Kalamazoo

When we were little we had these really great baby-sitters named Jennifer and Jill. My sister's name is Lynsey, and Jennifer taught us this silly rhyme:

Lynsey Lou from Kalamazoo
Went to the zoo and got the flu.
Went to bed with Fred,
and when she woke up, she was wed.

One of my brothers changed 'wed' to 'wet her pants,' which was funnier and made more sense to us because one of us had a bedwetting problem. I'm not going to mention any names, but it wasn't me, and it wasn't one of my brothers.

Anyway, what brought all this to mind is this: Kalamazoo is a real place. It's in Michigan, and the kids and I are moving there next month. Jake is already there. He starts his new job (same company, different plant) tomorrow. The kids and I are just waiting for our house to close (yes, we're buying a house! knock on wood and cross your fingers! It seems too good to be true! Or too awful to be true, depending on whether you're talking to me or Jake), and then we'll join him.

The kids are finally starting to come around. Today they seemed almost excited. Until this morning, there have been a lot of tears. We're close to grandparents here, live in a great neighborhood, and those will be tough to leave. But, I feel strongly this is the right move. Wish us luck!

Claire had a birthday

Shout hurray! She hit her own pinata! She welcomed her birthday guests! Her cake wasn't burnt to a tough cardboard texture like Anne's was! She's excited to be 6! I'm too lazy to upload video footage of the party, so you'll have to content with the lame picture I took--the one on top was taken by a friend of mine the same day.

Body Art

Damon used washable (thank Heaven!) markers to make Anne a sabre tooth tiger and Claire an alien.
I used to get nervous whenever the house was too quiet--it meant the kid were in to something they shouldn't be. Now if it sounds like they're having too much fun, I know it's time to find out what they're up to. Then reinforce the naughty behavior by taking a picture.

Swimming Lessons

This is the safety float: Damon and Claire have it mastered (though you wouldn't know it to hear Claire--she usually screamed, "Teacher, grab me!" while doing it). Anne can do it for 5 seconds or so.

Fairly Recent Quotes

Claire: "If you don't make Anne do a session [that's what we call Claire's 2-hr therapy blocks] I'm going to be jealous of her for the rest of my life!"

A few weeks after that she said, while crying: "Why am I the only one who has to do sessions?"

She used to love her sessions. Once school got out, she didn't like them so much. The tutors have been focussing on making therapy more fun and less work since she said the above, and it has made a difference. However, she is pretty excited if a tutor calls in sick.

Damon, while trying to make an airplane out of cardboard: "This is hard because some of the parts I just don't know how to make because I've never had an engineering class." (This was news to me: last I heard, he could make a space shuttle easily if he just had the right stuff.)

Anne: "When I was born my mom forgot to name me Jessica, because that is a more beautiful name."

Memorial Day Weekend

We went south to visit Grandma and Grandpa H, Matt, and Brett and Rachel and their family. They were the reason we went, and naturally I forgot to take pictures of them. Here are the pictures I did take: