Da Grumpy Mudder: Indian summer on the east coast...

It's straight up gorgeous here this weekend...sunny, dry and warm. Not terribly crispy and fall like, but I'll take it, as this just might be the last little warm spell of the year. You never really can tell about the weather around here...it's not unheard of to see a little snow in October...we had flurries on Halloween last year. Anyway...I digress...this weekend...another one spent with my sidekick Skeeter. Ev works on Saturday's...Sunday this weekend as well with it being a holiday...and M spends a lot of weekend time with his dad. So Sam and I get a lot of time together...just the two of us and I have to say that he's a blast to hang out with. I never planned on an eight year gap between my kids but in a lot of ways, I really love it. Our unconventionally, big, blended family scenario, allows for what most second borns don't get a ton of...that precious one on one time that comes easily to a first born. So for as much as I miss Miles when he's not here with us, and it never feels quite complete around here when the house is one kid quieter, I feel happy that Sammy is also getting a good dose of my undivided attention on many weekends.
Today we got off to a slow start...I somehow threw my neck out while sleeping on Thursday night and after some really insane muscle spasms, a trip to the chiropractor, a couple of rounds of 800 mg of motrin and half a bottle of red wine (just as good, I'm sure, as a muscle relaxer would have been) I was not moving all that quickly this morning. I don't think you ever really appreciate range of motion until you don't have it. Anyway...my neck seems to be loosening up now, so Sammy and I puttered around the house, shared a late breakfast and then headed off into town for library, lunch and some exploring. When we arrived home, he introduced me to his imaginary friend, Sor Nordson (we think he might be Norwegian?)...they were sword fighting. And right now I'm listening to them having a conversation on the swing set fort. Sounds like they get along famously. How I love that kid. Oh...and worth noting...M shaved for the first time on Friday. I will refrain from elaborating on this any further, as I have been instructed to not make any kind of a big deal over this. Therefore, I will suppress the tsunami of maternal emotion that pretty much knocked me on my ass yesterday. See there...I've said too much. And so I will move on now to some snaps from this past week and this lovely summery day.

Skippy the reluctant did indeed hatch when he was good and ready...just like Sammy told us he would.

It took three attempts before he was ready to fly off on his own...this was our first try.

Either Evan or I sit with Sam at homework time. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that he subbed in a T for an N in the word tin...thus making the sentence read like this. We roared when we saw this after the fact...so did his teacher.