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Waiting for the bus, under an apple tree.

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Playing with Meera.

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Running as fast as he can, to go greet Owen.

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Sunday we hosted a brunch for our neighbors in Sayre. We started the tradition of once-a-semester brunches last year. The students catch on quick that there is good food at our brunches! The food used to be the big draw…

…but now… now our universe has slightly shifted… and now Dash is the big draw…

Everyone wants to hold the puppy. He was literally held, non-stop, for the entire 2.5 hours of the open-house-brunch. And trust me, I’m not the only one taking pictures of students holding Dash. The iPhones are a’clicking just about non-stop.

The bambinos love these brunches because they get to have everyone over to play…

…and hang out…

…and just enjoy a Sunday with our favorite students as everyone heads into a new week. (This week at Lehigh is “4 o’clocks” — i.e., the first round of exams — so it was especially good timing for our brunch. The stress level around these parts is running pretty high right about now.)

At least once a week we feed the kids something simple for supper (and Braydon and I find something to eat later, after they’ve gone to bed), because we sometimes just cannot manage to get a real family dinner on the table in time. Between double work, and triple school, and a lot of homework, and everything else, as probably most families know all too well, pulling off a sit-down-family-meal is oftentimes practically impossible. Tonight was one of those nights. Homework was done, K & O were playing basketball in the hallway with Jon — as usual (they literally play every single day), and Meera was hanging out playing, while Braydon and I were scurrying to pull together a quick and easy meal for the kids.

Very spur of the moment, we invited Jon in to eat with them (as in, I shouted out our doorway into the hall: “Jon, do you want to eat mac-n-cheese with the kids?”). It was just mac-n-cheese… however… 1) mac-n-cheese is still K,O,M’s all-time favorite meal, and 2) Jon was just thrilled it wasn’t his usual can-of-spaghettiO’s-for-dinner. These four were just so happy to be sitting there eating that mac-n-cheese together. I could not get over the goodness of it all. Note: Jon is our Head Gryphon this year. We all absolutely adore this guy. The bambinos, especially, are just head-over-heels for him.

This photo is just a snapshot, but it captures the moment perfectly. We are living a very unique family lifestyle, and there are challenges and joys to it. The moment in this photo represents one of the greatest joys.

It is Meera’s turn to learn to read.

She’s just beginning.

I took these yesterday– exciting moments for a lazy Sunday morning.

Not sure who is prouder of the emerging reader: Meera herself, or her doting brothers.

I snapped these with my iPhone just as I got the kids home from school today… so they aren’t the greatest pics… but they definitely convey the idea: ‘Home From School!’ is a very exciting time around here these days — for Dash and the bambinos both. Reunited at last, after a long day apart! There is nothing quite like a kid (or kids) with their dog. And there is nothing quite like a dog with his best playmates.

I thought kids were a big hit on campus. And they most definitely are. But puppies…. my oh my! A puppy takes it to a whole new level.

So far, Dash has not left Sayre. But it has been nice weather, so we’ve been outside at Sayre a lot in the past three days. Dash has met a lot of students already, and a lot of students have fallen head-over-heels for Dash already. I’m pretty sure that Dash is well on his way to being the most popular guy on campus.

We got a puppy! His name is Dash!

He is a 13-week-old cockapoo. We are in love!

We picked him up — from the farm where he was bred & born — on Saturday at noon. It was a 3-hour drive, round-trip. We had narrowed the name down by the time we headed out that day. Meera was set on “Lightening Dust.” Kyle and Owen wanted it to be “Rainbow Dash.” Braydon and I decided it would be “Lightening Dash,” hoping that “Dash” would stick. And stick it did. Nobody has mentioned the lightening part since seeing him. He is Dash Johnson-McCormick. Here are some shots from the drive home:

We arrived, introduced Dash to our home and to Lehigh…

…and then, after much playtime and overstimulation, he promptly fell asleep.

…on Kyle’s lap. Which was a dream-come-true for our Ky Ky (who has never been a fan of cats, and has long wanted a dog). Kyle kept saying, “Is this a dream? Am I dreaming? Seriously, this is a dream, right? Do I really have a dog? Is this our dog? Is this really happening? This is the perfect dog. How did we get such a perfect dog?”

