Ava's Fashions

Brown and pink, a combination that can't be beat. Especially cute in a family photo.

The Unknown Soldier Loved S'mores Too

Mosley/Johnson Independence Hall field trip, circa 2009. The Pre-Maddy days. We need to repeat that trip, it was a great day. Bonnie and I wetting our pants over the idea of roasting marshmallows over the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, teaching the kids about poverty by taking photos of a homeless man sleeping on a park bench (Zach thought he was dead, and by "thought" I mean "hoped"),....ahhh, the memories. Good times, good times.

This Place Is Fishy

The Mosley/Johnson/Tabasso Camden Aquarium field trip. These were our attempts at getting group photos of the kids.

Free Zachary

Zachary has been practicing his swimming all summer in order to take and pass his "yellow wristband" swim test. The yellow wristband will allow him to go into different areas of our local YMCA pool. Well, this past Monday Melissa brought her kids to the pool with us, and she gave Zachary some tips. He spent an hour practicing her tips, and finally came to tell me he was ready to take his test.



Melissa taught him how to take a breath while swimming, but he chose not to during his test. I asked him later if he thought he was going to run out of breath during that swim, and he said, "Yes I did, but I didn't want to stop. I wanted to make it". I've never seen him so proud as he was after he passed that test. He even jumped back in and completed it a second time. After he got his wristband he had to call everyone he knew to tell them. He's been saying all week, randomly, "Mom, can you even BELIEVE that I passed my swim test??!?!??!"

Luke took his test too, right behind Zachary.

Thomas and Joshua had taken their test the day before:

Tortilla Towels

I was at the pool yesterday with my kids and two of my niece Bonnie's children, Thomas and Joshua. (They're here for the week to hang out with my kids and go to VBS with them.) After I got out of the pool, I wrapped a towel around me and sat down. Thomas came over and looked at my wrapped towel and asked, "How do you guys DO that with your towels?".

He asked if I'd wrap his around his waist. I did, and he grinned and said, "I feel so cool!". I told him he looked like a burrito, a Thomas burrito. He smiled and immediately said, "My head is the meat hanging out of the top, and my feet is the lettuce falling out of the bottom!".


It's nice having a nephew who can get down and dirty with some metaphors and analogies....

Look Mom, Delaware!

When I saw this picture of my great-nephew Thomas, I wanted to blog about it. But Bethany, his aunt, beat me to it.

Leg Cramp? Lick My Glasses...

(Thomas, Zachary, Ava and Colson)

My great-nephew Thomas stayed with us for a few days last week. I took all the kids to Manderach Park in Limerick, Pa, one afternoon. The kids ate lunch before playing on the playground equipment.

I gave Thomas a banana, and somehow he got the banana out of the peel while leaving the peel intact, with just a slit down one side. He held the banana peel out and said, "Look! It's a case for your eyeglasses!"


So cute and abstract...I was so enamored with his imagination that I had to take my eyeglasses off and put them into the "case" for a minute.