It's Risky

Posting this terrible picture of myself.  But it's recent, as in the past Saturday night, and it's all I've got!  We drove out to picturesque Carlisle, MA to eat a ridiculous amount of ice cream.  This sundae fed all 5 and 1/2 of us, and we went home stuffed.  It was a lovely drive and a lovely place to stop and and get dessert, Kimball Farms, for all you locals.


On to the real reason y'all read this blog; here's an update on our cute kids:

1. Kate - I have been a total Nazi about piano practice lately.  One day I promised myself I would keep my mouth shut on one particular piece that was really stressing lil Kate out.  I did not point out the steps and skips that she repeatedly confused, and surprisingly when she played the wrong note she could hear the mistake and fix it herself.  It was really exciting to see how far she's come.  Kate has been trying out two different dance studios the last couple of weeks, we've found the winner and she's REALLY excited to start a class in a couple of weeks.  Also, Ms. Kate completed art camp last week.  I framed a couple of her charcoals already.

The last day of camp the instructor put a few pieces from each child up on the wall, in a make shift gallery.  The pieces were all mixed up and not labeled according to who made them.  It was an impressive sight, but one piece drew my eye immediately.  To my great surprise it turns out it was Kate's piece.  I talked to the instructor afterwards, who happened to give me the camp in exchange for some design work I had done for her (so she knows my style) and she commented on how much Kate and I are alike; we pick similar patterns and colors etc.  It was a fun thing to hear.  

2. Anna Bana - has really turned into a great little swimmer this summer.  In typical Anna form she just had to make up her mind that it was something she wanted to do, and now she's swimming all over the place and really enjoying herself.  It's great to see her playing without reservation.  Anna's plans for the fall include 3 days of Montessori preschool,  1 occupation therapy lesson a week, piano lessons, and swim lessons.  I am thinking she's going to really need her down time in the afternoons as she enjoys peace and calm more than the rest of us!  Anna is still fantastically quirky.  She comes up with some great outfits, says the goofiest things, and is a real delight.  She and her Daddy share the talent/habit of making up songs and singing them over and over and over :)

3. Ad-man has decided he's ready to be potty-trained and is taking to it like a champ.  We're only on day two, but he's telling me when he needs to use the potty and is batting about 85%, he even woke up from his nap yesterday dry, I'm counting my lucky stars!  I'm also hoping I didn't just jinx myself.  He's talking up a storm too.  Yesterday we were waiting outside for Spencer to wrap up an hour and a half conversation (not that I was hungry or anything :)), luckily the weather was great and the girls were climbing trees with their friends.  Adam was too little so he told me "Go on dinosaur hunt".  He led me through some bushes making little roaring sounds and talking to leaves.  This gave me time to think about how he probably thinks there are dinosaurs in the woods around us.  I love it when he shares what he thinks about.  

4. Spencer and I have been working on getting a playset for our some-what neglected backyard.  We're really excited about our plans and I'll post some pictures as soon as it all comes together!  The improvements we've made already have led to a lot more dinners being eaten outside, it's really fun when we working on a project together.