Here is Cotton about to blow out the candles. My cake-making has taken a decided downturn, but since her only requirement was 'blue' I still have a happy customer.

After a rocky start we've settled into something like a routine for most of our homeschooling days. Cotton continues to find any attention her family members pay to anything not her extremely frustrating, but we have some solid tactics worked out and have made some progress.

I am looking right now at the camera, and also the battery AND the battery charger. I haven't had all three in the same place for several weeks. With luck, there are pictures on there and I can share them shortly.  

This is Cotton heading on her first plane ride this summer--

We've got lots of Halloween coming up, and the kids are pretty excited. This evening we're going to make skeletons for the porch, and raid Chance's closet to clothe our scarecrow.

This morning we all left with hair brushed. This rarely occurs, and is worth a post of its own. Just trying to get out the door with shoes on or near all feet can be a feat, so hair often seems extraneous to the task at hand: getting into the car. We were firing on all cylinders today, though, clean clothes, hair brushed, shoes on, supplies remembered, car with non-frightening levels of gas. Go team!

Cotton crashed on the way home after our busy day, in a literal sense. I'd carried her in from the car, still sleeping, and put her in my rocker because she likes to sleep curled up (or maybe i was afraid she would pee on the couch). I went up to make sure my computer was ok, since it can be cranky if I don't see how its day is going, and when I came down she was still asleep, but on the floor wedged among the chair, ottoman,and speaker tower. On a jute rug. Since she's my third, I left her there and fixed the rest of us a snack.

She recovered nicely, though, and when it was bedtime thought it was a good trick to say, "Watch, Mommy!", then shake her head. "See, my hair wiggles!"

With the summer finally hitting it's stride, I've been hiding out.  100 degree days are just too much, really. Luckily, this is also the time of year I get carried away with planning for the year, so being inside makes sense since it's where I keep all of my list-making materials. Lists of books, lists of classes, lists of projects, all sorts of lists.  The kids have all been visiting Nanna, so I have even gotten to make UNINTERRUPTED lists, which is a rare treat. On the list is 'blog more' so hopefully you'll be able to get your fill of Team Harris news. All two of you who read the blog, that is.

Seph will have pictures to upload from the camera soon, but in the meantime you can check her out here:

http://axelb.zenfolio.com/p582537737/h163fd1ee#h6542330

It's a site for the photographer who did the pictures at Seph's play.  She was nervous, and had two solos, and loved camp. It was a great two weeks for her.

There are all manner of insects in our backyard, and the loud ones finally woke up this week.  I suppose they've been waiting for the heat, the weather this summer has been rainier and cooler than usual (mmmmmmm, muggy jungle weather!). So the cicadas are doingthat WHIRRRRRRRRRR thing they do, and the stink bugs are buzzing around.  The kids can now chase crickets in the backyard, but Cotton remains a fan of rolypolys.  It's a very, very sad few minutes whenever we find a dead one.  Did you know that there are just piles of dead rolypolys around? You didn't? Cotton will show you.

We haven't been swimming as much as you'd think, with all the rain it just didn't work its way into our routine.  We've been to the Elks just three times, and friends' pools a few times.  Cotton can swim with her arm floats on, which is a recent development, making it more manageable to head out for a swim.  She'd reached a point where all she would do was hang on me, and somehow that was nowhere near as relaxing as you might think.  While swimming with a friend (genius friend!), she asked me what would happen if I just let go of her.  So I gave it a go, and there she was, swimming with floats and exceedingly happy about her new abilities.  

Today was library day, and I am beginning to think that the librarians must have a nickname for us, The TooManyBooks people, or something like that. We always get really carried away.  Thankfully, I've finally begun to remember to bring BAGS with us.  Somehow, this has escaped me for years, this using of the proper tool for the job of hauling books around, and we end up walking through the parking lot with tottering stacks of Berenstain Bears and Pigeons and horsey books and how to draw aliens books that we can just about see over to avoid getting run over.  Today was a good day, and I remembered the bags.  But I'd also put all of our books that were due in the car, and rather than try to stuff them all in bags and walk them in, I decided to just use the book drop on the side of the building on my way out.  Handy! Planning ahead!  Good things!  So as we're checking out, the librarian looks up after scanning my card and asks, "Did you drop these off on the way in?" Because he sees my account, and is hoping to not have to tell me I have 20 overdue books.  I explain that I'm planning on dropping them on the way out. And he looks at the giant pile we're planning on taking with us, and shakes his head.

TooManyBooks people might be the nice version of what they call us!

The kids have been repairing the slip and slide with large amounts of duck tape today. It's mostly Rone's project, and it may be that it would be faster for him to create a whole new one out of just duck tape.

Yesterday was Egg Day! We got our very first egg, and were then further surprised to get egg number two! The kids were very excited, with Cotton hopping up and down and clapping and hollering her head off. She may have slightly misunderstood the amount of festivities that would follow. We ate one of them, and the other is waiting in the fridge with egg number three for us to have a great idea of whatnto do with two pretty blue eggs.

I haven't yet had a day where all we've eaten is freezy pops, but it's getting close.  A few more freezy pop molds, and we're there, though!

Kids and chickens continue to grow and do new things.  Seph is learning dragon language from a book called 'A Practical Guide to Dragons'.  The title keeps cracking me up.   Rone is patiently waiting for his canteloupes to ripen, and Cotton learned to swim with floaties on.  Which means less getting kicked in the tummy for me--huzzah!  The chickens caught a gecko yesterday, which is far, far funnier than you'd expect.

We have a bit of a lull here before later in the month when Seph's schedule gets all camptastic.  The kids and I are doing house projects--we rearranged the tv room, and next will be tackling the disaster that is the art closet.  We're hoping to declutter enough to have space for the kids to have desks and a table for crafty stuff.  We'll see how that goes.

Off to find out why Cotton is saying 'Oh NOoooooooo!'.  Always exciting here.

Sleepy Baby!

Watching the cows out in Dripping Springs

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Static Head!

At the Cathedral of Junk

Splash Day in the backyard

After a stressful few months, there is an employed adult in the house!  Huzzah! In order not to rush back to the Land of Cubicles, we headed to the beach to celebrate.  Given that shortly our favorite beach may be an oil slick, it seemed an opportune time to visit.  We had good weather, the kids were super little road trippers (we got out there in one 14 hour day), and everyone loved the Gulf, the sand crabs, and the seashells.  Seph has taken off with the camera, but I'll get the pictures up when I get a chance.

Not too surprisingly, Chance is the one that got a job offer first.  I was kind of in the middle of an interview process when he did, for a job that I would have enjoyed, but given that molecular biology just doesn't cover the bills quite as effectively it worked out for the best.  I'm hopeful that I might be able to find a part-time position with them in the future.  Of course, the new job returns Chance to his up-and-down Mopac commute, his least favorite part of having a job--I'm hoping to get him a bunch of 'Learn to Speak Italian' cds to listen to, and thus turn him into a cute italian guy.  Ha! Kidding. He'd be complaining about the lack of a consistent dipthong structure or something, and it would drive me crazy.

The kids are all precisely as you'd expect.  Cotton is a screaming meanie, Rone is a whirling dervish, and Seph is longing for the days when she can be a mopey tween, alternating with being extremely helpful and sweet.  Right now Seph's on a trip with friends, and we're plotting adventures for Rone and Cotton.  

There is a demand for chocolate chip pancakes from downstairs (Come makeus pancakeus!) so further updates will have to wait.  I'll get pictures up soon.