Fire station open house.

We do it up here in Minnesota, when friends come to visit. First off, Alla's soccer game and the touch-a-truck event in the parking lot there (pictures to come), and then, after lunch, we drove a mile to the fire station for their open house. We are Big Time here, folks.
I just want to point out the beautiful skies and the fact that everyone is in summer attire, because surely in a few weeks, we won't be.
Spending the 4 days with these kiddos and their mama and daddy was just awesome. Tell me again why I can have all of my friends and family all in the same city?
Yep Fisher loves The Stahrs very much, but hello, he got to RIDE IN A FIRE TRUCK. IN. A. FIRE TRUCK.
I think I'm an honorary deputy or something.
He got to ride in the fire truck because he first practiced putting out the fire. Notice the stance.
Along with Firefighter Fisher, I introduce you to the other brave firefighters we love.
Firefighter Jacob.
Firefighter Mazie.
Firefighter Jamie.
Firefighter Ron.
And, Firefighter Alla.

The rest of us were too busy fighting fires to pose for pictures.

Some fun kids.

We had some super fun house guests over the weekend, and took a bajillion pictures of them all, and mostly just enjoyed them being back together again. More to come!

Last picnic.

Tuesday after swimming class we enjoyed this burst of warm air with a walk through the Farmer's Market and a picnic on the grass. I told the kids this would probably be our last picnic of the season - October picnics are pretty unheard of in these parts. We watched geese and ducks fly in v-formation over our heads out of the pond, hoping they weren't aware of some weather change we can't yet sense. We hoped they weren't flying south.We let it get dark, saw the moon, the kids had fussed, but hopefully I won't remember that part.
And the next day Fisher asked me, Mommy, was that our last picnic? Yeah, buddy, for a few-ish months, anyway.

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!

The block party post.

Fasten your seatbelts, I'm actually going to share some of the block party pictures from almost a month ago! This year we did fun stuff like fill up a million water balloons when it was 90 degrees out, have a water balloon toss and then let kids (Fisher) have at the rest of 'em.

But let's be honest, there is nothing quite like spotting a fire truck driving (slowing, sans sirens) onto your street. Kids of all ages are always in awe.
Ron had to take his turn cranking homemade ice cream during part of the fire truck festivities. Fisher was a little nervous about climbing into the truck when he first saw it. I guess awe is one thing, but it is a huge vehicle, so I can understand his hesitation. He got over that fast, though, and then we could hardly get him to come out. And it is very important to fasten your seat belt in a fire truck.There have been a plethora of various water squirters come out of the woodwork since the block party, left on our lawn, I suppose. Fisher was enchanted with them all, and really spent a large portion of the day squirting anything and anyone who'd let him. Including Dad.The fire truck pictures are among my favorites, but this last one might take the prize. This is Fisher with his buddy from around the corner, and there was some baseball-ish game going on. This is Fisher handing his friend the "bat," sharing, and it was just a simple gesture, but I thought the way the "bat" changed hands was simply endearing.

We are definitely lucky to live here among such good people.

Eight million.

When I look at this picture I realize we have about eight million pictures of Alla and Fisher, individually, and plenty of them together, but not nearly enough with us, just hanging out like this, monkeying around and the camera happens to be out.

Super swing.

This is almost certainly the last summer of this blue swing we inherited from dear friends when they moved four years ago, so it is imperative that I document what is happening with it now, (and not just with Fisher - the whole neighborhood has gotten on it at one time or another). He always wants a high push, where he can reach the branches, but I know that he digs the cool disk swings all the big kids have. And I know that his sister wants something more suitable for six year olds. So, next summer we'll move on. But at least I have this photo of what we did when he was three.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. I can't believe how summer is winding down. To be honest, I'm not thrilled about it. I'm not looking forward to September.

2. School supplies have been purchased, and we're in the midst of sharpening all 48 of her pencils. I think we might need a new sharpener.

3. Alla started a chapter book! I don't know if it has seemed too daunting up til now, but she hasn't wanted to try anything longer than the 20-plus Henry and Mudge books, which are about four chapters each.
4. Fisher will have the same teacher and aide this year! Yay, that will make for a smooth transition. I hope.

5. This is quickly becoming the Back to School edition of Ten on Tuesday, and at the moment I am firmly against Back to School, so let's change the subject.

