It's too damn hot, and the house smells like "catholic,"

or so Sophie asserts.
I don't know what that means any more than you do.

Sophie's been sleeping in her thermal underwear, despite inside-temps in the mid-80's at night. She claims that she doesn't mind her own profuse sweating, because it makes her hair exceptionally pretty and curly.

Noel has chosen to combat the taxing heat by instigating assinine fights and arguments with his siblings. This morning, there was an all-out scrap in the dining room over who picked all the yogurt-covered Froot Loops out of the box, leaving only "regular" Froot Loops.

Jack seems to be unaware of the fact that it is uncomfortably hot. He is, however, pleased with the prospect of being able to run around in only a diaper, and has spent a length of time rubbing his belly, saying "ahhhhh," and signing that his skin is very, very soft.

The humidity associated with our high temperatures is what really drives me nuts. The entire house develops phantom odors, and it has been my mission this week to obliviate them. I hauled out my carpet steamer and cleaned the rugs and carpets in the downstairs. I set up fans to dry the residual moisture, and thought myself quite productive and clever, until I found Jack had decided to expedite the drying process by lying on the floor and sucking on the rugs.

I took the kids over to my parents' house last night to pick raspberries. Noel was quite fanatical about hurrying the process, as he *needed* to be home by 7:00, to catch the "Drake and Josh Movie" on Nickelodeon. Sophie and I picked quickly, but Noel kept exclaiming, "God!" and complained that bugs were trying to "eat [his] face," and that bees were coming after him. I don't think he will ever embrace the "mountain man" lifestyle. Last week after soccer practice, he became irate over the fact that I had filled his water bottle with tap, rather than filtered water, and he was appalled.

If I ever doubted the dignity of my role as a stay-at-home mom, my position has been confirmed this week by the length of time I've spent picking dead bugs out of the inflatable pool, shaking an incomprehensible amount of sand out of undergarments, and packing ice on the shiner NoelMN somehow acquired using the garden hose.

Ahhhh... summer...