First day of school

Unbelievably, K started second grade last week. So far the best parts of 2nd grade include: a morning snack, sitting wherever you want at lunch, and having a locker to share. I'm sure we'll get to hear about the worst parts as soon as she brings home homework.

My favorite season

I can hear it now... a collective "ewww" from the peanut gallery. A fascinating insect, harmless on all issues, it doesn't bite animals or people, this particular version of the species doesn't destroy crops. The cicada actually spends most of it's life underground as sort of a slug, then, once it has reached maturity and developed wings, it finds a nice dry spot to shed it's skin for the last time.

We walked through the front yard the other night to find four of these babies clinging to the tree, their fresh green wings drying in the warm sunshine. Granted, I'm not a big fan of these bugs when they are all dried off and buzzing away in the trees, but the symmetry of their wings is really something to take a closer look at when they are glossy new green, completely vulnerable, clinging to the bark of a tree in one of the final stages of their lives.

The cicadas are a pretty definite sign of fall, my very favorite season. I love cool weather clothes, was always ready to start another year of school, and of course my birthday is in September. Many people think of fall as a time for everything to begin dying off. I prefer to think of it as settling in for a crisp-cold winter, gearing up for some beauty next spring. Fall gets you thinking about soup and casseroles, cornbread and warm biscuits, lets you pick up the prime root veggies at the grocery store--which are my favorites right after green beans and tomatoes. There are lots of reasons to love fall, feel free to add your own in the comments.

My laundry helper

K has been really great about taking on new chores, she just has a few but it's been great to help her learn how to do stuff -- she loves to learn anything new and really thrives on praise so anything she does she tries her best to do it really well. And, I dont' like to dust so she really comes in handy!

She has started helping with laundry. She's been helping fold for at least a couple years and now she drags her laundry and her little sisters to the laundry room -- which at our house means going from the second floor all the way down to the basement. Usually she takes the clothes down, moves clothes to the dryer and loads the washer then I follow close behind with detergent.

Tonight she took both baskets down and loaded the washer to the brim and turned it on. The poor clothes didn't stand a chance! They were crammed in there so tight there was no hope of getting clean, not to mention no detergent. Easily remedied and very sweet of her to try!

So I finished Wicked...

The last 100 pages or so where the Wicked Witch of the West is anticipating Dorothy & Co. arriving to do her in make the prior 300 worth the wait. Really, just fascinating. The book shows the vulnerability of the Witch and how she tries everything in her power to keep them from arriving at her castle. I really enjoyed the book though did have to make up some pronunciations to fit into the flow of my reading. :)

Fair Time!

Somehow, I talked Pa into one of his very least favorite activites. We took the girls to the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday. Here they are checking out a pig. It rained all morning so we waited until afternoon to go and then had beautiful weather. The girls did Little Hands on the Farm where they roam around picking up plastic veggies and milking water out of a plastic cow. They had a lot of fun and really liked buying a snack with their pretend dollar. Best part -- get to keep the awesome grass-green Pioneer seed caps. I took the girls down the giant slide, which K loved and G got to the top of the stairs and didn't want to go down. As you can see, there's only one way down. The last picture is for my dear friend Jen A. Diamond Jacks was the place we were way back in '94. We'd sit on the fence that used to be in front and people watch. They've spruced the place up a bit and the fence has been replaced with park benches. Guess the fence had seen it's share of people.

Here we go...

I became enamored with blogging when my friend Jen started one awhile back. I love being able to catch up on the on-goings of friends and family that I don't get to see or even chat with as often as I'd like. That and I used to journal and write occasional poems and lately find my thoughts rambling so might as well write a few of them down. So here goes nothing. :)