Swimming!

What do active boys need on a hot day? A POOL! We bought this inflatable pool last week, and the kids love it. Gresham would stay out there all day. He has absolutely no fear of the water which is fun and scary! He kept laying down to rest his head on the inflatable seat in the pool!

Look, Mom! Look how I can throw my ball real high! Oh, look at it go over the fence... again!

(To Aidan's credit, our yard is about 3 feet by 5 feet. Okay, maybe that's a little exaggeration, but it is really tiny and it's hard to keep ball in our yard...)

Jordan is 30!

Jordan turned 30 on Sunday! We had a party on Friday night, and he even cooperated for a few pictures. He has had a big year - he is just finishing 1 year as store manager at Eddie Bauer. He's really good at sales and leadership, and enjoys his job. Jordan is also working hard on finishing his degree, and hopefully by next summer we can report that it is done!

Well, maybe not that fast!

Tonight I made some pasta for dinner. I really liked it - the boys had other opinions... It was penne pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach cooked in olive oil with garlic and onion. Aidan wanted to forego dinner and move on to dessert, so I explained to him that the dinner has nutrients in it that cake does not. I told him that the spinach and tomatoes have vitamins A and C, which are good for the skin and for eyesight and for helping things heal. I told him that the spinach also has iron, which is good for new blood cells.

A few minutes later, he said, "Wow, everything looks lighter now!" (meaning that the food was working and he could see better!). A few minutes after that... "Wow, my boo boo on my knee is already smaller!"

Maybe it works, but I'm not sure if it's that fast!

Gresham's Haircut

Before the haircut - I was not wanting to loose all the "baby hair," but he just gets so sweaty in this hot Texas weather!

For some reason, blogger won't let me type in between the pictures... Anyway, it was hard to get a good "after" picture. Gresham is crying in the top picture because he wanted to "see" himself in the screen on the digital camera. Unfortunately, there is nothing to see when you haven't taken a picture yet! He saw me editing these pictures and said, "Crying. Wagon. Have it."

He looks very cute and grown up now!

Gresham's newfound ability to express himself...

Gresham is almost 21 months old, and has recently aquired some better verbal skills...

This morning I went to get him out of his crib, and he was laying in there saying, "funny, funny."
I asked him, "What's funny?" He said, "blankie head." I can just picture him in there amusing himself putting his blankie over his head!

Today our air conditioner thermostat said "check filter," so I did, and it obviously needed replacing. Right now. So, we left for Target. While we were there we looked at water guns (Aidan wanted to get Dad a water gun for his birthday). Gresham found a toy wagon in the water gun aisle that he wanted badly. I told him to get back in the stroller, and he had a huge fit. One of those ones where everyone in the entire store is looking to see whose child is screaming like that. We finally made it to the car, and I informed him that he was not to behave like that. I asked him, "Did you throw a fit?" and he said "uh huh. wagon. Wagon have it. NOW!"

It really was a cute wagon. It's too bad he threw such a fit because I'm not buying it now...

More Suzuki Institute

This is Aidan's master class. The boy to girl ratio really was much closer to 50/50 in the overall institute, but Aidan's class just happened to be all girls and him! His teacher was Dr. Susan Baer from Lubbock, and she was wonderful.

Contrary to popular belief, children who play musical instruments do actually have fun as well. (And, playing the instrument is fun!) Here is Aidan eating Anca's chocolate cake.

Climbing on rocks during a break

DFW WOW Suzuki Institute!

This week has been monumental for me as a mom - I am taking my son to his first Suzuki Violin Institute! It is a week long camp for strings students, and I have many happy memories of attending Institutes myself. Some of the teachers are the same teachers that I had when I was a student. I wasn't sure if Aidan would like it, but I signed him up so that I could at least observe and pick up some teaching ideas. I am determined to not be one of those parents who pushes their kids to pursue the parent's interests, but I am pleased to say that Aidan is genuinely having a fantastic time! He told me last night, "Mom, I love this. We have to go every year!"

Aidan has four classes - art, a master class (which is pictured above - it's a small class where each student gets a short private lesson), a group class, and a music and movement class. The teachers are excellent! His group teacher had them singing the A major scale and doing ear training activities. Gresham came yesterday, and he loved music and movement. The kids got to play drums, shakers, etc., and then got to dance and march around the room.

We have two days left, with a concert on Sunday night. More pictures to come...