more rainy days here this month than we've ever had during our stays. In lieu of going outside, we read all day. I mean ALL DAY. Both girls read an entire book each, plus some; and I finished a book. (Andrew took a different path: he went for a run and watched some golf on his iPad.) The girls did math review, and we all played Chinese checkers. We took Farrah on a couple of walks when it wasn't raining. The kids played with their AGs for a long time. So: a nice day, if an inside one. 

Fri. 7/16 A nice warm day. I went out early in the morning to Walmart because our microwave had suddenly died Thursday night. The kids weren't even awake yet when I got home. Finally they emerged and had their usual morning routine of reading / playing with AGs. We read up to the last chapter of Harry Potter 6 throughout the day, read in hammocks, and played in the pond. The kids did math review. Both girls have been making me laugh to the point of crying lately, doing funny accents at an unnecessarily loud volume. They are so funny. Friday night we had Andrew's cousins over for dinner. We ate outside and had a lovely evening. Except for Farrah, who was distressed that we were outside after the sun went down. She eventually went inside and slept in the fireplace. Sat. 7/17 More rain. We had the usual morning (see above). We read the final chapter of Harry Potter 6 when the kids came down for breakfast--this was our favorite one in the series so far. We'll see how #7 is. The

It was a full, full day. We finally did our Mount Ascutney hike this morning, an annual tradition. We only hike the final part to the very top, a little over a mile up and back. Then, also tradition, we went out for ice cream for lunch. Andrew had to work after that, so the kids and I visited a local swimming pond in town. It was a very nice place to swim but it was VERY crowded, with no inflatables allowed, so the consensus was that our pond is way better. So we came home and L&G swam in our pond for the rest of the afternoon. They really are having fun with the new floating dock and all the floaties.  We made some popcorn for a snack and read Harry Potter, then went for a pre-dinner swim in William's pool, which the kids always love. Dinner was leftovers. Then more Harry Potter (this #6 has taken a turn I did NOT expect; somehow I've gotten this far without actually knowing what happens in this series), and then a late bedtime because Greta desperately wanted to finish th

Finally a break in the rainy weather, letting in some of the NH magic we've been waiting for. We had some dicey moments before lunch--Lucia had a tick at the back of her neck, just starting to burrow in; I had two ticks on me (but was able to brush them off). We'd been trying to read Harry Potter outside but gave up and continued inside instead. After some lunch, math review, and reading, the day warmed up, and the kids were able to swim in the pond for a while. Then some rain blew in. Fortunately, it was short-lived, and the sun came out again. After a lot of AG time, the kids asked to go back to the pond before dinner, and they had so much fun--in the true zone of the pond, swimming and jumping off the dock and playing elaborate games with the inflatables.  Dinner was chicken legs on the grill and BBQ ribs. A NH favorite. Then Andrew lit the fire pit for s'mores and the kids' favorite activity, fire sticks.  We had a very creepy experience last night. It was late, and