6. We are experimenting with quiet time instead of nap time for Fisher. He loves his naps, falls asleep very easily at naptime. But then bedtime is another matter. Sometimes it's ten o'clock before he's asleep. Me thinks that's a bit late for a three year old. Yesterday's experiment went well, although at 4:00 (designated get-up time around here), he told me, But I didn't get to hold Lovey and suck my finger. Because he was too busy reading a pile of books. So cute.

7. Up twice last night. First time: Fisher's friends (all umpteen of them) were no longer tucked in with him, and I had to convince him that keeping them tucked in with him all night wasn't going to happen. Second time: bad dream for Alla. I should have just climbed into bed with her, as sleepy as my eyes still were. Because after being woken up twice, that's pretty much it for me; it's at least an hour til I get back to sleep, and that's after getting up for a bowl of cereal.

8. We made pancakes for breakfast.

9. Meals have been oh so uninspired this summer. Something like this: grill chicken sausage, pick up some corn from the corner stand, make some rice or quinoa. I suppose that's how summer goes, but I do miss more, well, inspired cooking. I hear fall is right around the corner for plenty of that.

10. Things to look forward to in the next two weeks: meeting Declan, meeting Alla's teacher, and the State Fair. That's right, it's that time again. Sigh.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The summer cold has officially arrived. Ron actually brought it home last week after a 2-night work trip, so this year there's no saying, How do you get a cold in the middle of summer?

2. Fisher woke up with a bark of a cough last night, his go-to cold symptom. After I convinced him to eat half an orange this morning to up his vitamin C, he told me that his cold was not gone. He was very upset about this.

3. We had a family picnic on Sunday evening to a local park where The Okee Dokee Brothers were playing. Check out this link at about 1:00 to see Miss Alla saunter down the hill in her yellow top and hot pink skirt.

4. I ordered exactly 100 photos yesterday through Snapfish for exactly one dollar and seven cents (MN tax), shipped. Score.

5. We're sitting here watching Hot Tub Time Machine and it's storming outside. For real.

6. Two more days of swimming camp, and I am hoping that Fisher gets to swim the next two days. I had him sit out today because of his new cold, but he sat there on the sidelines practicing his "Tickle T Takeoff." Anyone else's kids do this in swim class?

7. Have I mentioned the storm? It seems we don't get just rain here anymore, it's torrential, and it's a problem for our backyard. It's Lake MinneKillins back there.

8. Three weeks til school starts for Alla. Better start coming up with some awesome plans for Fish and I.

9. Number nine is Fisher and Pappi, since Nana and Pappi have been gone for almost 2 weeks now and we miss them. 10. Number ten is a random never-shared from the 4th, the kids with their friend Brooke watching Daddy do his firework magic.

This is not a necklace.

This is not a necklace. It is a string of one hundred beads, each representing having read one book.

At the beginning of the summer (fearing the summer slide), I asked Alla how many books she thought she could read over the summer, to which she responded, 100. So she got busy reading.

And, last Thursday I watched her read the 100th book, put the 100th bead on her long, long string, and feel so proud for having reached that very big goal. This weekend she was rewarded with a trip to the bookstore for 5 new books, and and afternoon of swimming and ice cream with Daddy. We are very proud of you, Alla Balla!

Three things.a

My children are into their ages being the deciding factors for a lot of stuff. They'll want to eat three or six more bites of something since they are three and six.

So, today, Fisher, I'm going to tell you three things you said to me, in no particular order:

1. Do we have any more salmon?
2. Do we have any more quinoa?
3. I like you, Mommy.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Four weeks left of summer.

2. There are 41 miles of paved trails in our city. Lots of running and biking to do here.

3. We are having simply glorious summer weather highs in the seventies.

4. Kiddos are in the midst of a two-week swim camp. Smiles all around.

5. Alla seems to think that heels would be appropriate footwear for school this year.

6. Thinking of taking the kids to a local parade tomorrow evening!

7. 60 pages left of my book, and I'm eager to get on to the next ones!

8. Fisher is up there in bed right now singing his very own version of this song. It is a-dorable. If you need some new kids' music that the grown-ups will love as well, we strongly recommend our local Okee Dokee Brothers.

9. At bedtime tonight Alla told me she can't wait for the next summer break (yes, next summer) so she can spend the whole summer with me. She's looking forward to school starting, but when she starts thinking about it, I believe the idea of being away all day long isn't sounding like her cup of tea.

10. I really don't have ten today, only nine. So here's number ten - I can't even get enough of her.