Sights of the Season

Nutcracker Girls

It was hard to get this picture of Theo's 5th-grade choir performing at a retirement home (he's in the middle).  He's a good singer and a good dancer.  But he practically never looks at his director.  Funny boy.

I love decorating little girls for Christmas!

Outside our awesome Breakfast with Santa at Flattop Grill.  That's Mistletoe the reindeer with us--it sort of looks like we're kidnapping her, doesn't it?  We would never!  Don't put us on the naughty list, Santa!

We made a rice-krispie castle instead of a gingerbread house this year--huge hit!  It only lasted about an hour.

Christmas Eve nativity--we have a shepherd, Joseph, Mary, and our angel. 

I hope if you enlarge this you can see Theo's magnificent etch-a-sketch drawing for Santa.  Addy wrote a darling note, and Santa seemed to like the cookies and egg-nog--they were gone in the morning!

Christmas morning!

 Still Christmas morning!  While we didn't do a photo of each kid with their gifts, they were all very grateful for the bounty.  Lots of books for everyone, some clothes (including matching dresses for Addy and her doll), and from Santa: a Furry Frenzy/Zhu-zhu Pet playground for Sera, Toy Story legos for Emerson, a cake bakery set for Addy, and a CD/MP3 player radio alarm clock system for Theo. 

What a joyous holiday we had!  Merry Christmas!! 

Sounds (and Smells) of the Season

I guess it really is all about preparation, because Christmas this year was probably one of my favorites ever--I think I finished my shopping back in July.  For once in my life, I didn't try to cram too many things in, and if something didn't fit into the schedule, I didn't force it.  We skipped some traditions, we enjoyed some new ones.  But mostly we just had a chance to soak everything in and enjoy.  Maybe it really is the most wonderful time of the year! 

We started off, as I mentioned in my last post, with a visit from Aaron's dad, which happily extended over Aaron's birthday on December 1!  We woke Aaron up with singing and enjoyed some tasty pancakes for breakfast before sending the kids and Aaron off to school.  I should probably never have asked Aaron what kind of birthday cake he wanted, because his answer was not nearly elaborate enough: he wanted chocolate layer dessert, which is basically a layer of nut-crust, a layer of sweetened cream cheese, and a layer of chocolate pudding, all topped with cool whip.  Not nearly fancy enough, right?  I guess I should be grateful that he's so easy to please, but since we have chocolate layer dessert at least a few times a year for dessert, I decided to make it a little more "interesting."  Instead of the nut crust, I baked a batch of brownies, and then put the rest of the layers on top of that.  Aaaaanyway, he wasn't too impressed that I couldn't even pull off his pretty simple request (too rich, which . . . good point).  That's what I get for following my life-rule of more chocolate=more happiness.  Obviously I should come up with a list of exceptions and provisos.  We did, however, enjoy a trip to O'Charley's for Aaron's birthday dinner, and in addition to the little presents the kids got for him (candy mostly, haha, they know their dad so well!), Aaron's dad had brought some special books for him, and he got his traditional jammie pants from me (I swear he wears them right to shreds every year)--penguins this time. 

Over the weekend, we took a trip out to Van Wert, Ohio, to see the Nutcracker together (also mentioned in the last post, I think).  The Nieswonger Performing Arts center is only about an hour away, and is a really gorgeous facility that they built in a town that normally wouldn't get many visitors, to bring in wonderful performing events (and audiences to see them!).  I sat on one row with the girls, and Aaron and his dad sat a row in front of us.  Theo was fully prepared to hate the whole thing, but by the end of the first act he had to admit that "it actually turned out to be pretty cool."  He particularly enjoyed the misbehaving boys in the party scene (a loud spank was his favorite), and of course the Russian dancers.  Sera was in heaven throughout the whole thing--she's so into ballet, I really need to sign her up for a class--but probably liked the "tall girl with the big dress" hiding the polichinelles in her skirt the best.  Emerson enjoyed the whole thing unabashedly (especially since the whole second act took place in a bakery/sweet shop), but probably liked the swordplay best, and Addy was pretty impressed with Clara, as she realized that she was played by a girl not much older than she was.  Afterward we stopped at the most elaborately decorated Taco Bell we'd ever been in and chatted for a while before hitting the road and heading back home.

The very next night, Sunday, we all crowded back in the car and headed twenty minutes south of town for a free Messiah concert.  I seriously have been waiting years to get to take our whole family to Messiah together.  The kids weren't perfect, but they were pretty darn well-behaved, and really perked up when a few of the songs we have played for them before were played.  I probably had the hardest time staying quiet of everyone, because I kept wanting to lean over and tell Addy to listen for the "fluttering of the angel wings" and this or that musical word-painting.  Silly me!  Too much musicology in my blood, apparently (and too little--I'm really itching to be back in school studying that kind of stuff lately). 

On Monday we carted everyone once again to a concert.  This time we enjoyed the chance to watch Aaron's Home for the Holidays performance at the university, where for the first time, the entire concert was broadcast live on PBS--talk about an extra element of stress!  Everything had to be timed perfectly.  The whole concert went off really well, and I was pretty darn impressed that the kids once again managed to behave themselves (with several reminders and a few threats to take away treats this time)--even after three solid days of this!  We really do have good kids.  And can I just say that every single concert makes me more impressed with the work Aaron does?  Even just since the last time I saw his choirs, a couple of months ago, the sopranos are developing this gorgeous unified sound, there's such body in the sound the men put out.  It's amazing, what he does.

After all that beautiful music and sending Aaron's dad home, we settled in for a cozy Christmas season.  Two weeks before Christmas, we feasted on the result of my having followed a link on a flyer that said "Breakfast with Santa, kids eat free!" that I had picked up from the mall.  The link gave me a phone number, which I called for reservations for our family.  Only after that did I find out that the breakfast was being held at this awesome restaurant at the mall that I'd been dying to try--Flattop Grill.  Though we still had to pay $10 each for the adult breakfasts (somehow when I signed up I really thought it was just going to be some kind of big, free pancake breakfast for the kids), it will be a long time before I have a better breakfast!  You had to choose a certain color of bowl for either omelette, egg scramble, french toast, or pancakes, then you went along this bar to choose mix-ins for whatever you'd chosen--fresh chopped veggies for the eggs, berries and other yummy things for the pancakes and french toast.  Then the chefs whipped it all up and brought it out to you.  So good.  We also got to see Mistletoe the flying reindeer once again, and of course dear old Mr. Claus.  I felt a little bad for our kids, who mostly requested pets and computers/cell phones, but I guess they thought it couldn't hurt to try.  Haha, who knows, maybe they'll get lucky (or not).  Luckily Emerson asked for Legos, and I hear Santa's elves did some really top-notch work in the Lego department this year.

