Just a Little

211/365
1:31pm

Meet Charlie's shy smile.

Razzamatazz Berries

210/365
10:43am

Raspberries are coveted fruit here. The day they enter this house is the day they disappear. I think our kids were shaped, at least in part, to love berries based on repeated exposures to Jamberry. Bruce Degen makes magic with "Raspberry, Jazzberry, Razzamatazz berry, Berryband, Merryland, Jamming in Berryland."

Even this blustery day could not deter our serious dedication to gingerly plucking out plump, saturated berries from the bristly bramble. However, to be fair, the farm should have weighed Charlie before and after our raspberry adventure. Surely, I owe this farm for another pint.

Exfoliating

209/365
12:17pm

The Possibilites

208/365
7:16am

There is nothing like a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. The tip needs to just have a little bit of give to it, so it won't break off in a streak of charcoal, and the eraser needs to have approximately two uses to have perfectly clean pink crumbly goodness. I actually get excited when I find a pencil buried in the drawer that meets these criteria, excited like hidden-treasure-in-the-olden-days-cereal-box kind of excited. Because all of sudden what I am about to write will no longer be mundane. It's a fresh start. A clean slate. A tabula rasa, if you will. It will have purpose and greatness in that tip and eraser. The novel will come together. The poem will be perfect. By the grace of God, the grocery list will be complete.

What will you write?

Charlie Two Point Five

207/365
6:36pm

Jack whipped up a half birthday cake for his brother, decorated it, and adorned the top with two and a half candles. We all then imperfectly (read:totally off-key), yet graciously, belted out

Happy Half-Birthday to you,

Happy Half-Birthday to you,

Happy Half-Birthday, dear CHAR-LIE,

Happy Half-Birthday to you.

I'm pretty sure this version hasn't been copyrighted yet, so we should get on that so we can totally sue when restaurant patrons everywhere want that sung to them on their half birthdays by folks with a lot of pieces of flair. It's so going to be The Next Big Thing. Trust me.

Spider:1 :: Fly:0

206/365
1:18pm

Rotten luck, Mister Fly.

In A Name

205/365
10:42am

Last summer we ripped out our dingy, crumbling prison-block retaining wall, stone by stone, and replaced it with a gorgeous, flowing limestone piece of freaking art. Ok, fine, that *may* be a stretch, but the labor surely was a back knee-breaking science. I then promptly devoured several gardening books, spoke with local experts, perused miles of neighborhood yards, and made furious scribbling notes and lists as if I just took on the role of the Queen of England's Secret Garden landscape architect.

This was one of the first plants I put in my garden, and not because the scientific name is Tradescantia x Spiderwort, but rather because its other name is Sweet Kate. Is it like predicting a race winner based horse's name? Probably.

Good thing I don't work for the Queen.

Forward Ho!

204/365
11:25am

We took the boys out on Lake Wingra for lovely Sunday morning row. Lovely is a relative term, and there will be several of you, dear readers, who may think being trapped on a moving boat with children is worse than, say, Alcatraz because at least Alcatraz doesn't rock through the water and the children don't jump out. Not that they did, mind you. It actually was quite lovely, if I do say so myself, especially once I lent a deaf ear to "when are we going back to the docks?" Madison graced us with her awesomeness again in the form a perfectly glowy sun and cotton candy clouds, perfectly rippled water, and, most importantly, a perfectly sealed, non-sinking canoe.

Good times.

Ode to George B Post

239/365
10:41am

Wisconsin's Capitol has one HELL of a dome, and it's the closest thing to the Sistine Chapel I may get for awhile. The arches, the pendentives, the mosaics, the sculptures, the murals, the light, the marble, oh my. I bet our state capitol can beat your state capitol (Austin & DC, you're not allowed to play).

What's Story, Morning Glory?

238/365
7:32am

The guys spend some book time together before the day really starts.

On a side note, it's driving me mad that the lamp shade is crooked.

Canning Days

237/365
5:42pm

Our windows have been in permanently open mode during this recent and uncharacteristically temperate burst of late August. It would be reasonable to mourn the opportunity for the boys to plummet their golden skin of summer into bracingly cool water, only to surface with delirious joy, and repeat until exhaustion seizes.

But these hydrangeas are a gift of late summer, and they almost make saying farewell to pool days tolerable. It's exceedingly rare to find such an aromatic variety, and luck would have it that my three bushes have grown to window height. Their fragrance changes with the air; maybe how perfume smells different on different people. When the humidity is high, the floral note is so thick it clings to the screen, asking for a push from the wind like a child on a swing. When the air is lighter, the scent is clean, uplifting, breathable, crisp, and you want to capture it in a bell jar like a peeled August tomato, throw in the cellar pantry and savor it in January.

Rice Is Nice

236/365
5:52pm

Originally, this was more of a photo shot with the steam bulldozing it's way out of the rice cooker, but, sadly, there is more technique to capturing water molecules bursting out of a canon than I was fully aware. So, now it's more of a dinner image...more partial process than the product.

Ginger-Scallion Tofu with Brown Basmati Rice, and devoured by all four household members.

AquaGoggle Girl (To the Rescue)

235/365
10:03am

I should have waited. That's pretty clear, isn't it? Not only was I so excited to get some shots, but I *also* wanted to check it off my list so I could gab properly with her mother. I realize I could tag this under Ebbing, but hear me out: I only took 8 pictures before I got heartily splashed by the boys and promptly tucked the camera away. And sure, I could have used another shot of my kid in water, but I'm pretty sure we've covered that this summer. Anyway, to remedy my Ebbing, I made this more her in this moment. I made her goggles and her floaties and her suit and her tiny polished pinkie pop, while letting the rest of her become invisible. She's now a superhero....and Jack just totally perked up at the idea that he spent the day with a real live superhero.

