I've had zero desire to blog lately. I'm not sure why. Life just seems very full, very busy, right now. It's not necessarily a pleasant feeling either. Everyone's kept busy over the past week.

Accalia had both soccer practice (Tuesday) and a game (Saturday) and continues to have fun. Ella has just as much fun on the sidelines. Yesterday she kicked the soccer ball we brought along all the way across the back field without stopping or stumbling. Two boys playing soccer stopped and yelled for their friends to look at her. If this is a sign of natural athleticism, she definitely hasn't gotten that from Cory or myself. Accalia had her first tap class on Friday and really enjoyed it.

Cole had a lot of fun at storytime on Tuesday. He chatted up a couple of the kids there but seemed concerned when he told me that he hadn't been able to talk with everyone. He continues to be a social little guy. He's been spending a lot of time playing outside in the dirt and moving around dirt and rocks with his big trucks.

The neighbor girls weren't around much this past week or this weekend, and I think that's bummed Accalia and Cole out. Hopefully they'll be able to spend more time with them this week.

Ella's now less than a month away from turning two. Lately she's been extremely conscientious about putting things away, turning off things, etc. She'll turn off lights, the tv, and so on when we leave a room. She'll throw dirty clothes in the hamper and throw garbage away. She loves to shake hands. She's trying to act very adult. She's also been going through a bit of a hitting stage. It doesn't occur on a regular basis, but every so often we'll be near each other and she'll whack us in the head. I have to keep from laughing sometimes because it's rather comical. She doesn't do it because she's angry. I think she just wants to see our reaction. When she gets in a hitting mood, though, I have to stand up and walk away from her reach because she'll just keep trying again and again. Then, just as suddenly as she starts, she's lost interest. We'll see how long this experimenting lasts. Cole went through a short hitting or pushing phase, and I think he did that because he was actually upset or feeling threatened (usually if another child came near his toys).

Tomorrow my dad turns 58 and my niece Brooklyn turns two. Happy birthday to both! Schools aren't in session tomorrow because of a teacher inservice or something, so we're getting together with friends in the morning. The week will be filled with dance, storytime, art, the chiropractor and soccer. Cory's dad is planning to come this weekend to see Accalia play soccer. Unfortunately, right now the forecast is for a rainy weekend. That won't be too good if the game is cancelled the one weekend he comes.

I'm beginning to wonder if Ella's big developmental milestone is giving up napping. This is the second day in a row that she hasn't napped, and before that she's fallen to sleep in the late afternoon. She would definitely be giving up naps (that is, daily naps) earlier than the other two, although Accalia regularly napped for the longest time and that was just until 2 1/2. I hear parents say their four or five years old still nap each day. How is that possible? Is that because there's a required nap time or simply because their children have more of a need for sleep?

Anyway, it rained on and off all day and finally turned from humid to cool toward late afternoon. I think it's supposed to be rainy again tomorrow, so we'll see if Accalia has soccer practice in the late afternoon. Shouldn't be a problem for Cole and storytime, though.

Have you checked out iTunes U? There's a lot of good stuff to listen to from various universities. I was just listening to Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement address, which I think I mentioned on this blog before because some of his statements are just spot on with my philosophies of living and learning.

This is a documentary that I'd like to see.

There's a book by Rachel Herz called The Scent of Desire. I haven't read it (it comes out in October), but apparently at one point Herz talks about vanilla being considered the most universally loved scent most likely because breast milk contains a similar flavor. Makes sense.

I was reading the October issue of Metropolitan Home (I end up being sent lots of free magazines), and one of the factoids from the National Association of Home Builders was that in 2006, 40% of home built had no living room and that this space is used instead as a library, music room or retreat. I found that very interesting that nearly half of all new homes being built have no living room. Are there family rooms or some sort of "front" room or parlor? I just can't imagine having a house that doesn't have that common space for gathering or entertaining guests. Obviously you don't need a living room to do those things, but it's something that has always been part of my image of a home and what has always been a part of my homes, even when the home was an apartment.

