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11.04.07 -- Summer of firsts
It's been a busy summer around here, and we've seen a lot of firsts:  Alyssa's first soccer season, the first time we found a live animal in Tyler's pocket, the first day of kindergarten, Anne's first online classes in pursuit of completing a CS degree, our first time camping as a family since Tyler's been born, and more.  The slideshow we put up this time covers the WHOLE summer, so you can see what we've been up to.

Alyssa's really enjoying kindergarten, and she's growing up fast.  She's got a new "big girl" haircut, and a mouth full of holes as she loses a baby tooth every time we turn around.  The big teeth are coming in right away, and she grows about and inch a month, it seems.  She's a full 4 feet tall now.  Too fast, too fast.

The live animal in Tyler's pocket story has certainly been the most entertaining portion of our summer.  Some of you have heard this story already, but I post it here for posterity:

One morning, in all the harried "get everybody up and out of the house" normal morning business, Tyler was (as usual) the first one up.  He now dresses himself (yay!), so he was also the first one dressed.  Therefore, on this particular morning, as on many previous mornings, he was wandering around trying to get attention from all the other busy people in the house who were not quite as ready as him.

6:05
Tyler:  Daddy, I need my scrub
Mike:  What scrub?
Tyler:  Come help!  Now!..... Please?


They go off and I hear no further scrub news for some time.  Mike gets in the shower.  I'm drying my hair.


Tyler:  (holding a wadded up tissue)  mumble, garble, mumble Scrub
Me:  (with hair dryer in my ear)  great!br>

Not my best parenting ever. 

Tyler walks off and wanders upstairs.

6:35 - Setting the table for breakfast, Alyssa's finally up and dressed, Mike's still getting dressed

Tyler:  (holding a wadded up tissue carefully in two hands) Sit down and see the Scrub!
Me:  (passingly, but not seriously, mentally registering that most people don't cradle a tissue in two hands)  Just a minute, I'm talking to Alyssa

More breakfast readiness, helping Alyssa find her shoes, Tyler keeps wandering around saying "Sit and see the Scrub!"

6:45
Tyler:  SEE THE SCRUB!

Me:  Okay! Okay!  Sit down at the table.  Show me the scrub

Tyler carefully sits down, I sit next to him, he carefully opens up his tissue, which is full of dirt... and ... a VERY LARGE GRUB.  Very large.  Very fat.  Very slimy.  Very *at my kitchen table where the cereal is supposed to be*

Me: (swallowing hard, not freaking out) Wow!  You have a grub!
Tyler:  Yeah!  I found it in the dirt!  And I put it in a tissue!
Me: (thinking "When did he go outside?")  Wow!  You found it this morning in the backyard?
Tyler:  (grinning, so excited)  No!  At the park!

Me:  Wow!  At the park?  At school with your class?
Tyler:  Yes!
Me:  You brought it home from school yesterday?

Tyler: Yes!
Me:  You brought it home in your backpack?

Tyler:  No - in a tissue.
Me:  (tyring not to laugh).  Right.  Did you put the tissue in your backpack?
Tyler: No, in my pocket.
Me:  Where did the grub sleep last night?

Tyler:  In the tissue
Me:  Where was the tissue last night?
Me:   Did you show your daddy the grub yet?
Tyler:  No  (carefully wraps up the grub in the tissue, and shoves it back in his pocket)

For those of you who are wondering: the grub was very much alive and well, despite living in a tissue in a pocket for almost 24 hours.

Me (to Mike):  Did you know that Tyler brought home a grub from school yesterday?

Mike:  No.  ... the "Scrub?"
Me:  Yes.  He says he kept it in his pocket.  Did he have pockets in his pajamas last night?
Mike:  No ...  did he have it in that tissue?
Me:  Yes.
Mike:  Yeah.  We dug that out of the dirty clothes.

7:00 -- Alyssa and I are leaving for the bus. 

Mike:  Tyler, I think you should take the grub back to school today and put it back under the tree in the park.
Tyler: NO!
Mike:  Tyler, the grub lives under the tree.  He wants to go back home.
Tyler: ...
Mike:  Tyler that grub might be a mommy or a daddy, or have friends, or sisters, or brothers who miss him/her.
Tyler: ...  ...
Tyler:  Okay.  The Scrub needs to go back home to her amily.
Mike:  Yes

Tyler:  Okay.  (pulls out the tissue and talks into it)  I will take you home today, Scrub

06.11.07 - Garden Playhouse
Margie and Joe were up visiting in May, and we all worked together to build a garden playhouse. We used these plans from Family Fun Magazine: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/buildmodel/feature/a-garden-playhouse/.

Everybody helped, and we built our structure in 1/2 a day. We're still working on getting our veggies to grow on it, and we were very excited to find flowers on our squash just yesterday. Our friend Rose, who knows far more about gardening than any of us, came by this weekend to bring us more plants and give us some pointers. Stay tuned for more pics and reports on how our playhouse grows!