Library

Just lookit those curls!

It's the hand motion that gets me. I think she's taken umbrage with something in the book. 

 

Jean Jacket

Nana Jana bought Leah a jean jacket and she wore it every day for 2 weeks straight, right through a terrible heat advisory at the tail end of the summer. It's more weather-appropriate now & she's still wearing it. 

Here she has styled it for her role as Vanellope in the Tryps mini camp production of Wreck It Ralph. (Note the lollipop earrings.)

Ninja Camp

MO Pro Ninja offered a very affordable & convenient to my work day camp this summer so we tried it out (since the affordable & convenient gymnastics day camp of last summer went out of business!) 

She was not the world's greatest at the obstacle course, but she got a lot of good exercise & had fun!

I went to watch the final obstacle course & all the kids were very excited about the "certificates of awesome" that were passed out. 

Prof. Sendy

 Somehow Jim talked Sam into driving him to Andy’s Custard to go to a meet n’ greet (a "mreet") with a content creator from St. Louis named Prof. Sendy. (His schtick is doing creative word combinations that he calls “wambos”). Apparently he’s very big with the middle school to early college crowd. He was very nice to Jim, and they talked about his favorite wambo for over a minute.

Jim is pictured holding a shirt that he was told he should probably not wear at school anymore.

Fancy Wedding

 Sam & I got all fancified for my former coworker Emily's wedding. It was at A Secret Place in Jamestown, MO & it was very chic! 

Weird License

Leah made herself a Weird License, which is of course her license to be weird. It's laminated & everything (that she figured out herself, with scotch tape) 

 

Letters from Camp (from last summer)

When I was (finally) doing the post for Leah's camp this summer, I found a draft I never published from last summer about the letters the kids sent home.  

Time machine to 2025! ~~~~~~

Jim did 6 weeks of sleepaway camp this summer - 2 weeks at the aforementioned Camp Pillsbury, 3 weeks at Swift Nature Camp, and then one week at Camp Wakonda with Leah. It was Leah's first year at sleepaway camp and she was so, so excited and ready for it. 

Here is the letter we got from Leah - it came with 49 cents postage due because she bought me a llama necklace at the canteen and mailed it to me because I like Llamas! I also always put in a joke when I sent them a letter!

To: Mom and Dad
Camp is great. The kids are nice and the food is good (not as good as yours!) I see Jim at meals and clubs. Everyone loves K Pop Demon Hunters. 
Joke
Q: What is a wizard's favorite subject? 

A: Spelling

[Drawing of a wizard & giraffe] 

From: Leah

Here  is an excerpt from one of Jim's letters (he sent 2 letters to me & Sam for the combined 6 weeks he was away at camp! I think he sent Nana Jana a few more) But his letters were GREAT! I love them! 

Camp Wakonda

(I am once again playing catch-up with posts.) 

Leah went back to sleepaway camp this summer & got to stay two weeks this time. So big and independent! She said her favorite part was the weekend in between when almost all the kids went home. (On the girls' side?) there were just 2 girls plus 2 CITs (those are the teenaged counselors-in-training) and 2 counselors. They did a lot of swimming & watched a lot of movies, which she said she liked because they didn't get screen time during the regular camp week. They also dragged their mattresses from the cabin & slept in the rec hall, with its better air conditioning, indoor bathrooms, and TV!! She wrote us a letter but we never got it!

Here's the packing list:

I think the photos are in reverse order. 

She's on the far left. This was the closing campfire, where her cabin got to do a performance. The youngest camper (that would be Leah) wakes up the first camper & says she needs to go "Whee" (We did this at girl scout camp! Ha!) 

Very middle: 

There are a lot of photos where she's the shortest one. I think this is dance class? She also tye-dyed shirts both weeks (not pictured but we have the shirts!) Leah informs me this is actually a drama activity in the rec hall. They made up a skit and performed it at closing campfire. Each one of them embodied a camp core value as a superhero. Leah was Respect, flanked by Caring, Honesty, and something else, plus The Villain. 

There's a lake/pond & also a pool. She got to go paddle boarding in the lake. She said it was a little frustrating because she passed her swim test the first week, and then at the beginning of the second week they announced that you didn't have to re-take the test if you still had your green band from the prior week, but Leah had already taken it off! So she had to retake the test (& passed again, of course)

Ah, I bet this is dance class. They made up a dance to "Shake It Off" (but the version from the movie Sing.)

There's also an awful lot of photos of her doing her pose. 

I guess she's not the only one!

This was at music club. They learned "Dig a little deeper" (from Princess and the Frog.) 

Capture the flag? 

Chillin in the Gaga ball court after they got their snacks from the canteen. Leah spent all of her money!

Music again: 

And drama the first week - they did a "knight and dragon thing" where the monsters ended up learning the core values of camp. Leah was the narrator & wore a beret. 

Here's the link from last year when she went with Jim! https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2025/08/camp-wakonda-2025.html

It's not quite as clear with the out-of-order and vastly delayed posting that I've been doing, but Leah got a big, big haircut at her request, for ease of care during camp. It is much easier for her to brush & wash & handle by herself. 

City Museum

We went to City Museum - the kids let us take this one photo prior to going in. 

Leah drove the school bus - I think she was the only one who had a lot of fun. (It was hot!) 

But Jim was quite pleased with his caricature. I like that the artist included the K-Pop Demon Hunters on his t-shirt in the drawing!

 

Jim’s 14th Birthday

 We had a little family party for Jim for his birthday! Leah made him this card/placemat: 

He showed everyone the photos from his & Sam's trip to Lollapalooza & a video of his show at The Blue Note: 

Jim is now taller than Sam: 

And Amelie is somehow the tallest here: 

Jim wanted to go out to Red Lobster, where he tried the lobster but didn't like it very much. 

The soda & cheddar biscuits & mashed potatoes were a-okay: 

He wanted to get his ears pierced for his gift - full of confidence before:

During - she had to adjust a little bit to account for his prior scar tissue from when we did this before: 

And after: 

He & Sam are going to see AJJ in concert in Lawrence, KS tonight. (They were going to go to St Louis to see them tomorrow, but there's a middle school band thing.) Happy birthday, Jim!

Deer!

Perhaps because of our proximity to Bonnie View Nature Area, we see a lot of deer. 

This teeny baby deer was very interested in this teenager walking his dog! I was a mom & told him to leave it alone - that the mama deer would come back!

ST Math

Leah finished 3rd grade ST Math with a few days to spare before 4th grade started & as is tradition, she got a cake, which she wanted to decorate herself! The green bit is an icing scarf & the pink bits are cut from cupcake liners (& so non-edible). 

 She did get about 2-3 weeks off before I made her start 4th grade math, and then last night I got a notification that it's going to switch from a free to a paid subscription. It really is a great math supplement, though, so we'll see! 

Here is the cake (which I searched for on the blog to link here, but I guess I only put on FB) that Jim got when he finished ST Math for elementary school at the end of 5th grade - April 2023!