Ten on Tuesday.

1. Computer is back, power cord is new. I am back in business. So, we should probably re-introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm J.J. I blog. I take pictures. I sometimes show them here.

2. Here's one now!3. Fisher fell asleep in the bike trailer on the way to get Alla from school yesterday and when she came out of her classroom and noticed him, she gushed over how cute he is, Mommy! for like five whole minutes. I mean, I know, he's my son and all. She just wanted to get in there and give him a kiss because he was so cute, Mommy!

4. Fisher is OBSESSED with the Rio soundtrack at the moment. He's currently in his room but it's not really "quiet" time when he's blasting me through the baby monitor with I Wanna Party! I Wanna Samba!

5. This morning he was up at 6:30, which is half-hour too early in this house, and very odd for either of my children, and how did I know he was up? Because at six-thirty, I was awoken by the Rio soundtrack blasting from their bedroom. We told him too early, try again later, and he did, at 6:55, with his sister then quite awake and ready to rock out with him. They will be excited when they find out that I got them the very movie of their dreams for this weekend's movie-watching.

6. First grade has eliminated weekday TV-watching for Alla. There just isn't any time.

7. Why is it that even though I grocery-shop for two weeks at a time, we are always out of produce within five days, tops?

8. Breakfast around here is as follows: Alla likes either a sunbuttered half of bagel and apples/applesauce or a waffle with "homemade yogurt" (which means plain yogurt with strawberry jam stirred in) and granola. Fisher is pretty steady with his granola and milk, but sometimes likes a waffle cut in strips with syrup, fruit and milk. He LOVES oatmeal. I like my plain yogurt with granola, pepitas, and maple syrup (and so does Ron), but I also love oatmeal, especially steel-cut, because you start it on the stove the night before and wake up to perfectly cooked oatmeal!

9. Another obsession in this house - Tic Tacs. The other day Fisher told me, "Mama, I need a Tic-Tacky mouth."

10. For some reason I put 14 things on my to-do list for today. This was number eight, so I have a bit of work to do! Next up, work out.

Thursday update.

1. My computer was picked-up on Tuesday, only to find that the power cord was damaged by a certain three-year-old, so now I'm still computer-less. Til tomorrow.

2. Fisher is now three-and-a-half. The extra half means he no longer pulls the kind of crap I spoke of in #1.

3. First grade is going splendidly. Tomorrow is the second spelling test. Spelling tests! It's the real deal, first grade.

4. My lovely Aunt Lois came for a visit on Sunday. It's lovely to have people visit your home and see how you live.

5. Fisher is doing super on his drop-off preschool days. I mean, the independence is astounding. When we're out he wants to pee in his own stall. Locked. I tell you.

6. Swim class started this week, and both kiddos are enjoying themselves. I am easily reminded of the sobbing Fisher in his first swimming class this past spring, and so happy to see how far he's come being comfortable and having fun in the water. And then I look a few lanes over and see Alla swimming, I mean doing her best at this new front crawl thing, and it's like with reading - you remember when they couldn't, and it wasn't that long ago, and now they can, and it's amazing.

7. I'm currently enjoying my afternoon cup of green tea with a tiny bit of raw honey. It's just above 50 out there. But supposed to be in the 70s next week!

8. I really want to take the kids to see The Lion King, and that is really hard to do when your six-year-old has two birthday parties and a soccer game this weekend.

9. Books we're currently reading: Game of Thrones (Ron), Secret Daughter (me), Prilla and the Butterfly Lie (Alla), and Machines Go to Work (Fisher).

10. Honeycrisps are here!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. It's been only six days of first grade and yet I feel like we are in the trenches already.

2. I love that Alla's school doesn't have to be at school until 9:15. We almost always have time to read a couple books in the morning before heading out.

3. This week both kids are working on saying antidisestablishmentarianism.

4. I didn't realize how relaxing summer was until it was over. During the summer I can read a few books a month, now I'm struggling to read a few pages at bedtime before I pass out with the book on my head.

5. As long as it's going to cool off here, I'm ready for fall TV! Hello, Parenthood and 90210!

6. By "cool off," I mean it should be in the upper 40s when my husband wakes me up in the morning. Hot coffee will taste amazing.

7. I looked at my "pins" on Pinterest and was proud that I've actually done half a dozen of them. Still, I'm not sure how to calculate the hours spent looking versus the ideas seen to fruition.

8. Alla came out of school on Friday reading a Henry and Mudge book, SHOUTING at me that she had found a whole shelf of them in the library and could not believe it and now that she's in first grade she can check out TWO at a time, EVERYDAY if she wants. Wow.

9. Tomorrow is Fisher's first day of preschool! Same teacher, same classroom as last year, even several same friends. He'll have two more days per month that he's dropped off, versus having me there. He seems very excited. We've come a long way.

10. And, this was supposed to be Ten on Tuesday but my computer chose to come down with a deadly virus when I got finished with #9, so now it's Wednesday and I'm finishing up on the kids' computer, which is faster than mine anyway. Hopefully my computer is on the mend so I can upload pictures from #9 later today!

First grade.

Kind of hard to believe first grade is here. I could really go on and on, how big of a step, how much I'll miss her, how long the days are going to be without her, how pretty and ready and excited she was this morning, but you can see all that stuff in the pictures. So, I'm off to pick her up and get a report on the big day! It's been almost seven hours since I've seen her, she's got a lot to fill me in on!

Where we've been.

We hit up the State Fair today, so while I'm uploading those photos, I thought I'd show our photos from California, where we spent five days at the end of August, visiting my brother and his family. It's imperative that I post this picture of me and Fisher, though my eye makeup has turned me into a monster, because otherwise it may look as though my children vacationed on their own.

We spent two lovely afternoons at my sister-in-law's parents' pool watching my nephew jump into the water about 850 times. The kid is amazing, no fear.
He might have seen cousin Alla do that once, and that was it, he made it his own.
Another item checked off Fisher's to-do list: driving Ashton's Arctic Cat. (Not sure how Ash really felt about that.)
Let's be honest, the real reason we went was to meet our newest nephew, Declan, born in May and just adorable.
My viking daughter, at the airport when we left Minneapolis.
I was super excited to walk to their Saturday farmer's market, because, hello, peaches! The kids dug the craft table, where they all got to work decorating papers before folding them into airplanes.
I love how the farmer's markets in California are set up, just fruit and veggies piled up, and you pick what you want, they weigh it, you pay. Here in Minnesota, they've got a basket of five tomatoes all made up for you for three bucks and you pick the already made up basket you want.
More farmer's market - Alla posing with the statue, she loved that little girl there.
Have I yet mentioned Alla LOVING her new baby cousin? She was trying to take him out of my arms every time I had the kid. Baby stealer.
I think I mentioned Ashton being just amazing in the pool, so here he is loving his Daddy throwing him up super high!
I love seeing my brother with his two boys.
Alla did love the time she got to spend with her cousins, but she was also pretty impressed with being in the airplane and under the clouds.
And then over the clouds. Pretty amazing.
Also amazing - brother love. Welcome to the world of sibling life, you two. You are so lucky to have each other!