Last Day of Summer

Since my last day off was spent getting ready for a party, with all the cleaning and cooking that goes along with that, I decided to spend the last day of summer vacation focusing on kid time first, and housework last. Of course, M. ended up having to work, but she at least got to wake up to apple and cherry turnovers in the oven (insert blurry picture here, then change your mind and delete it.)

Daddy had to make an early morning run as well, but he brought his work home with him:

Poor little guy was pretty scared - can you blame him, surrounded by my kids? - but after we took a quick peek, he was released somewhere much safer.

We decided to take a walk before it got too hot.

Too late! Lucky L. got to ride in the stroller, and immediately conked out. The basket of the stroller makes a nice repository for treasures:

It also held S.'s latest baby (a stuffed deer) and the toy gun she insisted on bringing (we still haven't moved past last night's discussion about shooting stars).

She couldn't carry them, because she had to hold Daddy's hand.

She likes to make sure he doesn't "fall and break a hip". (her words!)

One of the neighbors came with us, too.

Little Ann is a sweetheart, who will follow you anywhere if you rub her ears just right. Or, at least to my favorite tree and back.

Pictures in daylight don't do it justice - it's an awesome Halloweeny tree at dusk. Can't you just see an owl, and maybe some blinking eyes here and there?

After the walk, "possicles!"

Oh, honey, that's a goofy-looking face, can you smile for me?

Um...never mind, honey.

What's another good way to cool off? Water! Or...mud.

Yep, both work just fine.

The next activity was a no-brainer.

All right, already, I'm clean enough!

Then the hummingbirds let me know they were out of food. Again. Even though I JUST FILLED all the feeders a few hours ago.

So, I decided to make them really come and get it.

Shy little fellows. Last year we had three or four, this year it is somewhere between 20 and 50 - they don't exactly sit still so you can count them. I am going to have to sell a child to pay for sugar water.

Lunch, then naps. Sort of. You fellow parents are familiar with the sort-of-naps, right? Yeah, I thought so.

I let C. watch Spy Kids during nap time, and since S. was only sort-of-napping, I suddenly had two acrobatic robot children on my hands. Then there was a toddler-attention-shift, and we were suddenly doing art:

I thought it was a donut, but I'm told it's an apple. Silly Mommy.

 And then we played with our treasures. They all got names, and had adventures.

So, of course, that meant we had to put them into families.

On magnets. S. is very big on refrigerator magnets.

M. made it home in time for supper, and then there was the flurry of getting ready for tomorrow. M. has a whole regimen planned; when I asked C. what he is going to wear tomorrow, I got a blank look. He is excited about new shoes, though (I give them a week before the first hole appears). Minor crisis when we started packing his lunch, and S. insisted she is a first grader too, and needs to pack her lunch! Fortunately, Mommy knew where there was an extra lunch box, and S. is thrilled with her new title of "preschooler". Mommy and Daddy can both handle that a lot better then big sister's title - senior??? How did that happen??!

I'm going to go live with that raccoon.