Breakfast with a side of piano

Ian has just been reveling in piano classes. This is a picture of our neighbor Dever who popped over to discuss a couple ideas he had about a song he learned in class.

Our whole family has learned a lot from Simply Music this past school year since adopting the curriculum for our home schooling, but the group dynamic has added extra layers we didn't get with the learn-at-home program. So even though Fiona is a number of songs ahead of the rest of her class, she learns new information every week.

Days of summer

The kids have been playing in the back yard, the sprinkler, and the sandbox nonstop! Both kids sleep like logs every night to get ready for another day of zooming around. Nora takes the occasion cat nap in the daytime-- and THAT is weird. I can see them growing right before my very eyes.

Our side yard garden is growing too, weeds and all. It's fun to see everything that happens there-- from growing veggies and fruits to nibbled leaves and produce to the totally weird 'dog vomit slime mold' that is proliferating out there. Summer sun is lots of fun.

Choc-o-lot

I like baking more than cooking. Sometimes we get a lovely dessert all worked up but Ian comes home to find no dinner at all. This Cake Day was like that. We made a rich chocolate cake that was supposed to go into a 12" pan; but since we didn't have one we made layer cakes and created a mocha mousse for the filling. We couldn't cover it with the thick ganache because it was just too topply of a cake, so we just iced the very top. As if that cake needed more chocolate!

I worked on this cake mostly with our neighbor Sydney and with Fiona. When Nora got her slice of cake, her eyes got very large and she breathed reverently, "I am inspired." I laughed till I cried.

Movement and music

Fiona and Nora started dance at a new place this week. I LOVE THIS PLACE! Besides the deep respect I have for the teachers and their philosophy, I also love the fact that our kids are taking movement and modern dance now, along with some of the rudimentary ballet techniques. As kids moved to the teacher's drumbeat, they played games to learn each others names-- even for this short summer course.

As I watched Fiona settle into her body's own fluidity during her class, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace and rightness. Then I watched her gracefully leap over some dots on the floor. Her lithe, willowy body seemed to be in its element. I don't recognize that body at all from my own childhood; but what's really important, I guess, is that Fiona is comfortable in it.

Our Experimental Child Fiona is, among other things, a dancer. There is a world of possibility open to her. And THAT is very beautiful.

A little bit of Africa right in our town!

We visited the new African section of our zoo with Helena, Ada, Carlo, and Paul today. It is a top-notch exhibit. I really wanted elephants at our zoo, but this exhibit made it up to me. It was a great day for zoo-ing-- not too hot, not too many people. Paul and I sat and chatted while Carlo slept and the other kids zoomed between play tents for almost an hour! Gotta love that zoo.

Chinatown surprises

I came back from a week in San Francisco spent looking at best practices in youth work with a number of surprises for the girls. From satiny mary janes to crazy hotel shower caps and BART tickets with .05 still on them so the girls could "play the BART," there was a little bit of joy for everyone. You just have to trust me on the joy part, though, because Nora was not at all interested in being photographed in her Chinatown clothing.