Just me and you

School started two weeks earlier than usual this year. The big girls are already well into their routine, and now that Audrey is at school full-day, it's just me and Kateri. All day long. Although we miss her big sisters, it has actually been quite lovely having some one-on-one time with my just-turned three year old. It's nice to lavish some extra attention on her, especially since, (in an example of the characteristic neglect endured by third-born children,) I forgot to charge my camera battery and so we have no pictures of her birthday.

For now, she's my little helper around the house, and we get to read books in bed and play dozens of rounds of hide-and-go-seek. Every time I tell her it's time to go run an errand she asks with a big smile, "Me and you?"

I'm so grateful for this time with my happy little Kateri. Just me and you.

Of course, we are still pretty excited when 3:45 rolls around and these two show up...

Our Scituate Summer: Audrey

On to my water baby:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Audrey is still completely enamoured with the ocean. She is still the first one in the water and the last one out. Her m.o. was to inch farther and farther out until she was "accidentally" well over her head and I called her back in.

The only time she would voluntarily take a break was seconds before hypothermia set in and she was forced to lay like a lizard on the rocks and recharge.

This summer her boogie boarding skills really took off, and her fearlessness was a mixed blessing...watch out Kateri! Her enthusiasm and confidence rubbed off on her older sister, though, and they both became much more proficient. We had some great waves at the end of our stay from a storm offshore and she was pummelled and smashed to her heart's content.

I'm thinking of sending her to Fiji to live with Uncle Cole, who I am sure could introduce her to some real waves.

Oh my Audrey, God has certainly blessed her with an abundance of, how should I put it? Spunk? Verve? Moxie?

And boy did we see it this summer. It is growing more and more apparent to me that my challenge as her mother is going to lie in harnessing it for the power of good.

Pray for me.

Please.

As you can see from the above picture, she needs no coaching to strike a sassy pose, yet somehow manages to ruin many of our group shots with crazy faces:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Anyway, when we wrung the saltwater out of her, she enjoyed many of our favorite summertime traditions...Pony rides at the Farmers' Market...

...the carousel...

...and breakfast at the lighthouse.

There is never a dull moment when Audrey is around. I think Nanny put it best when I turned to her in exasperation after a display of particularly baffling intense emotion:

"She's just got a fire in her belly..."

So, like I said, pray for me. And if you can spare a prayer for her First Grade teacher while you're at it, that would be great.

Our Scituate Summer: Lili

I'm faced with a rather daunting number of photos from our vacation this year, so I decided to break up the memories by child...

... I'll start with my eldest...see that lone figure up on the jetty? That's Lili, and it's kind of the enduring image I have of her from this trip. My mom made this astute observation partway through the trip: "Lili is desperate for a little independence. And you need to give it to her." To which my immediate, knee-jerk response was "WHAT? No I don't! I need to keep her safe in arms-reach beside me always for the rest of her life." But, as my mom is a very wise woman, and as the fictional character I relate the most to is Marlin from "Finding Nemo," I took a deep breath and handed her the keys to my parents mailbox two houses down.

But seriously, Scituate is the perfect place to assert a little independence as a child; the beach offers a feeling of freedom you just can't get anywhere else in the world, and my parents' safe, idyllic little neighborhood makes you feel as though you've stepped back in time. Watching kids Lili and Audrey's ages biking to their morning lessons with their life preservers and tennis rackets slung over the handlebars drives home how lucky we are to live there for a few weeks out of the year.

So yes, my beautiful Lili is growing up right in front of our eyes.

It was so nice to have this time with her before school takes her back.With Kateri being old enough for longer stints at the beach, the two older girls spent hours and hours in the water.

Mostly boogie boarding...
On the morning of her birthday (her NINTH birthday...how did this happen?!?!) Luke and I took her to breakfast down at the harbor, just the three of us, which was a treat.

Her birthday gift from my parents was a week of sailing lessons. It was quite the adventure (for me as much as for her) and culminated with her taking Audrey and Nanny for an evening sail around the harbor to show off her new skills.

After reading a couple of biographies of Abigail Adams, she asked to go the John Adams National Park for her birthday. I think Nanny and I enjoyed it just as much as she did, if not more. The roses Abigail brought home from England are still in the garden at Peacefield.
We had some great cousin time with the Dallas Birds, and Lili is just as much a baby-stealer as ever... sweet little Evie was especially tempting.

Thankfully, she is not too grown up to ride the carousel in Hull. The day that she opts out of that particular tradition will truly be a dark one.

My hydrangea girl is pretty happy here

Her favorite flowers are bursting all over the place.

Nanny refuses to trip back the ones that flank the walk to the front porch, and Audrey loves wading through them.

I think the blue ones are my favorite, too.

They are pretty spectacular.

Goodbye, June.

I thought that the month of June would drag on unpleasantly as we counted down the days until our trip to Scituate, but I must say I am sorry to see it go. It really was a lovely month, what with the lack of school and carpools and homework... ...and the lazy days making forts in the back yard and making your mom think you had passed out due to heat exhaustion...

...fakers...

and the swimming...

...and more swimming...

...and the Playmobil dance parties.

We had a lovely marathon "Burch Day" yesterday hanging out with our dear, dear friends who we won't see for six long weeks. Once again I wished I could freeze Lili and Jack in their nerdy, Stratego-loving friendship. On the way out the door, she told him, "I'll write you a letter every day!" which was undoubtedly an empty promise, but a sweet one nonetheless. Seriously, if anyone has the secret to their friendship NOT turning awkward with the onset of puberty PLEASE tell it to me.

I will pay you.

Lots.

Earlier in the evening, Kateri was all snuggled up happily on Emily's lap and I made the mistake of asking her if she'd just like to just stay forever and live with Miss Emily. She nodded hopefully, and apparently took it a little too seriously, because when it was time to leave I had to literally drag her out the door amid tearful pleas to "Just leave me, Mom! I want to stay in this home!"

It's so nice to have such good friends...even if it makes it so hard to say goodbye.

Anyway, our paper chain that ends in "Nanny's house!" is getting pretty short, which is means it's time to dig out our sweatshirts and plug in the portable DVD player to charge up for our flight. You were lovely, June, but on to July!

SCITUATE!

The first Christmas Luke and I spent together was with my family in Scituate after we had gotten engaged. On Christmas morning, he unwrapped his gift from my parents: a XXL sweatshirt with SCITUATE written across it. He read it out loud in his best tired-but-trying-to be-enthusiastic voice, and it's become an oft-imitated catchphrase at family gatherings. This year Nanny found the best gag gift ever, which combined my kids' love of themed Monopoly games and my husband's love of my hometown. Isn't the box's design in all its Scituate historical society's archives glory exciting?

We had an intensely competitive game with the Phoenix Birds over Bloody Marys on Father's Day. Cindy and Audrey dominated.



I think Luke enjoyed himself.

Maybe he's just gotten better at faking enthusiasm.

Home school Summer school

After school got out, the girls and I sat down to formulate a how-to-stay-sane-while-waiting-for-our-trip-to-Scituate plan. One of my ideas was that every day we do a little school work at home. The girls had both come home with plenty of leftover supplies and I figured it would keep them busy and sharp. Guess who was super excited about this idea and has faithfully sat down everyday and written out her own assignments in her homework log and promptly completed them?

Guess who thinks the whole idea of home school summer school is pretty lame?

Guess who is just happy to have her sisters back home all day long?

Wow, that picture is blurry! I am starting to think that the intelligent auto setting on my camera is not so intelligent...