Skipping Town

Lucia: 17 Lucia's 17th birthday was two weeks ago on Thursday, October 15. Our firm birthday traditions in place, we started the morning with Dutch babies for breakfast, then headed to Starbucks to redeem her free birthday drink coupon. I had the big number balloons and flowers and a letterboard set out on the table.  After school and XC, Mom and Dad came over and we had Lucia's birthday dinner. She'd requested steak mock frites (a fave NYT recipe) and red velvet cake (made by Andrew). She loved her gifts, bigger ticket items now that she's in her late-teen years, including new Uggs and a Free People purse. But also fun little things to honor the kid she still is: teeny-tiny Funko Bitty Pop My Little Ponies on her cake, and a little blind box of My Little Pony figurines.  On Friday, she headed to Shadyside after school with her two best friends for some shopping, and then they went out to dinner at The Porch. She had a great day. Homecoming Lucia's birthday was kind...

I titled this "Catching Up" but there's no way to catch up on my absolutely DELINQUENT stretch between posts. I'll do better. No excuses except pure busy-ness. Here are some big updates and thoughts from the past (eek) month: Lucia's at Peak Teen Stage Early this month, Lucia took her PSAT on a Friday, took the SAT on Saturday, and, later that afternoon, went to pick up her official driver's license. That was a peak-teen weekend, you know? She's careening off into the future. It is staggering to witness but also is flying by so fast it's easy to just not even notice it--oh, sure, take the biggest test of your life; pick up that first-ever official license; and don't forget to unload the dishwasher. Huge life moments all mixed up with everyday life.  All XC All the Time The kids are running running running, chasing PR's and team wins and trying not to bleed through their spikes. And failing. We went to Newville, PA, for the big Foundation meet o...