Muggi-less Monday Musings

Happy Summer!! Happy Monday!

And Happy Dad's Day from yesterday!

It's a beautiful day today! Sunshine and blue skies. It may change, but I'm enjoying it while it's here.

We had a semi-busy weekend. Life is beginning to finally wind down for the summertime. (Can we say: "Yay?" Yes, we can!! YAY!)

The kids showed their rabbits on Saturday at our 4-H club's fun show. It was an actual show with an actual judge (alright a judge-in-training who was not Zac Efron despite the similarities in looks), with the idea of allowing kids (like ours) to experience showing their rabbits. Emily has wanted to show Earl for years now, but we feel a bit nervous of the idea since he lives inside in the A/C during the summer. At the county fair, the rabbits are housed in an open-sided shed for a week. I'm not sure her bunny would enjoy that too much. Earl Grey got 1st place and Best-of-Breed, Best-of-Variety, Best-of-Class...of course, he was the only one in his breed, variety, and show. *wink-grin* But still... Edward showed Tony, our black Holland Lop, and got a second-place ribbon with him. He was quite proud since he's not an official member of the 4-H but was allowed to show anyway. It rained buckets while we were there, but we were in the cow shed at the Reading Fairgrounds so everyone stayed nice and dry.


Father's Day was a fun-filled day. After church, a Skype video chat with Stuart's dad, and some pre-dinner dessert with my dad, Stuart and I prepared his Father's Day feast. Since we got him a charcoal grill last Father's Day I thought he might like to grill something special on it each year (different from, say, the other usual grillable stuff he does during the rest of the year). He's been "drooling" over a recipe for stuffed flanksteak since last year...so that was his choice-du-Father's-jour. And it was awesome!!! (The recipe is available upon request.) I made some bacon and egg potato salad and cooked broccoli and cauliflower to go with it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.


Let me pause to remember it................. Mmmmm!

Anyways...

Emily finished her pointe club for ballet last Friday evening. We won't say it went without a hitch because she balked and cried everyday (with the exception of one) about going.... But it's OVER! No more dance until September.


Edward wrapped up his Spring soccer season on Thursday evening in between raindrops. It was not his favorite season, but he was still very sad when it was all over. Since it finished somewhat later than usual and Emily was still in dance class, we celebrated on Friday morning with waffles and ice cream (whipped cream, chocolate sauce, AND sprinkles) for breakfast! He'll play on a U9 team in the fall. All guys. And he gets a uniform with his very own handpicked number on it: 51.


We had Emily's and Edward's moving up "ceremony" on Friday evening after Emily's last dance class. Each got a "congrats" certificate, bookstore giftcard, and new Summer Bridge book, as well as a photo with the headmaster of our "school." Wooof. It was a "solemn" occasion, let me tell you. *wink-grin* Well, as solemn as silliness allows. Stuart and I did have a sobering thought, though, after we put the kids to bed that night. We'll have a 12th-grader, 8th-grader, and kindergarten all in the same year. Three "graduates." Wow.


Ethan is Ethan, still our jovial, silly baby. He's growing and developing all the time. And, like his siblings, he's full of curiosity. We had forgotten how much babies actually understand, and we are constantly amazed by his attention and communication with us. He's not talking by any means (though he loves to "sing" and jibber-jabber), but he shows his understanding by looking at whatever we say or signaling with his hands. We're anxious for his next checkup so that we can find out his stats. He's definitely one BIG guy.

Heard from the girl on Saturday. "I didn't know Agatha Christie was English. Oh, that's right. She wrote Harry Potter, right?"

Have a happy Monday! And I hope it's sunshining wherever you are, too!