Catch up - Mash up

It's been a crazy few weeks.  We are settling into the school routine which means a MUCH earlier wake up for us all.  We are out of the house at 7:10 am every morning, which means I am hauling the kids out of bed at 6:30.  Norah bounds out of bed and is thrilled to start the day (ie, go to school).  Lou on the other hand is not quite as enthused.  

I am obsessed with this gluten free flour called Cup4Cup.  It is designed to replace regular all purpose flour in any recipe (most GF flours need other additions to make the recipe work).  I have used it in a ton of things and it works great every time.  It's a little hard to find and so I ordered in bulk off of Amazon.  Apparently I am no longer proficient in reading comprehension because I thought I was ordering 25 one pound bags.  Oh no, of course I was ordering one 25 pound bag.  We currently have a lot of ziploc bags of flour in the freezer.  I have been making homemade egg biscuit sandwiches in the mornings.  Louis gobbled them up the first two mornings and won't touch one from the third day on.  I can't win with that kid.

Every time we are at the S's house, Trevor busts out his GIANT stash of match box cars.  Louie literally dances with joy.

Nothing says peace and quiet for grown-ups like a preteen willing to entertain little kids with electronics.  I can't believe Megan is a seventh grader.  I am sure her parents can't either.

Louie still loves Camilla.  A lot.

These kids love the mall.  It's still so hot here that I won't take them to the park.  The park is BVZ's thing.  They will go on weekend mornings and be out of the house for hours.  It's glorious for everyone involved, especially me.  I hate the park.  It's hot and sweaty and I have to yell at other kids for being assholes.  I have at least three cardiac episodes every time from Lou flinging himself off of playground equipment.  So, I take them to the mall.  They love the Disney store.

Last time we were there we discovered an area with ride on vehicles.  For 75 cents they had the time of their lives.

Louie is wearing long sleeves in most of these pictures.  It is still 100+ degrees every day but the kid hates sunscreen and loves long sleeves.

We had our first school event--the PTA sponsored Jog-a-Thon.  Because I am a PTA board member my family had no choice but to attend.  I was not involved in the initial planning last year so had nothing to do with the date of early September (ie, 102 degrees being chosen).  Norah was a good sport and hit up our friends and family for donations and ended up raising $75.  She ran over a mile, which was awesome considering how hot it was.

This is S, Norah's new friend in her class.

All Louie cared about was the sno-cone.

Norah loves D, a kid in the neighborhood we've gotten to know at school (they aren't in the same class but find each other every day at recess).

Louie got new Thomas the Train pajamas.  He tries to wear them to school,

Speaking of school, Lou's class does this thing where every Friday the class mascot "Allie the Alligator" goes home with a kid for the weekend.  You are supposed to journal and take pictures of all of Allie's adventures.  Seriously?  I have nothing else going on that I have to "journal" the activities of a stuffed animal?  Not to be outdone, however, I have dutifully been taking photos of Louie and Allie all weekend and it's freaking adorable.  Some of my favorites include, shopping for matchbox cars at Target:

And keeping Louie company at his 2.5 year well baby check.  Turns out he is in the 90th percentile for height and between the 5th and 10th for weight.  Ridiculous.  See those pants?  They are 12 month pants.  They hit him mid-calf.  He consistently looks like Pinocchio. His doctor isn't all that concerned given he's been on a pretty consistent trajectory for a while and BVZ had a similar ratio as a kid (nickname: Bones).  Given his expansive vocabulary and proclivity for knock-knock jokes, no one is worried about his cognitive development.

Speaking of cognitive development, this kid is in her element at kindergarten.  She couldn't possibly love it any more.  She arrives off the bus at 3:16 pm, sweaty, exhausted and thrilled.  I am sure there will be bumps in the road at some point, but for now we are enjoying this high point.

Louis and I have some much needed one on one time on Monday and Friday afternoons.  Lately he's been demanding I lay down with him in his race car bed.  I don't mind.

Reid and Louie took a pool dip in their clothes the other day and then dried out in the backyard.  I took this sweet photo of Reid and didn't notice the naked photo bomber until it was too late.

Ballet started up again.  Norah is thrilled.

Norah reads to Louie all of the time.  She even gets some (often times a lot) of the words right.

Again with the long sleeves, but couldn't be cuter.

We pulled the exersaucer out for Camilla the other day.  Where did my baby go?

Now that Norah is a very proficient swimmer, I can sit on the side while the kids are in the water.  I almost jump in about 3,000 times, but still.  I can sit on the side.

Light at the end of the tunnel.