me at 41

• Lila, you found a package of tissue paper in the van and immediately decided to turn them into dancing accessories.  You guys were hugging in the middle of the garage.  I'm not entirely sure why, but hey, I'll take it!
• My camera club has weekly photo challenges.  This week's challenge was a self portrait.  I was being pretty insistent that every one do one...and then of course I left mine until the last minute.  Lila and George were riding bikes, and I saw the 41, and decided it was the perfect place for my self portrait.  This is me at 41.  Kinda tired.  Wearing my mom clothes.  And my birkenstocks (always).  Waiting while my kids do whatever they happen to be doing...and making the best of it and trying to create something beautiful no matter my surroundings
• Katie, you got sick of the van being messy and decided to take matters into your own hands.  Before school you packed up a little basket filled with cleaning supplies, put it in the van, then arranged for me to meet you in the parking lot at Mundy Park after school.  The big problem (and the issue I was desperately avoiding) was that I had bought a big bag of flour and it broke.  I just couldn't deal with the mess.  The babies thought it was great and were using the van as a boat and were pretending to fish with their butterfly nets.  Jane walked from school and met us there.  She took Lila home while we finished up.  It was so messy.  I'm somewhat embarrassed.  You think I would have learned my lesson from that super mortifying incident involving our messy van and the RCMP (a story for another day!).  Katie, thank you for being so motivated and keeping me on track and forcing me to do things I keep avoiding
• Lila, your drawings of people are so funny.  They make me laugh.  As we cleaned the van we found the cutest drawing.  Actually, it was kind of terrifying, but hey, good work kid!