My neck is markedly better. Not perfect, but a vast improvement. I seriously think it was connected to my throat hruting and my glands being sore, because that is almost gone now. Now Mark has a sore throat and swollen glands, and he feels like his teeth are hurting. It's the mysterious "swollen-glands-but-feels-like-something-else" virus.

Katie's senior pictures are in the morning, early. Or 'oily' as Emma would say.

I can't believe it's August 4th. The end of summer feels melancholy this year. I'm so ready for it not to be so hot, but I like it when the kids are home. And this is Katie's last year of high school..who knows what will happen after that. As soon as Amanda graduated high school, she was gone. I moved out of me and Dan's house in July, and she went away to school. We never lived in the same house again. I regret not taking advantage of the last few months she was at home, and cherishing them while they happened. Instead I got to muddle through a sloppy divorce without an attorney. My mothering was not-so-hot then.

I always pray that each year will be better for Daniel. And largely, it has been. It feels like it's been a long slow crawl..but he really is coming around. I love being with Daniel when it's just me and him. He carries on a good conversation, he's interested in a lot of subjects, and his sense of humor is pretty much unmatched in this household. He's polite and sincere and always very gracious. He really appreciates when someone does something nice for him. It's almost like he can't say 'thank you' enough.

He's finally got a lot of friends, and seems to be getting the help he needs at school. Knock on wood.

*sigh. it's bedtime.