Once school finally let out (though I should be grateful, I think many schools spent an extra week after rather than before out of school), we had some really lovely time together.  For one, the kids all got to do some shopping for each other.  This year everyone got everyone something, with most gifts between $1-2 for the kids, plus one $5+ gift for a drawn name.  I'm not sure if we'll do this again next year or revert to a one special gift/name-drawing methodology.  Choosing out gifts is a special and really fun thing to do, but we usually do it for birthdays anyway (two of those birthdays are in January), and it does end up resulting in lots of "stuff."  Aaron is definitely in favor of the name-drawing, and I think I might be leaning that way too. 

For Christmas baking this year, we trotted out our old standards--a batch of toffee, gingerbread people, M&M pretzels, and tons of gingersnaps (probably my favorites).  Ooh, and I also hit on a great recipe for "hot chocolate cookies" which were chocolate cookies with a soft center topped with a big toasted marshmallow--yum!  Instead of making mass quantities of any of them for friend/neighbor/teacher gifts though, we hit on an easy, fun, earth-friendly idea this year: hot chocolate jars.  I compulsively save all our glass jars because they're so pretty and useful, but I had a bit of a backlog--I ran out of space in the cabinet where I save them!  So for gifts we filled them with hot chocolate mix and a couple of handfuls of miniature marshmallows, then tied a little fabric and ribbon over the jar lid and labeled them with a shiny gift label.  It saved me from sending stale cookies in to teachers (as kids forget for two days before remembering to bring them), and the kids loved loved dropping a few jars off anonymously to friends.

Another lovely event of the season was our church Christmas party, which featured a musical program this year.  All our kids had a chance to participate by playing a Christmas song on the piano.  Theo played "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Addy played "Small World," Emerson played "Away in a Manger," and Sera played "Jolly Old St. Nicholas."  Both the younger two played theirs as duets with me, and they all did such a fantastic job!

By Christmas Eve we had actually accomplished most of the things we meant to (the big exeption being a fund-raising activity the kids started for Operation Smile that never got followed through on, mostly because Aaron thinks I'm overly ambitious and a bit silly for trying to spearhead these kinds of things), so we put on our annual Nativity Play which got pretty funny in places when the innkeepers (all played by Aaron) took on Indian and Chinese accents and dialogue to match.  Afterward we opened new pajamas, sang a few carols, and headed to bed.  Where the children slept through the night for once!  Even with parts of two or three of our light strands out, the tree looked so beautiful and twinkly as we went to bed. 

On Christmas morning, we had just enough time for the kids to enjoy their stockings and open one gift before leaving for church.  Addy especially loved a beautiful new dress that came with a matching one for her doll, which she was allowed to take with her to church just this once.  We managed to snap a cute picture before going out the door, and I just love seeing it--it is so full of the joy and happiness we've shared as a family this year, and of our gratitude for the wonderful blessings we've received.  If you remember, our theme this year was "We Give Thanks," and I really believe that by focusing on being grateful for our blessings every week of every month of this year, something beautiful has happened in our family--definitely for our children, but especially for me.  I think and hope I have gained the ability to see a little further past myself more often, to appreciate the bounteous blessings in my life and not get quite so bogged down with the day-to-day, keeping-everyone-afloat mindset that so easily creeps in.  I have found that consciously replacing anger and frustration with gratitude changes me and makes me more awake and aware in my own life.  As we forge ahead into a new year, I look forward to seeing our family growing and stretching more, but I hope we will retain the ability to feel thankful every day.

After church we spent another couple of hours basking in each other's love and the lovely gifts that had been so thoughtfully chosen for each of us.  Following that, we closed out the year in almost perfect harmony.  We stayed home, read, played, talked, ate, and just soaked up the lingering beauty of the season.  The one sour note was mostly Aaron's (poor guy), as he slaved over figuring out how to mount the fabulous super-size plasma 3-D TV he bought for the family this year.  Just as he spent hours poring over Consumer Reports to find the best product at the best price, he went on to find a Blu-Ray player and sound system that met the TV's capabilities. Over the course of the week (and then some) he had to figure out how to mount the darn thing  in our too-small television nook.  I'm not kidding when I say slaving, because he had to find and mount a mounting board, then a mounting device that would work, all hinging on finding proper studs that wouldn't electrocute him via the electrical wires mounted on them . . . I should spare you the details, but it was hard, very time-consuming work that finally resulted in our possession of the finest home-theater system around.  After a while he even managed to talk me out of complaining that it was too big and extravagant and just enjoy his very thoughtful, long-lasting gift to our family.  We now can have not only fantastic movie-nights, but also 3-D movie nights!  I hope our kids really appreciate this amazing gift as they grow into their teenage years and can invite their friends over to share movies with!

 I know how very blessed and spoiled we've been this Christmas.  We've had peace and security at a time when many have not.  We've probably not done enough to reach out and help those who need it, so I hope we will do better in the coming year.  But for now, at the close of this beautiful season, I am simply so very thankful for the peace, happiness, growth, love, and friendship that we have in our lives.  Merry Christmas!

Wanna Shipshewana?

How much do you love the name of that town?  Since I don't have any Thanksgiving pictures this year (only video), I'll post some pics of our other November happenings.

My favorite was probably the trip we took to Shipshewana, an Amish town just an hour away.  

I actually think it would be really interesting and eye-opening to live like the Amish for a year or two.  Addy would definitely love the horses!

Emerson had rather a lot of fun at his Thanksgiving Feast.

And the day after Thanksgiving we enjoyed a visit to the Botanical Gardens to welcome the holidays.

Meeting Mistletoe, one of Santa's actual flying reindeer, was a major highlight.  Of course the elves who showed her to us didn't have any of the magic flying dust with them--they save that for Christmas Eve.  I would have appreciated some magic dust to help me with my flash on these, but it had been malfunctioning.  Luckily Aaron figured out how to fix it a couple of days later.

Being Thankful . . . for almost being caught up!

Last catch-up post, hooray!

November always seems to be the month where the fun little extras fall through the cracks and trying to get everything together for the holidays just seems to take over. So instead of spending much time on the details of how much shopping and house-cleaning happened (a lot), I'm going to go back and catch a couple of the little things that happened in September and October, but which ended up getting neglected in November.