In this same issue of Metropolitan Home, there was mention about how if every U.S. home exchanged their five most used bulbs with energy star-qualified bulbs that greenhouse gases would be reduced by one trillion pounds over the course of the bulbs' lives. I think that Cory and I have now managed to switch over all of the light bulbs in our house to compact fluorescent bulbs, which are energy start qualified. What's also nice about CFLs is that you rarely have to change them compared with regular incandescent light bulbs.

Okay, I think I got everything out that was floating around in my head.

An old college friend/bridesmaid sent out news that she had her second baby yesterday. I'm very happy for them, but I was shocked because I didn't even know she was expecting again. I think that's the first time that I've ever gotten a birth announcement without knowing there was even a pregnancy!

There's nothing like having the air conditioning going on the first day of fall, huh? It was hot and windy all day. Accalia and Cole spent most of the afternoon playing outside with the neighbor girls. They're both actually still awake with me, but I know we'll all crash once we get to bed.

Lately Cole has become more and more interested in doing mazes and connect the dots and other puzzles on paper. He's never been very interested in this sort of thing, and it's interesting to watch where his interests go compared with where Accalia was at this age. Accalia has always been more of a paper/crafty type girl while Cole has always leaned toward activities that let him use his hands to mold and move dirt or sand or action figures. I wonder what Ella will be like. She tries to do a little bit of everything, thanks to being able to see the various interests of her older siblings.

Speaking of Ella, lately it's been rough going with her being patient and remaining in a constant good mood as if usually the case. What I love about these rough patches with kids is that you know there's going to be some amazing change once you come out on the other side. Maybe it's walking or expanding the vocabulary or sleeping through the night or being able to climb the stairs without help. I wonder what it will be with Ella. Right now I think she gets most frustrated with her little fingers not being able to do exactly what she wants them to do. She loves to sit and play with legos just like Cole, but she'll start to scream or cry as soon as she can't get the legos to fit together perfectly the first time.

Nights haven't been too fun either. She's been very restless and has been nursing a lot during the night. It's all leading up to something good, though.

When I spoke with my mom today, she mentioned that she and Dad want to come to our house for Thanksgiving. Cool! Thanksgiving has turned into our holiday to just stay at home, not worry about travel and just enjoy ourselves with tons of food, parades, football and early morning shopping for deals - this last one for Cory, at least. We're all excited about having my parents come and join us, though. I'm not sure how much we'll see them before Thanksgiving, especially since we won't even be traveling any place until after mid October because of Accalia's soccer games.

Okay, gotta get ready for bed. Accalia's up in bed, but Cole is playing with his action figures now that I've cleaned up the office and there's actually floor space for him to do that again.

Happy Autumnal Equinox, y'all! Around here it definitely isn't going to feel like fall, though. It's supposed to be around 90 degrees. Even though there's a breeze that starts and stops, there's also already a touch of humidity in the air. All around is still mostly green, but we are starting to see a few trees changing over. In our own yard, it takes a while to see any changing/falling leaves since three of our trees are cedars. We have one tree in the back that waits until mid to late fall and then lets all of its leaves down in a matter of a day or two.

My birthday yesterday was absolutely wonderful. It feels much better to be in my 30s now rather than just turning 30. Don't ask me why! Yesterday was a day filled with birthday love and wishes from family and friends, some awesome food, and just hanging out with Cory and the kids. Last night we watched Jurassic Park. Well, Ella had already fallen asleep and Cole fell asleep at the beginning. Cory was a little unsure of whether it would be too scary for the kids, but it didn't seem to both Accalia at all. She dug out some of her old dinosaur stuff after that. I ended my birthday by getting down on my hands and knees and washing the kitchen, dining room and living room floors. I have no idea what possessed me to do that at 11 p.m., but it was definitely nice waking up to clean floors.

Another soccer game is done. Unfortunately Accalia's team lost (unofficially, of course, since scores are not kept). I'd have to say this was the most annoying set of coaches and parents that we've encountered so far. One of the coaches was constantly yelling (not in a mean way) at the girls on the other team, and it was rather grating to listen to. The team even had a cute little cheer to psych themselves up and a little cheer they did for the other team at the end of the game. You know, all of this was probably perfectly normal for team sports, but I am so not a sports parents. Particularly at this age, it just seems that it should be about having fun and learning skills rather than trying to crush the opponents.

