Secret

The door to the steps was closed.

They were having a secret meeting and I was NOT invited.

When I opened the door, they immediately shunned me and then almost as immediately called me back to show me this:

and do this

and this.

Then I left them to their secrets.

Later when I opened the door, I saw this:

I have no idea what it was all about or what it all meant.  I guess that was the point.  

It was a secret.

Under The Sea

On Friday we sent Aliyah, Joey and Tikvah home in Grandma Mary and Grandpa Tim's car and Xandra, Theia and Isaiah stayed behind with me for the weekend.  On Saturday, Grandma took us, and cousin Emma, to The Lincoln Community Playhouse, where she works part time "cooking" the books.  

The reason for our visit:  The Little Mermaid Jr. All the parts were played by actors under the age of 18.  The production was very well done and the girls were riveted throughout the performance.

After the show, we met much of the cast:

Skuttle the seagull,

Sebastian the crab,

Ariel,

and Flounder

and Prince Eric,

and Ursula, who was much nicer in person than she was on stage.

Grandma took a shot of my girls (with ring pop mouths) and I

and Isaiah got in the picture, too.

Then, because Grandma has all the connections, the manager of the playhouse gave the girls a backstage tour.

It was quite fascinating.

Just like the rest of our special afternoon.  

Thanks Grandma for a great time!

Just Like Always

While visiting Grandma DeShon's house, Theia hit a milestone.

Her first tooth

gone.

When I was a kid growing up, we always put our teeth in a cup of water after we lost them.

At night the tooth fairy would remove the tooth

and leave behind some coin.

I assured the girls that the tooth fairy would know where to find Theia's tooth, since this is how we did it when I was a kid.  Xandra made a sign to help the tooth fairy and to keep Theia's tooth safe from well meaning cleaner uppers.

That night the tooth fairy delivered...a note and some coin and took the tooth.  Just like she's always done.

Park Play

While we were in Lincoln in late July, we had the privilege of meeting Grandma Mary, Uncle Andy, Auntie Lisa, Ingrid and Edmund at the park for a few hours.

The kids had a great time playing in the sand, swinging, climbing, running, and being entertained by Uncle Andy.

Is Made Of

At the very end of July, what now feels like an eternity ago...you know when the grass was green and 40 degrees felt cold instead of warm, the kids and I made a trek to Lincoln for a visit.  In true Pull, fashion, however, we made it as complicated as possible.  It so happens that Joe's parents, whom with we were living, were headed to Lincoln so Grandpa Tim could teach a class.  Since our van didn't have any air conditioning, and we couldn't fit the entire family in the van anyway, they took three kids and I took three kids and we made our way south to Nebraska.  

While we were there, we did lot of this:

hanging out with cousin Emma,

reading books,

playing outside

lounging on the porch in our pajamas.

The kind of stuff a summer trip to Grandma's house is made of.