Ok, so I need a new post so that my sad one isn't at the top of the pile

Yesterday I took the munchkins to the County Fair!

Eeeps! Bee hive in the tree!

Someone's a little too little to be a praying mantis.

So anyways, I know that I just need to keep busy in the mornings and that will help me adjust. Preschool starts next week so I'll be taking the kids to that on Wednesday. I'll also hopefully be able to volunteer in her class on Mondays. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have park playgroups that we attend. And Friday is the library. Hopefully that is enough to do to keep our mornings busy so that the afternoon comes quickly and I'm not spending the whole day just feeling her absence! Besides, now it's time for me to start thinking about Adam's schooling at the fact that he'll be in Kindergarten next year.

My foray back into blogging

People keep asking me, "How come you don't blog anymore?" and I don't have a great answer other than, "I don't want to."

But I'm here tonight at the computer because I'm sad and miserable and who the heck wants to listen to someone drone on and on about their misery? No one. So I'm droning at the computer instead.

So what is this silly thing that's making me so sad?

My Frannie went back to school last week and I hate it. It's 10:45pm and I'm sitting here crying, yes, CRYING because tomorrow is another school day and she'll be gone from 8-2:20. And I just HATE IT! I miss her too much dammit! I miss my little girl. And shit, she's gone so much she's just going to turn into a big girl like a snap and I'll freaking miss half of it because she's gone all day.

I do feel I'm being a little overly dramatic here. And I'm almost embarrassed that I'm so damn sad about this. I know people send their children to school every day and this has been done for a LONG time and I know all of this. She's enjoying school and is happy every day when I pick her up.

It's me.

I just feel a little lost without her here. I know I've got Adam and Nattie, but they're a bit lost without her here too. She's the one who orchestrates all of the games. Anyways, so that's it. My Frannie started 1st grade and I'm miserable that I've got a whole school year of this. I'm already thinking forward to the next vacation when I can have her back.

Kids

Sunday

The Kids

The Bicycle Family

Last weekend, I took the family on our first epic ride.  We rode four miles to downtown Claremont for lunch and back. The kids did great, obeying all the rules of the road.  We weaved thru the older homes between Foothill and Bonita, to our final destination, Downtown Claremont.  Along the way, Jamie admired some of the homes and even did a walk thru one "Open House".

Our goal was to eat at Saca's but sure enough they were closed on Sunday.  What restaurant CLOSES on a Sunday?  We ended up eating at a pizza place in the heart of downtown Claremont.  The food was okay.


Obey all the rules of the road.  "Stay on your right hand side!"


Smile for the camera!


Adam absolutely loves his bike.  He was the big brother and in his Thomas the Train backpack held Natalie's bottle, diapers and wipes.  He also had our bike lock stashed in there too!


Natalie takes a snooze while mommy looks at an open house.


It was a great ride 8 mile ride.  The kids did great and on the way home we stopped off at 21 Choices for some well earned frozen yogurt.

A good summer tip

This goes into the files of "practical things I want to remember".

We all know that my street is like Kid-City, and my front yard in particular seems to be the main dance floor. So I've got kids whooping it up outside of my door everyday, and that's how I like it.

But, I've also become more sensitive to my across-the-grass neighbors and don't feel it's right to have a bunch of kid toys littering the yard anymore. So into the backyard went the playhouse, and in go the bicycles (as much as I can keep up with anyways).

But what I do have is a basket of small spray bottles (like the kind hairdressers use). Those stupid spray bottles make the best squirt guns and I've got a veritable water-fight-war outside my door after school with each neighborhood kid vying for his very own bottle. Natalie comes in wanting her "wa-wa" too, so now I've got an empty dishsoap container out there too for her.

So that's my tip. Squirt bottles and empty dish soap bottles for squirt guns.