Ella didn't nap once again, so she was ready for bed by the time we got home, everyone had some food and took baths. I think Cole and Accalia are pretty tired, too, so we'll see if they wind down early.

Overall it was a pretty decent day. This morning we went to a small park right by the Missouri River where construction of the new Discovery Bridge is taking place. It's become a huge attraction for local residents to come down to this park and just sit and watch the construction. So far there are three sets of the pilings or whatever the bridge supports are called, and the fourth set is underway. I think there will probably be a total of five. It's really neat watching the construction and how the workers have to adjust to working in/on the river. They speed back and forth in motor boats, which the kids thought was neat. Here are a few pictures:





Here are a few pictures of the kids playing on the hillside - rolling down the hill, doing summersaults down and up, and Ella crawling backwards down the hill rather than rolling.




We saw this butterfly on a tomato plant in our garden today. I think it's a swallowtail. What do you guys think?




Tomorrow I need to go and renew my driver's license. There's nothing like waiting until the last possible day since it expires on my birthday - this Saturday - and tomorrow is the last day the examiner's will be open before that. I'll be so happy to replace that license, though. It still has our Mitchell address and me with my short, short hair. On the positive side, that picture was taken just a couple weeks after Cole was born, so I still have that soft, post baby glow to me.

Ah, the start of a new day! It's cloudy right now, but supposedly it will reach the mid 80s with the possibility of thunderstorms. As long as the storms stay away between 6 and 7 p.m., it should be perfect weather for Accalia's soccer game. Right now I'm cleaning up our vacuum - one of those stupidly expensive Electolux - to prepare for selling on ebay. We're downgrading to a cheapo vacuum for the time being. Since we only have three small areas of the house that even need a vacuum - living room rug, upstairs landing rug and runner on the stairs - it makes no sense to keep this vacuum when we could get at least a couple hundred dollars for it (not great when you consider it costs around $1,000 new).

Anne had good thoughts about my situation with feeding the neighbor kids. I forgot to add yesterday that one of the things that complicates matters is when Accalia or Cole annouce "I want x or y or z!" since they know we have that food. It's a little awkward when I know there isn't enough and I just have to tell them that we don't have enough of that to share. That still makes me feel icky, though, since that's never the case within our family. I also dislike the fact that I find myself putting up bowls of food that we normally have sitting around so the neighbor girls don't just come in and empty the bowl. I remind Cole and Accalia before they play to not shout out the foods they want with the neighbor girls around since we may not have enough, though, so they'll eventually remember that.

It would be so nice to eventually have a neighbor who isn't an absentee parent. Oh, the parents are always around, but the only time they're outside when the girls are outside is if they're smoking. So, rather than me getting a chance to talk with the neighbor while everyone is outside, the girls usually just get yelled at from the open window or door to come inside. Now, too, the girls have told me they can't come inside to play. So they'll wander in the house to ask for food or water or a toy to bring outside. I've suggested to them that they go to their house to see if they can have something to eat or drink (when they're constantly asking), and they've done that once to no avail. They've also asked if they can go inside their house to play, but they've been turned down for that, too. That must feel pretty crummy to be relegated to the yard of your home just because you're the kid and can't go in and out of the house with your pals as an adult would do.

Ella's still sleeping, so I'm going to check on her. Then maybe I'll make some coffee and start on the laundry.

Picked up my new contacts today! Woo hoo! How's that for exciting? They had been sitting at the eye doctor's for close to a month, but the insurance check to reimburse us for the cost (well, techincally the cost of the eye appointment) just arrived yesterday.

Cole was pleasantly surprised that his visit to the doctor wasn't painful. He was put through all of the rather odd testing that accompanies the five-year-old (aka kindergarten) check up - drawing shapes, identifying colors, hopping up and down on one foot. Cole weighs in at 42 pounds, only five pounds more than Ella, and is 44 inches tall (75th and 50th percentile, respectively).

Then Accalia was back at the art studio after about a month long break and had a good time creating a poster celebrating her recent success in shoe tying.

