The Winding Down of Summer

where has summer gone? the air has that slight chill in the mornings...backpacks are ready to go to school...i'm trying to figure out where everyone needs to be when and how i'm going to fit in Cordelia's naps. this is our last week of summer. i have to say, i'm looking forward to schools starting, :) but let me take this moment to look back on our summer. i won't miss all the bickering and the sweltering humidity, but i have enjoyed being with all my girls all day long. our times at the pool were mostly good times. i was glad for their happy spirits as i blundered along, trying to adjust to taking care of the three of them. Cordelia is 5 months this week and these 5 months have been a blur with moments that stand out like exclamation points. i will remember this summer as the one where Claire learned to swim, the one where Skye emerged from a swim meet heat a proud winner, the one where all of my family came to visit, the one where i often looked at Cordelia's sleeping face wondering how i was going to survive yet another few days without Phil. there were moments when i was completely overwhelmed and my girls witnessed me at my worst, but i'm sure to forget those moments. will my girls forget too? i hope so.

i am looking forward to this year. the girls are growing so quickly and there will be many new experiences ahead. we will mark many milestones in each of their lives - please celebrate with us here!

Family reunion

i've been meaning to post some pics from my family reunion during the last weekend of July. but when i downloaded them, i realized just how few i took!! :(  i think i was so busy, i just didn't get around to grabbing the camera. but here are some shots Phil and i managed to take. Q & Christe, you have to send me the pics you took! i have no pics of the kids except the one here!

Moments from July

finally, here are some photos i took over the month of July with my nikon. i hope you enjoy them!

Swimmer

so what have i been doing with my time while i haven't been blogging? i'm afraid all my energies are sent towards the pool these days. and this short video will show you why:

it was a truly exciting moment for us, and of course, esp for Skye. :) she won her heat and placed 6th overall. and Claire, inspired by all the swimmers around her is THIS close to swimming too.

summer days

pool, pool, pool, and more pool! that's how our days have been for the past 2 weeks. i've been struggling to adjust to the new schedule and finally, this week, i feel like i am moving with the flow. we go to the pool in the morning for Skye and Claire's swim lessons and swim team practice. we often take it easy in the afternoons, but if the girls are hot, they want to go back to the pool. so we are getting pickled in the chlorine and turning into little brown fishes. :) i've been away from the blog because it's been overwhelming on most days.

Skye has become quite a swimmer in the past 2 weeks. the swim team practices every day have made quite a difference! when summer first began, she couldn't swim across the width of the pool without stopping. now, she swims lengths without stopping!! it's such fun to watch her swim in the swim meets. there'll be more of that as the summer progresses.

Claire is getting very comfortable in the water and is oh-so-close to swimming. if i didn't have Cordelia to hold, i could work with her and get her swimming before the summer is over, but alas, such is not the case. i remember i worked so hard with Skye in the water before Claire came. such luxuries when you have just one child!!

i've managed to take some photos. people have been asking for more photos of Cordelia whose face does seem to change every week, so here they are! and Cordelia is in such a fun stage. she smiles and laughs, responds to us in her baby way - so beautiful! she's trying so hard to lift her body up when she is on her back. i feel like she is quite impatient to be up and moving, just like her sisters!

Summer begins

i've been wanting to write, but what a hectic week it has been! we have jumped into summer with a big splash and we're all still adjusting to the new schedule. on monday, our pool life began. we will be spending more time than before at the pool due to Skye joining swim team this summer. the girls and i are at the pool by 9:15 every morning and don't get home until noon!! before this week, i was completely stressed out about this, wondering how to manage this with a 3 month old baby, but Cordelia has been WONDERFUL. sure, i get really sweaty and sticky on hot days because the only way she'll sleep is in the wrap, but that's ok. we had some crummy weather at the beginning of the week and Skye and Claire swam in the rain (but i was happy because Cordelia and i were quite comfortable in the colder weather), but today felt like summer and the time at the pool was terrific. i'm hoping by next week we'll have our new routine down - and hopefully i can return to writing more here and posting more pictures! :)

Summer Reading #2

this is a fun book to read. i've read it out loud to the girls and both of them love it. i'm thinking of having Skye read this herself this summer. Clementine is a modern version of Ramona Quimby, according to the lady at the bookstore when i bought it. i think that's a pretty good picture of Clementine, except her personality is so lovable. i have to say, next to Ann Shirley, Clementine is one of my favourite redheads.

Memorial Day weekend

this weekend officially marks the beginning of summer for us. the pool opens, the weather is (hopefully) warm, and...Brat Fest!! it was a busy weekend for us. as soon as the sun came out, we dashed off to the pool and the girls swam even though the water was ice cold. i refused to go in - just my toes felt the water. no matter how much i love my girls, i refuse to turn into an icicle.

warmer weather means friends outside, so my girls are forever asking, who's that? whenever they hear someone outside. then they rush to the window to see if one of their friends are out playing. it is almost impossible to bring them back into the house, but i suppose this is what summers are for.

every year, i forget about Brat Fest. and then it is upon us and we as a family collectively agree to go without thinking. in fact, i look forward to it. and then when we get there, i wonder what on earth i was thinking. the crowd is unbelievable. they charge so much money for the little rides for the kids. the brats themselves don't cost much, but everything else that comes with it does. Claire wanted the carousel ride. Skye wanted the gravity storm ride (please see the movie of her on the bungee cords). ice cream. etc, etc. BUT the girls love it for some reason and we go back every year. without fail.

