Creeeeaaaaak. Hellllloooo?

Wow, I haven't been on the old blog site here in a bit, and it looks nothing like I remember. I will take a short run at a post- why not?

Somehow it is August already. I made a couple of mild vows at the beginning of the summer, one was that we would definitely have root beer floats, and one was that I would learn how to play chess. Because shamefully, I don't know how. On Saturday we went to a root beer stand in Issaquah that has a name I do not dare to type onto the Interwebs, and there, my friends, we drank the world's largest root beer float. So, one down, one to go. I still don't know how to play chess, but Jim just this moment agreed to teach me whilst we vacation in one short week and a half. Woo!

The other mild vow, really an amorphous resolution, was that we would have a terrific summer. I feel like we have! We have had a lot of fun, gone a lot of places, enjoyed a lot of sunshine. But I am having the feeling that I'm not sustaining it. There are a few weeks left yet of summer, and I need to figure out a way to make sure it feels that way for the kids. Though I suspect getting to Orcas is going to help with that considerably. Onward!

Lucky Seven

Here's the half-eaten pancake face and the overly elaborate school treats. Rice Krispie pops with chocolate and sprinkles, people! They looked magnificent. I got a little flak from some other moms on the way into school, but I am at peace with it. Because they were not any more work than cupcakes (less, probably). No counting the trip to Michael's for the floral foam ring. Whatever.

So, yeah, she is seven now. The book was a big hit. She also loved the book light, as I knew she would. We had the dinner she picked, which was "chicken burgers," a.k.a. chicken patties. Pretty tough to construct that gastronomical delight! Not like I had a bag of those from Costco in my freezer or anything. Happy Birthday, girl!

Birthday Eve!

I am sleepy and have to get up early to make rice krispie pops and pancakes. But I want to confess that in the span of about eight minutes, I was entirely convinced that I had gone WAY overboard with birthday presents, and then just as entirely convinced that we had nothing but boring, practical presents that simply would not do for a still little kid. But I just saw the presents all lined up on the piano, and they look like exactly the right number. Can't speak to whether they are too...pragmatic. A seven year old needs a book light, right?

Why Was it Snowing Today?

I don't really want a meteorologist to answer that question for me, but I have to say, what is going on with the weather? Sleeting, hailing, snowing, sticking, and then, sunshine? It was weird.

We ate breakfast at the French Bakery, or New French Bakery, some French Bakery outside the local mall. They have unimpeachable ham and cheese croissants. Also, the chocolate ones are good. And the coffee! Yum.

Then, a record short church. Grilled cheese sandwiches. And then... Shrinky Dinks.

I haven't done these little "crafts" in something like seventy years, so I forgot how they do their thing. And I misread the documentation, shameful traitor to my people that I am. As a result, I was messing up the shrinking part but good. We were all freaking out a little bit. But Jim went to the troubleshooting section of the shrinky dink website, and all our problems were solved. Just bake it longer! We did. The dinks were all shrinky! And Naomi was able to complete her fairy diorama. I may post a picture of that, because my freakout about wrecking the darn things made me love them and their little diorama collective in a way that I would not likely have done otherwise.

Yep, that's the whole posts. Shrinky Dinks! G'night!

This is How We Roll

Today was Naomi's 7th birthday party at the roller rink. She loves to skate. She is almost seven. And in most of the photos, her tongue is out. Which believe it or not makes her look even more tough cookie than she does in this picture, but in the knowledge that she will see all of this someday, it's this one.



It was a fun party. Then I took Muriel to another one. Now I am exhausted and must go drink tea and eat an ill-advised ice cream treat. See you tomorrow!

All the News

OK, I am starting to get a numb shoulder from sitting on our overly soft couch with the laptop each and every night. First World Problem!

The news. We celebrated Jim's birthday with a trip to a Chinese restaurant. That by itself wouldn't really be news, but the restaurant is in the weirdly swanky enclave of downtown our town, and the restaurant is a... chain, I guess? So even though they have what looks like a real Chinese restaurant menu (laminated, many pages, photos of each and every dish), accompanied by a pretty authentic looking photocopied paper menu where they check off the choices you make, they also have high ceilings, modern light fixtures, stylish tall frosted glass and cherry wood room dividers, and white wait staff. I am just going to lay my race cards right out on the table: we never ever eat at Chinese restaurants where the wait staff is white. I swear it is not on purpose. We have nothing against white wait staff! It is just the way it is.

Also: this restaurant has a specialty, which is the yummy little dumplings that have soup in them in addition to pork filling. Remember the "Freshen Up" gum of the dumpling world from my Singapore trip report? These are they! So when you enter the restaurant, there is a big window that looks into the kitchen, so that you can watch this staggering number of specialty dumplings being made before your very eyes. By...a bunch of Hispanic guys! Nary a Chinese person on the other side of the window.

Ultimately, these Guatemalans or El Salvadoreans have a deft touch for the soup dumplings. Our kids ate around six each. The rest of the food was pretty good too, though I have no guesses as to the ethnic identity of the cook. Nor do I care! Fried noodles is fried noodles, am I right?

Today was Muriel's half birthday checkup. I completely spaced taking her after she turned 4 (see: my recent admission that I forgot she is due to start attending Kindergarten this fall). So she went in today and got all her shots for Kindergarten. Three of them! She was a trooper, and although her eyes misted up, she didn't actually cry. I was proud of her. According to her lovely doctor, she doesn't have to get any more shots until sixth grade. And she got a sparkly sticker with a rainbow AND a dolphin.

What was the other news item...? Oh! The book came in the mail today, the one we made for Naomi. I was worried it wouldn't come in time, but it did, and it is pretty great. I will take a picture of it! And the bongos! And the Cow Popper! And someday I will get on the other computer where the pictures live and start adding those to this thing again. Adieu!

The Random Present

Bongos!