Locusts

We simply cannot keep food in the house.  I go to the grocery store, fill my cart to the brim, and a few days later it's all just gone.  We call our kids the locusts because they descend upon the food in the house and just devour it, leaving our kitchen barren once again.

Last night we had BLTs for dinner.  We went through an ENTIRE loaf of bread (minus 1 heel), a FULL package of bacon, 5 tomatoes, and a huge bowl of fruit.  And my son still claimed to be hungry afterwards.  I'm not sure how to keep food in the house.  It seems like an impossible task.

I blame the locusts.

Selfie Surprises

Sometimes I look in my phone gallery and find...

selfie surprises.  💖

Our Life in Photos

As is obvious from this blog, I like to take pictures.  I like to capture the moments and memories.  But some of my favorite photos are not the posed pictures with friends, but the random snapshots that give a glimpse into our daily life.

Sometimes all you need is a bridge, a creek, and a big branch.

When your nephew needs a summer job and you need some painting done, everyone wins.  Good-bye, red dining room.

Sometimes you want to read outside, but not in the sun.

Toys out.  Cat in.  Everyone wins.  Except the mom who is trying to keep the house picked up.

Time for a morning cross country run.

A perfect evening at the ballpark (minus the drunk neighbors) for Zach, my dad, Evan, and Caroline.

There are lots of little moments that make up our days and our life.

I like to remember them all.

Back to School

My kids started back to school this week.  I am down to one kid in the grade school with two middle schoolers now.  Not only am I not sure where my summer went, I'm not sure where all these years have gone.

Briggs is in 3rd grade with Mrs. Coartney, who is new to Davenport but taught the past 10 years in Goodfield.  He is very excited that George is in his same class this year.  Briggs is easy going about school, and so far he likes his class, likes his teacher, and is happy to be back at school.  He also thinks it's pretty great that he can walk to and from school on his own this year.  This morning Zach offered to walk him to school, and he declined, preferring to walk by himself.

Adelie was so excited about going to the middle school this year.  Her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Baner, who is new to Eureka this year.  In 5th grade, Adelie will stay with her class while they move from classroom to classroom for each subject.  Although her closest friends are not in her class, she is excited that Stanley, Trevor, Sadie, and Nella are in her class.  Since Adelie is always ready to do whatever Staley is doing, she has been anxiously waiting her opportunity to go to the middle school since Staley started there, so she was ready and excited!

Of all the kids, Staley was the least excited about the return to school.  Since she sees all her friends almost daily at cross country, the perks of returning to school were greatly diminished for her.  Either way, she has had a smooth return to school and doesn't mind being back.  Her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Bellini, who she really likes.  This year Staley gets to choose her own electives (band and chorus), play sports (cross country, dance team, and track), and mix around with different students for all her classes.  She likes that she gets a PE locker next to Opal to keep her cross country gear in, has her hallway locker next to Noel, and has friends in all her classes.  It's going to be a good, busy year!

The return to school is always a little bittersweet for me.  I enjoy having my kids home.  I like the less hectic schedule of the summer.  I enjoy getting to be spontaneous and do fun things with our free days.  But I also know that the school routine is good for us.  The kids like going to school, enjoy learning, relish the time with friends, and need a break from each other.  And I always have a long list of to-dos that get pushed to the back burner when we are all home for the summer.  (Like catching up on the blog, for example.)  So although I miss the kids and the house feels weirdly quiet at the moment, the start of school has been good.  We are all ready for another great school year!

Truth

There are many words I can use to describe my son.  Sweet.  Kind.  Smart.  Sensitive. But lately, one word keeps coming to mind.  Obnoxious.  It seems like there are many instances where that word just seems to fit best.

I sure do love this boy.

But sometimes he's just obnoxious.

I blame his y chromosome.

She Says...

Staley and I went to see the musical "Bright Star" a few weeks ago.  Right before intermission, the show pauses after a mother has her new baby taken from her (thinking that it's going to be given up for adoption) and then thrown off a train into a river.  As the lights came up, Staley asked me if there were any concessions that we could get during intermission.  I told her that I didn't think so.  After a minute, Staley said, "It's really sad."  I replied, "I know!  That poor mom and that poor baby."  To which Staley responded, "I was talking about the concessions."

St. Jude Run

St. Jude Run Day is one of our favorite days of the year.  Zach's co-coordinator, Kate, stepped down after last year, so this was the first year that Zach coordinated the run on his own.

He poured so much time and effort into the run, and it was evident in how smoothly the day went.

