Siblings = Best Friends

These first pictures are REALLY old from a day earlier this Spring when we tried to do a trip to the park and ice cream and then got rained out. Fortunately, the ice cream plays gives you a second scoop free if you come when it's raining!

I love when my kids play nicely together! These pictures remind me of a song we like to play in the car and the kids sing along to REALLY enthusiastically. Claire even babbles loudly along with it now!

 He was apparently so busy dancing for her at the bottom of the slide, that he missed her arrival!

 Back at home on a warmer day.

 Our oft used picnic table: then I don't have to clean food off the floor after dinner!

 Climbing the stairs at Highland Park to get to the Lilac Festival!

James' 2nd Piano Recital

I am so proud of James for all his hardwork and the progress he has made since his last recital 6 months ago! His teacher is amazing and really pushes him. James does a lot of practicing, memorizing, and even some basic theory, it seems. His teacher will be graduating with a PhD in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music soon and will be off to some other part of the country. I am sure he will be successful wherever he goes. Thanks for everything, Jonathan!

I was particularly impressed with James that even when he made mistakes, he was able to keep going, when mistakes often make him start from the beginning since these songs are all memorized.
 
If you hear screaming in the background, that would be our darling Claire freaking out that I stood up from where I was sitting next to her. Fortunately, a friend took her outside for us. I then spent awhile playing with her outside. Her tongue is blue from her "stay quiet" lollipop that I apparently presented a few performers too early to be effective while James played.
 
Check out the curls on this girl! It has been hot and humid here the past few days!

Photo Assistant

Over the course of the last few days, I took some quick shots of 3 friends and neighbors who graduated from med school this weekend. Claire was my little assistant which gave me the opportunity to snap some photos of her.

In her cute Tinkerbell jammies from Aunt Nicole, with dinner on her face.

 Big mosquito bite on her cheek. I am trying out regular hair ties in her hair (I need to get some child sized ones) to see if she'll resist it less than the rubber ones that hurt so much to get in and out. So far it's working out ok, even if I have to put them back in more often. Our weather here has been hot and humid which makes for some cute curls on Claire!

Bike Riding

We have been enjoying riding bikes in the warm weather. This is the only picture I have, but I'll include some highlights in writing, too.

• James has ridden as far as 8 miles while I pull the girls in the trailer!
• Ruth loves trailer rides, as long as they are not too long and they include a stop at a playground or place for a treat.
• Claire barely tolerates trailer rides, if they include snacks and Leap Pad video games.
• We rode to 7-11 to get slurpees! 
• So basically, this is a healthy activity for me and James and sitting and eating snacks and playing video games for the girls.
• When we rode to 7-11, I mentioned to James that it was a faster trip than I thought it would be and he said, "That's because we're having so much fun just talking." That right there is a reason to keep up our bike rides!
• Also on the ride to 7-11, we had to venture off the canal trail down a busy street where we stop frequently at driveways for businesses. It made me SO nervous, but James did a great job asking me "Stop or Go?" before each driveway.
• James still has a hard time stopping all the way before getting off his bike. At one point when we were stopping at an intersection, he took his feet off the pedals to get off the bike, and it continued rolling TOWARD the road! I was sure he was going to fall into the road before I could unclip from my bike and secure the trailer with the girls and get him. Instead, he had the presence of mind to put his feet back on the pedals as he steered away from the road and then brake again as he was getting close to the grass. I was SO impressed by his response, especially since he is so easily scared when things like that happen on his bike!

The Thing They Call Motherhood

For Mother's Day today I received the following gifts.

James: pot holder and card he made at school

Ruth: Card and potted paper plant with pictures of herself she made at school

Claire: When she opened a full container of honey, she left it on the floor UPRIGHT

Dan: Dinner, more than his fair share of housework, traditional corsage, and a camera lens mug!

James and Ruth: A ceramic painting set that they picked out while I was shopping at Joann's and hid behind their backs (with my permission) and had the cashier ring up while I wasn't looking and then hide in the bag. Talk about cute.

The whole family: a photo session of the kids. The kids and Dan may have slept in, the weather may not have been perfect, Ruth may have put up a major stink about what she would and wouldn't wear and whether or not I could do her hair, and we may have ended up taking photos 3.5 hours later than I'd hoped for the sake of good light, but I am really happy with the pictures we got!!

The Rodeo. While I was reviewing these pictures today and feeling the mix of love for these kiddos and grief they sometimes give me, the lyrics of the song "Rodeo" by Garth Brooks came to mind and it has been stuck in my head since. I think it applies to motherhood how we are so bound to something that is so hard on us physically and emotionally. 

Some of the most relevant words the song uses to describe this crazy addicting lifestyle are: wounds, blood, dust, mud, white in his knuckles, various clothing items required, ropes and reins (I wish), joy, pain, the roar of the crowd, AND being willing to sell everything you own just to pay to play the game. That's the thing they call Motherhood.

How we got the first picture (1, 2, 3...wheee! Now hug Claire!)

Ruth is always our hardest to get natural pictures of, so I was really happy to get this one!

 Not our quintessential Claire look, but still pretty cute. I think she looks a little more round in this one. And still.

The runner's up each got a quick run through Photoshop, but aren't quite as touched up:

Oh how I wish Claire would have looked up for this one!

 A lot of my clients James' age are like this. They start getting into coming up with ideas for poses and locations for their photos. I try to give them turns to be in control to keep rapport high, and it's fun to see what we come up with.

  

 

He really wanted to do a picture with Dan's legs. I love the smile, though!

 Some more classic Claire looks:

  

She reminds me a lot of my or Linda's baby pictures in this one. She's trying to copy James but can't bring herself to lay down.

 Ruth just wanted Daddy to hold her and warm her up the whole time, so we do not have many runners up of her.

 

Corsages. I made the girls' out of silk flowers. Dan got mine at a florist in a wrist variety since the one on my shirt does not work out well with babies. It came with a HUGE bow, though (the bow on Ruth's and James' wrist put together) and three strings of big plastic pearls for the wristband, so I tore the flower part of and safety pinned it to my shirt. I just wouldn't be able to keep a straight face at church otherwise!

I made Ruth's dress (need to get a better picture). The striped fabric in it is left over from a skirt I made for myself, so now we can have matching dresses like the boys have matching ties. Ruth also had me add polka dot and butterfly fabric to hers so it would be "cuter". I am going to make one for Claire too, it just hasn't happened yet. Ruth's earrings are clip-ons from Grammy. She "inherited" a box of them to use as costume jewelry and wears them several times a week.

 Claire, where's your flower?