this is what it looks like

when you have left your aunt and cousin in the baby pool and decided to just jump into the big pool all by yourself, with no grown up, not even an older sister in the pool. If you are Gabe, you would have a hard time understanding why that is not a good idea, because, as he puts it "but mom, I can totally swim."
Good argument, actually, but I won't tell him I think so. For his crime, he had to sit out for a few minutes. I would have liked to keep him in exile a little longer, but the wind was so chilly, I thought it would be heartless.

summer's here

So, we had a picture perfect day on Sunday and I have no pictures to prove it. We had a nice breakfast of pancakes with strawberries, maple sausage, coffee and orange juice. My kids said it was weird having pancakes for breakfast-I guess it's been a while since we had breakfast for breakfast. We usually do breakfast for dinner around here because my idea of a good breakfast is a cup of coffee.
We took the kids up to the school playground and "practiced" softball with all of them for a while. Gabe got too hot, so he and I came home and packed some snacks for the pool. We hit the pool around 3 and stayed till 7-stopped at the store on the way home and then had dinner around 8:30. It was 10pm by the time we got the kids into bed and they were all tired and smelled of sunscreen and chorine-probably my favorite smell in the whole world.
It was a day of simple pleasure, just being together with no agenda and nowhere to be.

masterpiece

Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? Either way, this portrait of Cecilia took my breath away. Cecilia takes art classes at a local studio in the Fall. It is a great place to be creative, an old house by a pond, with a little stream and a koi pond right inside. So, the daughter of Cecilia's teacher is very talented and created this portrait of her last year and we finally got to see it today.
The portrait is indescribably beautiful. It totally captured her personality. I was pretty much in tears when I saw it yesterday and that took me by surprise. The artist is using it next year to apply for college and then I am hoping we can purchase it! I need to have this portrait.