Vintage Rose

I love vintage clothes. My favorite outfit is a 1940s suit I bought in Brooklyn four years ago. In July, my sister-in-law Cindy brought a bunch of darling clothes with her that were made by various relatives for babies which now are adults. Rose gets compliments on how cute she looks in general, but I think she looked like a baby model today.

Rose found this doll & wandered around loving it. Even my baby girl pretends she's a mommy.

YES! I'm Right

Cami just told me & Jason: You are both wrong, except for Mom.

Before I Forget

The last time Cami had her own bathroom, she wasn't yet toilet trained. We haven't had a two-bathroom house since we moved from Florida five years ago. It creates some interesting situations. Take this morning, for example. Jason was in the shower & Cami started pounding on the bathroom door.

Jason (yelling over the sound of the shower): Who is it?

Cami: It's Cami.

Jason: What do you need?

Cami: I need in. I'm desperate to brush my teeth.

Jason: Needing to use the toilet is desperate. You can wait to brush your teeth.

School Daze 2009, part 2

Monday, 7 September 2009

Did you know that reception (aka kindergarten) starts when British kids are four? Being one of the very youngest, Graham started with the first group on incoming students. How handsome my little man is!


Hanging out with Dad.


In the schoolyard before class.



Already comfortable -- he told me to leave.

School Daze 2009, part 1

Thursday, 3 September 2009

September brings school. Cami was one happy girl. My social butterfly got ready for her first day of Year 2. Because she's at an infant school, she's one of the big kids. Next year she'll attend a different school, but for now she's cute in her blue & gray.

Cheese, Gromit, Cheese!

Do any of you like Wensleydale? I can finally say I do. Both the cheese & the place.

(Not much to look at, is it? Although as far as factory sites go, that barn adds a lot of charm.)

(A view of Hawes.)

Last Saturday we had good intentions of going to the Valley of Desolation (again), but it was closed for the grouse hunters (again). So, we made a call & found out that the Wensleydale Cheese Factory was in production & we drove the extra hour to Hawes in North Yorkshire. The museum was filled with fun artifacts, but the best part for me was watching (and explaining to the kids) the production process. The year I spent working at the WSU Creamery in the direct marketing department came in handy. I gave the kids a play-by-play as we watched the milk being churned, cheddared (that's a technical term), and chopped before pressing. They put that into the "Mom knows all sorts of stuff" category, but an eavesdropper enjoyed my knowledge -- another mom there with her kids. I'm glad somebody thought I had something interesting to share.

Factory tours & cheese-artifact museums can hold one's attention for only so long, so we started to head home, but got sucked in by this river 1/2 mile out of Hawes.

Up!

Rose has figured out "Up!" The word was communicated with confidence a couple of days ago. But after weeks of practicing on our backyard steps (just two leading from the kitchen to the backyard), yesterday she made it around the corner stair inside -- and now I often find her playing in the bathroom. Or calling me from an upper level, because she hasn't yet figured out how to safely go "Down!"