Not dead....

Just in case anyone wondered. I realize it's been quite awhile, so here are some bullet updates and a few pictures.

• Trip back east was a mix of best and worst. Great times in Ohio with good friends, enjoyable weekend preaching at the church I attended in college. Time with Dad - awful. Still processing where to go next in that relationship - deeply concerned for my Dad, as he is majorly depressed and not in treatment, not sure what I can/should do. Trying to be the daughter and not the pastor is sometimes hard. Even harder several hundred miles away with someone who doesn't want to talk. At all.
• It is hot here. Really hot. Actually cooler this week than last, only 90's not 100+. And dry - I never had dry skin in the summer until moving to Utah. Took the girls up to do a short walk behind Snowbird (1 mile with no real elevation change). It's much cooler 5000 feet up, you know.
  
• C. is now talking much more. Finally. In somewhat understandable English. She knows animals and animal sounds (as many as I can remember) and her colors. She loves bubbles. She loves to color with markers. Thank God for washable markers.
• I have started school with M. Her idea to start now - I was going to wait until fall. She loves it. She is writing and doing basic math and starting to read. It is so exciting to see her fall in love with learning. I have decided that I am going to do my best to not require her to learn anything that isn't applicable to real life - we don't do random worksheets to fill time, we play with things and explore and discover. Someone remind me of this commitment when I forget, okay?
• M. has also suddenly grown an inch or so. Mostly since our trip. Fortunately, it's summer and shorts can be a bit shorter than planned when you're 4 years old (right?).
• I did not get the Stated Clerk job I applied for. And I'm glad. Much more to write about my state of mind and learning to love this life I've chosen, but that will be another post.
  
• Here are 2 of the costumes I made back in May. The first is one of the Autumn fairy dresses, the second is one of the Spring/summer fairy skirts. It was so neat to go to the dress rehearsal, help these 90-100 kids into their costumes and see their eyes light up at how pretty they looked and how excited they were to dance on stage. I think the thank yous from the Winter fairies may have been my favorite - they were a class of 3 and 4 year olds that I made simple wings for - basically a half circle of fabric with elastic loops on either end of the straight line for them to put their hands through. Another mom sewed a strip of fake fur around the curve to make it look more wintery - they came running up to me in a group and almost knocked me over saying thank you and giving me hugs. Very, very sweet.
• A picture of C. home again with Daddy - quite cute.
• Finally, a picture of the girls from this week - both in pigtails.
• And another - because they are so danged cute. Even if C. looks even more eerily like her uncle R. (W.'s younger brother) with her hair in pigtails.
• Happy July!

Time for dinner now.