A monkey. A squirrel. One happy family.

Corn maze! Spencer's company, Veteran's United, held a family-friendly fall festival extravaganza at Shryocks Callaway Farm . There was a bounce house, kettle corn, hot dogs, s'mores, apple bobbing (try not to think about the germ factor), and, of course, the famous corn maze.

Hello! How are you? It has been a while, I know, so here I present a photo essay of Ella baking her first solo batch of cookies. I sat on the sidelines offering tips and drinking a glass of wine. I also got a little nostalgic remembering my own mother showing me how to level a cup of flour using a table knife. I also have a vivid memory of her showing me how to measure tricky ingredients like shortening and peanut butter using the displacement method in a Pyrex liquid measuring cup. I love you, mom! Ella levels her scoops of flour like a pro. I remember when the sound of this mixer used to send her fleeing in terror from the kitchen. Best part of baking: licking the beaters. Scoop! Safety first. Ella demonstrates proper (and enthusiastic) use of oven mitts. The finished product! Sharing a cookie with Annie. Other things are happening besides baking. Soccer season is wrapping up. Ella loves playing goalie, but Annie, after seeming to enjoy the first...

Soccer Annie Soccer Ella

Really, does it get much better? I'm thinking that it doesn't. Surprise gift of a library card catalog. Coconut cream pie. Both whipped up by the lovely Spencer Kane. A lake house weekend with ridiculously awesome food.  Some of the littles at the lake house, post swimming extravaganza. Some of the bigger littles. Three girls in a boat. Semi-synchronized jumps. Spencer schools some young fisher-people. There were also s'mores, many bottles of wine, and some pretty fantastic grown-ups who have mad charades skills, none of whom I managed to get a picture of. Anyway, they were there, and they were awesome.

Annie has a summer 'do. This is her with my hairdresser Amy, who did the honors of chopping off the tangled length. The sassy cut suits Annie, and she is quite happy with it, as its shortness makes it possible for her to brush it on her own.

A few pictures from our 4th of July weekend at Holiday Acres Lake outside out of Cairo, MO. The pictures of Ella make me miss her more. She is spending four weeks at "grandma camp" in Florida. She just completed a week of film camp, and tomorrow she will be at Sea World day camp. I want her summer. Spencer and I spent the weekend farming Annie out to the neighbor so we could scrape off popcorn ceiling and rip up carpet and sub floor in preparation for this week's foundation repair. I would much rather be by the pool in Winter Garden. Happy summer! Annie June. Ella takes a grapes-and-cheese-stick break from swimming. Sisters. S'mores. Spencer very excited about grilling a ridiculous amount of corn. Jordan (nephew of my brother Aaron and sister-in-law Cristi) and Ella. Annie and cousin Trey ("It's too sunny!")

Spencer's last day in radio was Friday, July 12. Here is the message he posted on Facebook. A sad, exciting time. "And now, for something completely different. Tomorrow marks the last day of my radio career. I have finally decided to go get a grownup job, and have accepted a position as a loan officer with Veterans United here in Columbia. In my wake,  I leave 23 years of radio. I worked at some great radio stations in my career, with some great broadcasters - from K-Nack in Austin, KRBE in Houston, WTGE and WFMF in Baton Rouge, Z100 and The Buzz in Portland, and my current stations in Columbia, KFRU/KBBM and BXR. I did overnights, nights, afternoons, mid-days and mornings. I worked Saturday night bar remotes, washed cars for charity with the fire department, and camped out for a week for Star Wars tickets. I got to cover some great moments in Mizzou sports, and see the best concerts I will ever see in my lifetime. It was, in short, a helluva time - and they paid me too!...