Later that night, once we had the bambinos in bed, Braydon and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary with sushi, a movie, and our very first, brand-new, puppy. Now, that was a dream-come-true. (How long do you think it will be before Dash no longer sleeps with his head just a couple of inches away from sushi, without even attempting to taste one morsel of it?)

(Note: that night was not a dream-come-true. Braydon and I were up all night long with a crying, whining Dash baby spending his first night in his crate. Yes, we are crate training. No, we didn’t give in to him that night. Yes, we were exhausted the entire next day. No, crate training is not easy.)

But the best dream-come-true is seeing Dash become part of our family. This is why we finally broke down and decided to get a dog:

Friday was Spirit Day for the bambinos’ new school. I can’t get over how much they (the bambinos) have already attached themselves to this place. I went to the pep rally in the afternoon before school ended. I wanted to see what it was all about. And I wanted to see how K, O, and M acted there. Getting verbal reports from them that school is “great” is different than actually being able to see them there, and seeing how they behave there. I was blown away by how true to themselves, and at home, the three of them were. They are working super hard (the academic work is much more challenging than their previous school), but they are holding their own and doing just great. Switching schools was a huge decision for us. So, it felt really good to see K, O, and M on Friday — really in their element — really happy, and really authentically them. The school mascot is a cougar (named “Paws”), and the school color is red. You’d think the bambinos had been going there their whole lives given their level of school pride.

Last night I had my late class (a graduate seminar I teach 4-7pm on Thursdays), so I was getting home around 7:15. As soon as I approached the main door of our building, I could see through the glass that something WILD & CRAZY was going on. As soon as I cracked open the door, I could hear something WILD & CRAZY going on. This is what I came home to: a ruckus and rowdy game of hallway dodge ball.

This is a new one. Our Head Gryphon, Jon, is the main instigator, but if truth be told, it is a whole bunch of guys in our dorm who are responsible for teaching our three children (yes, all three of them; Meera is very much a part of it) this new insane game. They form teams, congregate on opposite ends of the hallway, and then go absolutely nuts pounding balls as hard as they can at each other, attempting to pelt each other from each end of the hall. It is the loudest I’ve ever heard our dorm (ever — like, including the rowdiest of weekends). It is incredibly crazy to watch — especially given the multi-age character of the players.

They’ve been playing it a lot, but last night was super intense. All of them (young and old) were sweating up a storm by the time it got broken up by Braydon yelling (at the top of his lungs in order to have them hear him over their own volume), “BEDTIME!” The younger set then went to get ready for bed. The older set went to get ready to study. I don’t know who was dreading which more: the bedtime or the study-time.

Dorm Hall Dodge Ball. Craziness.

They asked me to take this picture before school yesterday morning, right after they discovered that they had all three chosen matching uniforms!

Today, for the first time, I held class in my home.

This semester I’m teaching an undergraduate Sociology of Education course. It is capped at a very small number because it is fulfills students’ university requirements for a Writing Intensive course. I have 12 students, so it is small enough that I could invite them, to have class, in our apartment. I’ve never done this before, but had been wanting to for a long time. This course is a seminar-style, discussion-based class. So, it can — at least theoretically — work in an untraditional, non-classroom setting. I wanted to do it, and I wanted to do it early on in the semester.

To say it is rare at Lehigh for a professor to hold class in their home would be an understatement. It has probably happened before… but it is extremely unusual. It is probably even more unusual (maybe unique?) for it to be an undergraduate class. (I’ve personally never known anyone to do it.) Lehigh is a pretty formal place, a pretty rigid academic environment, and a pretty ‘old school’ culture. I had no idea how it would go over, but I wanted to take a chance.

The class starts at 9:20am. Some of the student-athletes are already exhausted by then (coming straight from early-morning practices/work-outs). Other students have just rolled out of bed and are still groggy and bleary-eyed. Some are probably hung-over. Some are showered, dressed to a ‘T,’ and their hair and make-up is flawless as they look ready to attack the world head-on. I made blueberry muffins, and had juice and coffee for them. They came. They scoped out where I live. They asked a whole slew of questions about the how/why/when/for-how-long of our unusual living situation and lifestyle. They guzzled OJ and got spoiled by homemade muffins and decent coffee from a real mug. And then we sat around on couches, in chairs, and on the floor, and we had class.

