Dr. Peds and the neighbor dads were up at 4:00 a.m. starting the fire pit to roast the Independence Day pig.  This year Mr. SP excitedly got up to watch, along with a couple of neighbor kids.  They may never get the opportunity again, because they talked so excitedly for…

The big kids were all in North Dakota, and this guy was busy, busy, busy all day.  He played in the dirt.  He played in the mud.  He ran around our neighbor’s yard playing soccer and climbing on their playset while the grown-ups ate a leisurely supper and enjoyed the…

Unlike her little brother, who despises all cameras in existence, this girl is always excited to be photographed.  She’s one spunky character, and I certainly do love her.

Someone told me many years ago the flute and clarinet embouchures conflicted.  If you played one, you wouldn’t be able to play the other as well.  While that didn’t stop me from playing both, it did take a little bit of the joy out of it for me.  It turns…

I spent so many summers attending music camp at the peace gardens.  I worked there for one (terrible summer).  Now YaYa seems to go every summer as well.  This year she worked hard to go for two weeks, and she was beyond excited to get there.  So, it seems, traveling…

We found a box of learning-to-read “Biscuit” books at the library sale a few weeks ago, and he’s taken to them like magic.  He’s working so hard, and is so proud of himself.  We read together, but he’s my first kidlet who is so determined to be a successful reader…

Last Thursday night, on the recommendation of a fellow musician and an article in the local newspaper, the three youngest kidlets and I attended an opera performance.  Our local opera company is terrific.  I love that we have a local opera company. This opera was written by two  amazing, well…

I had lots of plans for the summer solstice, and most of my plans were foiled by random, not so very important stuff that just came up.  One of my plans was to take lots and lots of pictures throughout the day.  In the end, I hardly took any pictures…