I have had a bit of a fascination lately with playing dress up. It may be a result of having a 2 year old or just wanting to escape my own reality for a while. Either way, the email I received today made be stop and drift away to think about what my super hero name might be.
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By Jennifer Savage
Yesterday I went to the grocery store for a few things and you know how that can be. But on this trip I didn’t come home with a $12 pint of huckleberries or a $25 bottle of shampoo. I got what I needed with my two children writhing in and out of the cart.
Bananas. Yogurt. Oatmeal. Butter.
My dad, Eliza and me
The next thing on the list: dish soap. I sniffed a few different kinds and settled on one cheap, lemon-scented bottle. I threw it in the cart, told Lucille to stop climbing over the rail of the cart for the tenth time, and I was on my way. I circled the store trying to remember if there was anything I was forgetting. I passed the soap aisle again, on my way to the cash register, and whipped in quickly to exchange my cheap, lemon dish soap for Palmolive, the kind my grandmother uses. Then I headed straight for the clothes detergent and grabbed a jug of Gain. We didn’t even need clothes detergent.
As I packed my groceries into my car, I opened the bottle of Gain just to get a whiff. It smelled like my Dad. The Palmolive, my grandmother’s kitchen.
Standing in the Safeway parking lot all I could think was how much I miss them.
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Celebrate the Missoula Experience produced in partnership with a variety of Missoula organizations this weekend from Saturday, August 28 – Sunday, August 29, 2010. If you’ve got the kids in tow, check out the Children’s Fun Festival at Caras Park.
The Roots Fest hosts all the children’s and family activities in Caras Park on both Saturday and Sunday from 12-6. SpectrUM Science Discovery Area, along with many other local organizations will provide fun and educational activities including a youth performance stage, face painting, crafting, children’s music, a high school rock band competition and more. As with the rest of the festival – this is FREE and All Are Welcome!
Speaking of the rest of the festival don’t forget to check out the all day music stage, 4-mile fun run, and fine arts show.
by Jennifer Slayden
In less than a week my kids are heading back to school. I have mixed feelings- for it has been a wonderfully full, exciting, crazy busy summer. Part of me wants to squeeze in a few more weeks of all the things we didn’t get enough time to do: swim, visit lazily with friends and family, hike, and camp. Another part of me is doing a hallelujah dance-for routine has not been a word in our house for a very long time!
This year marks a new milestone for our tween daughter Grace. She will be in middle school. Although it is not as significant in our K-8 school district as it may be for kids in town who attend a new school, it is still a milestone. Classes are different. Social circles change. Homework becomes tougher and more demanding. She needs more school supplies…..
Grace was excited to go school shopping. As many of you know, the only thing that thrills me about shopping is a bargain. So when we had a special date together to have dinner and shop for school I quickly realized we had two very different opinions about what was “necessary” for school. I had the list and it said simply words like “pencils, folders, spiral notebooks,etc.” For me each item seemed pretty straight forward. For my daughter those same words meant “only mechanical pencils with cool colors, folders with the pictures on them that cost $1.99 instead of $.15, and different spiral notebooks because “Sidney has those ones and she will be mad at me if I have the same ones!” Needless to say I put my foot down. She wasn’t too happy, so I let her pick out one cute notebook.
The backpack is what we really disagreed upon though. She had a perfectly good one from last year that she claimed the zipper was broken on, and it wasn’t big enough for her middle school homework. I said it was fine, fixed the zipper (it had thread caught in it) and launched into my “save the planet” speech about being wise about reusing. My little high horse speech fell on deaf ears.
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By Nici Holt Cline
Our summer end-of-day routine is full and harried. Andy uses the word insane to describe it. I don’t know how but every day we are shocked to learn it is already 6pm. The next few hours are like a choreographed dance on a craggy staircase with wheeled toys underfoot. A contemporary dance with lots of dramatic falls and jerky twirls and irregular rhythm. Andy is right. It’s insane. And I love it.
We pull food from the ground and paw through the pantry to put together a meal. We share the day’s stories around Margot singing Feist and in between sweeping paperclips out of Ruby’s mouth. Forks lay exactly where the last bite was taken and our dog eats the leftovers off the counter. We barely remember to feed the new fish and our bed is unmade, a consistent reminder that we are not good at changing sheets. Clean pjs are plucked straight off the line next to the chatty hens and sprinklers are moved from the beans to the beets. A martini is poured and an oweie is kissed.
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