Good morning? afternoon?

I have, lately, taken more than my customary days away from Em-i-lis and have missed it. I love this space and all it offers me including, not least, connecting with you. I'm in a writing class which is a daily commitment; infinitely luxurious but daily and in addition to visits from family and much to do with school.

All parents I know feel as if we are collectively sprinting to the end of a nine-month marathon. School.is.ending.soon. So soon. Sadly soon. I have been at school pretty much every day this week for something important, a schedule that seems the norm these last weeks of the year. The boys have had marvelous experiences in kindergarten and third, and as the start of school always makes me wistfully excited, the end renders me wistfully nostalgic. 

I haven't had much time to cook lately (though those lemon dilly carrots were very good) and what I have, I've photographed pretty terribly, but that's ok too. Ol and Jack continue to create enough wonder and coolness and beauty to sustain us all in the absence of any I can muster. In art class recently, during a study of Calder, Jack made a wire Pi Guy. I love it anyway, but he and I have taken to hiding it in the other's room when no one's looking.

I found Pi Guy hanging from my fan this morning, and he's now holding on tight to a light saber on Jack's wall. Yesterday he was riding Jack's stuffed polar bear and was on my lamp shade. It's hilarious.

Ol has rediscovered a cool toy I bought the boys when in Charleston. Tom Tec T's (don't ask me about the name). Isn't his giraffe fetching?

Votes on "the pillow" have started coming in; so far it's 60-40 love-hate. Hah! So funny too!

If you're sprinting, I hope you also take some time to pause and give a little back to yourself. Doing so is never a mistake.