While Accalia was at art and then until about 7 p.m. (except for short eating breaks), the kids were playing with the neighbor girls. Perhaps it just because of my current funk of a mood, but I just can't help by be annoyed by the constant neediness of these girls. I need a new perspective! Any words are most welcome. The two youngest girls walk in our house and the first words out of their mouths are "This place is really messy!", referring to the living room floor scattered with legos and an assortment of small plastic and stuffed animals. Then they ask for food - chocolate - and when I offer them each a tootsie roll they tell me they want a different kind of chocolate. They eat the tootsie rolls, though, and come back for seconds. Then they're thirsty and I get water for them. "We want pop! We want juice!"

Maybe it's because my kids don't do that when they go to someone else's house. They're there to play and aren't asking to be fed as their first priority. Of course they've eaten at other people's houses during playdates, etc., but I make a point to see that they have a snack beforehand (if they're hungry) and have snacks along as well. It's unsettling to me that they come from just next door and are seeking out food. Is it just because we have food that they don't normally get? Or are they limited in their snacking and meal times so take the opportunity to be able to eat when the mood (or availability) strikes?

I think part of my issue with this is that right now we're barely scraping by, so our food budget is extremely tight and it's difficult enough making sure we have enough food and make it so that the kids feel as if they always have enough to eat and aren't left wanting. I think it's really stressing me out that lately I have essentially three more mouths that I've been feeding and I'm not feeling all that generous about it.

So that seems to be my big issue as of late. When I write it all out, it seems like such a small thing. Don't they all when you really think about it?

Accalia has a soccer game tomorrow, and Cory may or may not be there depending on whether he can arrange his appointments.

I think I'm going to get off of the computer now and try to relax a bit before bed.

My mood today was mostly one of frustration and discouragement. It's partly just going through the cycle of emotions. Can't be happy and positive all of the time, now can we? I was also trying to clean a little, and it seemed that as soon as I cleaned up one thing the kids made up for it in another area. That's part of life with the kids at home, though.

It rained much of the day but cleared up and turned sunny midafternoon. We went to McDonald's for supper so the kids could run around the playland, which is something they haven't done in a very long time. We were sitting by this family with four (?) kids, and the mother had such a loud voice. She also talked constantly, mostly chastising her kids for every thing that happened. At one point, Cole and one of her boys collided on the slide, and she told her son, "See, that's what you get for trying to go up the slide!" Grr! That is one of my parenting pet peeves - parents pulling the "I told you so" card on their children. How must that make a child feel to get physically hurt and, rather than comforting words from the parent, hear the parent trying to point out the "lesson" learned.

Tomorrow Cole's going in for a check up. He hasn't even had an appointment with our pediatrician for basically two years since his last check up. Then Accalia's starting up at the art studio again. She's pretty excited about that.

Today was hot - almost 90 degrees - and rather humid. I'm so ready to put this summery weather behind me for a while. Granted, it's fabulous weather for hanging out clothes, but I had no desire to put on shorts and sweat while running around this afternoon. All of you people dreading the approaching cold probably think I'm crazy, but I am just not a summer person. There are definitel things about warmer weather that I enjoy, but for the most part I just tolerate the summer months.

There's not much to talk about today. We ran around doing a few errands throughout the day, and the kids played with the neighbor girls for a while in the afternoon. I asked them to stay outside and play since I had just put Ella down for a nap, but I could tell that they really just wanted to play inside. Maybe tomorrow the timing will work out better.

Guess I'd better go and start getting ready for bed.

Since I have posted any pictures for a while, I thought I'd start off the day with a few pictures of the kids that I took last here.

Here are a couple of Ella - one of her painting and one of her wearing nothing but the tutu that was part of Accalia's recital costume this year.



Here's Ella and Cole sitting and brushing their teeth. Note Ella's extremely cool style sense when it comes to headbands.


And here's a close up of Accalia and Cole (with a toothbrush again).

I was up late, late, late last night (well, early this morning) and woke up too early. Not sure why my body wants me to do it since no one else was waking up. I'm really feeling it now. Thankfully there wasn't too much I had to do today. My mood has definitely deteriorated, though.

