August

I think I heard a big a WHOOSH as August raced by and I barely had time to catch my breath.  We spent the first weekend of August with Derek's family celebrating Grandma Erma's birthday.  It was great fun to see all the cousins and Elsa had almost more fun than she could stand on the water slide at the Auburn pool.  She rode down with me, with Uncle Dennis, with Carly and even once by herself.  (She got turned around and ended up coming down the slide backward--luckily Uncle Dennis was there at the end of the slide to catch her.)

After that, I was back at school and it's been nonstop for us ever since.  The start of school has been as chaotic and crazy as ever.  I have nicer classes than I've had in several years.  I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop; I keep thinking that things can't be going so well.  I'm trying to enjoy it and let them know how great I think they're doing.

Daycare is going OK.  Elsa knows the drill and likes her teacher and class.  Anna is OK--she doesn't really like taking bottles from strangers, so there have been some adjustments for her.  She is getting familiar with all the teachers, so things are getting better.

Elsa continues to make me laugh, and laugh hard.  This is what I heard from the living room while I was getting food ready for the family reunion:

Elsa:  That's Mitt Romney.

Derek:  No, honey, that's Barack Obama.  He's the President.

Elsa:  No, it's Mitt Romney.

Derek:  Why do you think that?

Elsa: Because he's wearing a tie.

I was surprised that she knew Romney's name, but now she points it out every time they mention him on NPR (Hey, Mom, they just said "Romney") so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.

Derek and I have talked about how we need to start making Elsa aware of money.  Mainly this is because every commercial on TV is followed by Elsa saying, "I want that."  It doesn't matter--she wants whatever they advertise.  One of the last times she said she wanted something, I said, "Well, you need money to buy that.  How are you going to get money?"  Her response?  "I'll borrow it from Dad."

Anna is eating us out of house and home and likes just about everything.  She would eat oatmeal or avocado at every meal if she could.  She's been sitting up a lot this whole month and is pretty close to sitting up on her own.  She's still wobbly but definitely wants to be up and looking at everything.  WE think she's getting her first teeth.  She's had a fever for the last day and has been just a cranky, crying girl.  She's usually so even tempered that this just isn't like her.  Anna and I are going to send Derek and Elsa off tomorrow and then we're going to try to rest up and get over the worst of this.  (I may also try to get some lesson plans done and make a pie crust from scratch.)

Photo by Elsa!

I love this picture

Another photo by Elsa