For one, Cookie Fridays have been a hit this year. At the ends of weeks when the kids have responsibly done their jobs and earned points (with good grades on school assignments, helping around the house, and not fighting), they have gotten to invite friends over after school on Fridays, and Sera and I like to make cookies as a snack for everyone. I think I have loved these afternoons as much as the kids have! It's been so fun to get to know my kids' friends better, especially the ones I don't know from church or anything. We've done all kinds of cookies: oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, pumkin, gingersnaps, gingerbread people, sugar cookies that the kids can decorate, peanut butter, and holiday M&M--a feast of yum, basically. On the last Friday in October (whoops, guess I should have included this in last month's post), we had a little Halloween party for Cookie Friday, and each of the kids got to invite 2 friends instead of 1. We decorated cupcakes, had a cake-walk, ate doughnuts off strings, had a treasure hunt, played kickball (Theo's request), and started a Harry Potter movie (but didn't get very far). Other than the party, these afternoons don't take much effort on my part aside from inviting the friends (a day or two in advance, which is where I sometimes fall off the wagon), and are often some of the quietest afternoons in our house as everyone plays happily with their own special friend. Going into the new year, I need to get back on the ball at a) checking off morning and afternoon jobs, b) giving out points, and c) actually making the play-dates, so these wonderful afternoons can continue!

Another favorite of mine has been some lunch dates with the big kids. It's funny how crazy everything is for so long with little kids underfoot all the time, and then how suddenly they're all gone for six hours a day and I feel like I don't have quite enough one-on-one time with my older kids anymore. Trying to sneak them each out for a lunch date once a month has filled a bit of that gap.  They get SO excited choosing out a place to go (their choices are limited by the number of coupons I have, haha), and Sera likes getting to tag along, even though she usually just shares or gets a small side, while the child on the date can get something fancier than normal.

Back to actual November happenings, we really enjoyed a "Pie Night" activity at church.  Even though Aaron thought I was crazy, I helped each of the kids make their very own pie to be judged in the competition.  Sera made a "Pinkalicious" pie with cream cheese and raspberry jello in a graham cracker crust, Emerson made a cherry pie (using a pre-made crust and pie filling), Addy made a chocolate mint cream pie in a (pre-made) oreo crust, Theo made a coconut cream pie, and I made a sour cream apple pie.  After all that pie making, none of us won prizes (I console myself that none of our pies were labeled properly, because really, if they had counted up the votes of the little girls, Sera would have taken home top honors), but we all had a lot of fun and we all ate a lot of pie!

On Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful feast with our new friends, the Andrews, who moved in over the summer.  One of their daughters is in Theo's class at school, and their other son and daughter are each a grade off from Addy and Emerson in school, but are in their primary classes at church.  Though the food was wonderful (it's always so much more wonderful when there's someone to share the cooking with!), the highlight of the evening was the Thanksgiving play that Theo and Ani co-directed all the younger children in.  They had a script (from online) and everyone had lines to say, and it was so great to see it performed with such passion!

Immediately after Thanksgiving, we had a visit from Aaron's dad, our first since he stopped through Utah the year after we were married!  Our kids went nuts with excitement showing off for him, and he took it all in stride, pulling them in to show them some of the artworks-in-progress he brought along to work on.  One thing that was great about having him around was that he has really jumped on the health-train, and had tons of great tips to help us make healthier meals and add more movement into our days.  He slipped out for a walk or run through our beautiful neighborhood at least once a day, a reminder to us to do the same more often, even after the weather gets cooler, and he had lots of great ideas for salads to keep in the refrigerator.  Aaron had also gotten tickets for all of us to go see the Nutcracker in a nearby town (there's a production here in the city as well, but this was a chance to see something new), and we packed up and drove about an hour in our still-newish van, cranking up the family videos that we have decided will be our primary trip-media.  It was so fun watching/listening to our Christmas preparations from three years ago as we prepared for this holiday season!  The only sad part about his visit was that Aaron had to work quite a lot during it, but the payoff for that came when Grandpa Jerry got to come with us to see Aaron's holiday concert at IPFW, a really fun and entertaining concert that was broadcast live on our local PBS station.

The end of November involved lots of cybershopping by Aaron.  More on that next month!

Fabulous Fall

October in Indiana is gorgeous. Okay, maybe not quite as gorgeous as in Connecticut, which is our default awesome autumn, but still really gorgeous. Certainly it beats out Saskatchewan--we spent some serious laugh time just remembering the cold fall morning in Regina (in like, September) when we watched a tree with barely-yellowed leaves just sort of drop all its leaves at once without so much as a breeze--not quite the beauty pageant we get here, anyway. We have been loving the drives to and from Aaron's university, the YMCA, dance classes, Joy School, and church this month.

Earlier this month we had the chance to attend parent-teacher conferences for the kids (the only ones held all year at our school, for some reason), and things are going well! We were especially proud of Asher, who brought home straight A's for which we know he worked hard. Of course, his teacher did mention that he's going to need to step up his game in the organizational department if he wants to keep his grades up, because she has actually pulled stray papers from his desk when he has forgotten to turn them in, and there are occasionally students who stay after class or stay in from recess and organize his desk for him. Oi! Addy's teacher pretty much raved about her, telling us that she is a good friend and a good leader and a hard worker. And also that she needs to work on forming good test-study habits. Emerson also got some raves, and I think may be in the best first-grade class ever. His whole class seems to be full of wonderful helpers and the most enthusiastic learners (for which I'm sure his teacher must deserve a big hunk of the credit)! He really is loving school so much this year. Joy School for Sera is still going swimmingly, and despite the fact that it's a lot of work with just three moms, I'm so glad I didn't bail on my last child and just send her off to preschool.

The piano classes have settled in, and despite all the hard work it took to get them started, I'm so glad I have the opportunity to teach them! I'm not sure there are many things as fulfilling as starting with a group of kids who may or may not be able to match pitch, and to watch them blossom over the weeks into little musicians who understand this foreign language of music, and who can churn out one song after another. It really is the most fun!

In other musical news, our church primary classes just performed their annual children's program. As the music director for the primary, I was so proud to see the work they've done over the year come together! Our congregation is quite small (though it's kid-heavy), and I remember last year visiting Cincinnati and hearing their much larger primary perform the week before ours did, and feeling a little let-down after hearing our much smaller program. Though I've been nowhere near an ideal music director (Printed up flip-charts left at home? Check! Flip charts never even printed in the first place? Check! Organized list of monthly songs given to pianist on the last week before the month is over? Check! Improvised actions to about half the songs? Check! I . . . probably shouldn't go on, because I'm a little embarrassed about how many times I've shown up to fulfill my calling only halfway prepared), I do care a lot about teaching the children, I do love each and every child very much, and I do happen to know the words to all the songs really well, which allows me to go around the room and find children who aren't singing and sing right in front of them, looking them in the eye, until they finally feel obligated to join in. After a full year, there are only about three kids left who consistently avoid singing if I'm not looking directly at them (I stand in front of them a lot), and the rest are pretty darn good little singers! My favorites are the junior primary (ages 4-7), who absolutely sing their little hearts out for me. I feel like it's so important to get them to love singing before the "too cool" factor hits, because once you really get them, you can keep them for life. They did such a beautiful job singing this year, and there were even some lovely small-group songs that added a lot to the program and gave some of the children a chance to really let their voices shine.