Ella's wide awake thanks to a nearly three hour long nap that ended around 6:30 p.m. Cole and Accalia are awake, too, although they're both upstairs in bed now. Accalia and Cole played with the neighbor girls most of the afternoon and evening. The three girls are overall nice to have around, and we definitely don't have the issues of Cole being excluded or the kids wanting to run all over town like we did with Mercedes. These three are constantly asking for food, though. They'll come up to the door and ask if I have this or that. I'm prettty sure they either can't have or are very limited when it comes to candy/sweets because that's usually what they ask for. Today, though, they were disappointed since we didn't hav any of the things they wanted. I'll be honest. It kind of annoys me to have them always asking for food. I think it's because they live right next door and can easily run into their house to get something to eat. Of course, if we have all of the forbidden food (and possibly they are limited to when they can eat as well), they're going to take every chance they can to have what they're not supposed to have at home. I don't know anything for sure about food issues at their house, though, so this is all conjecture. What I do find interesting, though, is that it always seems that the kids who are denied or forbidden so many things are the ones who are always trying to sneak around to get things. That makes perfect sense, of course, and always makes me wonder why these parents don't help their children find a balance rather than enforcing an atmostphere of deprivation and forbidden fruits.

Accalia's soccer game on Saturday was quite cold - 50s and very windy. Some of the girls showed up for the game with just shorts and their thin team t-shirts. I felt so bad for them. Accalia did have fun despite the weather and is looking forward to Thursday's game. Should be much warmer, too!

I should get ready for bed. There are errands to run in the morning.

Another Friday almost done. We hung around home today, not leaving except to go for walks around the neighborhood. Accalia is so proud of herself because she's figured out how to tie her shoes. She's had no real reason to do it before since she hasn't had to worry about doing that at school and has usually had slip ons or velcro shoes. Her current sneakers, though, require tieing, and she's gotten the hang of it quite quickly. It's strange, though, watching her do it since she's a leftie and how she does it looks so unnatural to the rightie that is me.

Tonight we all watched Men in Black together, which the kids have probably seen snippets of on tv before but hadn't watched it all the way through. Now Ella and Cory are both asleep (Cory has a 9 a.m. client), and the rest of us will soon follow.

We'll have to bundle up for Accalia's soccer game tomorrow if it doesn't warm up very quickly. Tonight's low is supposed to be 38 degrees, and we turned the heat on tonight. We were hoping to wait until it's officially fall before turning on the heat, but it was just too chilly.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend in store!

I have had the hardest time this week waking up, and I'm getting tired much sooner at night. No, I'm not pregnant, although that's what Cory jokingly suggested. I think it's the change in weather, just adjusting to cooler temps, night arriving sooner, etc. Or I'm getting sick. I really hope not, though. On a somewhat related subject, I really need to take a shower. I was going to attempt to get one in tonight, but Ella failed to stay asleep when I put her down (I just had to straighten a bedsheet, didn't I!).

Let's see. This morning Cole had his picture taken at the Wal-Mart portrait studio. Yeah, we go the cheapie route. Accalia and Cole both love getting their pictures taken there. Cole was very specific about what he wanted for his picture. He wanted to wear all blue, so he picked out a pair of jeans and his blue dinosaur shirt. Then he wanted to have the flag background so he could look like a president. After the picture taking, we looked around at the Halloween costumes and decorations then picked up exactly three grocery items and headed home for lunch.

Later in the afternoon, after Ella's nap, we went to the library. Cole decided he wants to go to storytime this fall, which really surprised me. So we went and signed him up and then got him his own library card. I think age 3 is when our library starts handing out cards, but Cole has absolutely refused to have one before this. I have no idea why, but he's always protested this.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. We don't have anything huge going on, but it just feels as if it'll be really good. Accalia has a soccer game on Saturday, but that's it for the planned activities. Cory wants to get a lot done around the house and in the yard. We're planning another family movie night - Accalia wants to watch Men in Black. I really need to finish up writing thank you's from Cole's birthday and take care of LLL related paperwork.

I think tomorrow's supposed to be pretty cool and possibly rainy. Sounds like a perfect day to stay inside and watch Pink Panther dvds (the kids' current interest through Netflix).

