Swimming Lessons

In an attempt to pretend that summer is not ending, I will post some fun in the pool.

Jack and friends on their last day of swimming lessons.

Generous friends shared their pool(s) with us this summer and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Here's Jack trying to distract his teacher, Libby, by pointing out an airplane flying overhead. He was less than thrilled to be floating on his back. Holding still and relaxing is just not as fun as doing the monkey crawl, blowing bubbles, jumping in or doing "blastoffs".

After lessons, Addy would get in and drive around in her boat. She LOVES the pool too.

She loves to jump in to the pool, stick her face under water, kick and splash.
(Mom, don't freak out, I am just outside of this picture within arms
reach to catch her if she goes under.)

As you can see, Jack mastered the jumping in to the pool too.

We're lucky to have such fun friends and fun places to spend our time.


I miss summer already.

Saturday at Stony Brook

Ryan had the WHOLE day off on Saturday so we headed down to Stony Brook.

We walked in the water.
(or should I say, Jack pulled me down the stream. He was so excited to walk in the water and through rocks)
We were reminded that Addy has no fear and will try anything.
She loved walking through the fast moving water the best.
Maybe she will become a river guide.

Jack got to TOUCH a waterfall.

I know this picture is blurry but it shows Jack's pure excitement while telling me he touched a waterfall. He loves waterfalls. Thanks R1 for braving the cold water.

We played at the really cool playground.
Addy's knew favorite playground fun.

Cooling off after a perfect day.

To the Rescue*

We were having a rough week with Ryan working nights and then Annabel came and saved the week.

We are HUGE fans of Annabel at our house. She comes at least once a week when she is not in school and entertains [keeps them from eating play dough, running in the street, poking their eyes out etc.] my kids while I get things done around the house (or just sit down and do nothing for a little while:). She is full of energy and excitement and she knows what Jack and Addy like to do. When I came downstairs to find this happy scene, they were singing a silly song about a moose. Delightful.

Thank you Annabel!



*(oh and Anna you will appreciate that I sang the entire theme song to
Super Why when I typed the title for this post.)

Corbett's Glen

Last Saturday, we enjoyed some brief time between Ryan's sleeping/naps while he works nights to play in the water at Corbett's Glen.

It's more fun to play with friends so we asked some new friends in our neighborhood to join us.
Here they are chasing a Monarch Butterfly in the field. Poor butterfly looked terrified.

Jack loves to make a splash. He would have stayed here all day.

I was busy keeping Addy from sucking on the rocks. We do not need another case of Giardia (or as my Dad likes to say, "The prettiest protozoan.") at our house. Uncle Mikey would agree, I think.

Run for Mercy

If you live in the Rochester Area you do not want to miss this event.

The church I belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is joining with The House of Mercy, to sponsor a 5k Charity Run/Walk to benefit the House of Mercy homeless shelter.

I've been familiar with the House of Mercy for many years now and it is an organization that works hard to provide services to over 4000 people a month on a shoe string budget and is far more than a homeless shelter. The bulk of your entry fee goes towards helping them to continue to provide these services.

September 26, 2009
Ellison Park
8:30 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. Race

Pancake Breakfast to follow after the race.


Click on the button on this page for more information.

Go to www.houseofmercyrochester.org/5k

If you don't live in the area but think this is a great cause to support, go to House of Mercy website to make a donation.

The Joys of Potty Training

Anyone who has been around us lately may not believe the title of this post but there have been a lot of fun things about potty training.

For starters, you get to see Jack's cute buns in his underwear. He loves the lack of clothing requirement right now. He would wear just his underwear everywhere if we let him. My favorite story is when he was wearing just his Buzz Lightyear underwear while watching our neighbor's son take down some dead limbs in their tree with a chainsaw. Jack joined them in their yard and helped them drag the branches to the street. It was a hoot.

Or the other day when some friends were over and we got out the wading pool. I just stripped him down to his underwear and he splashed around. After he was thoroughly soaked he made the announcement, "My underwear is taking a bath." That still makes me smile.

Here he is helping Addy and me make cookies.

(Side note: Check out Addy's outfit. She requested to wear her alligator pajamas over her dress. At one point during the day, she had her feet in the pajama feet too)

Addy is loving the potty seat too. Jack loves to encourage Addy to use his potty. To be honest he is quite happy to encourage anyone else to use the potty. He is thrilled when he sees his friends use the potty. My favorite was when we were visiting our friends the Robinsons and Jack witnessed W1 use the potty. He walked up to him and put his arm around W1 and said, "I so proud of you." (He also likes to invite himself into the bathroom with me or Ryan and frequently tells us that he is proud of us for using the potty. :)

We get to make up lots of songs to encourage staying on the potty. I never knew how many ways I could sing about the potty. However, my entertainment must be working because today Jack made up his own potty song while sitting on the potty chair. To the tune of "Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush," he sang, "Here is where we put the peepees, put the peepees, put the peepees. . . I love you." Pretty fun stuff.


We're baby stepping our way through potty training but we keep moving forward. I think my friend, Lue, has the best reframe of our current situation, "Just think of how much you will value Jack's assertiveness and strength and tenacity when he is a teenager or young adult and you are sending him out on his own to stand up to all the evils in the world. You will be grateful then for what you know now--he cannot be budged (not even by promises of Oreos, new trucks, a new train, stickers . . . )and is true to what he believes."

words in italics added by me





We're getting more creative and today we had


some SUCCESS!

There are now stickers on his chart.

I'm playing the cello

My heart leaps with joy whenever Jack says he wants to play the cello. I would be thrilled to drive him to his cello lessons and help him practice. He is currently obsessed with the cello and I am nurturing this in every possible way. This is what started it all.



My friend Kelly posted this on her blog and we listened to it. Instant love. Jack and Addy LOVE to listen to this and really get into it. Jack loves to really start dancing with the key change. He loves this arrangement so much that when we heard Taylor Swift singing Love Story while driving in the car Jack, disappointed, asked, "Where's the cello?" And really, couldn't we all use a little more cello in our lives?


These young men were playing their guitar and harmonica before the Hill Cumorah Pagaent. Jack was in love. He sat right down next to them and at one point even tried to climb in their lap. When I asked him if he was using his soccer ball as a drum he said, "No, I am playing the cello." Jack I will grant your wish to play the cello I promise.

This is Jack playing his "pinano" while watching Jon Schmidt on Youtube. He sings the baseline and other parts as he plays.

Here is a better picture of his "pinano" aka little piece of plastic that he found that sort of looks like piano keys. So I guess we'll sign him up for piano as well as cello. My heart is again leaping with joy. Music makes Jack so happy and I love to hear him sing and make music.

So until we are ready for formal music lessons, we will continue to listen to Jon Schmidt on repeat, "the instruments" (as Jack calls them) on the classical radio station, and we'll check Peter and the Wolf out from the library again but most all we will dance and fill our souls with happy music.