Winding down

We've been cramming every last bit of summer we can into each day. Between the torrential downpours, that is. How gross is it to hold a chicken when you're wet? According to Olivia, not gross at all.


I'm pretty proud of our vegetable garden this year. I actually sort of kept up with the nettles and weeds, and there has been plenty of yummy stuff to munch on. Henry discovered that beets turn your pee and poop red, which is really awesome. The kids love to go into the garden, grab a carrot, rinse it off with the hose, and spend the afternoon munching away. I'm sure I'll read somewhere that doing that will give them cancer. Today I found out that their lunchboxes probably have toxic levels of lead.
My long-haired boy is off to spend the week in the big city with his friend Dylan. Grace is constantly worried that he's missing her. She has a healthy ego, that one. The new school clothes are all arriving on the door step, new shoes are here (and they fit!), and their backpacks are lined up, filled with school supplies and boxes of Kleenex. Speaking of Kleenex, I totally embarrassed myself today. We went to the school to sign the girls up for kindergarten orientation, and when the secretary asked them if they were excited to be going to kindergarten, I burst into tears. Then, the developmentally disabled woman who was volunteering in the office berated the secretary for making me cry. It was comically awful.