We're Still Here

This week has been like Autumn in Upstate New York. It has been clear and crisp and delightful. The kind of nights where you leave the window cracked open only if you have a blanket. It makes you want to go apple picking, but we can't do that around here. Most unusual weather for early September, in my opinion.

One month down and we are half way through the first marking period. Midterms for all. They need to have something to tell the parents when we go to our conferences in two weeks. Everyone seems to have adjusted to the new school year and is doing well academically and socially. Or at least that is what we think before we talk with their teachers.

All the kids have figured out their activities for the year. Drew continues with Boy Scouts. Next weekend they are going spelunking at Mammoth Caves. He has outgrown his required hiking boots. No need to panic though, mine fit him! He is continuing with drum lessons and has joined the jazz band at school. And he is swimming on the YMCA pre-team. He will work on his strokes and still get to compete in meets if he chooses.

Ellen earned a chair as second violin in our area preparatory orchestra. She is on the YMCA swim team and in the middle group of 5. Her swim position was better than she was expecting, so she is happy and tired. She's getting friendly with the other girls on the team and is consequently increasing her time in the locker room.

Megan still loves piano lessons. She is swimming now but only for the next few weeks. When forced to choose only two activities, Daisy Scouts won out over swimming. Lets hope that once the scouts get organized that we can actually make it to the meetings.

Tim loves Thomas the Tank Engine. He spends multiple hours every day playing with his railway on the kitchen floor. About once a week I make him clean it up so I can sweep and mop that area, whether it needs it or not. ;-) He recently learned how to control the mouse on the computer. He likes to play Thomas online. Unfortunately for him, he can't quite get the drag and drop concept, which limits his games. Unfortunately for me, he likes to view the products for sale and opens about 20 windows per session. Also unfortunately, we now have a sixth person vying for computer time. He tried coloring, which until this point he always despised. We hadn't given him Thomas pictures. The things that he currently likes that are not Thomas are Spin Art, Candyland and war.

To add some visual interest to this post, here are some of Tim's Spin Art creations. It turns out that both my boys are minimalists when it comes to art. It kind of balances out the girls. I think that Megan still has some Spin Art drying from 2.7 years ago. Tim's approach worked well because we had just read Mouse Paint, about mixing primary colors, and were trying our own.