So the kids are missing Travis, and Reagan was having an especially hard time, so we had a Mommy & Reagan day out. It was terrific. He called me his girlfriend all day. "What are you doing, Girlfriend?" "Girlfriend, what the heck?" A woman saw us at Publix and asked if he has a twin--remembered us from the mall. I can only hope that was a good thing.

I made an impulse purchase and got the patio seating I've been wanting. It was a comedy of errors getting it here and set up (thank you, Mom & Dad) and Tanner the Terrible got loose and things just went downhill from there. I decided that we would distract and calm everyone by making Rice Krispy treats. I left the room for a moment while they were setting and came back to find this picture. They were too goopy for Riley to touch, so he just went nose-first.

In spite of the craziness, I'm looking forward to more time in the pool and more dinners on the grill. I got this great mesh pan from W-S for grilling veggies. Pretty cool.

Congrats to Tal for finishing 4th grade with flying colors. We added a fun post on our Academy page and a new way to share books we're reading. Quite neat.

So yesterday I thought I smelled toast, then burnt toast. I Googled it and found out I was about to have a stroke. After a mild panic attack, I realized it was an interaction of migraine medication and an oncoming migraine...ever had an olfactory aura? Especially to a girl with virtually no sense of smell, it was strange indeed. Funny how everyone is so concerned with my health these days.

In other news, the laundry gorilla was finally tamed today. Amazing.

Thank you to everyone for making my birthday so special. It started at 6:15 when my mom brought a cake and gifts...a MAP for our big adventures! It was a Judy day, so I figured it was okay to give the kids chocolate cake for breakfast...we did candles and everything. So I heard from so many people...it was fantastic, and I am so grateful for every call, email, and card. I had a girl lunch with Brenda and Debbie (in-laws) at Maggiano's, and Travis got me the geeky-but-needed negative-to-digital converter that I've been wanting, and there are so many other lovely and thoughtful gifts.

We're in a small group on Wednesdays at church, and Travis announced my birthday a couple weeks ago. Not only did all the girls in our group remember my birthday, but one brought CHOCOLATE CAKE (must be a soul mate) and another made the most darling, preppy, green/white/pink cookies (you can click the pic for a close-up).

Thank you again to everyone for making the day so special. And Happy Birthday to Davis :).

If you have played Wii, you'll find this hilarious. If not, well...

Riley was walking along the railroad ties as if they were Wii Fit balance beams. When he fell, he did what the Mii does when you fail in the game.

SOOOOOOOOOO funny.

Today is my last day of being 38, so I thought I would be cool and do my beloved SuperTarget run in madras espadrilles. I know I have four boys, but we really do usually keep it together. I put Cam in the Bjorn partly because he is just snuggly, and partly so Riley could ride in the cart because he insisted on wearing his saddle oxfords today and I was a little embarrassed. So we got our Starbucks fix (they are SO nice and always play with the kids), and went on our way. Well, we did the grocery section and made our way to the frozen stuff, and Riley somehow bumped my VENTI drink and it went upside-down, and made the biggest mess ever. There were red shirts on us immediately, got us a new cart so we could be on our way faster, wiped down all our groceries really fast, and we were shamefully on our way. Tal kept saying, "Cleanup on Aisle 14." So a few minutes later we are clear across the store and Mark the nice Target guy tracks me down WITH A NEW DRINK, CUPHOLDER, AND STRAW. I was speechless. I rave about this store ad nauseum, but they really make it an amazingly pleasant place to spend a lot of money.

This picture is from last November, but a cute one of the kids chilling out at the ST Starbucks.

These are our precious friends next door, and my kids' first kids-next-door playmates. It has been the best experience a family could ask for. The kids just adore them. They are standing here under the favorite climbing tree (hence the unfavorable shadows). They leave this weekend to move up north, and we'll miss them until it hurts.

We wish you the best in your new adventure, and don't forget that you are in charge of our Connecticut exploring! We hope to stay in touch and see you soon. You've been the best friends and neighbors we could have dreamed of having.

Four of the nine houses on our little street are now empty...we had a little drama, and the up-and-coming rapper staying here is no longer. Excitement in the 'hood.

