Summer Family Time

My efforts to keep up this blog on a fairly regular basis were put on the back burner over the course of a very hectic Spring in our family.  Between a very busy final few months of teaching, a new job for Steve, Springtime activities for Karl, and a newly fully mobile Anton, time to stop and record all of the happenings just seemed to evade me.  Summertime is a chance for me to really enjoy being with my children full-time, to be present for each part of their days, and to be able to take things slowly and savor them a bit.

Since my last post, Karl has turned nine (yikes...the last single digit birthday!), which was raucously celebrated with several of his buddies for laser tag.  Together, we enjoyed making a chess cake.  While I don't often find the time to do a lot of special things with the kids in the kitchen, Karl's birthday is a time when we try to do something extra special.  This year, we opted for a chess cake.  Karl has shown a lot of interest in the game over the course of this year (he is almost beating me...demonstrates some long range strategy skills, which is more than I can often say for myself), so this cake seemed like a no-brainer, thanks to the Nerdy Nummies lady on youtube.  Of course, it's never nearly as effortless as she makes it out to be, but we now have chocolate molds for chess pieces if anyone over wants to make them!    Chess Cake Youtube

Karl had a busy and full Spring.  His first season of kid-pitch baseball was terrific Daddy-Karl time.  Karl had coach Matt once again, who is so encouraging with the kids on the team.  His fielding is really making strides, he made many great plays in the inflied this season.  He had a great finish to the year of piano lessons with a recital including all of Miss Irene's students.  He played A Short Story and A Happy Farmer from Suzuki Book 2, which are pretty challenging pieces.  We are so proud of how accomplished he is with his music.  Third grade wrapped up well; it was a big growth year for Karl, as more and more responsibility and independence fell on his shoulders.  He particularly enjoyed his social studies units this year, especially learning about Africa.  This week, Karl is doing one of his favorite activities of the summer:  Shaver's Creek camp.  The weather looks good for Friday night's campout.

Our little Anton isn't so little anymore, and he is acquiring new skills at every turn.  It's been so long since I've recorded an update here, so here are the major milestones that have happened since March:

• Sitting up independently as of 8 months
• The start to a pincer grasp and an insistence to feed himself by 8 1/2 months
• An army crawl just shy of 10 months
• An explosion of verbal skills at 10 months, with lots of "ch" sounds as a favorite.  He loved to say "dutch" in early June.
• An absolute love for playing with balls, which became apparent at 9 months.  He especially loves his Phillies ball.  He loves to hold a ball over his head and let it drop.  He even plays catch a little bit.  
• A possible first word tonight, when he dropped his ball from his high chair, looked at it on the floor, and said "uh-oh, uh-oh!"  (Is this wishful thinking on my part?)

At a visit to the Doctor a few weeks ago, Anton weighed in at 25 pounds.  No one believes me when I tell them he is only 10 months old, completely due to his size.  Another big one!  And, he is everywhere now.   The mobility of crawling and pulling up to his knees, coupled with his insatiable curiosity, leads him to fun expeditions exploring the nooks and crannies of the house.  He certainly needs and eye on him at all times!

Today was Steve's second day on his new fantastic job in Harrisburg.  He is now an Attorney Examiner for the Labor Relations Board, judging hearings dealing with labor issues throughout the state.  While the commute is a challenge, it is a terrific opportunity and work that he really enjoys!

While I often view Summertime as an opportunity to accomplish projects that I don't get a chance to do during the school year (headboard...bedroom painting....more to come!), I know that I need to be careful to not over-schedule this precious time with the boys.  I feel defined by the need to be constantly on the go, to multitask, to be highly productive, and part of me wants to break out of that mindset, if only for 2 months, to just forget the clock and the to-do list on some days, and simply be in the moment with my family.