Charming Daughter

This is our lovely Carrie, all ready for preview night at school. That's the night they meet their teachers, take in their school supplies, sign up for conferences, see the layouts of their classrooms, etc. We figured we better warn her teacher right up front:

And here she is during her downtime, building, scheming, looking innocent...

Garden goofiness

We haven't taken as many garden pictures this year, so I apologize to those of you who're wondering how that's been going. We have cucumbers coming out of our ears, the squash and the tomatoes have both grown into the tree (yes, you read that right), and the broccoli all went to flower before we could eat it all. It's really pretty when it flowers! The garlic has been drying in the garage for months now and will probably be moved to the basement soon. The onions we chopped and froze because we had so many. The bottom picture of Dada showing off the height of the tallest tomato plant may be deceiving; he is on TOP of the step ladder!

Little People

Damon, whatchoo doing?

"Oh, don't mind me, Mama. I'm just a Little People!"

SweetieDee's first day of school

Care Bear's off to third grade this year. She's an old hand at this. But Dada started taking pictures before we were ready!

Darn it, who said he could go and get big!?

Sweet pickle

Actually, it's a dill pickle, but it cracks me up anyway because you won't get the other two kids anywhere NEAR a pickle, let alone one as big as their heads!

New hat

Damon got a new hat from Grandmama. There was a lot of this:

Hey, wait a minute!

"When what to my wondering eyes should appear..."

Nope, not reindeer. Just evidence that Demolition Damon had been here...

Liam's first day of Kindergarten

Well, the first day of Kindergarten has finally arrived for Liam. Judging by the smiles, he's more than ready. He didn't even look back once he got on the bus. Big sister Care Bear announced she'd sit with him on the bus today, and would show him his room again once he got to school. "Just for today." Here's hoping for a wonderful new beginning!

Nutshell

Liam's first day of kindergarten is tomorrow. I figured, what better way to end the summer than by thinking about all the stuff we did? So here's our last three months in a nutshell:

Damon turned one.

We drove to the Outer Banks for a week of vacation.

Liam spent almost a week and a half (during two separate visits) at the farm in southeastish Ohio with the grandparents.

Carrie spent a week in Pennsylvania at church camp for Owl Patrol.

We drove to Cleveland for a graduation party.

We drove to Columbus for Dada's triathalon.

We went to Oglebay Zoo in Wheeling, West Virginia; to the Aquarium in Manteo, North Carolina; to the Toledo Zoo here in Ohio, and to the Pittsburgh Zoo in Pennsylvania.

We went to Woodland Park and Side Cut Park.

Carrie attended two VBSes and Liam went to one.

We attended my grandfather's memorial service in Pennsylvania.

We (the Royal We) hung out countless loads of laundry, washed zillions of dishes, ate way too much junk food, and caught plenty of fireflies.

We tried to stay vigilant about watering the herbs out front and the blueberry bush. Some of us were more vigilant than others.

We also tried to stay on top of picking produce from the gardens. Some of us were more successful at that than others, as well.

We tried to be good dog owners, but we secretly think Triskal loves our neighbors more than us. They borrow her and walk her regularly. We owe them big time for all the times they've kept an eye on her so we could be where we needed to be without 100 extra pounds of Newfie tagging along!

Liam had gymnastics classes on Thursdays through the Y. He loved it and is registered for a new class this session. He's convinced that if he's at gymnastics, it must be Thursday. Never mind that class is on Mondays now...

We headed out for sun and sand at Maumee Bay a few times, too. Damon can't get enough of the water. Even in the yard, he heads for the dog dish, the bird bath, anything wet he can find.

We even made it to the Farmers' Market several times this year, which is more than we can say for last summer. We even went to the June First Friday Night of fun downtown!

We did NOT host Christmas in July, because we ran out of July. We're tossing around the idea of a fall festival of some kind. Muggin suggested Kurth Cornucopia, and I think it has promise...

Whew. Is it any wonder I am pooped? Cheers to a new school year and autumn!

"Absolutely, positively, great, great, GREAT!"

Carrie just came home from her first day of school and this is how she summed it up. "Absolutely, positively, great, great, GREAT!" I think it's safe to say she's going to have a wonderful year in third grade. Her teacher is very nice and understanding and fun, she's with some old friends and some new ones, and she started off the year with her favorite subject- gym. Hooray for great starts! Happy 2011-2012 school year, everyone!

Boat safety

These ones need to be viewed all together. Damon would head for the edge of the "boat" and Liam would pull him back in. Damon thought it was hilarious and would lay in Liam's lap and laugh before trying to "escape" again. Repeat.

Let's just say it'll be a good long while before this water baby will be allowed on Pap's boat!

Still got my sea legs...

"Be right back, Liam..."

"Oof. Maybe not." (He fell in slow motion and didn't land hard, as you can tell by Liam laughing at him in the background. He got right back up and crawled right back into the "boat".)

Daaaaamon, whatchooo doooooing?

"Who me? Just standin' around, Mama..."

Disarray

"Hmm. Dada's poking around in the cupboards, and he left all these things out. What does one do with them?"

"They all sound different when I whack them, and they're kinda spinny..."

"This is fun!"

"Even better, I'll go help Dada!"