Halloween 2019

Summer days, driftin' away...

Now that fall's here, it's time to talk about summer!

this was supposed to be our nice, calm, month "off"

Father's Day weekend

Hello friends-and-relations!

It's SUMMER!

Things have finally calmed down here a bit.  Like every other parent of school-aged children, our Spring was filled with performances, recitals, friends' performances, and end-of-the-year presentations. It's delightful seeing the evidence of all the talent and hard work that the kids put into their year.  But, you know, it's also nice to have a little more breathing space to the days.

so many colors!

Our June was very full -- especially the last couple weeks.  The funnest part was driving out to Ohio to spend Father's Day with family.  Katie had been attending horse camp with her cousin for a week, so since we had to pick her up anyway we decided to make a mini-vacay out of it.

Piano Recital!

I have been added as a blogger! Mwahaha...er, I mean, now I can contribute additional posts and pictures and stories and things! In other words, add the pictures I have on my phone that we don't have on the computer ...

Anyhoo, without further ado, the spring piano recital!

Jojo's "Steampunk":

My Grande Valse Brillante by Chopin:

Now we're done! I was pretty done with Chopin by the end. As fun of a piece as it is, playing it every day six times or more at different tempos for over an hour gets a little old. I've been working on it for 5 months now, but didn't really focus on it until March. Then my teacher and I pushed the tempo and finished the memory over a very short time period, so considering where it was a couple of weeks ago, it's a miracle I could play it for guild and the recital! Now it's on to jazz and Franz Liszt for the next 7 or so months.

Be Still, My (Bleeding) Heart

So every year I promise myself that I'm going to take pictures of the Bleeding Heart in the spring, because its growth is so dramatic.  Finally, during our 5th spring here, I remembered to do it!

March 15, when I first noticed they were poking up:

one week later:

week 3:

week 4: kaboom!

(I also planted some phlox this day, to fill out what becomes an empty bed once the bleeding hearts are done)

Finally, week 5, the peak:

Like I said, dramatic.

Birthday Week 2019!

It's All Birthday, All the Time!!

Exhibit A:  Miriam's 17th on Tuesday (and Wednesday)

No, we can't believe she's 17 either.  It's just too weird.

Miriam had to go to class and work and choir practice on her actual birthday (welcome to the adult world!) so we celebrated as a family the next day.  She went skating with friends.  Mr. Pickles grilled.  Chocolate lava cakes were consumed.  She'll celebrate with some more friends later this weekend -- she and Katie are planning a Phantom of the Opera-themed party.  (It's awesome seeing Miriam get into all the musicals I loved when I was the same age!)

Exhibit B:  Jojo's 11th on Thursday

Jojo chose all his favorite foods for meals, got to play Wii (during Lent!!), and didn't have to do school.  So all in all a good day for him.  He'll have a birthday party with his friends, also this weekend.  (The fun just never stops!)

Exhibit C:  Mr. Pickles' something something-th on Friday (and Saturday)

Happy Birthday to meeeeee...

I won't post the embarrassingly silly picture of him blowing out his candles, in order to preserve the illusion of the dignity and widsom attendant upon his advanced years.




Aw, who am I kidding.

he was winding up for a huge sneeze, and then when I took this picture -- my camera is not a quiet one -- everyone broke down laughing

Since Mr. Pickles' birthday fell on a Friday in Lent, we extended his celebration to the next day as well so we could feast with a clear conscience.  Although for his birthday dinner he made grilled salmon, which really doesn't seem all that penitential. :)  He did take his birthday off work, which was celebratory in itself.  His birthday cake was the most amazingest thing -- it was gluten- and dairy-free chocolate cake made with coconut sugar and it was sooooo good.  The kids all pitched in to get him Mario Kart 8 and another set of Switch controllers, so it was really a gift for everyone.

Mr. Pickles took most of the week off work, which was nice for him and for us.  Also on Monday, the kids asked me how much school we were going to do that week, and I said "It's Birthday Week!  No school!"   And behold, the sound of a great multitude rejoicing.

Just a typical quiet evening in our house

So the boys have invented a new after-dinner game called "I'm Strong!"  See if you can figure out the rules.  (Make sure you turn your volume all the way up for the most accurate game experience.)

 

The game always involves several interludes similar to that at the end of the video.  No serious injuries, though... yet.

Also, the game requires that all the doors of the upstairs hallway be closed.  It gets preeeeetty warm up there after a while.  I should really capitalize on that -- we could save a fortune on heating costs.

and then there's this

Soooo...  our waterproofed basement isn't actually all that waterproof anymore.

Naturally the basement isn't graded so that spills will actually flow into the sump pumps.  So whenever it rains we get to stump downstairs a couple times a day and sweep the water towards the well.  We've also used the shop vac, but it's so dang noisy and sweeping works well enough.  I'm getting a little concerned about mold -- it doesn't smell musty yet, but if you pull back on those baseboards it is NOT pretty.

Thankfully the waterproofing is still under warranty, so the company that did everything will come and fix whatever the problem is.  However, because Virginia just experienced the wettest summer on record, we are not the only ones who are having water issues.  Which means we get to live with our own personal swamp for weeks.  Excellent.  (They're supposed to come next week to fix it.  THAT'S going to be a fun day.  Who doesn't love the sound of jack hammers in his house!)

I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house

12 Days of Christmas

Happy Epiphany!  I love all the references to light in the liturgy today.  It also helps that today is the first sunny day we've had in ages.

So once again we honored the 12 Days of Christmas by planning on something fun and celebratory for each day.  Unfortunately our plans were slightly derailed by the now traditional Christmastime illness -- but I think we did enough to make the Christmas season feel fun and restful.

Day 1: Christmas!!

Christmas 2018

Guess who got a new camera!!!

Soot Sprite!

Just kidding.  He doesn't like the new camera.  It Makes Noise.