In less exciting news, whether I wanted to or not, I got another year older this month. And I'm afraid I have in fact reached the age where the years pass too fast. I'm afraid I didn't meet as many of the goals I set for myself this year as I had hoped to, which makes me feel, well, kind of old. Luckily, my birthday this year started just the way I like it. Even though I am usually the first person up (not at the crack of dawn or anything--usually around 7:30 or so), after I had gotten the kids up (and I had showered and gotten dressed), Aaron talked me into laying back down in bed so that he could lead all the kids into our bedroom to sing our special Happy Birthday song for me. Addy had led a card-making campaign (I love her so so so much for this, because it really does matter to me, and I don't have to ask the kids for it--she gets them all together and tells them what's what), and presented me with a wonderful folder full of their pictures and sweet words. That perfect start to the day, coupled with Aaron whipping up an amazing omelette and some English muffins for breakfast for me (his omelettes, seriously, they make every day into a birthday . . . or Christmas . . . or whatever) put a smile on my face all day long.

Halloween this year was both laid-back and fun. I'm writing this so long after the actual day that it's a little hard to remember the details, but we had a were-wolf, Fancy Nancy, Buzz Lightyear, and a lovely little Princess Sera. The years when we use on-hand costumes are always a little more relaxed than the years when we go all theme-y, so it was just dress up and trick-or-treat this year. We meant to attend the church "trunk-or-treat" party, but we ended up spending most of the day in Cleveland, where we picked up Esmerelda. Esmerelda, you ask? Well, she's the new(-er), very fancy minivan Aaron upgraded us to this month. Spencer Murdoch, our sidekick for the last six and a half years, has nearly 200K miles on him, and we meant to switch him out at some point during our stay in Canada, but between foreign car prices and import costs and such, and then with another move piled on top of all that . . . it got postponed until now. Our kids forgave us a little bit for making them miss the party when they got their first taste of watching a movie on a flip-down screen while driving. To be honest, it's a pretty sweet gig, and Aaron spent a few minutes trying to figure out if there was a way to get a monitor up front for the driver until I convinced him (mostly convinced him) that aside from being illegal, that would be a terrible idea. For now, we've decided that the best car movies are our own home movies, which we rarely get around to watching, but which are excellent for bonding--we've laughed and laughed over 1-year-old Sera and 3-year-old Emerson tromping around the living room with Santa hats, singing Ho! Ho! Ho!

Back to Halloween though, Aaron and I clung to this (probably) last year of going out trick-or-treating with all our own kids. Aaron masterminded a high-school choral festival with the King's Singers while they were in town for a concert, and because of scheduling, it could only be held on Halloween. It ended just as trick-or-treating began, so we started without him, then met him on a street corner and followed the kids (who are all independent and stuff now) around as they traipsed from door to door. We didn't take enough pictures, but we wound up with exactly the right amount of candy--it lasted about a month. As for the King's Singers, we were able to take the whole family to the (free!) concert they gave at the Presbyterian church downtown the next night, and even though it veered more to the sacred than the hilarious (appropriate for the choice of venue, I suppose, though we had hoped the kids would get to see more of their funny songs), we all really enjoyed a wonderful night of music.

Well, that's about all my memory is willing to give me for October. If I can trudge through November's post quickly enough, there's a chance that I will be able to get the whole "home networking" thing working well enough to go back and post pictures for the last six months or whatever it has been. Looking forward, I think maybe the monthly blogposts should make the New Year's resolution list for next year.

October Snapshot

More and more, our family fun times are on Saturdays.  I actually love this, because there was a time when Saturday was the day I most dreaded in the week--when it didn't mean a day of leisure, but a day of extra work and trying to keep little people quiet while littler people slept.  Now though, the days of napping schedules are behind us (unless you count Aaron), and Saturdays are the ones we love spending together.  I've been trying to make us take a slightly longer road trip (1-3 hours) once a month, to see some of the fun sites that surround us.  The other weeks, we enjoy the activities right here in town.

We love the Botanical Gardens in town, and the wonderful events they host.  On this afternoon, we enjoyed a pumpkin festival complete with sampling some pretty gourmet pumkin soups that I hope I can recreate.  One was a curried pumpkin soup with coconut milk, while the other (the one the kids loved) was pumpkin apple soup with a bit of maple in it.  Yum!

I think this one is actually from September, when we visited the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  It's considered by many to be the best in the country, and we enjoyed the chance to explore all four levels of wonder, from the ginormous talking transformer "Bumblebee" in the front foyer, to the archaeology exhibit featuring ancient China and ancient Egypt, to the Barbie exhibit that taught me way more than I ever wanted to know about my least favorite toy (oh whatever, they're kind of cool once you get to know them).

Joy School Halloween party!  Love these little cuties and all their pizazz!!

Next, the Halloween party at our house!  We kept it pretty simple--how can you lose with donuts on a string?

And the second round!

A little Ghosts in the Graveyard . . .

And we finished up our Halloween celebrations by trick-or-treating together.  I'm afraid Theo wasn't amused that we didn't let him go on his own or with friends, but we let him walk ahead of us!  We have Buzz Lightyear on the left, a sprouting werewolf, a sweatered-up princess with a furry hat under her crown, and a Fancy Nancy.  I have better pictures of the kids, but this is the only one outside with the pumpkins in back, so.

Up and Down and All Around

September felt a little stressful. There were plenty of fun things going on, and I got lots of little projects around the house taken care of in the time the kids were at school, but gearing up to start my KinderKeys piano classes had me walking through everything with a little gray Eeyore cloud hanging over my head. Starting a business is stressful! I ended up very glad that I had taken care of the keyboard and headphone purchases last year for the mini-class I taught--that class was sort of like my running start for this year and I can't imagine trying to start from scratch this year as I had contemplated doing. But making up fliers and sending emails and talking up all sorts of random people to generate interest . . . somehow I didn't calculate that into my hourly wage when I was thinking about what a good use of my work efforts starting this studio would be! But ultimately I knew I was offering a good product for a good price and that even if I wasn't me I would have been interested in the classes, so that gave me the courage and chutzpah to keep at it until I filled three of the four classes I had hoped to teach! I'm going to go ahead and count that as success. I'm teaching the carry-over class from last year (even though one of the children moved and the other lives the next town over and didn't feel up to continuing piano on top of starting full-day kindergarten, leaving the class a bit off-balance but still fun), a class for 6-8 year olds, and a preschool class for 4-6 year olds.

