The walk of shame.

If you have children old enough to *really* defy you, I don't need to explain what this means.
After much preparation and dissention among the ranks, we managed to get the whole family to Church today.
They were playing well in the nursery during the first part of the service and came in for the children's sermon. Apparently Morrison was tapping his shoes on the floor and trying to climb about. Luckily I am short and couldn't see his antics. As they headed back to the nursery I realized that Sinclair was in need of a potty break, so I headed out to take her to the restroom. Things were OK in the nursery, Morrison was boisterous (as usual!) but when it came time to return to the sanctuary for Communion- they turned on the rancor. I was carrying Cecilia, holding Sinclair's hand and Morrison was holding the hand of the arm that was holding Cecilia. And then he decided he'd like to hang from my forearm. Sheer panic- I nearly dropped Cecilia and the panicked usher told Morrison, "No!" through clenched teeth. I made it it to Chip and then Morrison wriggled up to my Mom where he continued his antics and we decided to cut our losses and head out.
I don't think my face has ever blushed so deeply as it did when we escorted our rowdy brood out the door. Sigh.
Luckily this weekend has been very good otherwise. They were well-behaved and happy at the Greek Festival and visiting with their Grandparents. I suppose 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right?

And without further ado...

Debuting Sinclair's new 'do...

Short and sassy. Just like Sinclair!

First Day of School 9/2/08

Well, today was the day we've all been waiting for since about Mid-June. Morrison and Sinclair returned to pre-school today. Morrison is back to his rampant flirtations and Sinclair was greeted by the open arms of her buddies from last year. All is right with the world.

I should rewind to the drama that precipitated the drive to school this morning. I got the kiddos up and got them dressed- they came down the stairs like a herd of hungry buffalo and swarmed the table. Through their Cheerios and scrambled eggs- they inquired as to the whereabouts of Daddy. Uh-oh. They *were* expecting him to be there after I had assured him it was fine to go on to work. It began with a few queries and ended up with this conversation:

Morrison: "So, NO ONE is going to see us go to our first day of school?!"

Me: "Of course, sweetie, *I'll* be there."

Morrison: "So, NO ONE will be there. Can't you call Gigi?"

Thank goodness Gigi came through and helped me see them off to school. I had the feeling of Hoke from "Driving Miss Daisy. " My retort of "I'm not just some back of the head you look at while you're getting where you've got to go," was lost on them...

I really am glad that I am such a constant that they can't conceive of me *not* being there for the first day of school. I see the blessing in that, too.

After sulking appropriately, of course.

Oh, and my sincere apologies for the blurry image, I was wearing Cecilia at the time and didn't manage to perfect the focus. Oh well, you get the idea, two super cute kiddos sitting in front of the pre-school sign. They were adorable. Trust me, I was lucky enough to be there ;)