Every Day is a Winding Road...

Yes, I'm still sad. But I won't bore you with that, because there is a whole lot of other stuff going on in our lives...

This has been another busy week and weekend. I took the girls to Oaks Park last week for their preschool ride morning, which turned into a party because we ran into quite a few moms and kids we knew who were excited about having a free week before school started up again. Emily loves the carousel (which Ava was terrified of until last summer), and Ava enjoyed all of the kiddie rides with her friends. We also hit the zoo with a girlfriend and two of her boys, and a few parks...everyone seemed to be out enjoying the last of the nice weather.

Ava riding on her favorite ride at Oaks Park:

We scored last minute tickets to see Sheryl Crow at the Edgefield on Friday night (thanks, Nick!), which gave Joel and I some much needed couple time (where we mostly talked about football...seriously, we are LAME!). Oh well, it was nice to enjoy some good music, food, and beer. I was suprised by how many people brought their kids to the concert...and then ended up leaving less than halfway through the show. It always amazes me when people expect their young children to be on their adult schedules! An hour of fun always ends up leaving me with two tired, cranky girls the next morning, so I can't imagine keeping them up that long. Sheryl put on a fabulous show - I've seen her twice live now (this will date me...remember the Lilith Fair?!?), and she has an amazing voice.

Sheryl Crow (none of my pictures from up close really turned out):

Saturday, I headed to my mom's new condo and helped her paint the whole thing while Joel took the girls berry picking. That evening, he and I had our fantasy draft. I love my team! Joel's not so hot about his...but that's what he gets for scheduling the draft during the first U of O game of the year! Almost everyone from our league was in the same room for the draft, so there was a lot of trash talking and fun going on. The real trash talking will be next weekend, when Joel's team plays mine. I'm pretty sure I'm going to kick his butt. He's pretty sure, too.

Sunday was spent doing more painting while Joel took the girls to OMSI. In the afternoon, Emily stayed home to nap while I took Ava to a birthday party. I contemplated taking her to an end of summer BBQ on the way home, but decided we'd both had enough for one day!

Yesterday we were able to relax a bit before we had a birthday dinner (Happy Birthday to Paula and Sarah!).

This morning, we took Ava to preschool for her first day. I hate to say it, but since she's already been to summer camp and had drop off play dates...it was anti-climactic. She looks adorable in her uniform (today she chose the plaid jumper and white knee socks), but she's so used to going somewhere without me for a few hours to play that she barely waved good-bye to Joel and I while she ran into the building. Oh well...I guess that means that she's a secure little girl. It didn't stop me from shedding a few tears though. When I picked her up, her teacher told me that the only problem she'd had was that Ava had refused to let another little girl sit on the letter A during circle time (on one of those round carpets with the alphabet around it). Apparently, my child thinks that only HER name can start with the letter A. Ava was very upset about it the whole way home, but perked up when she came home and taught me how to play criss-cross applesauce (that would be immediately sitting cross-legged on the floor when someone says "criss-cross-applesauce!").

Ready for preschool:

See ya!

Today feels like fall...it's sunny and cool, a few kids at the upper school where Ava's preschool is had apples for their teachers. NFL football starts on Thursday, I have dinner bubbling away in the crockpot, and a ginger-citrus candle burning on my desk. I wish that my body was more round with my baby, but my life is full of other things.