Honestly, now that we're into the swing of things it is so fun. The school-age class is cruising along fast. Those kids pick up skills like they've been doing this for years, and there's a great energy in the class. But I think my favorite thing each week is my preschool class (it helps that it doesn't come immediately before or after another class). I sincerely believe that early exposure to learning music actually changes a child's brain, making it more receptive to sound and musical expression. Most people won't start a child on piano until age 7 or 8--"when they can read" is the guideline many piano teachers give. But I am convinced that starting them younger, as long as it is in a truly preschool friendly environment (often not the case with private lessons), gives them a gift that will be with them their whole lives. Sera is such a case study for this. I started her in the pilot class last February, just after her 4th birthday. It is now a little over six months later, and within the last few days she has sat down at the piano and played through not only several of her songs from class, but also picked out the melodies of Beethoven's ninth symphony, a theme from the Nutcracker (have I mentioned how much she loves the Nutcracker?), and "Where is Thumbkin" (a Frere Jaques variation we used in Joy School a couple of weeks ago). Certainly these things can take place at the later ages as well, but when children start young, I think they develop an awareness of pitch and rhythm that they lose the ability to get later on. I consider Theo's ability to pick up French pronounciation as well as he did when he was six to be another example of the same thing. So anyway, all that is to say that I am loving these little preschoolers of mine (two of them have possibly the tiniest hands I have ever seen on a piano keyboard). The classes are 30 minutes each, and we usually spend about ten minutes of that in some sort of movement/rhythm game, with the rest at the keyboards, learning up and down and rhythms and keyboard topography. Even though they're chugging through the books at about half the speed of my older class, when I think about them playing in a couple of years, it sort of makes my heart sing!

Anyway, despite all my pre-teaching anxiety (the classes started on Sept. 20), the first half of the month was pretty fun as well. Darling Addy celebrated her eighth birthday! We had such a fun "Around the World" party for her, and I made "cake balls" for the first time after seeing a bunch of oohing and ahhing over them around the internet. They worked out great as mini-globes, but were awfully sweet. Though only three of her friends made it over for her party, it wound up being pretty awesome--one of my favorites, I think. She and her guests dressed up with a bit of international flair (we had a Parisian, a Bahamian, and a Guatemalan, while Addy went Hawaiian), and together we traveled the world from China (origami and fortune cookies) to India (Bollywood dancing with ankle bracelets) to Africa (face painting) to Egypt (pyramid building) to France (pedicures) to Italy (making pizzas) to Mexico (pinata). Seriously so fun!

September is also Johnny Appleseed month in Indiana, so we got to go to the Johnny Appleseed Festival, which is quite possibly the best festival ever in the world. We enjoyed time-traveling back to the 1800s where we ran into Abe Lincoln and Mr. Appleseed himself, as well as a ventriloquist puppeteer and medicine man, and several fun bluegrassy music groups. Of course the big draw was all the fun food, from the popped-in-an-enormous-black-cauldron kettle corn to fresh-pressed-in-front-of-your-eyes apple cider to homemade rootbeer to cooked-in-a-ginormous-pot-all-day soup to "sweet tater delite" to organic-right-down-to-the-sugar caramel apples. Oh, it was a happy day. This year we gave each kid $3-5 (what's not to love about a free festival where a few bucks will actually buy some things) and let them decide which things they wanted, so they took extra time deciding on everything and did lots of sharing to make their dollars last a little longer. We checked out the civil war cannons and stopped by some war camps full of weary soldiers before plunking ourselves down on the hillside to just enjoy the smells and sounds of a time long ago. I don't think I would really have done well as a 19th century woman in the long term (we saw a bit of their medical practices and . . . I don't think they would have worked out for me, not to mention the housework load!), but I don't think I would mind moving back in time for a few weeks a year or so. The sounds and the smells and the sweet harmony with nature--well, in some areas we've regressed more than progressed in the last hundred some-odd years.

Other fun activities for the month included a Saturday of apple-picking, another of bowling, plenty of time outdoors in the gorgeous autumn sunlight, me putting up little things around the house that make it that much more of a home (our bedroom is finally the lovely retreat we've been looking forward to!), and trying to squeeze in some volunteering days at school (I'm not really awesome at this, but I'm trying to get in a couple of times a month). I've started picking one of the kids up for lunch every now and then, and it's led to some great conversations about school--by the time school is over, the kids don't really feel like rehashing anything (or if they do, it's usually just recess), but over a lunch they'll tell me about something funny their teacher did, or about the assignments they worked on--stuff I rarely get after they get home. I've become more and more grateful for this wonderful school my kids have to go to, and the great skills they're learning there, from respect (which they tend to need some reminders on) to computer skills to pushing beyond their comfort levels in reading and math, to art and music (oh I could go on about their fabulous music teacher). They have really good friends. I appreciate that so much. Theo especially has a couple of good friends who keep him in line by not talking to him when he wants to motormouth off in class, but who also appreciate his cleverness and sense of humor.

All around us, the leaves have begun changing color, and the corn fields we drive past every Sunday on the way to church have turned from green to brown. We're looking forward to some beautiful pictures and some of that cold crisp fall air as we launch toward October. Fall has always been my favorite season wherever we've lived, but I have to say that autumn in Indiana is really something special. We're drinking in every moment of it!

September's Adventures in Learning

Fun times in September!  We settled into a routine for a while, until the holidays kicked in! 

 On Wednesdays we had "learning adventures," when we got to do some fun experiments and acitivities at home. Here's our volcano (whose explosion ended up a bit lackluster--use enough baking soda!).

We went apple picking.  So many apples.  So much yum!

I love that I have this expression of Aaron's captured on film--it's one of my favorites.  "Are you going to do that?  Are you going to do that?  Tell me you're not going to do that.  What did you just do?"  We had a great time bowling after the apple picking, but alas, no pictures (I think the camera battery died).

Oh how we love the Johnny Appleseed Festival!  These two got to interview some Union soldiers from the Civil War.  Man, how could those guys go into battle?  There are some things I don't quite understand about war.  Well, most things, really.