So I tend to google a lot - for my queries, the kids' queries, etc. Today my first use of the Google search engine was "how to get lip gloss out of carpet." Yeah, that's what happens when my 22-month-old happens upon a heart-shaped container of swirly pink and white lip gloss of my 8-year-old and has a few minutes where I'm not paying attention. The lip gloss definitely seems to be fun to paint with on the living room rug. What gets lip gloss out of carpeting, you ask? Why, Colgate toothpaste does. I'm assuming other brands of toothpaste may do the job as well, but that's the recommendation I found and that's the brand that happens to be in our bathroom right now.

Ella was slightly less cranky today. She didn't nap, but she did fall asleep a little after 6 p.m. and is still in bed - hopefully for the night. This afternoon we picked up Chloe and Alexia from school because both parents were out of town. They only ended up being at our house for about an hour, but it was fun while it lasted.

I think I may actually sit down and relax a little now that no one seems to need me.

Oh yeah. It's set to be one of those cozy days of autumn (or near autumn) that you long for during the hot days of summer. Or at least I do. It's cool (50s) and has been raining since late yesterday afternoon. I think the rain's almost over, though. I'm so, so happy to not have to get up and rush anywhere this morning. We do have to hit the bank and post office, but those can wait until later morning once the kids are awake and willing to go.

I did eventually get my coffee yesterday. Yesterday afternoon. I called Cole inside while he was out playing with the neighbor girls and asked if he wanted to see me make coffee. He did. I made it. He was back outside in 30 seconds.

Ella was SO cranky yesterday and part of Saturday. Whatever is causing it will hopefully pass very soon. It's been difficult to make her happy this weekend.

I'm starting today without the benefit of coffee, which could be disasterous considering the number of late nights and early mornings I've had recently. We have enough coffee left to make one more pot, but Cole asked me to show him how to make coffee so I have to wait until he's up. I'm the only one awake right now, actually, and I would run to the gas station and pick up a Sunday paper, but I don't think Cory would hear Ella if she woke up. Oh well. Time enough for all of that.

It's rather chilly -54 degrees - and will probably only get to around 60 degrees today. That, along with the fact that we'll have football on tv this afternoon, definitely gives it a feeling of autumn around here. Cory was planning to do some yard/gardening work today, so I'm sure I'll help out with that. We were going to put away some of the really summery stuff that's outside since the kids seem to be done playing with that stuff. Of course, it will only be in the shed, so it may easily find it's way outside again before the first snow.

Yesterday was a pretty busy morning. Cory was supposed to see a client, but that client didn't show up. So he made it back home in time for Ella and myself to leave for the La Leche League meeting. There were three other mothers there, including one with a two week old, so we had a lot of fun with all of the kids. Then Ella and I rushed off to Accalia's first soccer game, which was already going on. It turned out that Accalia's team was playing against Chloe's team, so Cole had Alexia to run around with and Cory and I were able to chat with Karine and Laurent while watching the girls. Accalia had a lot of fun but said she couldn't run as fast as some of that girls, which is probably due, in part, to some of those girls being a head taller than her.

We grabbed Burger King on the way home, and Ella fell asleep soon after that since it was 1 p.m. before we even got home for lunch. The other two kids and I then ran to Goodwill because Accalia really needs some pants. There was absolutely nothing in her size, but we ended up finding boots for both Accalia and Cole. Yay! Paying a total of $6 for two pair of boots is so much cooler than paying $30 or more.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with playing with the neighbor girls. The youngest girl has been very prone to tears these last couple days, which makes it hard for everyone to enjoy playing when she starts crying about everything from getting wet to getting mud on her. Maybe she's just having a bad weekend. Usually she's not so easily dismayed.

Last night Accalia wanted all of us to watch a movie together, so Cory dug out Home Alone since they had never seen it. Accalia and Cole - even Ella at times - really enjoyed it. It brought back a lot of memories of watching it myself as a child.

I think I'm going to have some nice hot oatmeal for breakfast and then start to tackle the laundry.

It's been nearly a month since our dryer worked, so that's been a month of hanging clothes outside to dry (or inside on the few rainy days). I'd love to get the dryer fixed ASAP, especially since this warm weather isn't going to last much longer. Unfortunately, we're quite strapped for cash right now and can't exactly spring for the $100 or more the repair.

In the meantime, I guess I can feel good about doing my small part in living a little bit more green. The Daily Green has great ideas about how to reduce your impact on the environment when it comes to laundry. I was thrilled to see that we already do some of those things like using cold water for washing rather than warm (I do use hot to wash diapers, though). Apparently, 90 percent of the energy used washing clothes goes to heating the water.

