A brief update

Although brevity may be the soul of wit, I'm not aiming to be witty here--just succinct. The reason? We've been out of town all weekend, I'm tired (and probably dehydrated!) and my brain isn't functioning at optimum capacity.

School started last week for Dan and I--so far, I think we both feel fairly confident. I'm teaching two classes: one online (freshman comp) and one face to face (intermediate composition--although I'm not sure why we have an "intermediate" requirement when there's no advanced one). The latter is a new class for me, a themed writing course that I'm focusing on classical rhetoric. So far, no one in class seems to know more than I do about the topic and I've managed to sound moderately intelligent. All good things.

This weekend, we headed up north to see my youngest brother who was in town for just a few days before starting in on a new semester at Yale (he's finished his law degree; now he just needs to finish his history degree). It was fun to see him and his wife--more fun (sorry Justin!) to see his girls and watch the cousins play. Andrew has found a new friend in his cousin Eli (pronounced Ellie--short for Elizabeth), who's a scant three months younger than he is.

In honor of the occasion, my mom invited my siblings and all of her sisters in the area over for a breakfast. Although not everyone came (my other brother, Jared, wasn't feeling well and not all of my cousins came), lots of people did: my sister, her husband and their three kids; my aunts Dahnelle, Tera, and Jeannie; Dahnelle and Tera's significant others; and Dahnelle's three daughters, the oldest daughter's husband, and the youngest daughter's boyfriend (fiance? I'm not quite sure). It was fun to see all of them--although the volume in the house increased quite a bit. It was also the first time in a long time that I've seen either of my kids act shy, although the combined prospect of all those relatives could be a little daunting.

And Evelyn discovered a previously unsuspected fondness for Princess Tiana--more to the point, she discovered a lovely, silky blue princess night gown in grandma's infamous closet that fit her (and which features the aforementioned Tiana). Grandma said she could have it; I told her not until after dinner--this pronouncement was met with tears and drama. She wore it last night and was only talked into her church dress when I pointed out that it, too, was blue--and when she woke up crying from her nap in the car (sobbing uncontrollably would be a more accurate description), she was only comforted by two things: her mom's arm (stretched uncomfortably back to her) and watching Princess and the Frog. When we got closer to home, the interests of the movie palled, mom's arm got tired and sore from the unnatural position, and Evelyn began crying for her princess dress. Magically, her tears stopped as soon as we got her home and into her dress. I'm starting to wonder if we might have a problem here . . .

At any rate, we're glad to be home (I'll post pictures when I feel up to it)--glad to have seen family, but also glad to be home. Andrew starts preschool tomorrow and is unbearably excited about it. We'll keep you posted.