My big kids are at school and my littlest is babbling quietly in his bed.  Ahhh…the joys of school!

But I have to admit that as I sat down at my computer, I was overwhelmed with the desire to look at our pictures from this summer.  I have said before that July was probably my least inspired month of photography.  It was hot and I didn’t feel good.  But I’m glad that I kept on clicking, but I did get a few pictures that I really, really love.  But one of the things that I didn’t capture was our picnic.

Remember yesterday when I said some of my favorite pictures were the mental ones?  Yeah…I realized that I should write some of those down.  I want to remember it all, but I know I won’t.  So now…I share with you my mental picture of our picnic:

The kids begged all summer for a picnic, but it was just SO BLASTED HOT that I couldn’t make myself sit outside.  So I pulled out one of my winter tricks: we spread out a blanket in the living room and had an indoor picnic while basking in the sunshine coming through the windows.  After our wraps and chips, we watched the clouds through the big arching window and nibbled on strawberry Milano cookies and drank pink lemonade.  Life is sweet!

(And just because all that led me to another mental picture, you get a bonus “picture”.)

Not long after that day, we went to the beach.  On our way to the villa, we stopped to grab a few groceries.  I let each kid pick out their own snack.  Lydia went in search of “the cookies in the paper bag”.   She didn’t even care what kind.  Carter took 10 minutes to choose from the huge Pepperidge Farm selection they had and settled on the basic sugar cookie.

Sometimes I get annoyed with him because he can take forever to make a decision.  But that night we weren’t in a rush and I let him take his time.  Watching him glance back and forth from this package to that, watching the wheels turn in his head…I want to remember that.  Forever.

*****

Pepperidge Farms sent me free strawberry Milano cookies, which were delightful.  They filled my tummy, but not my brain.  The opinions you see above are completely my own unbiased opinions.

I was at BlogHer last year, and I hope to be there next year.  Did you hear that it’s in San Diego?  I’ve always wanted to go to California!

But this year?  I’m joining in Robin’s Annual Blog Hop!   I met Robin at Blissdom this past February.  She waltzed up beside me in a session and introduced herself.  Something magical happens when one Southern blogger meets another.  She pulled my drawl out of hiding and made me feel like an old friend.  That’s her…warm and inviting.  And since I’ve been reading her blog I can add inspirational to that list.  You should definitely go read her archives and add her to your feed reader.  She’s a keeper, I tell ya!

I’m supposed to be telling you about myself though, aren’t I?

• Well, I am the mom of 3-soon to be 4!  (5 year old boy, 4 year old girl, 1.5 year old boy, and we find out in 8 weeks the gender of #4)
• My husband is a pediatrician.  He contemplated starting his own blog and did a test run here.  People seemed to like it, but he decided that blogging wasn’t his thing.
• I love photography and I am in the midst of doing Project 365, although I haven’t updated my flickr stream in a several days.
• I write about whatever comes to mind…each of my kids, family, crafts, self-esteem, old memories, new memories, faith, recipes, or just whatever I want to write about.
• I am a chronic project starter.  That does not mean I am a chronic project finisher.  I would love to be…maybe in oh, say 18 or so years??
• My favorite spot in my house is my chair in the morning.  For about 30 minutes the sun shines through the big arched window and makes it nearly impossible to see my computer screen or anything else…I take that as a sign that I should stop what I’m doing and enjoy the moment.  Occasionally I drift off to sleep, but usually that’s when I pray.
• I love my children to death, but could not be a homeschooling mom.  (I’m proud of and impressed by those of you who do!)
• I can not WAIT for school to start on MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!  Squee!!!!!!!!!!
• I don’t “Squeeee!!!!!!!” very often.
• I am sad that I didn’t plan my pregnancy better.  I will be missing Blissdom ‘11 because I will likely have a newborn or be very, very pregnant at that point.
• I am not a big name blogger.  I do not have a massive following.  And I’m not sure that I want those things.
• I do have a handful of devoted readers whom I love.
• I am a horrible commenter.  Sorry.  I want to comment, but I don’t.  I’m trying to be better about that.
• Today I am going to be a great commenter!

Now, off to blog hop and comment!

When we moved back to my hometown, I had a lot of idyllic visions of how things would be, much like my friend Kate.

Some things came true.
We take strolls around our neighborhood and nature walks or alphabet walks.
(Well, we do when it’s cooler outside.)
We swim and have lazy dinners with some of my oldest family friends.
We do fun stuff with friends, old and new.
We often have Sunday lunch with my parents.

So in a lot of ways, life here is idyllic.

But there are also things that aren’t exactly what I anticipated.
Carter’s school, for example.

He will be starting Kindergarten this year.
I don’t know who’s more excited: me or him!

He’ll be going to a *Brand*New*School*, which is awesome and beautiful and well-planned.
But I have to admit that when we picked our house, we assumed we’d be zoned for what was my old elementary school.
When I went to register him for school back in May, I went to my old school…the school I thought he’d be going to…
and I was floored by how many memories surfaced just by walking through the front door.

The time in Ms. Golson’s class when we donned black plastic trash bags, dressed up like California Raisins and did the dance.
The first day I wore glasses to school.
The time I was disappointed that one 5th grade class learned the word “antidisestablishmentarianism” and our class didn’t.
(I’ve always been a dork.)
The time we made paper with Ms. Rivers.
Sitting in my 1st grade class and watching the snow fall through those tiny little slits of window.
I even remember one day from Kindergarten…when Chan asked me to sit at his table.
I remember lunches and PTA meetings and talent shows in the lunchroom.

A few days ago, I had another reason to go up to my old school.
I asked if it was ok if I just walked around and looked, and the secretary said that was fine.
I walked to the play ground.
There was a lot of new equipment, but the swings were still there.
And I remembered kicking a boy because he tried to kiss me,
Being too much of a scared-y cat to jump of the swings while I was swinging,
Standing in the shade of the building with Ms. Blizzard and some of the students from her class.

I know it sounds a bit crazy,
but I thought it would be cool if my kids and I had memories from the same place, different times.
And I know it sounds crazy, but there are parts of me that wish we were zoned
for the old, slightly-run-down-but-obviously-loved school and not the *Big*Fancy*New school.

At the old school, there are lots of playscapes.
The new school has no playground at all(yet).
At the old school, I know the principal and a lot of the staff.
I’ve never met the principal at the new school, but I’ve heard that she’s really nice.
At the old school, I have lots of memories.
The new school has new memories to be made for the kids and me!

He is excited!
I am excited!

I’m happy about the teacher to whom he’s been assigned.
I’ve known her for years, and she’s super-duper sweet.
She taught him in Sunday School a few years back, so she knows what she’s getting into!