Lazy Saturday

Today has been a magnificent day. The weather in central Wisconsin was amazing today: 60 degrees, a light breeze and warm indirect sunshine.

Little Gus arose early, but by some miraculous feet snuggled under the down comforter with me in my toasty bed and fell back asleep until nearly 8:00! Ms. Crazy Preschooler joined us after a bit, and she fell back asleep too! When everyone had finally had breakfast and shed their pajamas for real clothes, we pulled up the wilted plants from our flower beds. Sarah said she didn't want her hair brushed today, and I said OK; it was Saturday. I pulled and raked the flower beds while Ms. CP and Gus pushed around wagons and baby buggies. Gus just learned to push things around, and it is a different world outside. He loves getting around on his legs, and even more loves having Ms. CP run circles around him! Actually, Ms. CP is a big help, since Gus can only push in one direction (he lacks the ability to turn around) she watches until he gets to the end of the yard or gets stuck up against a tree and then heads him off in a new direction. I can get a lot done while they are busy entertaining themselves.

I cooked the most delicious hamburgers on the grill for lunch, just the way I like them: thin, well done with a crispy exterior and a thin slice of cheese melted on top. We ate them on delicious whole wheat buns. I made chocolate chip cookies just for fun. They turned out terrific.

While Gus was napping, Ms. CP and I carved pumpkins outside, because the weather was so beautiful. We made two faces, a bat and two eighth notes. There are two pumpkins left to finish tomorrow.

While Ms. CP was having quiet time I sat down and READ a book in the attic. Magnificent! I am still working on "Riding Bus with My Sister." I can't believe it is taking me so long to finish a book. I might get it done tonight though, since Dr. Pediatrician is on call.

And then, possibly the best part of the day was when I loaded up both kids and my camera into the stroller and we walked to the arboretum. It wasn't as beautiful as it was about 10 days ago, but I got some fun pictures just the same. We hiked through the arboretum and Ms. CP collected the best leaves into a snow hat I just happened to have in the stroller. She called it her leaf purse. At the end of the arboretum is a large complex of soccer fields enclosed by beautiful trees. Ms. CP loves running across the fields and rolling in the green grass. Little Gus had a great time crawling around and chasing his sister in circles. It is so fun for them to have a big open space that they can just move around in, such a treat, and something I took so much for granted growing up on a farm where there was certainly no lack of big spaces to move around in.

We had supper, Ms. CP had a bath, we read books and for a special treat, she and I played one game of Cathedral (with modified rules for a three year old). And so far she's only woken once this evening with a nightmare. A giraffe was in her room, I guess.

Preschool Pumpkin

Ms. Crazy Preschooler painted a pumpkin at preschool last Monday, and I love it! I love the bright primary colors she used and how they swirl and mix together without looking muddy. I don't think I could have done a better job painting an abstract pumpkin myself. We have proudly displayed this pumpkin on our front steps and I admire it whenever I use that door to the house. I had fun experimenting with different kinds of light as I was taking these pictures.

What I'm Slowly Reading

I am an avid reader. I am a fast reader. I normally cannot put a book down when I start it, but sadly, for the last 8 months or so I have not hardly been reading at all. I've just been too busy writing music currciula and taking care of all the business stuff regarding my private lesson studio and sleeping because at the end of the day I am very exhausted from chasing after two children.

Right now I am working on a few different books. I'm reading "Riding the Bus with my Sister," a memoir about a driven journalist who spends a year with her mentally challenged sister who spends all day riding the city bus system in Pennsylvania. It is very interesting and well written, and has given me a lot of insight into situations that I have no experience with: city transportation systems and siblings that have special needs.

I'm reading two short books for piano teachers on how to ask better questions, give better practice advice and integrate ear training into piano lessons.

I'm reading a book on how to use Photoshop CS2 better.

I'm reading a book on how to make different kinds of black and white conversions from color digital photographs.

I'm reading several books for Bible Study. And I read Time magazine each week, along with seven billion children's picture books.

OK, so maybe upon further examination, I am doing a lot of reading, just not the kind of reading that is typical for me: racing through an entire novel while my children are sleeping at night.

Pictures with a chair

When I was in the eighth grade I convinced my mother to buy me this ratty ice cream chair at a community auction sale. I loved it then and I still love it. I have had plans over the years to paint it, to strip, and refinish it, to fix the big hole in the seat, but none of those plans ever came to anything. Over the past few years I keep thinking I like it more and more just the way it is: ratty. On Friday I hauled out to our backyard and took some pictures of the Ms. CP and Little Gus with the chair. I even set up the tripod and used my little remote to take some pictures of me with them. Since then we have raked our yard and now we have four gigantic leaf piles that we need to take care of quick before they kill our grass like they did last year.

Textures at the Park.

Rough bark.
Crunchy Leaves.
Warm sunshine.
Tasty sticks.
Prickly deciduous pine needles.
Soggy green grass.
Squishy white mushrooms.
Mud that smears.

During the Birthday Party

Ms. CP was invited to an elegant birthday party by one of her friends at preschool. She could hardly sit still all week in anticipation of Friday afternoon. And she had a wonderful time. This happened to be the kind of birthday party that parents did not stay and attend (and Ms. CP quite firmly told me I should be getting along now) so Little Gus and I hopped in the stroller and cruised four blocks from the location of the birthday party to one of the best parks in town. We played in the leaves for two entire hours and didn't get one bit tired of it. Leaves are simply the best entertainment. They crunch. They tear. They have textures of all kinds. Little Gus is such a cuddly guy. He'd crawl away a bit and then would be right back throwing himself on my lap for hugs. At least 60% of the afternoon was spent hugging his mommie, who he did not have to share with anyone, for a change.

