The Queen Bee Returns

It was a quiet month. Em (who turns 9 a week from today) was in New York from July 13 through August 15, and we got used to the slow pace of life in our house without her.

She's been home for two days now. She was out until well after 10 last night, seeing a friend in a summer-camp production of "Wicked." This afternoon, after attending N's preschool graduation ceremony (more on that when I'm not feeling so weepy about MY BABY growing up), we returned home to two messages for her: C wanted to know if she could play; R wanted to know if she could come to the movies with them. After realizing that neither plan would work out, she and N decided to go splash around in our not-so-hot tub; within half an hour, the boys next door had come over to join them. Fifteen minutes later, J and J, her friends from down the block, were back there as well.

And so it begins, again. The kids tracking through the house, leaving doors open for Snug to escape through, asking for snacks, for drinks, for another roll of toilet paper. Arguing, yelling, name-calling. Laughing, laughing, laughing.

God, I missed this.