Catching Up on Pictures

I finally realized I could just upload my facebook pictures onto my parents' computer and then use them on my blog! This is helpful because I do have pictures always on my phone, but I don't always have my camera SD card on me. ('Cause why would I?) So here is a little catching up in pictures. This one is called "Shocked Annie." I just won a CD at the Shirley Martin awards ceremony! Photo credit to this one goes to Steve Fletcher, and I have to say that he and his wife have been such a blessing to the Shirley Martin Scholarship and to SAMI in general over the past few years, volunteering so much of their time and enthusiasm. And their daughter Amanda rocks too!

On Martin's birthday when he got home from work we jumped right on the trolley and took a ride over the bride to eat dinner at Panera. Last summer Greta developed a fear of busses and trolleys and this year she has thankfully forgotten about that fear and LOVES riding.

Awhile back Anja had a hard time going to sleep one night, so we made a cake! I later turned the cake into cakepops. Such fun times! And look at our matching aprons! I made the one for Anja when I made mine, when she was just a tiny baby. I've been waiting about three years for her to be able to properly fit into it!

This is just a pretty (Instagrammed) picture of the girls in the backyard.

And this is a funny picture of Anja that I took of her when she climbed up into the tree. I forget what I said to let her know I was taking her picture (probably "Anja, I'm taking your picture") but she made this face completely on her own. Awesome. She's really become quite the little tree climber lately too!

Every time somebody has a baby I get to thinking about the newborn times and everything that goes along with them. Burping. Diapering. Staying up all night with a crying baby. And that unique newborn cry is something I always think of. Everyone always told you that you'd quickly learn the differences in the "hungry" cry and the "tired" cry and the "gassy" cry, etc. It took me a long time to learn all that, and it was much easier with Greta, I'll admit. But I've found lately that the cries keep developing and I keep having to learn them. But I'm doing well now! I've learned to recognize from the next room the difference between the "my sister is choking me" cry and the "I put both legs into one leg hole of my underpants" cry. There is a trueness to the cry that means "I've fallen behind the bed" while the high-pitched scream that means "I can't reach the soap you put on the top shelf so I couldn't reach it" is something that can be ignored until I've turned off the dish water and dried my hands thoroughly. It's really amazing! Thank you, my girls, for always teaching me new things!

And speaking of new things, it was really fun to see all the pictures on facebook this morning of the children going off to their first days at school. My nephew Christopher LOVES school, and according to my parents, he had a marvelous first day of 4th grade. As for us, this time of year makes me thankful that my kids are so little. I'm not ready for summer to be over yet. Thankfully, for us it's not!

We attempted to walk up to my mom's house today, but got less than halfway (in about 45 minutes) before we made a collective decision to walk back home for the car. We were NEVER going to make it. But I'm so glad we turned around, because we got to stop and watch a cicada emerging from its shell! It was SO COOL. I kind of can't get over how truly cool it was. And then a few yards down the same sidewalk we came to some big flowery bushes where two hummingbirds were feasting! We stopped to admire them, and one of them flew RIGHT UP TO US, and started squeaking at us!!!! IT WAS SO ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I have never been that close to a hummingbird, let alone had one TALK to me! So in the end, it was a really great walk. Well, until Greta fell and konked her head on the sidewalk. But even that turned out to not be a big deal. And to be fair, she didn't really FALL.... she was pretending to be hopping like a bunny and she got a little confused or something... in fact, I'm not really sure how it happened. At all. But somehow she knocked her head on the sidewalk and I had to carry her the whole rest of the way home. The end.

Have I blogged about Martin's bike? Oh my goodness, he LOVES HIS BIKE. Definitely the best fathers day present he's ever gotten! He rides all the time. And, in fact, he has been putting his bike on the rack of the bus and then riding his bike home at the end of the day! This is a really fabulous setup for everyone involved. I get the car every day, but I don't have to go pick him up at the end of the day, AND, he doesn't have to wait for the bus after work and then get carsick on the ride home! (For some reason the bus ride home always makes him really carsick.) And he has set up his bike to be pretty much a vehicle with a rack and a pannier, a bell, lights, etc. Everything he needs for fun and safety!

Oh my gosh! We're playing Pandora on my dad's phone while I type this and a song came on that I sang at my friend Alison's wedding!! How fun.

I played music with Kim and George at the new NPEN (Natural Parenting Education Network) grand opening last Friday and it was really fun! I love being a musician because not only is it perfectly acceptable to drink on the job, but the wine is always free! Haha, just kidding. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much of a boozer. I did enjoy the bit of white wine that night.

And of course it's always good to play music with good musicians!