A gardening lesson from Elmo and the First Lady

That didn’t take long…

Our loot has already arrived from Vesey’s!

Thoughts from a seven-year-old

SpiderSam just turned seven last week and I’ve already been corrected about his age – by the boy himself – on a couple of occasions. This is a big point of pride with him.

Happy Hallowe’en!

Oh, I’m bad. So sorry. It’s been quite a long time since my last post. Admittedly, we’ve had a lot going on around here including:

• new daycare for Audreygirl
• new school year for SpiderSam
• new term for me (I’m foolishly taking two part-time classes)
• yard work
• canning salsa
• the work that actually pays the bills
• barfing flu

That last one has been rather prevalent these last few days. The kids have dealt with it; the hubby is now suffering from it. It’s just a matter of time before barfing flu takes me down, too.

But last night had to be the worst – SpiderSam managed to get sick on not one, but two large items of furniture. I was outside unloading the car when it happened. My reaction when I finally saw the mess surprised even me: “Alright! Couch puke!” And why not? It was better than crying. Or gagging. He was much better this morning, by the way.

But on to more fun items, like the kids’ costumes. Audreygirl trick-or-treated for the first time tonight. She handled it like a pro. Meanwhile, SpiderSam is true to his nickname.

Hope it was a fun night for you, too!

Summerlong

Today, with less than three weeks to go until school gets back in, I ordered SpiderSam’s new backpack online (no more Walmart crap – this kid’s getting a sweet MEC Socrates) The urgency of the coming September finally set in. I find I am now never sad to see summer go, in spite of how fleeting it is in this part of the world. For one, I love late summer – those unexpectedly warm days and cool evenings (where one can finally sleep again!) It’s also comforting to know fall is just inches away, and all the things I love about it in my quasi-adult life – fall colours, sweaters and fleece, chili and NFL football (not to mention postseason baseball, as long as the Yankees are in)

It’s been a good summer. We’ve dealt with a few summer colds – icky ones that SpiderSam oddly enough managed to avoid. Medium-sized tasks got done – painting our bedroom (orange!), painting the windowsills, repairing our crumbling back step (the hubby is still enjoying my hero status for doing this) Audreygirl decided she liked and later disliked wading pools, and graduated to a toddler bed. SpiderSam liked, and got tired of, and then liked baseball again (whether he plays again next year is yet to be seen. I think he’d rather be reading…)

I basked in the indulgence of three vacation weeks – the last of which is just winding down – and a long weekend with my homegirls on Prince Edward Island. I think my new retirement dream is to own a shack near Brackley Beach – plop a folding chair by the dunes every day in summer and knit funky scarves to the sound of the waves crashing. Sigh…

Hope it’s been as good for you, too.