I like watermelon, I just don’t like cutting watermelon.  I don’t like cutting cantaloupe or honeydew either.  It just feels like a tedious, messy task.  My kids love watermelon, though, and when you add in a few neighbor kids, I can assure you that they can consume a couple of…

There’s nothing quite like the happiness of a kid squirting his parent.

We had so much fun with our neighbors last Sunday that we decided to all get together for another Sunday evening picnic.  Since we still had a girl in a cast, it was down to the rocky beach we went (sand and casts did not seem like a wise choice).…

As luck would have it, right after I wrote that post a few weeks ago about how we’ve had the same toaster for 17 glorious years, our toaster died.  Well, actually it almost caught on fire.  Someone put down a piece of toast, and unlike Mr. TOF, instead of running…

The chalkboards are back!  They make me so happy!  A few weeks ago Dr. Peds and I (but mostly Dr. Peds) remanded the boards and primed and painted them with a new thick coat of chalkboard paint.  Now they are smoother than ever, and wash off so easily when it’s…

Doing everything with a cast is hard work.  Everything takes longer and requires so much more effort.  This last week, The Banana has come home from school each day and within just a few minutes, she’s fallen fast asleep.  Deeply asleep.  Naps are good.  Oh, yes.

Saturday was Cougar Chase race day!  The Banana and Mr. SP had been going to running club at school two days each week training to run the 5K race.  On weekends they ran with neighbor friends to stay in shape.  Mr. TOF was pretty frustrated about not getting to go…

  I learned about Alfred Schnittke,  a brief summary of his life how it influenced the music he composed. I’m in the process of learning thumb position on the cello, and how to connect motion between my shoulder blades (it’s still pretty abstract for me, though). I’m fascinated with following…

It’s started!  Perhaps it’s my favorite annual tradition, visiting various Lake Superior beaches every Sunday night from the end of May until October.  Every week is different, and it’s always an adventure, time well spent.  Because we have a girl in a cast, visiting a sandy beach was out of…

Sometimes I feel like a bad parent when there are a lot of things for me to take care of and I tell my kids to find something to do, something to keep busy.  It’s easy to have all sorts of ideas in my head of things that I should be…