• Peanut Maximus

    This little one just gets busier and busier every week. His favorite thing is being outside. He loves walking around the block, playing with balls in the front yard (especially if Mr. TOF plays with him!), swinging in his little blue swing, and the sandbox. Everything is an adventure outside.…

  • Northern Lights

    We missed the Friday night auroras because it was just a very rough night around here. So when I went outside on Saturday night at 11:00 and saw faint columns shimmering and glowing in the sky above the deck, I called The Banana away from her harp, and Mr. TOF…

  • The Rhododendron is Blooming

    It’s become an annual tradition to take a few portraits of The Banana when the rhododendron blooms. The bush grows more astonishing every year, with all of its fluffy purple goodness. It is so ridiculously glorious that a kindergarten piano student walked in on Monday and asked, “Are the flowers…

  • Prom Pictures

    After quite a bit of dress stress, this lovely yellow gown was the pick for the fancy evening! Of course, fancy high heels with sparkles were also part of the ensemble. Years of practice walking around in other people’s high heeled shoes means that The Banana is an expert in…

  • Exploring on a Rainy Afternoon at Hartley

    It had been a rainy morning and afternoon, and we were ready to get out of the house, so I dressed Peanut Maximus in his terrific rainsuit that YaYa found in a thrift store in Colorado. We went for a stroller ride through the forest on the wide trail that…

  • Reflecting on National Poetry Month

    I had a great vision of reading poems out loud to my kidlets almost every day for National Poetry month. Sadly, that did not happen. However, the front of the fridge is filled with fresh magnetic poetry, and some of those poems are still in progress. I wrote a few…

  • Markers

    He had the best time with a basket of markers and a big piece of paper that covered the activity table. Now I have a great piece of wrapping paper! I love how even though the paper was gigantic, he spent at least three quarters of his time covering just…

  • Piano

    When I’m practicing during the day, he puts his picture books on the music rack and “plays” them along side me. He stands on a chair next to the bench or on the student footstool. He takes the used student sticky notes out of the recycling basket and sticks them…

  • Spring Break

    It really seemed like every single family in our city left for the week of spring break! Nearly all of The Banana’s friends and most of Mr. TOF’s friends were vacationing in tropical destinations, and many of my students as well. I don’t ever remember a break when so many…