Watermelon is a summer necessity

We've been enjoying summer at its finest which included a lovely break from the Internet and lots of good eating.


Thank you to Joe's cousins who took these beautiful photos of Madeline last weekend. I love that they totally capture two things Madeline loves: food and her wonderful uncles.

Can I send him to Neverland?

My little brother is officially no longer little.

He may be nine years younger than me but it's hard to see him as a kid after he boards an airplane for officers boot camp for the summer.

Because that's exactly what he did on Sunday.

The baby whose bottom I once wiped is going to be a soldier.

The toddler who lived in his cowboy boots will be lacing up a different kind of boot.

I'm incredibly proud of who he is and who he is becoming and I'm proud to be his sister. And anyone who has watched Madeline and him for two seconds knows just how much she loves him too.

This summer, my family will miss Peter tremendously even though we're excited for the adventure ahead of him.

Because who wouldn't miss a cool brother and uncle like this?

Sheer joy is available at Target

Quite possibly the best nine bucks I'll ever spend at Target. Or, at least, this summer.

P.S. Please note the open book in the background. I encouraged Madeline to jump in over and over because she was having so much fun but I didn't realize my library copy of sTORI Telling was getting completely drenched. It took two days and my 50-pound Complete Calvin and Hobbes set to make it resemble a book again.

But that look on her face? Totally worth it.

The reason I have Lionel Richie stuck in my head

Madeline started ballet this week. Can I just say looking at this grown-up girl in the black leotard makes me want to cry?

But I won't because a) she's so stinkin' adorable and b) she was so excited to begin dancing.

I had grand plans about her ballet shoes. I wanted to get them at the same dancewear store where my mom and I got my ballet slippers when I started my illustrious but short-lived ballet career.

(Sidenote: my strongest memory of ballet is looking around the room and realizing other girls could do the splits while stretching but my legs could only make a V-shape.)

Outside the ballet studio, I do remember very clearly walking into that store and being fitted for my slippers.

So I planned to get Madeline's slippers on Tuesday morning, an entire day before her class, and take the camera to take pictures of her during her fitting. (Gasp! Katie with a camera? I know.)

It was a great idea. Until my phone buzzed on Tuesday morning with a calendar reminder that her class was on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

Ensue chaotic morning of rushing to the store, discovering that the store doesn't have her size, trying not to turn beet-red when I say I can't order her shoes because her class is in, oh, 90 minutes, speeding up Carmel to another store to get her shoe size, and rushing back to her class.

Motherhood FAIL.

Since it wasn't quiet the serene and peaceful morning I had planned, I forgot to take the camera with me to the store which meant I didn't have it for her class.

Motherhood DOUBLE FAIL.

But it turned out just fine because she got her slippers, loved her class and was eager to show off her moves when she came home.

I know I've said it before but seriously, how in the world did I become the mother of a dancing 3-year-old who is also a photographer?

I'm pretty sure I was just given an infant yesterday.