Catch-ups from this week

Before I get to the pictures for this week, the kids' hearing checks yesterday went as follows...David was stable again, and Abigail had some significant loss in her left ear. We had a treat after checks because we ate dinner with RaDora. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken my camera with me (I usually just take it whenever I leave the house these days, but...). We ate outside, which afforded the grownups pleasant conversation while the kids ran around and burned off steam...Abigail filled her hair with the tiny flowers from a nearby tree, which would have made a great picture if I'd had my camera...sigh... Well anyway, Abigail and I are still battling colds, but other than that we are all doing alright. On to news from around here: A couple of weeks ago, our lawnmower started acting up. We have been debating how to deal with it and finally decided to call the lawnmower repair shop a mile down the road from us. They came and picked up the old beast today. We are hoping that it comes back to us next week ready to roll and with only a small bill. :) This past Saturday, in the midst of vacuuming, the vacuum died. We've been nursing it for the last year or so, but this time it died in a "carry it straight to the trash can" sort of way. Below is my new vacuum...and I love it!!! (My mom insightfully pointed out that a bride should get a ten year anniversary shower just like she gets a wedding shower...when you hit the ten year mark of marriage/using your wedding gifts, a bunch of your stuff starts to fall apart!)We now have 24 school days done. The kids are just flying right along and we're all still enjoying it. Below is a picture of them working on a project at our school table (aka the kitchen table!).

The kids are also continuing to do great with their piano lessons. They do very well with practicing (most of the time, anyway) and below is a picture of David finally starting to conquer his difficulty with keeping his fingers rounded -- hooray! Seeing them learn has even reinspired me and I have been plunking away at one of my old lesson books, trying to re-limber my fingers (I can't believe how stiff and out of practice they are!).

Guess that catches us up for now...