Rosh Hashanah

Bobbie offered to send some flowers for the holiday, but I asked (insisted) that she make a contribution to Mazon instead, and I promised I would make a centerpiece giving her credit for her generosity. I really appreciate her being willing to go along with my very non-traditional preference.

Swimming at the Y

Met some friends at the East Area YMCA today. Caleb braved the slide several times until I got a (halfway) decent shot of him coming down it. Alana played with her friend Lily. Caleb and I later got invoved in a rousing volleyball match that at it's peak included 8 or 9 kids and 1 dad. Really a fun afternoon.

Walk in the park

Took Roxy for a walk in the very soggy park, and was rewarded with some fun sights. I often see frogs hopping off the path when I startle them, but this frog (a little bigger than the ones I usually see) posed for the photo instead of disappearing into the bushes. And I loved these dignified mushrooms.

Doctor's office

Alana's school called on Friday around noon, to say that she was complaining that her throat hurt. Both Caleb and I have had what I assume is a minor virus all week, and I think she probably has the same. However, the school said there was recently a case of strep throat, so I don't want to take any chances, especially going into the weekend. We had to wait quite awhile in the doctor's office, but Alana happily drew a bunch of pictures on an office pad and she gave the nicest one to the doctor when she arrived. Her culture came out negative, so she's fine. The doctor recommend hot apple cider, so we stopped at a farm stand on the way home and got some cider and she and I enjoyed a mug of heated cider when we got home.

Root canal

So, I got my root canal this afternoon and I have to say, it sucked. The dentist seemed very capable, and it didn't really take very long, but yuck, yuck, yuck! There was drilling and scraping and poking. At one point he was actually grunting - that doesn't really inspire confidence. And then he cauterized something - I don't even want to know. I tried to psych myself up - I kept thinking, "I've given birth, I've given birth" but honestly, it didn't really help. Then I tried various imagery - "he's just fixing it, he's just cleaning it" - the thought of scrubbing a toilet bowl worked for a little while, not sure why. I'm so not someone who can handle medical stuff - I almost vomited into the dental dam used to keep you from swallowing pieces of your tooth (obviously that's not a calming thought either). What a wretched business, but at least I live in an era of modern medicine - it used to be so much worse. And it's finished, so that's the best part of all.

Card exchange

Caleb got a huge stack of new Pokemon cards from a friend at school and let Alana pick out a bunch for herself, which was so sweet. This is a terrible photo quality wise, but it's fun to see them.

Westcott Street Fair

We went to the festival for the 3rd year running (Larry's 1st time!) The weather wasn't that great (it was cool, overcast and spitting rain at times), but the festival was great fun. Tons of terrific music, some delicious food and the kids' area was wonderful. They have an adorable mini golf course (see photos), but the kids also made stuff out of clay (Larry is carrying the results), had their faces painted, and played some other games.

Crafts at WCU

The kids had a great time at the Family Day put on at the college. There wasn't that much to do, but they got free tshirts and did some crafts (Caleb is making a sand bracelet and Alana is making a door sign), and the student volunteers were all super nice. It's good to know that at least some of Matt's fellow students are very pleasant folks.

West Chester Family Day

The kids posed in front of the WCU mascot, the ram, as soon as we arrived on campus. At the picnic, Caleb played football and Alana threw horseshoes with Larry and Matt.

Cloud

It's mostly clear this morning, but there's this weird, beautiful cloud in the southern sky. (That's the helicopter landing pad sticking out from the top of the hospital building.)

Leaf gatherers

It was cool and damp, but we took Roxy for a walk in the park anyway. The kids started collecting leaves and then branches with leaves, until they had quite a collection.

Tooth number 2

Last night Alana put the tooth under her pillow and was so delighted to get a dollar from the Tooth Fairy this morning that she pulled out the other tooth (that has also been loose for ages) - th eone on the right. She's a tough cookie!

Ike blows through

We're home today because the remnants of Ike blew through here last night (I listened to the wind for quite awhile around 3 a.m.). It tore a big branch off one of our trees in the back and knocked our screen door about 3/4 off the hinges (it's never closed right, so it was vulnerable). Several of the local school districts are closed, including ours, because of scattered power outages in the area (though obviously we weren't affected, thank goodness). It's been hot and muggy here for several days, but there was much colder air behind the storm - it'll be in the 30s in some places around us tonight. Really feels like fall all of a sudden.

Craft time

Yesterday the kids were looking though a toddler craft book that I have (I rearranged a bookshelf to make room for the piano), and found a recipe for peanut butter playdough. This afternoon we made some and the kids had great fun. Alana made a dog, and Caleb made a family of snakes. Larry even got into the act - you can see his fish and sun on Alana's wax paper.