And old Abe Lincoln.  We got to hear his campaign jingle performed.  I wish there were still campaign jingles!  I wonder what Mitt Romney's would be.  I wonder what Sarah Palin's would be!  And Newt!  I would hire myself to write them all.

This girl had a birthday.  This girl had her eighth birthday.  She had a fun "Around the World" party.  Check out the cake balls (are those globes?  Why yes, they are).

We finished up with some mariachi action. 

And here are my favorite Joy School kids making paintings with pudding.  It is hard to fit in, but man do I ever love being a Joy School mom!

To Addy at Eight

Dear Addy,

It is crazy to see how you've grown from the fat-cheeked little angel with golden curls that changed my world forever, to the vision of loveliness and sweetness you're so quickly becoming.  Like the song I so often sing you as you go to bed, every time I turn around it's like these precious years just melt away! I love that you sometimes seem to regret the forward march of you and your friends into the awkward world of tweenagerhood as much as I do.  You wisely embrace the positive elements of independence, responsibility, and awareness of the world, while leaving most of the silly extras like fashion and fluff to your friends.Your gentleness, generous spirit, wisdom, and conviction change every one of us a little bit for the better every single day.  I truly couldn't ask for a more wonderful daughter!

There are so many things we adore about you right now!  These are just a handful of them.

• You're so happy and easy-going in our family, always looking for a way to help anyone who has hurt feelings or needs an extra hug.
• I love that you're not rushed about growing up.  Though you've given up your attachment to some favorite PBS shows and toys that you've outgrown, you don't feel compelled to disown and make fun of them (like some other growing-up kids in this family!).  You're always good for a few rounds of Curious George with your siblings.
• When you get sassy or rude (it happens), you are always quick to apologize with a note (usually illustrated) and a hug.
• There's no rush into the fashion world for my Addy.  You're perfectly content in a comfy pair of jeans, a T-shirt (with a few sparkles), and with your hair hanging loose around your  shoulders.  While I wouldn't mind braiding those lovely golden locks a little more often, I love that you're so comfortable in your own skin and so peacefully self-assured.
• You are responsible with your school-work.  There's never a question of who should remind you to get your assignment notebook signed--you unfailingly bring it to me at each night or before school.  You do your own homework and ask me for help when you need it.
• Your creativity and cute ideas bring a bit of fun to everyone in the family.  Sera looks forward to the awesome "girl club" you have created for her at bedtime, and Emerson loves the things you teach him in "school."  I love your fantastic muffin-baking and the cool crafts you create.  Thank you for all the wonderful ideas you share with us all!
• You are wise and thoughtful beyond your years, whether with adults or your siblings and friends.
• You do the right thing.  There's never a question.  If a situation comes up that needs someone to make a stand for the right, you are the girl to do it.  Your friends and siblings are lucky to have such a stalwart example.
• I especially appreaciate your developing awareness of the world.  At a young age you are developing an understanding of the needs and complexities of the world and already looking for ways to do small things to help others.  They do make a difference!

Darling Addy, you are so easy to do fun things for, because you are so easy to love!  Though a part of me would love to freeze time and just keep you right here for a little longer, I have to admit that it is pretty exciting to see you grow old enough to scatter your rays sunshine into more diverse places. We consider ourselves lucky every day to be your parents and family.  You add dimension and happiness to our lives and we all just love you to pieces! 

Love,
Mom

Back to School!

I'm proud to report that my kids apparently all like school as much as I did.  I love all the personality that comes out with each progressive year.  Also note the side window on each of these.  Sera was not thrilled to see her three best friends going out the door every day.

Fifth grade.  Really?  On the sad side, blowing me kisses is no longer his primary mission in life.  On the plus side, he carefully chose out his own clothing, and none of it was made of nylon!

Where did this one come from?  I don't know when this sassy cutie replaced my fat-cheeked cherub, but I have to say, I like this one quite a lot too.

Oh Emerson.  How much more fun could you be?  Right up until the last, Emerson gave me a good tight "kindergarten hug" every single day.  Somehow I have a feeling that the "first grade" hugs will be pretty good too.  But I sure will miss this little guy, and I think Sera might miss him even more!

We're still not awesome at looking at the camera and smiling at the same time, but close enough.

Note Addy's red eyes here, because too many pictures!

Yay!  Though I had to beg, I got this one with their school in the background.  Is that not the cutest school you ever saw?

Emerson in his new classroom (which he shares with one of his good friends from church . . . the girl)

Addy found some of her old friends in her classroom as well, along with a teacher she's super-excited about.

This is the kids' walk home from school.  Even I'm jealous.

And then . . . at last . . . this girl got to start Joy School.  Do you think she's excited?  Oh, I think so.

Rockin'

August was the month when all our dreams came true. Okay maybe not all of them, but at least a few of them that had been kicking around in our minds for years. Aaron and I got to see Paul McCartney. The Paul McCartney. The Beatle. Asher and Addy got to see their very own American Idols. In person. And Aaron and I also got to see Elton John. The actual person whose music we fell in love to. Oh, and Emerson and Sera got to fulfill their dream of . . . having a lot of babysitters? Well, actually, we all got to go to King's Island, and even though they were excluded from all the rides that were actually fun (because they were too darn short), they seemed to have a pretty good time.

So, back to the beginning. The first week of August, we packed up and headed to Cincinnati. We left super-early in the morning and made it in time to hit King's Island before lunchtime. Up and down and up and down, we covered all the major roller coasters (riding the famous Beast for the first time--a seriously awesome roller coaster), did some spinny stuff, ate a little amusement park food (though we thankfully snuck in a bit of real food as well), and then did it again. Though it was lots of fun, especially for the kids, Aaron and I looked at each other at the end and decided that we're really just fine being an every-other-year amusement park family. We stayed through a little downpour and really intended to stay until the fireworks went off at the park's closing, but by about 9pm we decided to give in and get to our hotel for the night. For dinner we picked up a half-gallon of black raspberry chip ice cream from UDF and downed it with plastic spoons. Because everyone should eat ice cream for dinner at least once in their life. We conked out tired but happy.

The next morning we wandered around town visiting all our favorite old haunts. We drove through our old neighborhood and visited a couple of parks and I was surprised to realize that while my memories of Cincinnati are still so fond, the pressing desire to live there again that I felt when we visited from Canada, and still a little when we visited last year, has pretty much evaporated. I have to say that the landscape is definitely prettier (there are more trees!) there than here. And man do we ever have some dear friends there. But at the end of the day, I absolutely love our new home! Our city is the perfect size for us. The weather and the alternation of the seasons couldn't be better. And I really love Hoosiers. They're good people! Anyway, we found ourselves a Dewey's and ordered up some of our favorite pizza ever, then headed up to visit with some friends (who were kind enough to agree to entertain our little people while Aaron and I went to the concert).

