. . . All My Chaosity . . .

And I likely won't finish it today. We had a fabulous vacation but I know I am grateful to be home. I can't imagine why anyone would move to Southern California on purpose- I know I never would. Our trip out was really fun- we stopped and played at Katie's (THANKS KATIE & FAM!!!) , then at Winterton's. :D It's been years and years since I've seen Katie and her parents; we really enjoyed our too-brief stay with them. We've seen the Winterton's a little more recently, but it's always good to catch up. They were all so hospitable- it was fabulous.

After quite a bit of rain yesterday and last night (hallelujah) it has been a cool morning. I went for my walk before 6am this morning, while B was showering before work. It's not quite chilly, but it hasn't gotten above 70° yet.... Saturday we celebrated DBall's birthday with his friends. I made him a Star Wars Lego cake out of double chocolate chip cookie (on the bottom) and brownie on the top. He wanted green (homemade) butter-cream frosting. He enjoys cooking and baking, so he was lots of help. We ate in what we hopefully refer to as the "Party Cabana". D of course loves opening presents. His friends gave him great gifts- he even got a Kid's Bop CD that we listened to for most of the party. That will come in handy on our vacation (road trip!) and B can download it to to D's mp3 player for him. He also got Legos and Bokugon things- he's enjoyed them all. Nannie sent him a huge Lego Star Wars kit which he started putting together that afte

I've been reading Adriana Trigiani novels lately. I was so glad to find an author who uses so little vulgarity and cursing- really I was getting worn out of it some days. I've read three of her novels now, and the last one was the first in a trilogy- woohoo ! So we went to the Jones Center to see Cman on the zip line. D had previously said he was glad he wasn't old enough because he didn't want to climb up all those ropes and stuff. He seemed pretty impressed with it though when Cman went across- and he's considering it for his birthday next year. When we picked B up from work (at 2:45p!!) he told him all about it. He was pretty excited. Back-to-school was always one of my favorite times of year. As I notice all the back-to-school supplies and sales this month I've been a little sad that DBall can't experience that. But then I realize that he never looked forward to school (after kindergarten) like I always did. He is ecstatic to stay home and

This has been a pretty busy week so far- and promises to be more so before it's all over. Monday D. and I searched all over- for hours- at department stores and malls for a short sleeve light purple golf shirt for him to wear in family pictures in California. To no avail. I guess I could check the different walmarts again... but I don't know where else to look. He has a long sleeve button up shirt of the appropriate color, which he may end up wearing with the sleeve rolled up, but I'd really rather he have a golf shirt (short sleeve polo). I can barely remember yesterday, except D and I cleaned floors (I vacuumed and he mopped), and he cleaned his bathroom. His Birthday party with friends here is Saturday- so we have to get ready! Today we're going to a home school activity at the Jones Center for a few hours. But later this afternoon he has Chess Club (6:00pm), soccer practice (7:30pm) and his friend C-man's first and only football game at 9:00 pm (if you

Oh well... I do what I can I guess. DBall and I have continued Homeschooling pretty well this Summer. We've had weeks where we did nothing "officially" towards school, but I figure we need breaks every now and again. We're going to stick with Singapore math for now, it seems to be going really well. We've begun learning/writing in cursive, though DBall complains oft about his sore hands. Truthfully I haven't been having him write nearly as much as he should've been all Summer... so his hands may be sore for a little while as they toughen up. I've been giving him spelling lists at some point during the week (usually Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday), and he must write a sentence using each word. Then he's been having only one spelling test per week- usually on Thursday or, more often, Friday- which is good enough for me. I've purchased the age-appropriate Pathway Readers for third grade, I'm optimistic about starting those in another mont