This Week:

• Ruth was off at "Nana Camp," getting manicures and pedicures, watching movies, going ice skating, playing at the water park, and shop-shop-shopping.
• Our ice machine developed a leak, which will hopefully be repaired next week.
• We attended an event for youth football players, where Weston and Max got their equipment for the upcoming season and also got to run around on the high school football field.
• We acquired a very cute and not-so-friendly kitten, who I have cajoled and chased and tried to keep alive at least long enough for Ruth to get to see it. (I was successful on that last item, by the way).

• Our resident barber (Jeff) gave all the boys great summer haircuts.
• It rained buckets! Glorious, beautiful, much-needed rain. In July. In Texas. It felt like a miracle.
• With the rain, we have also been enjoying temps in the upper 80s. Another Texas July miracle.
• The boys and I attended a three-day CC practicum (basically a homeschool pep rally), where the boys attended camps, and I did everything from getting participants registered to giving the welcome speech to facilitating training courses for some of this year's tutors. It was super-fun and utterly exhausting.
• We attended a dinner party with Jeff's parents and their good friends from Hawaii.
• I hosted a dinner party for all the directors attending the parent practicum.
• Our beautiful new niece/cousin, Victoria Pearl Watts, arrived safely in the world. 

• Clay spent a day seriously contemplating giving up potty training completely.
• I spent a lot of time preparing for the close of CC registration (tomorrow) for this school year by answering a ton of questions, collecting paperwork and tuition and entering everyone's pertinent information in the right places on the computer. 
• Clay got a cool pair of cowboy boots (hand-me-downs from his younger cousin), which he absolutely loves!

• Ruth and I attended her CC Challenge Orientation. We just can't believe it's only a month until classes start!
• I dropped off two huge bags of giveaway items produced by the collaborative closet culling efforts of Jeff and myself.
• I accidentally spilled the contents of my wallet and found the dry cleaning ticket for some things I dropped off a month ago. Fortunately, the cleaners still had the items, and I was able to pick them up. 
• The big boys had pre-football physicals done. 
• We got our house in Austin listed for sale.
• I displayed one of my greater acts of insanity by taking all four kids with me for six hours of errand running and school clothes shopping.