So I've been working way too much again and the boys and I needed a real day out--not just SuperTarget, but a fun escape. It was too hot for much outside, so we went to the mall (multi-tasking). We picked up some gifts and got some adorable little beach pants that will work well on our upcoming vacation. You heard me...vacation. We're heading to see the Mouse for a few days. The boys never, ever wear pants, but these are little lightweight plaid ones that roll up, like you'd wear in the sand. As if we are beach people.

So we had lunch, tried on clothes, got cookies, watched cartoons at Gymboree, made the rounds, saw the horrible stuff at Gap (what happened?), and generally did a bunch of fun kid things. Then we got in the photo booth. The funny thing was that the first round was such a bust that we had to have a do-over, finally realizing that the Rs had to stand up behind us and Cam had to stand up in the middle in order for it to work. I recently saw a coffee table book of photo booth pictures...the premise was that everyone has a fond memory of a photo booth. The author had even found one of Jack and Jackie Kennedy from their honeymoon. Anyway, this one led to lots of giggles for us.

On a funny note, I found a plastic cup at Starbucks that looks and feels like an iced venti cup, only it is hard plastic. Green straw and all. It is a hoot. It was fodder for everyone in line to discuss for quite some time. You can't tell it isn't disposable until you pick it up, seriously. The lid is twist-off and the straw has a cool stopper so it doesn't fall out. And the best news is that the confusing skinny mocha syrup has been discontinued.

This is more like it! The Gleasons joined the boat club. I'm trying to get an invite on THEIR boat. Kid friendly, has an awning (or whatever the nautical word is--everything gets a new name when it hits the water). Tal had a BLAST on the tube. Remember when we rode tubes with the holes in them? They flipped all over the place. This was awesome. Of course my water-in-the-eye-phobia kid had to wear a mask. Then my husband had to circle the Gleasons' boat with his Porche boat until they nearly capsized.

If I hadn't been holding onto Camden for dear life, I would have taken a picture of the kids in their vests ("boat coats"). They looked so cute, and they were great sports about it in spite of the wretched heat.

I call this a Midlife Crisis on Water. Ah, I'll take a better picture next time we're out...it is really pretty. Just totally impratical. The good thing is that Travis has an attention span of about 42 seconds, so I figure I'll just wait it out instead of fighting it. How many years did it take me to learn this?

Doesn't sailing sound fun? You'd have something to do while you're out there roasting in the horrible sun at least. It would be quiet enough to have a conversation. The ride would be smooth enough that you wouldn't lose a kid when the water is choppy. I'm just sayin...

This is an old photo of Tanner. You may have seen him recently, with a hideous growth on his back. It turned out to be a tumor, which happens to be as expensive as a new yellow Lab. Aw, we kept him and fixed him up.

I will say that the experience was a nightmare. The kids and I dropped him off together. Tanner was a pretty good sport for this. He weighs 100 pounds, so getting him up into a Rover is not fun. The kids and the neighbors had a water balloon fight in the pool that day and Cam decided to join the fun by tossing my cell phone in. So I didn't get the call when he was ready, so we were late and I was in my church clothes. It was about 120 degrees out (I exaggerate) and I'm hyperventillating from the bill, and then I realize the bad news is really that Tanner is still groggy from the anesthesia and I still have to get him into the car. We get into the parking lot and he just stares at me. Ten minutes later, I'm up in the car screaming, "Come, Tanner!" and he is just looking at me with literal puppy dog eyes. Tried the front seat, but his claws were digging into that fabulous leather with the little holes in it. So I finally managed to push up the seats enough and he put his front paws in, and I somehow managed to shove that huge butt of his into the second row. Not a good look for either of us.

We get so many questions about being homeschoolers. The kids training for the Olympics are nearly all home-schooled. The About.com homeschooling writer is interviewing some of them about their experience, and I love it.

There are over two million homeschooled kids in the United States right now. We chose to do it so we could have flexibility in our family, one-on-one teaching for each child, and keep their innocence as long as we can. Everyone has different reasons, of course, and these athletes are no different. Here is one really interesting article.