But I digress. My point is, it's not like I need any new clothes. But shoes? I'm a walking cliche of a woman when it comes to shoes. And I'm a total nerdy, old-lady-shoe-loving teacher person. I'm not even ashamed. I'm 36: good arch support matters to me more than anything.
I taught all summer, so I rewarded myself with some new shoes. Here's the first pair, a pair of Earth shoes from Seirra Trading Post.
Arent they perfect? Earth shoes' main selling point is they have a lower heel than toe, which means when I wear them, it makes me feel like I'm about to tip over backwards. I assume this gets better. Besides, they are supposed to be all good for my posture, too, and help strengthen my calves or bicuspids or something.
I need shoes that can go with skirts or dress pants, that are comfortable for 6 hours on my feet, pacing back and forth in front of bored students. These are my first Earth shoes, and I adore how they look. My past favorites include Dansko and Ecco. I'm allowing myself two more new pairs of shoes: dear readers, do you have any suggestions?
It took forever to fill with just 4" of water. But that was all V needed. The pool didn't stand up too well with just 4" of water, but V didn't mind. 
She likes to pretend to be a mermaid, but she doesn't like to get her face wet. As you might imagine, that complicates things.
Still, mermaids have lovely wet hair. Now, some mermaids lean back and get their hair wet from that direction. Some less brave, less innovative mermaids.
Not V though. She's a front-facing mermaid, and managed to do this without initially putting her face in the water. 
Of course, it's hard to keep one's face dry when one dips one's bangs in the pool. 
I know Will loves all things related to vehicles, particularly large vehicles. Here he is, age almost-four, at Harrington's farm this summer. The look on his face is, I believe, barely contained joy, and a barely contained desire to run around the farm as fast as he can.
I try not to be one of those gushing "Oh, lord, isn't my child the cutest thing you've EVER SEEN?" parents on here, because that gets old fast. But I'm a mama, dammit, and I love my daughter, and I share a lot of cute photos and tell what I think are funny stories here. As this blog serves partly for your entertainment, but also as a record of our lives, I want to share the not-so-shiny times, too. Don't worry: V's still hilarious and brilliant and all that. It's just that she's more than that, too.
When V was first born, she pulled away from bright light. I thought at first it was, because, you know, the womb is pretty dark, and the world is not so dark. But it continued. Lamps, windows, being outside: they all caused her to squirm hard and turn away. Then I thought maybe it's because her father is part mole, but he assures me this is not the case.
Maybe I'm part vampire.
We thought maybe she was just the weird kid. I mean, she's ours, after all. I don't know much about Shaun's family history, but the Johnson gene pool isn't exactly paved with gold. And as for the two of us? Well, Shaun loves Neil Diamond, KISS, professional wrestling, and milk. I love cemeteries, two dollar bills, Johnny Cash, and sideshow freaks. What did we expect to create? Besides, she's the only child we have. We don't know anything but what we've known with her. She defines normal, for us.
As we drove away, Shaun and I agreed that we needed to see if she could get some help, or we could learn to help her. We didn't see any other three year olds sobbing uncontrollably at the circus, and our excited little moppet was worn clear out from fear, and we'd only been there seven minutes.
She's been to therapy three times so far, and we're hopeful they can help our amazing, hilarious, beautiful girl shine through, so she need not be afraid, and need not hide from large parts of the world. 
When I win the lottery, that's one of the first things I'll do after I buy my gorgeous huge old house that's totally updated in wiring and plumbing and insulation but still has the original hardwood floors and stained glass windows: fill up a securely fenced in, expansive backyard with loads of easy to care for, self weeding plants. 
Oh, sorry. I digress. Sometimes I get distracted by my retirement plan. 
In between now and then, I'm working on our (extra shady) backyard and overly-landscaped-by-the-previous-owners-frontyard. In fact, my mama came by the other day with some hostas she'd divided from her own garden, and we put V to work with her first in-ground planting project. She helped divide the plants, choose where they would go, dig the holes, fill them in, and water. She also got dirt in her hair and my hair, and hosed off my otherwise dry sneakers and her own underpants. 
She is her mother's daughter, her grandmother's granddaughter, and one of my favorite gardening accomplices. I hope she appreciates stained glass as much as I do.
Her name is iambic, I think, and it's hard for me to not say it in its entirety. Like her brother, I was 
As I've detailed 
"Even Though My Sister and I Were Both Girl Scouts for Years, It Took Us Two Hours to Build This Damn Fire."
This is Steve, my handsome, newly-single brother-in-law, who entertained V all weekend. We probably should pay him money for how well he kept her entertained while we napped and generally avoided parenting in most ways.
David, my father-in-law, built more than one campfire so we could have s'mores, and won at least 1/3 of all croquet games played this weekend.
Mary, my lovely mother-in-law, thought the lake breeze was a little chilly. She did most of the cooking, and went gambling with me, and doted on V when Uncle Steve wasn't entertaining her.
My mama, who wears a tube top like no one's business. She believes it's a sin if you're not outside the ENTIRE TIME you're at the lake. I'm so glad she came out for the day.
She brought her sister, my Aunt Beverly, with her. We all love Bev, and it's so cool to be at a lake with her again, like we did when I was very young and my grandparent's cabin on South Twin would fill up with the Johnson family. 
Will, who looks like he's about to burst into tears here but I swear was just having fun chucking rocks. He and V had fun swimming and running around and playing in the dirt.
My little sister, whose recent jaw surgery meant she couldn't eat any potato salad. She had a nice soft peanut butter sandwich, though, and went swimming with our kids. And she brought a bunch of soda pop, which means I love her the most. 
Hope your weekend was filled with goodness, too.