Pick a Link-Up, Any Link-Up

The school schedule ends and my people lose their (admittedly tenuous) grasp on the basic routine that keeps this ship of state from running aground.  There is nothing like summer with 7 children to make me feel like a bad housekeeper.   There are dirty cups and papers everywhere, and doors keep banging open but no one bothers to bang them closed, letting in every manner of insect on God's green earth.

Plus, the rain!  The interminable rain that makes everything clammy and sweaty and muddy.  And there is some kind of weird sticky spot on the hallway floor.

Oh, and Sally discovered little picnic ants around the dining room window this morning.  Fantastic.

After spending the morning reenacting "Apocalypse Now" on the ants, I am now rewarding myself by skipping lunch, eating a piece of dark chocolate, and reading blogs.

Of course, it's Thursday, which means that two of my favorite link-ups are published.  {p,h,f,r} at Like Mother, Like Daughter and Theme Thursday over at Clan Donaldson.

Is it bad form to do two link-ups in the same post?  Oh well, I have awesomely bad form in everything else, so I might as well continue to practice excellence and join in.

First, let's get {pretty, happy, funny, real}.   This is the {real} state of my house.  I like to keep things generally neat, and I have a few friends who firmly believe that there is never a mess at my house.  That's because I always have time to prepare before they come over.  If they came over at 10:45 on a Tuesday morning, they might find something more like this:

That's just a small fraction of the after-breakfast dish mess.  

That stack of papers is from one backpack. One.

This pile is Bun's daily self-imposed seat work.
He holds his pencil like a caveman, but his work is excellent.

And now for the {pretty}!   Our first CSA farm box came this week and it was delightful and delicious.  I am so glad that we were able to support this local farm this year, and I am having fun trying to use all the good things that came in the box.

Farm fresh organic eggs.  Just the ticket since we can't keep our
own chickens right now.

These lasted just about 10 minutes after they were delivered.
Better than candy.

And this was just {funny}.  Poor Septimus woke up all sweaty and screaming from his nap and his hair was standing on end.  This is a bad phone shot and he just looks dazed and confused here, but when he was red-cheeked and crying he looked a lot like the Heat Miser.

And PS?  What were they thinking with those Rankin and Bass '70s Christmas specials?!  Trippy.

Want more pictures?  Of course you do!  "Theme Thursday: Dads" it is.

Poor dads get the bad rap in this culture.  They are told they are completely replaceable, or worse, that they aren't even really needed in the first place.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Kids need dads, especially their dads if they can have them.  I've been so richly blessed with a great dad of my own as well as a great man to be the father of my children.

Ask Fiver what he wants to be when he grows up and he only ever says one of two things:  a priest (yay!) or a "dad just like my Dad."

I'm telling you, dads are where it's at around here.

My dear dad, and the kids' beloved Pop-Pop.

Strawberry fields forever

I love this picture.  Such a perfect shot of Francie and Rob after
Thanksgiving dinner one year.

Monkey on his back

Just like his dad

It's a shame they don't enjoy his company.