In response to Kelly's complaint

My apologies to Kelly who was tired of seeing political commentary instead of excerpts from my thrilling life, but I just didn’t have much news to share last week. When I could rip myself away from political satire too good to make up, the kids and I were at the pool…a lot. We’re still pruny.

We spent a lot of time catching up with friends we haven’t seen much this summer and all those meetings took place near chlorinated water.

Tuesday we went to the sprinkler park with our friends Karen, Julia, and Jacob. The kids started to freak out when we missed their regular 11:30 a.m. lunch time, so we left the park, grabbed lunch, and headed to the pool. Wednesday the kids went to Conner Prairie with their grandparents and I ran all the errands on which I dreaded taking them along. Thursday we were back at the pool with Dawn, Joe, and Annie for some much needed catching up.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Meredith asked why her friend Kate hadn’t come over to swim. “What’s going on with Kate?! I told her at the fireworks to come over to my house and swim and she did not!” I asked Meredith if she had clued in either mom about her plan. Of course she hadn’t, so we talked about the fact that three year old girls are dependent upon moms for transportation. Once we got all that ironed out, Kate and Angie came over to swim Friday. Before we knew it, we spent three hours in the pool and Alex had his first brush with over exposure to the sun.

Friday afternoon, Alex and I made the most sickeningly sweet batch of cookies in the history of the world. Not good. I cannot, in good faith, recommend Nestles’ white chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the bag. If I won’t eat it, you know it’s bad.

The weekend was pretty slow paced. Brandon painted away fingerprints on walls, I cleaned and we went out for Mexican. I was near tears when the power went out in the middle of watching Charlie Wilson’s War which we ordered on pay per view. There’s $5 we’ll never see again. Sunday night, we met our friends the Besingers out for dinner. Because Bart and Brandon pretty much have opposite schedules, it was a rare opportunity for us all to get together…without our kids. It was fun to chat without having to pull anyone out of the restaurant for a curb-side T.O.

Today we hit the library so Alex could go to “Lego Mania.” It sounded like a big deal, but it was really just a room with huge tubs full of Legos. Not a lot of mania, but Alex seemed to enjoy it. At least that’s what he told me. The kid should really play poker. His face is near expressionless the majority of the time.

Meredith gave herself an "A" for patience in waiting for Alex. I gave her a "C."

We spent a good chunk of this blue sky day, riding bikes, sidewalk chalking, and arguing about when it was time to go in. They’re of course dying to go to the pool, but I think I need a break from the smell of our sunscreen.

Fee better, Kelly?!