Obviously, bypassing the dryer saves all of that energy that might have been used. Hanging clothes out in the sun also has the added benefit of the sun breaking down stains, so it's a great way to brighten and whiten clothes - especially noticeable with cloth diapers and staining. I'm also saving money on being fabric softener sheets. I only buy fragrance/dye free laundry products, which started when Cole was a baby and seemed to react to scented products. I also can't stand the smell. It's even helped as far as staying on top of laundry and not letting dirty and clean laundry pile up. The first thing I do in the morning is throw in a load of laundry so I can be sure to have it hung up and dry by midday. Then, of course, I want to use the laundry basket for hauling clothes in and out, so I have to put the clothes away fairly quickly. Very helpful for a rather disorganized housekeeper like myself.

And there you have it - my ode to drying clothes the old fashioned way.

Life has been pretty low key around here since we returned from Mankato, but it's still been pretty busy. All three kids have been having a blast playing in and around the house. This has been an abnormally warm week - high 80s and low 90s - so we've been getting some end of the summer use out of the pool and slip 'n slide.

Accalia and Cole have been having a blast playing with the three neighbor girls, too. I have to admit to really, really liking the fact that the oldest is just six, which means there isn't that constant desire on the neighbor's part to run all over the neighborhood. Apparently, though, these girls don't get many sweets because the first thing they always ask when they come over is whether they can have a piece of gum or a sucker or whatever is filling the candy bowl that day. Accalia and Cole are only too happy to oblige. They love bringing out glasses of water or treats or whatever interests them that day.

My plan for this week had been to get Cole's picture taken, but that will have to wait until the end of next week when the bump and bruise on his forehead have hopefully disappeared. Last night he and Accalia were having a food fight with play food, and Accalia accidentally hit Cole with a plastic cup. "I should have ducked!" was Cole's response when I went to investigate the crying.

When I was younger, I think I had a lot of Type A tendencies, but those have slowly disappeared over the years. There's a big part of me that wishes I just naturally was drawn to making lists, being much more organized and so forth. It's so appealing to me, especially when I read/hear about other extremely organized people. I'm working with a LLL Leader Applicant right now who is SO organized, and it just seems to make everything that much easier (or at least easier to find/remember). I'm not sure that I can force myself to be more Type A, though. The bigger part of me completely rebels against that, so maybe it's hopeless.

I have requests to read to a certain boy, so I'd better get to that right now. All three kids are in various stages of undress. Ella is wearing Accalia's shorts right now, and they fit her surprisingly well.

We returned yesterday afternoon from a very lovely Labor Day weekend visit in Mankato. Cole had a really nice fifth birthday yesterday despite spending a few hours traveling in the van. It's always a mixture of emotions returning home to Yankton after being in Mankato because we're always so happy to come back to our house and to Yankton, yet we instantly miss being surrounded by family and friends as we are in Mankato.

Cole opened birthday presents Monday morning before we left, and we had birthday cake Sunday so he could share that with Grandpa and Grandma. Sunday night was church with a picnic following, and the kids had a good time playing games with all of the other kids from church. There was one slight bump - literally - for Accalia when she fell and hit her face on the ground during a three legged race. Thankfully her nose didn't bleed for long.

On Saturday we went to visit Heather and Jeremy and meet their daughter, Evie, who is beautiful beyond words. She's so tiny, too! Accalia and Cole were so eager to hold her, and Ella stood by me oohing and ahhing while I held Evie. Cole and Aidan had so much fun playing together, and I know Cole wanted to stay longer. Unfortunately Ella was growing very restless and was getting grumpy.

Accalia had soccer practice last night and is at practice right now. Cory had his appointment reschedule, so he offered to take Accalia and let me keep Ella and Cole out of the 90-plus degree heat.

The rest of this week is pretty wide open until Saturday. Accalia has her first soccer game, and I have my La Leche League meeting. I'm hoping to get to the end of her game, but that completely depends on how long the meeting lasts.

Okay, I'd better get supper started so Accalia will be able to dig right into her food when she gets home.