The day was rainy and cool.  It rained all morning, but no one complained and the weather was much more pleasant for running than a hot and sunny day.

The kick-off was a great way to start the day by reminding us exactly why we run.

The St. Jude Run day is always a great day to meet new people, reconnect with old people, and come together for a great cause.

The weather cleared up in the afternoon.

The Civic Center party was mostly back to normal, and it was great to see friends from other teams.

Zach and I ran a collective 55 miles on run day.

Zach and I raised $28,500 of the collective $173,000 that our team raised.

All 36 St. Jude Run cities together raised $5.5 million.

This year was our best fundraising year and our most runners since before Covid (and close to our most runners ever.)

At the end of the day, our bodies were sore and we were exhausted.

But our hearts were full.  So very full!

Finding Nemo, Jr.

The final theater performances of the summer were for the kids' Stage Kids class.  They performed in Finding Nemo, Jr.

The Eureka cast combined with the Tremont cast to bring the show to life.

For this cast of the show, Staley was Pearl (one of the reef kids that befriends Nemo) as well as a turtle dancer and a turtle solo-ist, Adelie was Squirt and fish ensemble, and Briggs was an ensemble fish.  Staley had a handful of lines and a few short solos in 2 songs.  Adelie had a couple of lines, a perfect cartwheel, and a short solo.  All 3 kids did a great job with their roles, knowing their songs and dances, and creating their characters on stage.

The director also sent me this picture of Briggs backstage waiting patiently for the show to start.  It's my favorite!

Adelie loved that her friend, Stella, joined Stage Kids again this session.

The kids loved that Aunt Jill and Jeff as well as Aunt Sandi and Aunt Jan all came to watch them perform.

And, of course, the grandparents were there too!

Staley had signed up to help backstage for the other 3 casts of the show, but ended up being put into all the other shows as a variety of characters.  She LOVED the opportunity to perform more, as well as to be in casts with all her other NTA friends.

In the Peoria/Washington cast, Staley again played Pearl and was a turtle dancer, a turtle solo-ist, and an ocean dancer in a few scenes.

In the East Peoria cast, she played a reef kid, turtle dancer, and an ocean dancer.

She really liked her ocean dancer costume and wig!

With the Bloomington cast, Staley was Tad and a turtle dancer.  And in all the casts, Staley was often seen playing small but important roles--like the jellyfish that stings Dory or the mask dancer or the blood dancer.  Each of these roles required someone who understands the timing and importance of the little things in these scenes.

Staley loves to perform, and it speaks highly of her dedication and ability that the directors put her in all the casts.  And between her scenes on stage, she was helping change mics, move sets, and help get the other kids where they needed to be on time.  

Staley is so at home on the stage and has developed into a performer that can be counted on to step in and know what she is doing.

I love that all 3 of my kids enjoy performing.  

And although we collectively spent many hours at the theater this summer, it was well worth it to see my kids shining on stage.

Shakespeare

Both Adelie and Staley took part in NTA's summer Shakespeare performance with their adaptation of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream.'

The cast included kids aged 10-18 from a variety of towns all over the local area.

Staley was cast as Puck/Narrator and Adelie was Peaseblossom, one of the fairies.  Staley was one of the leads in the show.  It's a good thing she memorizes things easily because she had SO many lines to memorize.  Even though Adelie only had a few lines to memorize for her part, she ended up memorizing a lot of the play as she helped Staley run her lines.  Adelie made up funny voices for all the other characters and would read through the script with Staley using all her funny voices to help Staley learn all her lines.  They were a good team!

Both girls did a great job with their parts.  Staley was mischievous and funny and had great stage presence.  And Adelie was lithe and graceful and did a great job knowing all her lines and cues as well as those of the other fairies who were not as experienced.  The first night, some of the other fairies forgot their lines and Adelie was whispering to them to help them out.  After the show, I told her that, if someone forgets their line, she should just say the line herself.  But I love Adelie's heart--always wanting to help out.

The girls' Shakespeare show was the first show to be held in NTA's new smaller theater space in the building they recently purchased.  It was fun that the girls are a small part of history as the first cast to perform in the new space.

The girls enjoyed another opportunity to perform with their NTA friends.

I love that all these NTA shows give them the opportunity to meet and spend time with friends from other grades, schools, and towns.

Grammie and Grandpa are always there for each show the kids do.

And so are Uma and Papa.

The girls were extra excited that Uncle Ethan was home from Chicago and was able to come see their play.  He said that Puck was a role he has always wanted to play, which I think made Staley extra excited to perform for him.

I always love watching my little thespians doing something they enjoy so much!