7 Quick Takes [6.7.13]

1. William on his first day of Summer Vacation: Dad, can you come downstairs and play piano with me?

Dad: I have to go to work, buddy.

William: Oh.  I thought yesterday was your last day.

2. Our first day of Summer Vacation is feeling eerily similar to our first day of Spring Vacation.  Cold. Wet. Dreary.  If the weather report for the next three months is the same as it is today, I'm going to have to be heavily medicated.

So alas, it's a sweats and puzzles and maybe an afternoon movie kind of a day.  I wish I could tell you my cheeks were sore from blowing up the kiddie pool in the backyard.

3.  My mom, wearing her Grandma hat, noticed I neglected to include a picture of Katherine in yesterday's post.  I didn't really forget.  I intended to just post pictures of the school-aged kiddos.  But then I realized it had been quite some time since I had posted a picture of The Baby and being that this here blog doubles as a scrap/baby book, I decided to just throw in a picture of Bobby at the last minute.

In addition to all that reasoning there is also the excuse that Katherine is 19 months and wow how I have forgotten how difficult these toddler years really are.  So there's always the issue of getting her to sit still for a photo and also making sure she's not having a full-fledged meltdown while said photo is being snapped.  But just for you Katherine-lovers out there (I am one of them, I assure you!) I dug into the archives and found this little gem.  An afternoon of shaving cream, a bathtub and nothing but her diaper.  Plus two of the cutest pigtails you ever did see.

4. A few days ago I needed to put Lucy on the Scream Step.  What is the Scream Step, you might ask.  The Scream Step is a wonderful invention by Brian to help Lucy control her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad habit of screaming at the top of her lungs whenever something doesn't go her way.  The screaming was easy to justify when she was a toddler but now it's just plain ridiculous.  And with two babies in the house, it's also disruptive.  So when the screaming ensues, she is promptly escorted to the basement steps where she can finish her lung outburst.  Lucy has come to loathe the Scream Step so usually just the thought of it mutes her real fast.  But sometimes it doesn't.  Which brings me back to my story.

We were upstairs and something happened that led to something else that brought me to the point of needing to put Lucy in the Scream Step.  So I marched her down two flights of stairs and sat her on The Step.  Then I marched back up to resume my normal afternoon duties of nursing and changing diapers and the like.  After a few minutes of silence from the Scream Step I hollered down to Lucy that she could came back up now.  I heard nothing.  I yelled to her again.  Again, nothing.  So I went downstairs and she was no where to be found.  And neither were her shoes.  And the back door was open.  This doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

I quickly slipped on my shoes and went out into the backyard.  No Lucy.  I start yelling her name.  And then I hear, from afar, her voice telling someone, "Oh sorry, guys!  I have to go now!"  And I see her scurry down the sidewalk FROM THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE back to me.  She can see on my face I am angry and she quickly says, "Mommy, it's OK.  I looked for cars in the alley before I crossed."  As if that were the only reason for me to be upset.

All that to say, prayers for me this summer, friends.  Prayers are appreciated.

5.  Running update: It's going great!  I completed my first 5K race a couple weeks ago.  It was easier than I expected and that's saying a lot about the Couch to 5K program because, I kid you not, I could barely run a block a few months after Bobby was born.  Now I'm running 3-4 mornings a week and kind of loving it.  In my head I'm writing a post about running from a non-runner's perspective.  What would you like hear in that post?  Drop me a note in the comments.

6.  I received my second Stitch Fix box last weekend.  (I first wrote about Stitch Fix here.)  My second Stitch Fix box was waaaay better than my first.  And in hindsight I probably should have photo blogged all the items I received.  I kept three out of the five items they sent me.  Two of which were casual summer dresses, a category severely lacking in my closet.  One of the dresses was a little out of the price range for which I would normally spend on such items.  But Brian insisted I keep it anyway.  And since he's the money-maker, I obliged his demands.  So submissive am I.  Pictures of said dress forthcoming.

7.  And finally, how about a little video on this Friday?  I took this a few days ago. I don't know what prompted me to hit the record button on my webcam.  Every once in a while, amongst the crazy, I can clearly see how fast it's all going by.  And in those seconds I quickly grab my camera, or in this case webcam, and try to capture all I can.  I don't want to forget.  There's nothing extraordinary in here.  Just my every day life with a touch of sweetness.