THIRTY-THREE

 

V is all about the handstands lately. I apologize in advance, if we come over to your house she will probably try to put her feet on your walls. I should just make her carry a magic eraser to clean up after herself. 

2026 week thirty-three

Last day of Summer Vacation, putting up a new swing rope. Matt got the absolute sturdiest one available as the previous "sturdiest available" ropes were no match for kids. 

Kip is such a patient girl. Here she is being swaddled in a trash bag. 

Meet the Teacher for Middle and Upper School on Monday before school started. 

First day of school! 

V couldn't wait to get back to school. 

Theo was a little nervous that 5th grade would be strict and difficult. 

First day of school celebratory sushi dinner. 

Theo got over his worries quickly. He has a class full of friends and his teacher brought in a leopard gecko for the class pet and put him in charge of feeding it and cleaning the cage. 

Friends invited us over to celebrate the end of the first week with hamburgers and swimming. And obviously some weapon modeling. 

The glow sticks in the pool was such a fun experience for the kids. They looked like glowing jellyfish. 

Theo spent all weekend perfecting the pen gun. 

Quotes:

Theo -"For our family movie this week can we watch Poltergeist?
Me- "No."
Theo- "What?! Why not?!"

Theo grumpy about the first day of school and his new shirts- "It looks like I'm wearing old elephant skin!"

V- "My top five movies of all time are: Contagion, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Iron Man 1, Thor 1, and the Sixth Sense." Quite the eclectic mix. 

V -"Come look! The beautiful yellow mold is unanimously spreading throughout the bread in my petri dish!"

V- "*NSYNC just sounds like American Saja Boys."
Me- "Wow. Rude. Saja Boys are just trying to sound like the Korean *NSYNC. *NSYNC definitely came first."

Theo- "You know how our family doesn't believe in ghosts and stuff like that? Well, David Blaine makes me believe in magic. Like I can't believe in it, but then I see him do a trick and I just have to believe in magic for like an hour!"

THIRTY-TWO

Some photos of Ribfest 2026. This was year 11 for Ribfest. 

2026 week thirty-two

V got some hand-me-downs from older cousins. It's so fun to have cool cousins who give you their nice clothes. 

The trinity of rib fest includes: ribs

biscuits

and corn. Soda and watermelon are important but secondary. 

While I was back at work this week Grandma was very generous with her time with the kids. 

V also got to hang out with her friend and have adventures in a questionable creek. 

One evening we sent the kids to bed with a final good night. 30 minutes later I get out of the bath and see V swinging outside. Her reply was "well you said good night but I didn't think that meant I had to go to bed." I'm not sure what she thought it did mean...

My former teammate gave me this amazing print from the artists of the Great British Baking Show! It is such a unique gift! 

Fun Easter Egg: I wear the same dress every year for staff photos. I only have 3/5 of the years printed though. 

On Saturday, my friend Sera and I went to a beautiful nursery in Dallas and had excellent coffee in their darling coffee shop and then ooh-ed and ahhh-ed over the gorgeous plants. I was so very sorely tempted by the unique orchids that I absolutely could not afford. 

I am in love with the color of this hardy hydrangea. I will find you for sale somewhere, and I will plant you. 

THIRTY-ONE

 

Teachers are back on campus prepping for the year. My new classroom is starting to come together nicely.

2026 week thirty

I submitted the kids' entries for the state fair this year. Theo did a scale model WW2 scene with this British soldiers and some ruins and a tank. 

V entered the embellished gourd category. This is her gory gourd. 

Matt and 4/5ths of his siblings helped celebrate a belated birthday party with his mom playing the games she loves that they usually vote against. 

The Oklahoma cousins came down for the weekend. Matt smoked 19 racks of ribs for our annual rib fest. Photos of the festivities will be forthcoming. 

Round 2 of a full smoker of ribs. 

Theo showing off his strength by bench pressing two chickens. 

Quotes:

V- "Do other people outside of the South say 'y'all'?"
Me- "Not everyone says it, no."
V- "Then what do they even say? How do you even address multiple people?"
Me- "Some people say, 'you guys' or just 'you'."
V- "Those are bad. Y'al is so much better!"

THIRTY

 

I made some cake samples for a friend’s upcoming wedding. We all really enjoyed making different flavor combinations. V now wants a make your own mini cake bar for her birthday. 

2026 week thirty 

My good friend Ashley brought her kids to play at our house and see all the animals. It’s always so charming to have them running around. It makes V nostalgic about being so little and full of imaginative energy. 

Grandpa took some cousins to a special night at the Rangers game where they were able to get anything they wanted to eat. Theo got sushi. Totally normal ballgame sushi…

A bunch of boy cousins came to our house to play halo. Matt loves reliving his memories of playing group games either friends. 

V has been working on her “embellished gourd” for the state fair. 

Lake day with the cousins. 

I went to Utah for a long weekend to spend with Lauren and Becky. Here we are in 2008 as fresh little college roommates. 

And now here we are in 2026 after 18 years of friendship. We didn’t “do” much of anything but it was exactly what we needed. All we want to do anyway is what we did in college -sit on the couch talking, laughing, crying while eating snacks. I’m so glad I got to spend this time with them. 

TWENTY-NINE

This week Matt took the kids up to Oklahoma while I had some training. They caught fireflies.

2026 week twenty-nine

Oklahoma is their heaven on earth. They were thrilled to spend five days with cousins. 

One of the nights they all went camping and basically just spent the whole evening running and screaming and laughing. 

It was just the best summer vacation for them. 

I had a quiet week at home in a clean, empty house. It was its own little vacation for me.