Festa Italiana

We had lunch at the Syracuse Italian Festival in Clinton Square today. I had some delicious bean soup, Caleb had mozzarrella sticks, Alana had pasta and Larry had tomato salad. The kids did a bunch of fun activities in the craft area (here Alana is having Pikachu painted on her arm) and then they had ice cream. Larry bought a bunch of yummy pastries.

Alana FINALLY lost her tooth

It's sort of a funny story. We were playing in the wonderful East Area YMCA kiddie pool this afternoon and I hit her in the face with the "noodle" (not on purpose!) and it knocked the tooth just a little more loose and it finally came out. She was over the moon - just thrilled. However, she fell asleep on the couch while we were watching Rush Hour and so didn't put it under her pillow. (You can see in this picture that the new tooth has already started to come in, but it was behind the baby tooth.)

We own a piano!!

Weird story. I had been thinking about getting Alana piano lessons for awhile - she loves to play on the beautiful grand at Burt and Bobbie's house, and this summer I found out that they have music lessons at the YMCA (just 3 minutes from our house) and the prices are very reasonable. Then I did a mitzvah two weeks ago - I took a Mexican casserole over to the house of the new Jewish family that just moved here from Mobile, Alabama. And wouldn't you know it - the former owner of the house left their piano (an upright) and the new owners wanted to get rid of it. So the movers brought it over this morning. I already contacted a local piano tuner, and he's coming later this month. I'm so excited! But I probably won't start Alana on lessons until next year, based on the recommendation of a friend whose own daughter started lessons last year - first grade is apparently considered the appropriate age.

Pet collections

Purge

We got infested with those disgusting pantry months. I cleaned out once a couple weeks ago, but not thoroughly enough, so tonight I took EVERYTHING out of the cupboards, threw away a BUNCH of stuff, and wiped everything with bleach. Hopefully we're all set now.

Sour cream enchiladas

I often have leftover chicken from dinner, and I love enchiladas, but a lot of commercial enchilada sauce has wheat in it (!) and I can't use cream soups like cream of chicken, b/c it has wheat too. So I thought a recipe that used sour cream might work. I made a modified version of this recipe and it was delicious, and so quick and easy.

I used corn tortillas instead of flour ones, I left out the cilantro (which I hate) and I used regular salsa instead of jalapeno b/c I didn't want it too spicy. I left it in the oven a bit long (not on purpose) so it came out more like enchilada casserole, but it's terrific. I made a big batch and I've had it for lunch every day this week. YUM! Next time, I'm going to put some corn and black beans in, for extra color and pizzazz.

Saturday

Alana had a princess birthday party at the YMCA for one of her daycare friends (Anya), so Caleb came along and went swimming (he's in the back of the pool photo, in front of him is his friend Jake). Above, Alana gets her hair braided and then shows off the result. The cupcake photo is not the BD girl with Alana - it's another friend, Abby (obviously, A names are popular in her age cohort!)

Get on the bus!

Alana is just thrilled to be going off to school. And Caleb is being terrific - helping her out.

WCU Update

From Matt:

Well it's only the middle of the second week of classes and there's already so much that's to be done! The first week ended very well, and was made even better by the 3-day weekend from Labor Day. Yesterday was virtually another day off because I only had my Chemistry lab in the morning. However the extra time was well spent. I have had much homework to do (the majority of it being from Calculus and Chemistry) with lots of reading thrown in. But things have not been all about the books! I am now an official member of the Alchemist's Club, the official Chemistry club of the school. We meet every Tuesday night and discuss the month's community service project and social gathering that we're planning. And through the club I am tutoring General Chemistry and Calculus 1 (because I took the AP tests for both those classes) for an hour on Wednesday afternoons.

On Tuesday nights (after the meeting) and Thursday nights I will be working for the WCU Phonathon, a telemarketing service used to ask alumni and their families for donations. Certainly not my ideal job, but if it's a source of income, I'll take it. I am also now enrolled in the Taekwondo club, so I can continue my training. They meet for an hour on Mondays and Wednesdays. I was also told they are working on introducing Olympic Sparring to the club. That'd be so great! :-D

My friends and I are getting a Flag Football team together to compete in the Intramural Tournament and we also have a Fantasy Football League, just in time for the season opener on Thursday night! So there is no dull moment at West Chester this semester!

Labor Day

We wanted to squeeze just a bit more summer fun out of the last day of the season, so we visited Oneida Shores this afternoon.