As if my own boundaries between work and home weren’t already blurred enough, this morning my home was my classroom and my classroom was my home. It was pretty surreal. And it was pretty cool. I think it went well.

What I’ve noticed is that the students respond no differently to me when they are in a classroom, a dining hall, an event on- or off-campus, or — as I found out this morning — sitting around having a class discussion in my family room. However, what I’ve also noticed is how differently I am responding to them. Beyond the classroom walls I see them more fully, more wholly, and with more clarity. I think — no, actually, I know — that it makes me a better, more insightful, more effective, more transformative professor.

This morning I held class in my home. It was another thing I’d never do if I weren’t living on campus. And it made me a little bit better at what I do.

20 years ago, right about now (10pm), on this exact date, at a party in the dorm-room of mutual friends of ours, at Colby College, both starting out our senior year, Braydon and I met for the first time. It was love at first sight. I know, I know, so cliche. But sometimes, so true. We left the party holding hands.

We’ve had our moments (and our months, and our years), but held hands through thick-and-thin ever since.

We’ve had grad school days of eating on a shoe-string-budget (baked potatoes for dinner! way-too-many-a-night!), and studying ’till 2am (while every other 20-something we knew was rockin’ the Boston bar scene), and years and years of working our tails off to slowly inch toward our independenty- and mutually-set goals and aspirations.

We’ve danced at our own (glorious, delirious) wedding and the beautiful weddings of at least 30 other couples that are our nearest and dearest.

We’ve got two doctorate degrees, a technology company, tenure at a Top-50 university, one of us has a couple of thousand of LinkedIn connections, and one of us has zero LinkedIn connections.

We’ve spent a ton of time in therapy. We’ve spent a ton of money on school loans. We’ve spent way too many hours over-analyzing every little thing.

We’ve had fabulous vacations and we’ve explored the vineyards and wineries of Burgundy, and we’ve protested things and fought for things we believe in and sometimes decided to just flow with the current.

We’ve had, and have, lots and lots of wonderful friends and acquaintances and relationships and neighbors and family members and people who have come into our lives for short spurts or long-spells.

We’ve spent a lot of money on baby shower gifts, and we’ve been showered exponentially by the baby gifts graciously given to us.

We’ve shoveled snow and dealt with poorly-engineered gutter systems, and jumped into swimming pools and lakes and oceans, and we’ve held each other while vomiting and crying and jumping up and down in celebration and cunvulsing with sobs with the tragedy of losing people that we love.

We’ve faced fears and adversities. We’ve met challenges, and we’ve failed. We’ve screwed up and made mistakes and we have surpassed (already) and expectations we ever had for ourselves.

We’ve confessed our inner-most thoughts and fears and insecurities. We’ve cheered each other on and held down the fort to overcompensate in order to get the other through a thick spot.

We’ve taken on hobbies, and let them drift off. We’ve read books that we’ve spent hours discussing, which we’ve now long forgotten we ever even read.

We’ve fought so hard and so long that we felt weak and famished and completely drained when it was finally over.

We’ve felt what it feels like to accomplish big huge things together.

We’ve lived in a bunch of places together, owned two houses together, moved onto a different-college-campus-than-the-one-we-met-on together.

We’ve had ups and downs and winter seasons and summer seasons and dry spells and richly elaborately charmed spells.

We’ve got a lot together.

But of course, the biggest thing we’ve got together are our three crazy kids. We love this trio with a wild abandon and fierce attachment. Way past babyhood and we still just cannot stop taking their pictures and marveling at their greatness and grandness and at our gratefulness for them in our life together. Oh, and yes, we’ve sometimes (oftentimes) pulled our hair out together at their infuriating antics.

As of right now, we’ve got 20 big years and 3 crazy kids together.

There is never a dull moment. And that’s how we like it. It is messy, but we are going strong.