today. . .

Sam and Luke went into Greensburg to watch the Tour of Pennsylvania. A very cool experience from what I hear. We love to watch the Tour de France every year in July. . .so when he read that a smaller scale tour was coming close to home, he was very excited.

Unfortunately, Jack came down with a case of the stomach flu this morning, so he and I stayed home (to play Legos Indiana Jones on our system. . .ps2).



Lots of movement.
He and Luke waited 45 minutes to watch them come through. . .

And little Luke slept through it all (I suppose that's what happens when you stay up past midnight).

At home, Max decided to spend the afternoon at his personal beach club.

Feeling the faux Pennsylvania sun warming his yellow dog fur. . .

While I was capturing our local wildlife. . . so national geographic of me. . .

guess who. . .

Pulled a box of raisens out of the goodie drawer. . .

Open, Mama.

Want candy.

And is eating them happily (while dancing on his little tippy toes).

Maybe I should put carrots in that drawer too. . .

friday night. . .

Ever since Disney, the boys have been intrigued by the Wall E commercials. . . especially Luke. Every (well, almost every) bus we rode to and from the park had a Wall E ad picture up. He looked for it every time (and was quite indignant if he didn't see one).

So, we thought it would be a great night to take the boys to the drive in. Lukey's first time. And the first time that Jack would remember (I think the last time we went, I was pregnant with Luke. . .and got eaten alive by mosquitoes).

We loaded up the Jeep with chairs and blanets and popcorn (and a few boy cars as well), and headed to the Evergreen in Mt. Pleasant.


Good thing we headed out early, it was a full house. . . And even saw Jacob, a friend of Jack's from Kindergarten (and fellow Lego connoisseur).

The boys played with glow sticks and chased lightning bugs. . .while waiting for the darkness. . .

And had a wonderful first official drive in for the season. Everybody loved the movie (robot!). And we even stayed to watch Get Smart, the second feature. A certain somebody did not fall asleep until 12:30 (Lukey, you're such a night owl), so not all of us saw the full second feature. But we had a great time.

And looking forward to more trips this season.

dressing a toddler

is like dressing a squirrel . . .

flipping
and
flopping
and flooping

all around. A jumpy, crazy, darth-vader speaking squirrel.

And then shoes. . .

Left foot.
No right foot.
Left foot.
Last time foot.
Now right foot.
Last time foot. (giggling)

All while Max is eating my hair while I'm bent down.

Joyous adventures in motherhood.

in the zeli dog tradition. . .

Have I told you the story of jumpskunk?

In the first few years of living in our home. . .and I was working at Holy Cross. . .our morning rituals included Sam getting up and letting the dogs out while I tried to wake up and jump in the shower.

One fall morning, I remember hearing screams from the backyard. . . Dude was in trouble for something. . . So I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. . . greeted by the distinct smell of skunk as I ran down the steps.

Sam greeted me with a sorrowful looking Dude. . .

He let her out the back door that morning, and watched her take off into the shadows. She jumped on top of something. . .and Sam watched as the white of the tail flipped up into the air.

Yep. . .she jumped right on the skunk's back. . .

We spent the next 30 minutes (Sam in his work clothes) bathing her. For lack of tomato juice (or anything else those old wives tell you to use), we used some old Suave shampoo we found under the sink, buried in the back.

Amazed. . .it worked! And, we both made it to work on time. . . With a story that we have laughed about for a long time. . . Never dreaming that history could repeat itself. . .

Yesterday morning, our little Maxie decided that a skunk would make a fun playmate. He didn't do the Dude jump on the back thing. . . but followed it happily through the backyard (and almost into the brush). . .all while I'm screaming Max! loud enough for the neighbors on the North side of town to hear. I could smell it's chemical aroma. . .so close my eyes were tearing. . .and yet he didn't seem to notice. I was holding a paperback book (I was hoping to do a little Photoshop reading on the porch when the little yellow guy disappeared down the hillside into the back). . . so I slammed it as hard as I could on the camper, hoping to distract him from his playmate (and so I wouldn't have to get any closer than I was).

Luckily, the second slam got his attention enough to bring him over to me. A sniff test failed me, because the whole world around me reeked. . .

So, Max got his first bath. . . With Lukey's baby shampoo (no Suave available this time). . . I think he only got it in the face, a bit. . . So I guess he hung back just enough not to drown in the stink. . .

Ah well. . . A Zeli dog tradition upheld. . . And another story to keep us laughing. . .

tonight, he sleeps. . .

[a little boy nap yesterday. . .5 pm. . .after a day full of too much little boy fun]

falling asleep (sans nap today) at 10 pm ish. . . with a Lightning McQueen in each hand. . .





and when I crept in to peek at my little elf, I found him pushed to the bottom of his bed. . . with six Lighneen Queens all lined up at the bottom of his pillow. . .





Goodnight, Queen. . .





Goodnight, Duke. . .

the gift of a day. . .

My body clock is urging me that today is Friday. . .although the calendar insists it is still only Thursday. Anxious for vacation? Ready for a different pace of our days. . . I'm not sure. The only thing I know is that it remains Thursday, no matter how much I am convinced otherwise.


As I sat on the porch with Max (who was supposed to be going outside. . .but instead lay in the warm sand watching the world go by. . .), I happened to catch a peek at the sky. . . so deeply blue. . . Bluer than my memories hold. . .

Awe. . . Moved by the beauty and simplicity of a summer's day.

A gift of a whole day. A day more than my body thinks it has. . . A day to embrace nature's beauty. Feel the summer's breeze. Delight in the boy's laughter. . .and silliness. . .

I called Jack outside to see this blue. And we watched it together. . . so still. . . only the sounds of little blackbeard in the neighbor's tree. . . He who sang to us every morning as we waited for the school bus together. . .

And he decided to stay outside for a while. Joining Max in the warm sand. Embracing our extra day, I relented. . .and he played outside in his pj's. . .JJs we called them as he grew. . .

Luke joined us minutes later. Happy to leave his beloved Super Readers and join his brother outside in the sand. . . Our little taste of the seaside.

So, I will pack a little more. . .and clean up a bit. . .

But, mostly:

I will feel the breeze as it blows in the windows. . .listen to the birds sing as they balance the wires outside our home. . . I will pause with Max outside just a little longer. . .smelling our summer blooms. . . and greet this gift of a day. . .