Summering

Summer has officially hit (today, as a matter of fact!). This last week has been HOT--temps up in the upper nineties most days, and it's still June!

Some highlights (and lowlights) of the week:

Oliver had croup. Luckily, we got him to the doctor's for a shot (poor kid--but the steroid shot for croup is miraculous. Really.) and rode out the worst of the croup that way. Croup meant a couple of quiet days at home for everyone else, too.

Andrew and Evelyn had swimming most days: Evelyn finished out her round of swim lessons, and won't have more until mid July. Andrew had his first swim meet on Saturday. Since they had to leave at o' dark early to be at the meet by 7:15 (in SG), Dan and Andrew went without the rest of us. Andrew didn't do spectacular--he came in last in most of his races--but he did it. Now that he's 9, he's entered a more competitive bracket, racing against kids who do year-round swim team and he's only been back on the team for two weeks. I was proud of him for not being too upset--even a year ago, that might not have been the case.

We spent lots of time with friends this week--I think most days saw A and E either at friends' houses or with friends coming over here. It works out that a lot of their friends (Josh and Abby, McKay and Matthew, Hayes and Kamri) are sibling pairs, although sadly Josh and Abby are moving in a month or so.

Friday night, Evelyn and I had a mommy-daughter date to Pixar's Inside Out. I loved it--I cried through the short film, "Lava," (Evelyn's response to that one: "Mommy, why is this so loooong?") and kept tearing up through the film. The more I think of it, the more brilliant it seems: a concrete way of understanding the role of memory and emotion in kids' personalities. There's no villain in this movie besides circumstance, but it's a powerful look at friendship and family and even the importance of being sad. I'm not sure it was Evelyn's favorite, though: she laughed at parts, but she sobbed through most of the middle, when things were hard for the main character. E's sensitivity is both a blessing and a curse: I don't want her to lose that empathy, but life's rough enough without being destroyed at children's films.

Up this week: dentist appointments and a mini-vacation. See you on the flip side!