My Water Girl

...in her new pool. It is her place of choice to be, period. She squeals to get in, and cries when it's time to come out!!

Happy Monkey

Boys and Goats

Afternoon on a Farm

Jake petting a pony named Ladybug at his first end of year school picnic, so solemnly!

Potty Training, Day 8

I hope this won't jinx it, but Abby seems to be largely potty trained! She's telling us when she has to go, and even though needs some reminding still, has had no accidents at all in the past few days. She doesn't seem to need the rewards most of the time either. We're still doing diapers for night time and naps, but about half the time she wakes up dry. Success!!

Potty Training, Day 1

We started out the day in Dora underwear, at Abby's request last night. It's just after 10 am and we've had one accident, and one success so far. She also has 3 stickers, one on each arm and one on her knee, as rewards for every time she sits on the potty, no matter what happens. I've recently brought out the big guns- a big sippy cup full of her favorite juice, and a huge can of lysol. We are all set!

Note also, the boys just left for their big Northeast Grandma tour! Grandmas-- they are on their way!!

Trip to NC

Mike, Jake and Abby came down at the end of last week and joined me in Durham right after my last class of the term. It was the first time we've all been there together, and it was wonderful to explore and hang out as a family in our soon-to-be new home locale!

One of the highlights of our trip was a quick morning visit I did with the kids to the Sarah P Duke Gardens. They were just beautiful! And free. Cannot wait to go back and see more. We went really early and by 10:45am it was already steamy so we went back to the car where Mike was waiting and started our 2 car trek back to VA.

The other highlight was taking Abby for her intake interview at her new Montessori school. They wanted to meet her, let her play with the works, and see how she did with me leaving the room. They normally don't let children in until they are 3, and she'll be 4 months shy of that, so they wanted to assess her readiness also.

She was so happy! She wanted to play with everything and didn't care one whit that I left the room. They said she was quite advanced for her age, and was welcome to come in September. I took her out to the playground, and she met some kids, tried a tricycle, buried half her body with sand, and cried when it was time to leave. My little girl is growing up! I think she's going to adore going to that school!!! Since Jake can enroll in his public school when we move, we're all set for schools!

8 am Stroll in Oxford

Am in Oxford, UK for the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Had a lovely dinner last night at one of the original Oxford dining halls. Am out strolling now enjoying watching a small european town come to life at 8 am. Tiny street cleaner trucks are sweeping, students are biking to class, and here in the covered market, fruits and veggies are being arranged and the grills are getting prepped for the lunch crowd. Found myself a satisfying hot breakfast and am off to walk around more before my meeting starts at 9.