Birthdays and Life this Week

We spent Saturday in London, celebrating August birthdays. Mom, Theresa and Brennen seemed to enjoy being loved on with good food and entertained by one ornery four year old. It was such a good day. We missed Taylor, who also had a birthday this month. 

Not sure what he did to Kenna here but clearly she was not impressed.

Again with the facials. I have no idea where they get this. 😉

When they told Austin about the upcoming move to Hawaii, he was pretty excited. But then he had a question. "Do they have Buccee's there?" So Kenna stopped and got him some "beefer (translation: Beaver) nuts" and a tee shirt to express solidarity. PS. Beefer nuts are cinnamon coated pecans available at Buccee's.

Last year 

We had to retake this shot. I assumed last August, Ty would have been Grandma's height by Christmas. He grew four inches this year though.

He is sort of getting the hang of this whole blog posting business. Check out his astrophotography site 
https://rwaugh.blogspot.com/

While we traveled, Diesel stayed with a friend of Kenna's who also has a young, large dog. They played non-stop for two days. Diesel slept for twenty-four solid hours to recover. We plan to send him back again soon!

The week was rough. Makenna had to deal with a difficult personal affair that left us grappling with how to best support her. The future she imagined is anything but and she has been pretty busted up by the weight of it all. I will share more publicly someday but honestly still fail to find enough grace within me to tell her story without a significant amount of anger. She simply deserved better. But I can promise this, my girl is fierce and will not waste the pain of this season. 

We managed morning commutes in silence and lingering wake ups on the days I couldn't sleep. Diesel loved it despite the exhausted state it left me in every day. The school weeks have become more routine despite my kid's stomach viruses and phone calls from two different schools. Fortunately one can drive herself home these days and both are old enough to stay home alone with their saltines. It's a pretty sweet season despite the occasional drama of it all. 

Greg burned another vacation day cooking for the church. I'm beginning to think they are making up occasions to celebrate with smoked pulled pork. But he loves it and has people offering to get a food truck up and running for him. It's somewhat too bad we need health insurance or I'm certain he would embrace this full-time. I appreciate being the official taste tester; as quality control insists I always get the first bite. I don't make the rules. 

Giving me life this week:

• Austin sent me mail that exploded with confetti all over my kitchen. Austin was on the phone and doubled over laughing as I begged Diesel to stop eating it. 
• A sweet first grader telling me he wants to work with the principal someday because "all he does is watch the cameras to catch kids being bad." 
• Kindergarten hugs in the cafeteria and being treated like a celebrity when I encounter my kiddos from last year. 
• An afternoon nap at the end of a long week.