Squish squish squish squish squish (etc)

That my dear people is the delightful sound I get to enjoy every time we head back from the pool.  We were down at the lake which means a little swimming every day.  And while they might fight over pool equipment  or towels (which makes me nuts), somehow it all melts away as we head home and I listen to squish, squish, squish, squish.  That sound that only kids can make in flip flops.

Pure summer decadence.

Not only do I love Detective Mike Bennett

But so does my mother!

I read a fair number of books that I like just fine but would never recommend to my parents.  Some things just shouldn't be shared with them, right?  I mean, I can live with some occasionaly cussing in a book but it seems wrong to recommend a book like that to my parents.

But Detective Bennett is the bomb.  No inappropriate cussing.  No inappropriate scenes with ladies.  Just a good Catholic boy who loves his family.

My mom had the first book for 2 days before she called me and said "what's the next book and where can I get it?" 

I call that awesome.

(Note--Detective Mike Bennett is with the NYPD.  His character was created by James Patterson/Michael Ledwidge.  The first book is Step on a Crack and the second book is Run for Your Life.  Check them out!)

Four girls and a bottle of shampoo

We recently took a little trip.  For about 6 days my family shared a bathroom.  It is always an adjustment to spend time in a confined space with family, right?  But in the interest of packing light, I took just one type of shampoo and conditioner for us for the week. 

Well. . .I have forgotten what it is like to operate with just one bottle of shampoo in a family of girls.  And since two of these girls have hair well past their shoulders, it is possible to work through a bottle of shampoo pretty fast.  My best guess is that if our trip had lasted ten days, we would have been out of shampoo and conditioner.

How crazy is that?

And at the same time, it's so much fun.  They are wacky and loud and use a lot of shampoo.  But they are gorgeous and  hilarious and they are growing up too fast.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I just love Peter, Paul and Mary.  Listening to their music takes me right back to my parents' living room.  Course come to think of it, where else would I have been able to listen to music as a kid in the 1970s?  It wasn't like we had ipods back then!

My little family

My little family can be a big noisy group.  There are just five of us.  At any given time, two or three of us could be content just sitting and reading.  But the other two tend to require more activity--especially one of those two.

But the other day we found ourselves with just one child at home.  One was at a friend's house and another was visiting the grandparents.

And my house was so ridiculously quiet, I hardly knew what to do.

Eventually I decided to enjoy the quiet. . a little nap and some time reading.  A little bit of heaven in the middle of a very hot July in the middle of a summer where our family has been together a whole lot.  Often by this point in July we are constantly on edge, a fight just waiting to happen.  So finding several hours of peace and quiet was positively delightful.

There's a mouse in the house!

Haha. . .not my house!  Only mouse you'll find here is Babymouse, the book series.

We were shopping the other day at a large superstore in town when all at once my middle one said "There's a mouse up there!"  I didn't believe her until I saw this little grey blob of fur scurry across the aisle and into the kids' clothing department.  A worker in the store saw it when we did and she went to track it.  We saw it dart under a display but then we lost it.

I refrain from saying which store we were in because it really doesn't matter which store it was.  Anytime you have a large store that sells any kind of food items, well, mice will happen.

For us it turned into a funny little discussion about how maybe we could capture him and take him home as a pet and maybe he would be able to give our youngest chef some cooking instructions--just like Remy, the little mouse in Ratatouille.

Have no fear.  It was only a lighthearted discussion.  We left the little grey mouse behind.  And I have to say that I am so glad that none of the other shoppers seemed to even see the little mouse.  I'm certain that some people would have blasted the store for a mouse being visible.  But truly, it can happen anywhere.  And who's to say that it wasn't a little Remy?

Babymouse is my new hero!

My youngest is a somewhat reluctant reader.  She enjoys pretending to read but she gets frustrated sometimes with her reading.

The other day we went to the library to pick up a few books to finish out the reading program.  We found the Babymouse series.  She thought it looked interesting so she got Babymouse #1 Queen of the World!  She read it in the car as we ran errands and when we got home she told me she would finish the book.  We weren't home twenty minutes and my little angel told me "Mommy, I finished the book!"

Yup, my baby.  She read a 96 page book in nothing flat.  And she was so excited because it was the first time she read a book that long in one day.

Thank you Babymouse!