recent things

We are preparing for school to start, and it feels like summer is on borrowed time. I love fall, but we have a lot of changes coming this year so it will be a litlte disappointing for summer to end. The weather has been amazing for more than a week now. Sunny, cool, and breezy- not like August at all. 

On Sunday we decided to try out a bike/pedestrian trail with the kids and their bikes. A portion of the Upper Charles River trail is near us, and I can't believe we've never been before. It is beautiful! A really nice, wide trail with pretty views and spots to stop. The parking area we used has picnic tables by a lake. We all really enjoyed it, and it was great practice for Celia on her bike. She's really getting good at it now (the training wheels are still on). Henry refuses to pedal his tricycle, even though he's completely capable. He's so ridiculous sometimes. 

There was a swan in the lake. 

This weekend I also took Celia to get dance shoes and clothes. She starts at a new dance school in a couple weeks. I have to say, she is adorable in her dance clothes, and she is looking so much taller and more grown up these days. She had set up the stuffed animals to be her audience. 

In the last couple days, Henry has suddenly decided he wants to use the potty! I am shocked. He has had absolutely no interest, and we were not going to push it because he can be quite strong willed and there was no way we were going to make potty training into a battle. So I figured we would just wait until he was three, unless he showed an interest. He suddenly wants to wear pull-ups, and has been peeing in the potty several times each day! I'm still not going to try and completely train him yet. We'll see if he remains interested, and then I'll train him in underwear. I still don't want it to become a power struggle. I must say, though, that Henry suddenly seems a little more mature in the last week along with his interest in using the potty. Maybe he is changing. 

We're getting ready for kindergarten to start next week! I still have to get some things on Celia's supply list. I'm a little concerned with the amount of harsh cleaning stuff and antibacterial products on that list... But maybe I can find some less toxic stuff to send for Celia. Celia is both excited and nervous for school to start. I know she will like school and will do fine, but of course we will all be nervous wrecks at first. I can't believe she's going to be gone five days a week, and that I also have to pack lunches and backpacks five days a week. Also, I was planning to decrease my hours in order to drop off and pick up Celia at school. The decrease would also allow me a bit of time at home to go grocery shopping, run, go to appointments, or volunteer in Pita's classroom a couple days a week before picking up the kids. But now it looks like we can't do that financially, so I'm going to be working more hours than I anticipated. So that kind of sucks. I fully expect that we'll either win the lottery, or the budget fairy will come and cut household costs in half within the next couple of weeks. 

What else? I never had much interest in engineering, but having a little boy who likes cars and ramps has changed that. He has no daycare this week, so he's home every day and I have a feeling there will be many ramps involved. 

I got a new library book today.

And that's about all I have time for. Celia's riding her bike and Henry needs to be woken from his nap. We have a busy week ahead, but I'd like to get back to writing regularly now that summer is ending.