How about you? Yep, I came back and once again we are in mid 90s and orange ozone alerts. The garden survived my absence and Casper and I ate 4 beans the other night. I have blooming sweet peas (not wildly thriving, but living, and blooming: http://www.flickr.com/photos/casperflea/566311845/) and set tomatoes and generally things are ticking along. Must be vigilant about watering, though.

The Dillo's eighth tooth is through. He is so energetic - will climb on anything. Favorite toys include the doggy xylophone and putting shapes in the shape sorter (without the shape-sorting lid - we are at basic levels of skill here!) Has slept until past 6am the last couple of days! Still very chubby.

The kids transitioned back to school just fine yesterday. On Saturday Casper had her Tap & Tumble recital, which was darling if very very long. The twos were funny as hell and all over the place; the young threes were a combination of tragic and funny - Zoe stood with maracas on hips, the opening pose of their routine, for basically the entire song, and Harrison made horrified tragic faces; and the older threes and fours (including Casper) were pretty much with-it, if not exactly smooth dancers. Casper was one of the clumsier ones, but not outstandingly klutzy (she is also one of the younger ones, and was wearing sneakers that made her stumble, whoops.) I can report that I am such a sappy mother that I got weepy when she came on 'stage' - maybe it was sleep deprivation? http://www.flickr.com/photos/casperflea/566754595/

We also had father's day festivities at Elmo's. Casper was not best pleased about the whole idea of the annual ritual of the photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/casperflea/566311797