Nearly Four and Fashion Conscious

Me: Sarah, it's almost time to go to preschool.

Dr. Pediatrician: (on his way out the door to the hospital) Can I go to preschool too?

Ms. Crazy Preschooler: NO.

Dr. Ped: But I really want to go. It sounds so fun.

Ms. CP: No, you are not going to preschool.

Dr. Ped: But why not? I really want to.

Ms. CP: You do NOT have the right clothes, Dad.

Another from the Beach

The Beach

The second and third days of our vacation were filled with strange weather. There was no wind at all, yet someone on Lake Superior was experiencing a storm because the waves became quite large. In fact, there was a crashing surf. I loved hanging out at the cottage and listening to the crashing waves. It lulled me to sleep again and again. All of the rocks we had played on during our first day at the cottage were consumed by the waves. It was amazing to me that the waves could come so high, and this wasn't even a real storm. In fact, it was downright eerie, because a person expects gusts of wind to accompany large waves, and there was no wind whatsoever until the last day when the lake got even choppier yet.

Because the surf was up, we went to a sand beach after our rigorous hike through the forest, and it was joyous. Gregory couldn't resist wading into the frigid (and I mean frigid) water. I couldn't stand to leave my big toe in for more than ten seconds, and there he was out in the water, jumping around in the huge waves. I believe the water temperature was in the mid 50s.

Ms. Crazy Preschooler was a maniac at the beach. She ran around in so many circles I got dizzy watching. She sat in the sand. She dug her toes in. She ran far and near. She rolled in the sand. She jumped in the sand. She summersaulted and vaulted in the sand.

Little Gus was in paradise. Over the last few weeks he has taken to loving sand. The sand box in our backyard can occupy him for half an hour straight, and he actually doesn't even eat the sand. So being dropped in a giant sandbox was his way to close a great day in fashion. He crawled all about, letting the sand flow through his fingers, dropping it on the ground and on my jeans.

Swedish Pancakes: A Delectable Midmorning Snack

I love Scandinavian recipes. Butter. Sugar. Life can't get much better. We really enjoy Swedish Pancakes. On vacation we made them twice for breakfast. The first time the whole family had some. We each got about two pancakes. The second time, Dr. Pediatrician planned on eating the entire batch himself, but when he sat down in the sunroom of the cottage, he had a helper at his side. A helper who adores the children's book "If you Give a Pig a Pancake." A helper who loves syrup. And so Dr. Pediatrician only got to eat a fraction of the batch, even though Ms. Crazy Preschooler had already had breakfast at the crack of dawn, when children in my family arise.

Try some Swedish Pancakes yourself:

Melt: 1/4 cup butter
Warm: 1 cup milk
Mix. Add 2 eggs.
Mix. Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
Mix. Add 1 cup of flour and a pinch of salt.

Fry like a pancake.

I like mine plain. Other members of my family prefer to add jam or syrup. I recommend using a wire wisk to mix.

Rigorous Hike

On our third vacation day, we decided to hike to another waterfall. The past three waterfalls we had hiked to had very gentle, rolling paths. They were nice and wide, easy to maneuver. On most of these hikes we had strapped Little Gus in the backpack only to realize that it sure would have been easier to have left him in the stroller. He gets heavy. So this time we decided we would just take the stroller. After all, we lugged that jogging stroller all around Glacier National Park when Sarah was a year and a half old, up the sides of mountains, over streams, around fallen trees.

And of course, this trail was treacherous. We went up and down so many hills. Steep hills. In places you could hardly tell where the trail was. There was all kinds of water on the trail. I was so impressed that Ms. Crazy Preschooler managed to hike the whole thing on her own little two legs. Life would have been much easier with the backpack, but it was a beautiful forest, if rustic. We had a wonderful time leaf hunting.

Tumbling Water at Munising Falls

I love waterfalls. I love hiking through a forest to find a waterfall. While on vacation we hiked to several different waterfalls, and this one was my favorite. Compared to the others it was hardly a hike, about a fourth of a mile on a paved path, but it was beautiful. All around the falls the trees were turning various shades of yellow, orange and red, even though it is not visible on this picture. I love to pick out a chunk of water and follow it with my eyeballs as it floats down the falls. I love the moist, humid air infiltrated with the spray of rushing water, and I love the roar of a good waterfall. I was excited because for the past year I have been trying to take a picture of a waterfall with the right shutter speed so that the water would look like flowing streams instead of individual droplets, and I finally did it!

Lake Superior Vacation

All week we have been vacationing to Michigan. We rented a cottage and stayed on the shores of Lake Superior near the Picture Rocks National Lakeshore. It was fantastic. Autumn is my favorite season, and the trees were kind of in the middle of showing their foilage, which made for magnificient driving and hiking. Our cottage overlooked a hunk of flat rock that jutted out into the lake. When we arrived the lake was calm and we could walk down steps from the cottage and sit on the rocks. We made rock castles and rock soup. We sat on the porch and watched stars.