September

Shocks of color in the flowerbeds, vegetables in nearly every color of the rainbow, sunrises and sunsets as parentheses, our hushed house all wrapped in cricketsong, and, then as now, little incentive to blog about it.

September is blog-easy, and that's a good thing, because, in real life, October is winding down on its spool, and before 2020 ends, I plan to be caught up.

Yes'ir.

Have at 'em.

Little Girls by the Dahlias

Cadence holds them like a lady.

Skylark destroys them.

First Day of H'learning: 2019

Yup, they got all spiffed up for the first day of school.

Well, at least three people did.

(Nice heels, Pip.)

And, hey, learning's not all bad.

p.s. Guess who started kindergarten this year?

!!!!!

Summertime Sleepover (What Goes Up Must Come Down)

The new tradition for the summertime sleepover is to wait until John leaves for his yearly camping/board gaming trip with his Long Island buddies from high school and then to pack the house with cool girls.

There was high fashion, to be sure, but the only other evidence of this year's summertime sleepover is the high pyramid a lot of the girls built in the living room. I think Martha deserves credit for most of these pictures, as I was behind the pyramid, pajama clad, trying to keep little people from dying.

 As you scroll through these snapshots, let it be known that, despite appearances, no one suffered a single injury!

The Worst Race Ever-- 2019

To be fair, last year Annika enjoyed this race, but there must come a time in every young runner's life when they have a Terrible Race. Annika's fifth race was that race, even though she was all grins at the beginning.

 Zeke took a bunch of pictures after the start gun, but this is the only one that had people we actually knew in it. Hi, Titi, Justin, and Arlan!

Then the boring people who weren't running the race just stood around and waited...

...some more fashionably than others.

Aidan and I took a cue from Zeke and upped our game.

When Annika and Cadie appeared, I had to chuckle. The scene was an exact replica of last year's race, except that Annika had lost her grin along the way and looked miserable. Plus, Cadie beat her by full seconds instead of milliseconds. Even though I knew it was bound to come sometime, I felt sad not seeing Annika grin her way across a finish line.

Millie, Debbie, and the boys crossed the line neck-in-neck, too, or would have had they been racing.

Susannah felt guilty for running past this older gentleman right before the finish line, even though he was cheering her on and telling her to go faster. :)

Even the Worst Race Ever had a silver (or gold, rather) lining. Annika now has another trophy to balance out the one from last year. Plus, she shaved some seconds off of last year's time, so that's not too shabby, either.

Caleb went to get his trophy, and then the fun started.

By the time the third Purdy got their trophy, a stranger nearby us said, "Purdy family reunion!" and there were still three Purdys to go! They killed that race, huh?

    

Group photo of the Purdy Family & Friends Running Club. As you can see, Annika had recovered her grin by this point.

Even with her grin returned, she was still wiped out enough for a daytime nap.