ordinary summer days

Wow, it's been a long time since I've abandoned the blog for this long. But, well, I took an emotionally draining trip, and then Zoe and I got sick, and we've been busy, and, well, you know. Life happened.

This week's  going fine, anyway.  We're all healthy, aside from that annoying cough that lingers on indefinitely. I've been doing a decent job of striking a balance between errands, chores, and fun with the kids. It finally occurred to me to set Nick to pushing the cart when we shop, for instance, which has increased both kids' enthusiasm for these expeditions at the same time as it raises my adrenaline levels. (He likes to go fast. And he's maintaining control of the cart, or I wouldn't let him do it, but that's my little girl sitting in there, zooming along and laughing like a maniac. Lunatics.)

We ordered a shed for our backyard; it arrived midweek, and there was much rejoicing. No, seriously. We don't have a garage, you know. We've been shoving all our outdoor gear into the little storage room off the carport for the past six years, and it just was not working anymore. The shed will give us much needed space.

Yesterday I set up the pool, which was well received in the beastly hot weather we've been having. We would have gone out again after dinner, but there was a surprise thunderstorm, quite a fierce one, which messed up our evening plans but also dropped some much needed rain on the parched ground. In the afternoon I baked cookies with both kids, a first. Nick and I have been baking together for years, and we have a good routine down; it's easy and fun. Adding Zoe, well, let's say it reminded me of how stressful it was to bake with Nick when he was a toddler. But we got through it. Actually there were two main problems, both of them new to Zoe. But the principle is the same. The first was that this was the first time it had occurred to me that Zoe is now old enough to stand on a chair and watch what's happening on the counter. This totally freaked her out. But eventually she decided that not only was she not going to plunge to her death, but it was actually kind of fun up there. Which is when the kids started arguing about who would get to dump in the ingredients. My solution - alternating - was not truly satisfying to either party, as compromises rarely are. Eventually there were cookies, and all was peaceful once more.*

*My relatives may be interested to learn that the  recipe came from the New Junior Cookbook (not that exact edition) that Gramma owned. Nick and I are starting a routine of cooking one recipe from it each week.