06 AUG 25

Black smudges all over the basement tile... apparently yesterday when Yali realized he needed some footwear for the creek he grabbed an old pair of black sneakers... patched up the holes with painters tape... didn't like how the blue looked too obvious against the black... spray painted the tape black... and walked them upstairs before they'd dried...

Meanwhile... Oxbear and Yali leave for a therapy appointment that morning...

...while Patience is busy assisting me with organizing cabinets and shelves... taking occasional breaks to Minecraft chicken coops while singing *NSYNC lyrics to herself...

...and Puck consults with me on Army paperwork where he's asked to email in his best “dad joke” before the August drill water gun battle... “This is stupid...” he declares through a poker face... but after receiving a “10/10” for his submitted dad joke he's trying to hide a smile over the amusement of it all...

When Oxbear and Yali return... Oxbear knocks over a precariously placed box of lightbulbs in the basement... smashed everywhere...

...Yali and Patience get busy yelling at each other...

...until the distraction of chicken nuggets makes them forget their fights...

...and Patience hand-mixes lemonade...

...while Yali gets busy rearranging the snake tank to keep his nope rope consistently amused...

Afternoon is hot... Yali's flipping upside-down and backwards and sideways as Spiderman on the trampoline sloshing with more "drawerfuls" of water...

...while the dog is busy digging around my roses... dirt flying...

Oxbear to a school board meeting...

Patience to the studio...

Everyone home again... bust out the spaghetti and meatballs for a late dinner...