Shocking, Just Shocking

234/365
4:46pm

You'd likely make this face too as you witness our three tree hydrangeas being assaulted by dozens and dozens and dozens of these. When one flies off course and hits our picture window, the thwack, no joke, is what I imagine a bird crashing into it would sound like.

This pollination lesson is best instructed behind glass.

(At Rest) Measured in Milliseconds

233/365
7:09pm

Flutter, flutter, land. Flutter, flutter, land. Flutter, flutter, land. Flutter, flutter, land.

Bedtime has become an issue lately. Thank God he does not actually have wings.

Idling

232/365
10:59am

September is hovering at an arm's length right now. It's there, not as a dead end nor as a gateway. It's just there....hanging out, soaking in the remaining rays of summer, collecting memories....like some happy fella who felt the need to show up too early in Arrivals. I'm both elated and Holy Shit, What Happened to My Baby for Jack's near future. And right now I just want to hit pause, not to prevent this awesomely awesome thing called kindergarten, but rather to just savor these fleeting moments.

Decision

231/365
9:32am

When in still air and still in summertime

A leaf has had enough of this, it seems

To make up its mind to go; fine as a sage

Its drifting in detachment down the road.

Howard Nemerov, Threshold

Berry Funny

230/365
7:12pm

Megan brought all the ingredients to make a seasonally awesome blueberry crisp, and the boys devoured it with such summer pleasure. Baked blues and toddlers are a disastrous hot mess cute combination, and when Megan videotaped Charlie asking him what he was shoveling in at top speed, his was response nothing short of hilarious. To them. The boys replayed Megan's video close to a dozen times, and never once did their laughter wane. Megan & I were in stitches over their secondary reaction to their initial reaction.....whew, guess you had to be there.

M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i River

229/365
11:35am

We had a fantabulous time hiking at the Mississippi Palisades State Park in Savannah, Illinois. Gorgeous day. Jack loves all things forest and nature; he really is his best self walking the narrow, rugged trails. Charlie was champ as well, especially for not loving the elevation as much as the rest of us. Unfortunately for everyone, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to teach Jack how to spell Mississippi as fast as possible.

Resting

228/365
5:18pm

The day will come soon enough. In the meantime, I enjoy the lines, the texture, the curves, the light of such wonderfully basic materials.

Vacation Feet

227/365
5:03pm

Seriously. You can't get a good head shot of these three boys.... it's a good thing angry, uncooperative faces can't mar this one. Apparently, I *do* have the last laugh!

Not Peaches

226/365
5:46pm

Nectarines. Oh, so summer.

Support For Food Allergies

225/365

Various moments throughout the morning

We have been members of the Food Allergy Association of Wisconsin since Jack was diagnosed with peanut allergy in 2006. If you knew me then, you could see I was a wreck. However, after some time and a whole lot of education, we've become a calm force in the allergy circle. Jack's fish allergy was diagnosed in 2007, cats in 2008, and dogs, trees, and ragweed in 2009. We carry two EpiPens with us wherever Jack roams, a MedicAlert bracelet adorns his wrist, and I'm able to propel toward him at the onset of three or more consecutive coughs or sneezes. I'm damn near robotic in my swift, yet thorough, allergy body scan. We have a ginormous list of Do's and Don'ts, Can's and Can'ts, Safe and Not Safe, and we follow them religiously. On a scale of 0-22 on how strict we adhere to The Plan, we're roughly about 30. That said, we are determined to make Jack's life as whi-hoo and normal as we can. The only thing we really lack is spontaneity and baseball games.....I'm still in a Hell No stage there.

These shots are from the annual Food Allergy Association of Wisconsin's Walk and Expo. Good times even in a downpour.

Farewell

224/365
12:39pm

This is Big. As in really Big. Really, Really Big. We've been talking about it for a couple months. To no avail. Today, our dear Charlie, traded/exchanged/swapped/quid pro quo'd his beloved Nuks for a set of tools. Make NO mistake, dear readers, this was not a bribe. It was mere substitution: one thing for another. He, with the wisdom and understanding that comes at two and a HALF, has known the stakes for months now. That's right, that's right. (Affirming his comprehension: Nodding head, hands on hips.) Today, we happened to be near the toy store, we happened to stop in, we happened to check out the tool aisle, we happened buy exactly what he wanted, and we happened to let him ponder over the idea of opening and playing with said item. Within ten minutes of walking in the door he put an A.P.B. on all Nuks on the house and within another five he was Ready To Go. This kid made a beeline for the garbage with some serious speed and agility.

Nevertheless, tears at nap, tears at bedtime. Surely, he has re-thunk (what?) his trade, but he himself put them in some serious kitchen trash, and no boil is long enough to get that crap off.

But, shhhh!, I did keep his favorite one.

When All Else Fails, There's Always Food

223/365
6:18pm

Sometimes the late afternoon light hits a gorgeous, juicy, perfect piece fruit or beautifully textured vegetable just right and it beckons....its irresistible come-hither glance says, Shoot me. And I abide. Other times I twist my wrist, check the hands, and realize, Holy crap! I haven't taken the camera out since yesterday. And viola! You now get to see my dinner.

Egg, sunny side up. With arugula, tomato, and goat cheese on toasted whole-grain bread. Sauteed portabello mushrooms and yellow summer squash on the side. I'm Mom of the Year when I serve breakfast for dinner; dancing, cheering, and accolades immediately follow the dinner menu announcement. And I take a bow.