a blended life

This post was supposed to happen last week but the photo wouldn't work. Everyone now, "Awww!". Leah turned 7 on Father's Day, so I thought I'd put a pic up of my own pop holding Leah. She was six weeks old in this picture. I love the fuzzy head! Anyway, this year the two girls spent the day with their dad and his mom, and when they got home we had a dinner for my dad. They opened presents together and had some pie. It was low-key since Hannah was sick (we would find out a week later that she had pneumonia) and my parents had just returned from Colorado. I take full credit for the complete lameness of this meal. It was so bad I had to take a picture, mostly to remind myself to not repeat it.  Good grief, put on a tablecloth or something. They opened presents together. It was a fun way to celebrate both events at the same time.

In case you needed someone to smile at you today.

I survived the first day. Only 6 more weeks to go. When I got home, Leah asked how many hours I was away. "About 13," I told her. She said, "Well, you're still the mom." Thanks, sweetie. This forgettable picture is from preschool graduation (another event I've neglected to blog about). Leah skinned her knees on the sidewalk, which is something she does every day, and ripped out her leggings. Now she has shorts.

"...let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1 I start practicum tomorrow in Riverton... and couldn't be more annoyed about it. It's elementary school (not my favorite age group) and it's in a regular ed classroom (I thought this was a Special Ed program?) and it's at LEAST an hour commute one way, if I-15 behaves itself (which it never does). My attitude is in the toilet. Practicum: one of the hoops that teachers-in-training have to jump through to get licensed. Involves making copies, grading, and whatever else the teacher doesn't feel like doing and wants to dump on the poor sap who has to pretend like it's the only way she wanted to spend her summer. My attitude is in the toilet. Did I already say that?

Some things I feel very obsessive about and I'm not going to hide it. My girls, cuddly pets, excellent chocolate truffles, Harry Potter. Les Miserables is one of them. The four of us went out to eat and to the production in Salt Lake. I've seen it before, but can't get enough of it! The cast did a fantastic job and I literally had to tell myself to NOT stand up and start belting out the songs. I would go back in a minute--it's such an inspiring story of forgiveness, honor, and the strength of the human soul. Me and my wad of tissue didn't want it to end. Dinner at Buca di Beppo. The best chopped antipasto ever. The weather was sunny, but it was still an unusually cold start to summer. I think it was about 50 degrees in this picture. The show got out late (close to 11 pm) and we had to walk a block or two to the cars. We accidentally walked by a club with some, uh, scantily clad women dancing on tables. Outside. Ahem. Our 13 year old up there in the yellow is pr...