Getting ready for Kindergarten

on thursday, we went to Skye's kindergarten open house. we got to see her new classroom, meet her new teacher, find her locker, and meet some of the kids who will be her new friends. it was very exciting! we will have alot to learn in the first few weeks. my head is sort of swimming with all the new rules and routines i'll have to remember. and i'll have to make an effort to stay involved by volunteering in the classroom. but i'm most happy that Skye seems very very comfortable in her new classroom and her teacher seems to have a temperament that will be compatible with Skye's temperament.

and Claire also seems very comfortable with Skye's new school! i could easily have left her there to play - she was wandering around as if she knew exactly where to go! but her favourite part of the open house? the bright yellow school bus that was parked outside for the kids to climb up and get used to for their first day of school. Claire refused to get off the bus - i almost carried her off screaming!

i'm not nervous about the first day of kindergarten - i think Skye and Claire will adjust just fine to all the new changes, but i do feel overwhelmed with just how fast our girls are growing up! and this is also the end of summer...this summer, as last summer, was full and fun and oh so busy. the pool closes this weekend and we're sad about that, but we sure put in A LOT of swimming this summer.

Busy month of August

phew! it's hard to believe that August is almost over. and what a full month it has been. i will try to catch up as best as i can, but most likely, it's going to be more like a list of things we did and photos of our various trips and activities.

first of all, we had many celebrations in August. Phil and i celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. we celebrated my father's birthday, my nephew Amoz's birthday and my birthday.

we went on a trip to southern California. we drove to Zeeland, Michigan--it was our girls' first long road trip. we had a great time in both places. in CA, we met up with our friends Mary, Martin and their baby Camille. we visited the beautiful aquarium at Long Beach and played on the beaches. we ate lots of delicious Korean food.

the drive to Zeeland was hard for the girls, but they survived. we broke up the ride a little for them by stopping in Chicago for lunch with Phil's parents on the way to and then for lunch with friends on the way back. Zeeland is close to Lake Michigan and so we were able to visit the beach there and it was beautiful. it was great to visit my parents' new home in the States. it was great to see them settled and to see the community they live in.

and on top of all the travelling, we have been busy getting ready for the school year. we registered Skye for kindergarten and learned who her teacher would be for the year. we have visited her school several times to get her used to the environment, and we go back to the school tomorrow for open house where Skye will be able to play in her new classroom and meet some of her classmates. it'll be quite exciting! i've been busy getting ready for Claire too. i've signed up for a music class with her and will be busy setting up playdates for Claire so that we can keep busy while Skye is away all day!


here we are at Griffith Park in LA. Skye enjoyed a pony ride and Claire and Skye loved the great carousel!



the girls enjoy some down time...


beach time!



enjoying the beautiful jelly fish at the aquarium




with our friends, Mary, Martin and baby Camille!










in between our trip to LA and our trip to Zeeland, we had a few days back in Madison for some down time. our neighbour stopped by one day and asked us if we would have any use for some very large furniture boxes. i spent one morning working on the boxes and voila! except now i'm not sure where i'll put it when we have guests over...


in Zeeland, MI.
Skye goes fishing! but those sneaky little fish...they gobbled up the bait and refused to get caught! but we did end up enjoying feeding the ducks and the geese who also occupied the pond.


the beach at Holland, MI


the girls had a fantastic time with grandparents. they even endeared themselves to my parents' neighbour who gave the girls each a piggy bank from her rather large collection of piggy banks. here are the girls each holding their pigs.

Summer days

one thing we love about summer days is getting to eat popsicles. i try to avoid the ones they sell at the pool concession stand, at the zoo, and wherever kids go in the summer time. not the best things to eat, but kids just love them. instead, i am giving my kids popsicles at home that i've made, in the hopes that they will prefer mine over the other kind. :) so far, we've enjoyed popsicles made with lemonade with fresh raspberries floating throughout, and i've even mashed up watermelon and frozen those. the mashed up watermelon was quite a hit! it's a great way to enjoy fruit in the hot weather.

Lemonade Stand

yesterday, Skye had her first lemonade stand. it was lots of fun! we made fresh squeezed lemonade and set up a table right in front of our house. we had told all our neighbours ahead of time, so they all came out and we had a kind of mini block party. Skye loved it! she has been really eager about making some money because she's seen other kids using their own money to buy snacks at the pool concession stand and buying "stuff" at stores. we need to start giving her an allowance soon, but she hasn't asked for an allowance yet, so we're sort of waiting until she actually asks! Skye made a total of $9! she was just thrilled to have so much cash in her little wallet at the end of her sale! :) it's really sweet--she's spent her first $2 on little knick-knacks that she likes and i'm trying to encourage her not to spend all her money too soon! she wants to have another lemonade stand soon, but i'm pooped from squeezing all those lemons!

Family biking

we've been biking together as a family now over the weekends and it's been lots of fun. this past weekend, we biked to Lake Monona and biked along a trail that runs around the lake. we've been wanting to do this for so long and now we can! and here is how:

Harvesting cherries

because it was so cold, our cherries were rather late this year, but we had plenty to make a cherry pie and cherry compote. the biggest attraction for the kids was the cherry pitter...so while i picked, the kids pitted, including some of our neighbourhood kids. Claire was more interested in her boots...