There is something so soul-filling about being with old friends. The same children I taught in primary and Joy School have grown right on up, even without us there to watch. Addy reconnected with her old buddy Ryan pretty quickly, even though they hadn't seen each other in years and . . . he's a boy. Hannah, who along with Sera was born during the year that Ryan and Addy were in Joy School together, had grown into a darling 4-year-old who Sera quickly made friends with. When they were born, Hannah was a little butterball of squishy goodness compared to Sera's string-bean status. All the growing she's done lately paid off for Sera, though, as they were about the same size! These days it's a bit of an anomaly when Sera can find a friend who is more than half her height (if I didn't mention it before, she has grown like a weed over the past year). Since we had a very hard time saying goodbye (and we also interrupted their dinner though they didn't even mention it--we just noticed their nicely set table as we were leaving and felt terrible), the McGladries nicely took the boys to another friend's home for us. Did I mention that old friends are the best friends? Like Addy and Sera, Theo and Emer enjoyed seeing some old friends. Theo was a little 3-year-old when we moved to Cincinnati, and Drew seemed like such a much older boy then. His brother Alex was unthinkably ten! Even to me that seemed pretty old. Now Drew and Theo seemed pretty close in age, at ten and thirteen, while Alex seemed too old to comprehend--on his way off to college. Surely we'll never get to that stage! Emerson had fun getting reacquanted with his womb-buddy, Ally (they were born a couple of months apart--though from different wombs!), and building stuff. Which is pretty much his mission in life. We appreciated both the McGladries and the Austins for being so willing to take in our kids!!

Meanwhile, seeing Paul McCartney in concert . . . how do I even describe it? Just walking through the stadium seeing fans who had probably sneaked home from Sunday School to watch the Ed Sullivan show in the '60s (like my dad did, lol!), and had fallen in love and had their hearts broken to the accompaniment of Beatles' songs . . . well, it just makes you think about exactly how far ranging a musician's influence can actually be. I'm definitely a Paul girl, Beatle-wise (my dad is like the lone Ringo fan I know, funny man), because obviously he is an amazing song-writer and singer, and also he is adorable and there are very few nearly-70 year olds who are that flat-out want-to-pick-them-up-and-snuggle-them adorable. Seriously, he still looks like he's ten. And his voice is still pretty awesome. I was amazed. There's really not enough space in this post to write all the things I thought during the concert, but the overarching feeling was of having an opportunity to see someone legendary, but who is still a pretty normal, funny, feeling kind of a guy. That girl (who someone mentioned looks like a genetic hybrid of John Lennon and Yoko Ono . . . hmmm) he's marrying is pretty lucky, I think. Just . . . the concert was phenomenal, and my gorgeous honey (who is every bit the genius that Paul is, let's be honest) pretty much made my year by hooking us up with an anniversary date like that!!! I'm glad he's the one I'll still be needing and feeding when I'm 64!

Back home again, finding someone to watch our littles while we took our older two children to see American Idol in Concert across the way in Columbus, Ohio was a bit of a challenge--finding babysitters always seems to be one of the biggest roadblocks to getting out to do special things!--but luckily our awesome friends the Amoses agreed to board them into the ultra-late night so we could make the trip. For the first time this year, we watched every episode of American Idol together. It was a great diversion through the winter months, and we really enjoyed the new judges this year. Early on, Theo picked out "low-voice guy" Scotty McCreery as his favorite, and a few weeks later, Addy settled on Lauren Alaina, the spunky 15-going-on-16-year-old country singer that one of the judges noted during her very first audition "might very well be the next American Idol." Well, somehow those two beat out my pick, Aaron's pick, Emerson's pick, and Sera's pick, and wound up as the top two. There was a bit of disappointment on Addy's part when "low-voice guy" pulled out the win, but they were both pretty tickled when they found out that Aaron had scratched up some tickets for us all to attend a concert together! It was lots of fun seeing that a couple of the singers have stepped it up a notch and kept improving since the show. Others really haven't. What was really great about the night though, was the variety. I can't think of many shows that would have such a wide variety of different kinds of music and acts all on the stage!

And finally, as an early birthday present, Aaron took me to see Elton John. Who I sort of love. We had a short trip for this one--only an hour and a half down to Indianapolis, and the concert venue was awesome--even though we didn't pay top dollar for tickets, we were pretty close, and I have to say I love that guy even more now than I did before. Which is saying something. During the concert, my brain conducted a comparitive analysis between Sir Elton and Sir Paul, given that they're fellow Brits and musical supergenius superstars. The results brought to light a number of interesting observations. For example, Sir Paul is a consumate musician, and seems to be deep down a very simple, decent person, unfazed by all the fanfare that must surround him on a daily basis. Sir Elton also is a brilliant musician and songwriter, but it was clear that given the choice between a quiet studio where he can focus on making music, and a rowdy stadium filled with people screaming his name, he would take the stadium any day. It was almost like watching a flower open, to see him come on stage at the beginning of the show and gradually unfurling his petals. The energy and cheering coming from the crowd were like sunlight and water for him, and within about thirty minutes he had blossomed to his full glory and was standing on the piano bench hitting the keys like nothing I've ever seen. I mean, I knew he could play the piano, but I honestly did not realize he could play like that. It occurred to me about halfway through that he must have loved watching Liberace as a kid, and I had never placed that influence before (oh me, why you so blind?). Aaron and I had so much fun rocking out to songs that have actual "periods" in our marriage. I love that Sir Elton took the time to pen them and share them with us--they are so good (except that one that I actually sort of hated. But all the rest I loved!) Short sum-up, Aaron's ratings are off the charts right now with me. Seriously, I feel spoiled and I feel loved and I feel incredibly lucky to have spent nights with such a good-looking guy watching some of the greatest artists of all time. Thank you, Aaron!

Okay, I suppose there is some other news from the month as well. The kids started school, and so far that has been so good. The teachers all seem to be good matches. Theo's teacher is much lower-key than his teacher last year, which is probably the reverse of what would have been ideal (it would have been nice to have a bit more chill last year, and then to amp it up this year from a family-stress-factor perspective), but he is definitely appreciating being able to excel. He's been reading a ton, and though we've had a discussion about appropriate reading material as his reading interests have blossomed past child-fare, we're pretty impressed when he breezes through issues of TIME magazine and shows interest in books like Jane Eyre.

