Living in Munchkinland

We bought a new car yesterday. We have been looking and looking and doing tons of research. We wanted a slightly used car from 2012 that was smaller than our mini van, but still roomy and had good cargo. I initially wanted a CRV, but you can't get those slightly used at all. There were none to be had. So we looked and test drove and researched some more. I wanted a third row, but not enough to want another big SUV or minivan. I wanted something with a rearview camera, a V6 engine and lots of cargo space. We narrowed it down to a Subaru outback, a CRV, or a RAV4. This weekend we sold our minivan to some good friends and that was wonderful. We had a down deposit in hand and were ready. On Monday our friend in the business called and said he had found a car for us. It's a white 2012 Subaru Outback 3.6R Limited with only 14,000 miles on it. We were sold! We drove up to get it on Tuesday. I love it so much. It is so much fun to drive. It has power, but a cushioned ...

Sam is in kinder/first and began his first day of his last year at montessori school today. He acted like the pro he is, hopping out of the car and making his way up the steps. He was looking forward to seeing everyone again and was in a great mood. Davis is in second grade and began his first day in his new public school on Monday. He likes it a lot. He was looking forward to it. I walked him in even though he said he was fine to be dropped off. He didn't even look back to say good-bye when he walked into the classroom. He headed straight for his desk and began chatting with friends. At the end of the day he said it was awesome, but recess was too short. He loves the library and checked out books for both himself and his brother. He finished his the first night. So proud of my boys.

We have had a whirlwind weekend. Michael drove home from Dallas on Thursday just in time for us all to drive to Davis' new school and meet the teacher. It was very exciting for all of us. I really like the teacher and realized we knew each other from high school. Small town. Davis is pleased with the school and so is Michael. Friday afternoon was the big performance of Wizard of Oz that the kids have been preparing for in their two weeks of theatre camp. Michael's parents drove in from Sugar Land and by 3:15pm, Mom, Dad, Michael, Martha and Clark and I were all waiting in the lobby for the show to begin at 4. The show was very sweet. It was full of 6 and 7 year old children. You couldn't hear much, but we all knew the show and the children were absolutely precious all of them. I was very proud of both my Toto and Tin Man. After the show, we all drove to Wimberley to have dinner at Kate's Place and celebrate the boys and Michael. We sat outside s...

We had a great weekend. On Friday we had a pool party and mom and I made yummy grilled vegetables and we got to spend time with friends and Michael came home! He had been in Dallas all week and I was so glad to see him. Saturday I grocery shopped and cooked and Michael cleaned and did home repair. It was nice to be busy and domestic. That evening we had dinner for our friends Anne and Jeff and their kids who had been out of town all summer. We had missed them so much and were glad to have them over for a welcome back afternoon. My parents came over as well and brought delicious wine. I made two different kinds of bruschetta, spaghetti trapani and served angel food cake with strawberries. Anne is the goddess of salads and brought a delicious one to add to the mix. Perfect. Sunday we went to church and out to lunch with Stacey and Chris and their kids and then Michael went to a cub scout meeting while the boys and I relaxed. Then we all watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and ...

On Thursday I went in to the salon to get my blond roots touched up. I went white/blond in streaks last spring with the plan to wear them all summer and then turn those streaks purple in the fall. This time, my hairdresser didn't leave the bleach on quite long enough and after we washed it out, said we had to do it again. I was all out of patience with that, so I told her to just go ahead with the purple streak plan. So I walked out of the salon with extremely vibrant purple hair. It's so vibrant that someone shouted out "Purple Power!" at me in the farmer's market. Children point me out to their parents loudly in my presence. Sometimes people look at me and break into nervous giggles. It's not a subtle choice. Friday I drove to pick up my children. We had lunch at our meeting spot in Columbus and Martha and Clark filled me in on the week. When we got home the kids had major meltdowns. Davis threw an epic fit. Later that night he told me how ha...

We took the boys halfway to Sugarland on Saturday to meet Michael's parents. We had a snafu on our meeting point so had lunch separately and met at a rest stop. I handed my boys over and we drove off. I wanted to cry as I kissed Sam goodbye and I could see he was on the edge too, but I smiled brightly instead and told him he'd have a great time. And then they were gone. They are having a great time. We did FaceTime on Sunday and I spoke to Sam briefly on Monday morning. Davis declined to speak to me. Martha has been great about sending pictures everyday and keeping me updated. The boys have been fishing and playing lots of games and playing with toys. They went to church with their grandparents and saw Clark sing and tried their first communion. They chose to sit on the very front row. I know that they are making wonderful memories and will cherish this week with their grandparents. I miss them a lot of course. Mostly in the mornings and evenings. I don...

Sam has been asking Michael for days to go fishing and so today they did. We bought the worms yesterday and this morning at 7AM they headed downy our pond to try and catch perch. They fished for about 45 minutes and then Michael put away the gear and made it to his office by 8AM. Good thing his commute is about 30 seconds! Sam caught three fish and Davis caught four. I caught one just by holding Sam's pole for a second, but he counted it as his. They are so good at fishing now and it goes very smoothly. Just another reason we love living on the ranch.

We have implemented a zero tolerance policy on violence in our home. I know that boys will be boys, but I can't handle it any more. We are taking a break from violence. If the boys kick or hit or bite each other out of anger, they go immediately into timeout with no warnings. Usually it's just constant bickering and wrestling and hitting when they are tired in the afternoons and we've been kind of lenient about it. You know, basically making them deal with the consequences unless we see a real injustice or danger going on. No more! Now we are zero tolerance. We have to teach the kids not to "flash bang" and we're going to teach them while they are nice and young and malleable. We also took away all the lightsabers and swords, because even when they play with them just in fun, somebody always gets hurt accidentally, gets pissed about it and whacks the other one. So those are gone too. We left the nerf guns because nobody ever seems to get hurt with t...