Mommy's Blog: Long Goodbye

The last weekend of summer break is bittersweet. Trying to fit in as many events as possible into these fleeting moments, acutely aware that this is it, the real world looms-- and that looming lays on a little veneer of stress over the days, an edge of mania and irritability under the surface of the enjoyment.

The kids have felt it as much as Nat and I. All day today Jack has swung between grumpiness, lethargy, and fits of giggling. He's been completely unenthusiastic about activities designed for his enjoyment (ie, refusing to go in the bounce house at the Greek Festival) as well as not listening and taking his dawdling to the limits of human tolerance. Nat was about ready to throttle him and I do hope tomorrow goes more smoothly for them when I abandon them to each other's devices. Ivy wasn't as bad but she has been a bit of a clingy momma's girl these past few days. They know change is coming. Though I think the maniacal boy at least will benefit from the return to a routine. We are hoping it will help him deal with life on a more even keel, as he's been very easily overwhelmed and emotional recently. Routine, and perhaps the magic of turning FOUR. We've heard good things about four...

But I digress. This post was supposed to provide you with pictures as well as an update on the Ivy-thing. I'll give it the old college try on the pictures but I don't think we'll get to an in-depth on Ivers tonight. So just let me tell you real quick that she's adding words to her vocabulary at a great rate, all of a sudden, and yesterday she said "crib", "bow" and "sticker" in the same 5 minutes. This morning, she said "beagle." I could go on, oh I could go on, because now that she is starting to sleep just a little bit better these past few nights, I am loving this baby so much... but I'll do her justice later this week. Promise.

For now, pictures. In reverse chronological order. For no particular reason.

Today we fit in two of our favorite summer events, Canine Fun Days and the Greek Fest. I think Canine Fun Days is one of my favorite days of the whole entire year. You really can't beat an event which draws HUNDREDS of the best-behaved dogs in the Cleveland area, and their owners, who all happen to love dogs, and a bunch of booths-of-crap that are all focused on dogs. Plus there's games-- for the dogs. We watched dock-diving and the "Best Biscuit Catcher" competition and Lure Coursing. Corydon rocked the Fear Factor course ( she's not brave, just oblivious...) and had a blast on the agility equipment.

Contrary to her face in this picture, Ivy loved the dog contest, clapping enthusiastically after each dog caught it's biscuit.

Here are Jack and I, about to run Cor around the agility ring. For a dog who only gets to do this about once a year, she did pretty well.

Jack had a great time walking Cor around for a while, away from the crowds. This is just before the deluge that had us hiding out under a tent with 6 greyhounds, 3 chihuahuas, a rescue dog adopted 5 minutes earlier, and their respective humans. It was a memorable trip.

Home for a bit, some time to relax in front of the television, and then off to the Greek Fest we went. Since Jack wouldn't go in the bounce house, we spent most of the time sitting at some nice tables set up in the shade by the Greek Coffee tent, while Jack and Ivy ran around and played with the poles holding up strings of lights. The sun slanted in on us and there was a lovely breeze and Greek music drifted over as we ate souvlaki and loukomathes and french fries and it was a gentle, sighing goodbye to summer break...
(pictures to come when we get them off the phone...)

Backtracking:

Last night we had one of Jack's friends over for the evening so her parents could go out to dinner (looking forward to our half of the kid trade equation sometime soon!). She's a lovely girl and she, Jack, and Ive had a great time together, cooking, playing school, and watching parts of both the Monster Fish documentary that Jack is currently obsessed with, and Mary Poppins. A few moments from the evening. It's hard to capture good shots when you're busy entertaining three very active littles, so pardon the poor photography...

The "crazy 3" holding still for just a moment to learn about very large fish...

You'll notice they are covered in stickers. That's from playing school. I couldn't get any action shots of that, as I was busy leading structured activities with 2 preschoolers and keeping one baby occupied the whole time, but here's what the table looked like when we were done.

Ivy loves spaghetti.

Man, this kid is good looking. Note the dimple. Which allows him to get away with anything.

And here is a little video of the kids as they waited for supper. Warning: you may want to turn your volume WAY down before watching...

Three kids = an adventure.

Backtracking:

Here are a few shots from our trip to the South Euclid Splash Park on Thursday.

Backtracking:

Some shots from our last weekend in Farley's. Jamie and Casey's wedding was really quite perfect... and brought back memories of 5 years ago, for sure... Here's the beautiful couple.