Addy has been crowned classroom organizer and classroom librarian in her third-grade class, and enjoys being able to use her skills to keep the classroom neat and navigable for her classmates. I love the way that she takes ownership for her schoolwork. Every day she brings me her notebooks for signing, hands off the papers that are completed, and heads up to the office to finish up any homework she has. After years of nagging Theo to show me his assignment notebooks and work, having Addy be so responsible for herself is a huge relief. She still spells things some pretty crazy ways, and rarely chooses a book more complicated than Junie B. Jones without prodding, but her excellent study and self-discipline skills will undoubtedly lead to lots of learning and progress throughout the year.

Emerson has segued seamlessly into first grade. He loves school and hasn't minded the transition to a full day at all. I mean, he gets to eat lunch right at school, so as far as he's concerned, life couldn't really get much better. He thrives on bringing me home assignments with stars and stickers on them, and the minute he gets his weekly homework assignment on Monday, he sits down at the counter and gets it done. Though we made a few half-hearted attempts to dissuade him from becoming left-handed last year, he's settled in and is pretty definitely a lefty now. Luckily he's in good company with Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, and Paul McCartney. My only complaint with him at the moment is that all the library books he has checked out lately have been about military, tanks, and guns. Oh Emerson, have you met your mother?

As for Sera, I'm soaking in this last year of having a little person home with me during the day. We've started Joy School with some wonderful friends, and I'm remembering just how much I love Joy School. So much! As an extra special treat, this is hands-down the easiest group of Joy School children I've ever taught. There are three totally chill little girls, and one very rambunctious little boy (I know he's rambunctious, because I've seen him in other settings) who behaves himself like a little angel when it's time for Joy School! They are so fun and interested and just joyful! I love having this last chance to be a Joy School mom.

Some things that are going well in our family right now are family councils every Sunday night, with a couple of rounds of compliments and a lesson on our "theme of the month," Family Home Evenings on Tuesdays instead of Mondays since Aaron has late rehearsals on Mondays, Cookie Fridays (with friends for those who earn enough points during the week), having a jobs deadline of 8:20 in the morning so that there is plenty of time to check things and have breakfast and scriptures before the kids leave for school at 8:50, and our after school schedule of homework, reading for 20 minutes and practicing piano before playing outside. Some things we could stand some improvement on are figuring out how to help Theo stop yelling so much, keeping toilets flushed, and running bedtimes more smoothly. With luck, the upcoming months will reveal some answers for us!

Fireworks, Harry Potter, and tons of free food

Oh man. Getting this far behind is not good. Really not good. But instead of blabbing about that or blabbing about anything really, I need to get some things posted before my sieve of a brain loses them forever. I know lots are gone already, but I'll do my best.

In July we saw more fireworks than we saw in our entire three years in Canada combined. For about a week before and three weeks after the Fourth of July, random citizens in our neighborhood put up pretty respectable displays pretty much every night. The kids especially enjoyed leaving their curtains open late (super-late, actually, since we're on the far west side of the eastern time zone and our city converted a few years back--after holding out for decades--to using "daylight savings" time in the summer to my annoyance) to watch some of the festivities. On the Fourth, we considered a trip down to Cincinnati to enjoy Red, White, and Blue Ash, which we loved every year that we lived there, but decided against it since we had another trip to Cinci planned for August anyway. So then we went up to Aaron's university for the fireworks display, and had fun sitting amid the scads of college students on the hillside. And I have to say, I like the students there. They were as good-natured and undrunken as BYU students, I think!

There were more fireworks a few days later when we had to attend the Harry Potter themed Tin-Caps baseball game. Thought the Tin Caps lost badly (they have an outstanding record and have hit several home runs the other times we've seen them, so apparently Voldemort was on the loose), the game was lots of fun, and the kids earned some compliments on their costumes--I'm glad those costumes have gotten some use since I paid too much for them last Halloween! Afterward we enjoyed another round of fireworks that culminated in a display of what looked like wands shooting off spells--very cool.

Around the middle of the month, Aaron headed out of town to direct the choirs at the International Music Camp on the border between Manitoba and North Dakota. While he was having fun there (he really loved it and hopes he will be invited again), I--for some indiscernable reason possibly related to the fact that we don't actually have paychecks coming in over the summer--made it my mission in life to feed us almost exclusively on free food. This worked out beautifully, because on one of the nights the greatly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2 premiered. Although (much to my chagrin) I couldn't very well go to the movie without Aaron, it didn't stop us all from participating in fabulous premiere events at the mall that evening. We put all those Harry Potter costumes to use once again, scoring free chicken sandwiches (for anyone dressing like a Harry Potter character) for all of us from Chick-fil-A! Then we wandered over to the movie theater plaza, where they were conducting a costume contest. Holy moly were there ever some fantastic costumes on parade! Emerson was picked as the best Harry Potter, although he didn't make it into the top 3 costumes who got prizes, which was too bad since obviously our motives were primarily getting free stuff (I'm kidding! mostly). The next day (though we didn't find out about it until weeks and weeks later when a friend gave us a copy she had saved) we were all in the newspaper, and Emerson even got an extra big shot of just him! Fame! It really was a super-fun night, made even better when we saw a sign on the new Panda Express opening across the street, saying that they were giving out free food all day the next day . . . . So at around 3 the next day (when I thought traffic would be thinnest), we all showed up and waited in line for 45 minutes for some Chinese food. They gave us 2 entrees and 1 side of take-out food each for all five of us! Plus soda, which the kids all loved because we practically never have soda. Obviously that kept us fed for like three days. We also spent time at some of the events for the 3 Rivers Festival downtown, where we attended a fun scavenger activity followed by a bunch of blow-up carnival rides at the Botanical Gardens (also $.50 hotdogs!), and a cookie decorating contest (oh hey, more free food there!). Probably I squeezed in too many things, but it was lots easier than trying to keep everybody entertained at home. Besides all that, I managed to get the deck painted and finish the rough draft of the book I'm working on. I totally miss Aaron when he's gone. But man alive am I ever productive!

Alright, I probably could keep going right here, but eventually I'll get pictures added in, and that will just complicate things. So I'm going to go ahead and post this and pretend like I did it in July. And if you happen to check back, there's always a chance that you'll find pictures . . . if I ever figure out a solution to the fact that all our photos are on the computer downstairs and all my photo editing stuff (which I mostly just use for cropping, but still, that's an important function!) is on the computer upstairs, and I'm actually writing all of this on my netbook. Sometimes technology makes things easier. Sometimes not so much!