Ten on Tuesday.

1. 'Twas a stellar day for Fisher. We went down to the Mississippi River and caught a barge coming into the lock, and then ran (well, I ran, he sat) up the river a mile and discovered a new way-awesome park. After lunch, we rode to the park to use the tennis courts.

2. I was thinking today while riding next to him, how cool is this, bike riding together, at similar speeds now without training wheels. It's game-changing.

3. Alla's day didn't start out as well, since hers began with a flu shot, but in her bedtime prayers she was thankful for this wonderful day, so it clearly improved.

4. Parenthood this season = very manipulative. Not necessary, and even a little bit cruel, Ron Howard; I'd watch anyway.

5. Just finished reading The Dog Stars. Hence the flu shots.

6. Just started The Light Between Oceans, which is starting out really well. Except, who wants to take a job as a lighthouse keeper?

7. We are enjoying a string of near-seventy degree days after our chilly weekend in the 50s. It's that warmth you're so grateful for, when you can feel it under the breeze, because you know soon it will be gone for awhile. Funny how it's not even the end of September and I can't remember exactly what it feels like to be really hot.

8. Apparently it's Mexican Fiesta week around here, as I unknowingly planned Mexican food for every night since Saturday - enchiladas, fajitas, carnitas, even black bean soup, although I questioned Ron when he included that particular meal in the Mexican category.

9. Yesterday was my day to volunteer in Alla's class. I don't know why that girl gets such a kick out of me being there, when generally it's not her I'm directly helping anyway, but I think it's lovely to be able to look at her from across the classroom and see her acting "normally," with her classmates, when she doesn't realize I'm looking.

10. Speaking of that darling girl of mine, how are we to get her to sleep when she cannot put down Harry Potter?!?! She's nearly done with book two and Ron has just caught her up reading at 10:15. Conundrum.

The Gardener.

Have you read the book The Gardener with your children? The girl in the book has a similar spirit to my own daughter who in the height of summer has twenty pots scattered about the yard, growing various plants and flowers and vegetables and dirt. 

This summer she rescued a handful of seeds from the squirrel feeder (it does feed a handful of birds in the winter, too) and planted them in pots, and when they got strong she started giving them away. She planted a bunch in the garden to give them room, but the bunnies got every last one, so she started over with a single seed and when it got strong she put it in its own big pot.

Friday of Labor Day weekend.

                                     

Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

So proud of her little plant's progress.

Sunday of Labor Day weekend, open!

I love this angle, the way the flower moves, the way it's young but ready to be so very full. I love my daughter for the same reasons. Can't wait to see what you grow next summer.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Somehow Ron got me sucked into The Walking Dead. And by sucked in, I mean kind of addicted.

2. We had a lovely 80-degree weekend, and then today we didn't get out of the fifties. We get used to that temperature here in Minnesota, of course, and eventually the fifties feel quite warm. But right now it's chilly. And supposed to get chillier. Fall is here.

3. Fall weather means fall food, though, and we had ourselves some lovely overnight steel cut oats this morning. Delish.

4. And picked up the first Honeycrisps today!

5. Fisher made it through exactly one week of school before coming down with a cold.

6. Alla is making her way through the second Harry Potter. She is going to read all seven so we can go to Harry Potter World. Sorry, Fisher, but you'll have to read them, too - no free rides:)

7. Today Fisher and I went on a lovely Mama run/Fisher bike ride, sans training wheels! I can hardly keep up with that kid. I'm pretty comfortable with about a 9:30 pace, and this kid has me trying to catch him at 8:30, and still not succeeding.

8. I bought myself a hot stone massage on Crowd Cut almost a year ago, because it was in fact good for a year, and am finally getting to use it this Friday!

9. Our family needs to get flu shots, but they are only done until 4 at the clinic at Ron's work, and 4 is when Alla gets out of school.

10. I am so glad to be back in Alla's classroom volunteering this year. It doesn't always mean I get to work directly with her, but she loves it all the same, having her mama in her class, and I enjoy getting to know the kids she spends her day with.

September 12.

Somehow taking 12 pictures this month completely slipped my mind, but luckily in this time we're living in, there is always a camera of some sort around to capture Life. So these are twelve from the past week or so, as we are easing out of summer and back into school.

Our last warm weekend, War
Tea and books
The sunflower from a seed, she grew!
The seeds I grew.

Late summer harvest
New crop
Evidence
But we roll on, with two fewer wheels

Together
Last year before it all begins
Patterns in stories
Adventures on bridges and steps under amazing skies.

Fisher's last year of preschool.

Oh how I love this boy. It was only a short while ago that I could hardly leave his classroom to go across the hall for "Mommy class," let alone drop him off for a full morning of preschool all on his own. But now he owns this. He's excited, he's ready to learn, he's talking about new friends and happy to see old ones. Hard to believe that he's started his last year of preschool.

 

 

I feel this is going to be a big year for him, of making connections, putting together all the pieces of stuff he's learning. I'm so excited for where he is.

.Good luck this year, Buddy. But you don't need luck, you have something special in you.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. It's been awhile since we had ourselves a good ol' Ten on Tuesday post around here, so let's get back at it!

2. Fisher saw his friends (two of them, both four year olds) coming around the block on Sunday and immediately ditched his baseball game to get his old bike down, the one without training wheels. By Monday evening his big bike had lost its training wheels as well and five neighborhood kids had gone from four wheels to two in 24 hours flat. Exciting times.

3. Ah, Parenthood is back!

4. We had 90+ degree weather today with crazy winds, but it is supposed to be at least twenty degrees cooler tomorrow. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

5. That said, cooler weather IS good for running, which I haven't gotten much of lately.

6. The Twelve comes out next month. I think Ron and I are going to re-read The Passage in preparation. Not easy to say; it's 700 pages!

7. Took Fisher to the allergist today and watched his back swell up in reaction to peanuts and wheat. Man.

8. Alla is going to the Air Force Academy and Fisher's not going to college, so I think we're good on educational expenses.

9. Lost two keys today. Bummed out the second part of my day, but now Fisher is really looking forward to seeing how keys are made, so there's that.

10. Tonight's bedtime stories: Ferdinand (Alla's pick), and Monkey With a Toolbelt (Fisher's pick). I might have snuck a third in there since we were early to bed and it was my night to read and my favorite little girl was brushing my hair. Might have.

First day of school: Alla.

Hard to believe my little girl is in second grade. She woke at six a.m. (I remember most school days last year where I was waking her at 8:45.) I didn't even see her in jammies, because when I got up at seven, she already had her first day of school outfit on.

 

I love this smile, I love her excitedness. I hope she finds nothing can dampen her spirit.