Back to School!

I really love summer... I really do.
Or I should say that I love most of summer- the final week left me worn out, cranky and hankering for the routine and structure that school brings.
So happy happy joy joy... it's back to school time for us...yippeeee!

Happy Birthday Henry!

On the eve of Henry's birthday, his big brother bluntly informed him that his birthday was really just an ordinary day and nobody even knew it was his birthday because he wasn't famous. He told him that we celebrate famous people's birthday's like Jesus's on Christmas, but unless you were Jesus, you shouldn't really expect to get any presents because to everyone else it was just a regular day. I happened to be standing behind Jamie as he delivered this information to Henry and was able to step in and tell Henry that it was a mommy's job to call all of the birthday boy's buddies and tell them exactly when a birthday was happening and invite them over for a party and cake and tell them what kind of presents the birthday kid liked.
Henry leveled a stare at me and said "maybe NEXT year you can do that for me..." I guess he had already written off this year as a birthday loss because the look on his face when I told him that I already made those phone calls and lots of people were coming to help him celebrate was one of pure 5 yr old happiness. It's not often that mommies get to be birthday heroes so I will remember that cute little expression of gratitude for a long time now.

Updated Rosie Photos

Same expression, same outfit... seriously cute new hairstyle.

I absolutely can not wait to meet the adorable Miss Rosie and bring her home and do whatever it takes to put a smile on the cutest little pouty face in all of Ethiopia. We have confirmed travel dates now... depart on September 12th and return home on September 18th. Countdown to Rosie =24 days.

Turkey V. a small truck

I feel like I got hit by a truck


Turkey, Anna's little Boston terrier was hit by a truck last week and lived to talk about it. It was a small truck, but still, when a 20 lb dog goes head to head with a truck, no matter how small- I would put my money on the truck. But he made it... thanks to luck and amazing veterinarians and now he is in recovery at home. He is completely pitiful with a repaired shattered hip among other things but he is alive and hanging in there.
Our little Turkey dog with all of his doggie issues and quirks is really a part of our family and the fact that we came so close to losing him was tough. While I kept reminding myself that our little Turk was a dog- not a person and I should be able to cope, I really wasn't nearly as composed as I hoped to be and our whole family was just plain ol' sad until we were reasonably sure he would survive.

Here he is hanging with Jamie and Lily pre-truck



...and here he is contemplating a baby rose bush.

"I can't believe I'm seven now...not regular old six!"

With much fanfare, Jamie turned seven and I have never seen a boy happier about being a year older. Is there some kind of a super fun secret society open only to seven year old boys? There must be because Jamie can not stop talking about how much cooler it is to be seven instead of regular old six. It's almost like he was embarrassed that he was ever six and would just prefer not to speak about it now.
The morning of his birthday, in an act of manly celebration, Jamie yanked out his (only a little bit) wiggly baby front tooth. That's just the sort of thing a kid does at seven. Sure, it's ok for six year olds to still have front baby teeth- but once you hit that birthday milestone, the baby teeth have got to go. Happy Birthday Jamie-you rock.