Happy Birthday, "Pensive? No, Just Thinking"!

Three years ago today, I started this humble little Web log ("blog"), writing basically for an audience of two (my wife and me). Gradually my students discovered it and started to read and comment, and even later my family and friends took note and started checking in from time to time.

(Note: There are still some of you who "lurk," reading but never commenting to let me know that you've visitied. You are pure evil!)

So what was on my mind on this day three years ago? Come back in time with me and revisit, if you will, that inaugural post, curious reader.

P.S. Two years ago, I was pooped! One year ago on this date, I posted nothing.

Start-of-School Photo Album

Faithful readers, you are accustomed to copious photographs of the Moberg children. Were you wondering how we could have neglected to snap pics of our daughters at the beginning of the school year? Then you have misjudged us! It is for you, dear reader, that I now share these photographs:

Hillary, Suzanna, and Abigail march off to school on Open House night.

First-grader Hillary at her desk and locker.

Third-grader Abigail (who has the same teacher this year whom Suzanna had last year, by the way) at her desk and locker.

Fourth-grader Suzanna at her desk and locker.

The lovely darlings posing the morning of the first day of school.

Papa Duck marching off to school with his ducklings. The girls' school is adjacent to the university campus, so in the mornings I've been walking them to school and then continuing on to work myself. After work, I've been picking the girls up at their after-school program (held at the school) and walking them home. We get lots of good conversation going during our walks!

Surprises for the Girls

Just 'cause I thought it was a cute pic!

The Sunday of Labor Day weekend definitely has the potential to be such a lazy, relaxing day. Alas, that was not to pass for the Mobergs today--but we had a pretty darned good day anyway, including a couple of surprises for the girls.

Despite our having arrived home really late last night from our shopping day in Bismarck, we woke the girls pretty early this morning to eat breakfast and get ready for church. One of the day's surprises involved meeting our friends Chris and Heather and their son, Keaton, for dinner at 11:30 A.M., so we didn't want the girls sleeping in and eating a late breakfast and having no appetite later on. After church we spent an hour getting started on a thorough house-cleaning in preparation for the evening's surprise (more on that in a moment) and then were off to Sanford's for dinner and visiting/catching up. (By the way, while there we saw our neighbors Chuck and Reba, whose visiting family [Chuck's mom from NE and Reba's sister from MT] we got to meet.)

Afterwards we headed to the Prairie Hills Mall for "Dollar Days." I got a great deal on a shirt from Herberger's, and we got to visit with Susan's aunt Mary, her daughter Laura, and Laura's son, Kaden, at Kmart (where a woman helping us at the checkout counter wore a name tag with the job title "People Coach" on it . . . what exactly is that, anyway?!). We got home to a phone message from my sister Sandy, so I phoned her and had a nice visit with her (as did the three girls, who kept her entertained with their comments). Then we went back into house-cleaning mode, getting every room vacuumed, dusted, and put into good order in anticipation of the next surprise.

As a college student, Susan used to babysit for a family whose daughters eventually babysat for our children years later! That family was in Medora, ND this weekend (from Grand Forks, ND) for a wedding, and they arranged to meet us this evening for supper, and we chose not to tell the girls. Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary were delighted to walk into El Sombrero for supper and be greeted by Megan (daughter) and Idette (mom)! Judd (dad) and Alyssa (other daughter) were waiting for us at the table. Perhaps needless to say, there was much squealing and hugging before we could sit down, and then much visiting and catching up throughout the meal. Afterwards, they came over for a tour of our home before heading back to Medora to catch the musical. (The day o' cleaning was for the possibility of their wanting to see our house--good forethought, eh?)

Hillary, Alyssa, Suzanna, Megan, and Abigail

We ended our evening with a 45-minute walk around the neighborhood and some HGTV and Food Network before bedtime. Great day!