Up to

1) I saw this picture on Sarah and Joe's blog and I realized I never wrote about it. Aren't these cousins cute? Incidentally, it mirrors Joe's family. Four boys then a girl. (Got anything for me, God? Hmmmm?)

We had the opportunity to take a quick trip to Idaho to visit JB's sister Sarah -- but really to see this cute Kate. I can't get over how fast she got to steppin'. My boys kept trying to get her to teach James to crawl, especially her trick of crawling to the dishwasher and sitting on the open door.

1.5) Then we went swimming with my brother Joe, wife Susan, and baby Kaylee on Memorial Day. Kaylee also crawls and she is also younger than James. But now he crawls on his hands and knees too, so the brothers have relaxed about his skills. We must spend more time playing with both these families.


2) My hair is getting long. On the way to James's birthday party I tried to  put it up in a bun without the aid of a good mirror. But despite 7 other pictures just like this one, I never got a good look at it.

3) Our daily after-dinner walk around the neighborhood continues. I was struck recently watching Max following JB. Matchy-matchy and I love it.

Max usually rides his bike, like Benny, but lately he has been complaining about his helmet. It's too broken/itchy/small/annoying/whatever, so if he won't wear it, he has to walk.

Three-year-old Andrew and baby James go in the double stroller. Eventually we will have to teach Andrew how to ride our iconic red trike, but then our walks will slow down again. And we could have a repeat of the last time we had a toddler trying to ride a bike. The neighbors must all still remember Benny screeching, "WAIT FOR ME, MAX! IT'S MY TURN TO BE THE LEADER!"

4) Our fridge went on the fritz last Friday. We spent all weekend with no cold food, so, we were basically pioneers.

While waiting for the tech to come on Saturday, I mentioned it to my neighbors to the north, and they just bustled right into the kitchen, moved the fridge and vacuumed all SORTS of gunk out of the coils underneath and behind, scrubbed the floor and walls behind it (so embarrassing), all while chatting away to each other and to me. I love this couple so much. They bustled out hoping that would do it, so I canceled the tech -- but that night it was still was a hot box of no-good. So the tech came Monday and Andrew has his cold sippy o'milk in hand again and all is right with the world.