We are one step above “barely controlled chaos” this week. Holding steady at “slightly controlled.”

I know, I know! It has been a a week of photo-blogging, so in order to squelch the complaining, I am attempting to actually write a little something. You, people! I offer up pictures of adorable, little girls and yet you are never happy.

Anyhow, let’s see. It is Thursday (Thursday! We made it to Thursday!), and thankfully we have had some great lunch/playdates with old friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time. Both yesterday and today, and they more than made up for the not-so-fun things that happened this week. Like, say…locking ourselves out of the house and getting a speeding ticket.

Other great stuff that has happened. J’s project is live! Yahoo!! You can go see it in all of it’s glory, it really does look great. It has made for one incredibly long week for J. since they are basically sitting around waiting for something to happen, so they can fix it.

It also meant that he got to shave the beard yesterday! Hallelujah! Although now, he looks kind of funny. (Not ha-ha funny, I guess we had just become accustomed to his manly facial hair.) So he’s thinking he needs to work on something in between “babyface” and “grizzly Adams.” I agree. I think he looked great here. My m-i-l and I think he looked a little like Tim McGraw in that pic, sans the cowboy hat (and a little cuter, too!).

So J. is still around, we are still waiting to get to spend more than a quick hour or two with him at a time, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. His hard work has paid off and we are very proud of him.

Em’s last day of summer school is tomorrow. It is incredible to write that. It seems like we just dropped her off on her first day. And it is also remarkable the change in her. Some good, some bad – mostly good, though. The stuff that comes out of that girl’s mouth – it is so funny. A few conversations just from the past couple of weeks…

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(We are in Pei Wei, this Asian restaurant, one of our favorite places to eat. I am trying to herd the girls to the bathroom to go potty before we leave.)

E: Mama, you have to creep like this. (And she is walking kind of on her tiptoes, like she is sneaking into a room.)
M: Uh, ok. Why are we “creeping.”
E: Because! We are secret Asians, Mama.
M: Um, (Gulp. Peek around to see how many “Asian” people are listening to this exchange? And a little cautiously ask…) what is a “secret Asian,” Em?
E: You know those kind of people, Mom? The kind that try to find things? We are secret Asians trying to find the bathroom!
(Ah, then it comes to me…)
M: You mean secret agents?
E: Yeah, Mom! Like the Backyardigans. Secret Asians!

The Backyardigans are indeed very multicultural, who knew they were all Secret Asians, though?

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(In the car, after the great “lock-out” of the week. We do have spare keys…long story. Anyhow they were not available when we needed them and I walked out the door, after having to go back in after BEAR, and my keys were left lying on the coffee table.)

E: Hey, Mom! Remember when you had to puuu-sh out the screen and then push me through the kitchen window, I had to jump off the counters and run around to unlock the door?
M: Um, like 5 minutes ago, before we were late for school?
E: Yeah. Ha. That was fun! If you ever leave your keys inside, I can do it again. It was fun!
M: Yes. Very. Fun.

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(Finally, after the cop pulled me over. Hard to believe, I know, but I was indeed speeding. Late to drop Em off for preschool. I did deserve a ticket and didn’t even try to talk my way out of this one. But it was only the second speeding ticket of my life, the last one was a good 10-11 years ago. I know, I said it was hard to believe and I also know that I am pretty lucky.)

E: Mom! That police officer is on a motorcycle!
M: Yes, he is.
E: Why did he turn his lights and his woo-woop sound on?
M: Because he wanted Mommy to pull over. I was speeding. Going too fast.
E: Why did he take your credit card?
M: It was my license, Em. He is going to give Mommy a ticket.
E: Hey! We have tickets! Remember when we went to see that…mmm…what was it called, Mama? The movie with the polar bear?
M: Yes. It was Arctic Tale. We did have a ticket for that. But this is a different kind of ticket. This is a ticket where Mommy has to pay money (probably a lot!) because she wasn’t following the rules.
E: Maybe he can just give you a timeout, Mommy. Just tell him you are sorry and you won’t be speeding no more. It’ll be ok.
M: Yeah. Speeding tickets are kind of like timeouts for grown-ups, Em. It will be ok.

Such beautiful, sweet innocence. If only a timeout could work on all of our life problems.