Hunting and Gathering

All summer long Maddie and I were in a nice routine. We would go to the park and go on the swings, which Maddie loved so much that she would point at them from blocks away. After we had swung for a while, she would point at the big kid swing and that was my queue to hold her in my lap while I swang. Then we would head home.

A couple of days ago, I took Maddie for a quick walk, put her in the swing and discovered that she was so over that. She didn't want to be in the swing. She wanted to be on the go.

So instead today, we went to the park and walked around on a scavenger hunt. Maddie collected: 3 acorns, one empty acorn cap, one orange flower, one tiny piece of gravel, one shiny black rock, and 57,000,000 rocks. All of which were handed to me and expected to be held onto with the proper respect deserved of these precious gems. Can't wait to see what we find tomorrow!

***In other news, I am feeling better. Thanks to all for the well-wishes. This round of sickness has made me wonder. Rob gave me this cold, but he doesn't complain as much as I do or appear to be as sick as I do. So does that mean that I'm whinier? Wimpier? or Sicker? I vote for sicker. Because let's face facts, I'm the Mommy in this family. And Mommies are tough cookies.

Just Getting By

September and October are going to be pretty tough for the blog, folks. See, I still think there is more of September to go. That's how bad things are going to be. I'm pretty much working 6 or 7 days a week, from this month to next and even into parts of November. So I'm just going to hold on and wait for it all to be over.

Rob also has been working insane amounts of time throughout this month. That means lots of Maddie and Mommy time. Luckily there has been a really nice sense of calm about that. In the past I was always a little stressed out by the fact that I had to make dinner and clean while having no one to watch Mads. But now I've realized I'm Supermom.

Except today, Supermom is very sick. Thanks to Superdad and also Supermom's officemate at work. So if I just make it through this day and tomorrow when I need to work.... Send your healthy vibes my way, please.

School Days

I must admit, I love school. I can't say that I always have. But certainly since my own high school days, I have loved the start of school and all that it implies. Bake Sales! School Supplies! School Social Events! Love it. Every single one.

Now that I work at a school, I'm happy to be emmersed in that culture and all the excitement that back to school brings. During the summer months, there is such a great energy of preparation and inspiration for new school year ideas. I spent a lot of time this summer working on projects for the school year.

And at last, the kids are back! Sadly that means that my week, though fun, was a chaotic, hectic mess. I cannot believe how completely swamped I am. I knew it was coming, but still the craziness. Due to the nature of my job -- I work with alumnae and the outside MSM community -- September and October will be chalk full of social events (reunions, fundraisers, etc...) But there is still my regular work load to maintain as well.

That means that when I get ideas for initiatives, website ideas and projects, like I have been all day today, I'm left with the frustrated feeling of knowing that I won't get to work on a single one of them until November. Or even later! Ugh.

Meanwhile, it seems that someone else also liked the start of school:



Maddie and I sat out on the front lawn and watched the school buses go by. There were lots of them, so she was in 7th heaven!


This was Maddie's initial reaction to going outside and discovering that Dad had driven to work with the stroller in the trunk of the car. Standing up in shoes? No way. Daddy, you bring back my stroller! I've got swings to get to!

Oh, Maddie

In the words of her Aunt Nanny, "it's too bad she has no personality whatsoever."