Dear Friends and Family,

Wishing everyone a Happy Father's day out there. Jeremy didn't have meetings till 8 this morning so we got to enjoy breakfast together making omelets and cinnamon rolls. Our kids all uniformly agreed that store bought, heat and serve cinnamon rolls are much better than mine - as Spencer says "they don't try to be healthy". Robyn is coming down off her sugar induced high and is screaming upstairs that she doesn't need to nap - in between yawns. Jeremy is reading the Host enjoying an afternoon of relaxation, something he doesn't get enough of. He says he understands why so many women like the book, its all about emotion instead of actual events, but says its an interesting read. Don't think he will be staying up till midnight to finish it bawling like I was.

Last Sunday we had Jeremy 's family over for our monthly dinner. We fired up the fire pit and were wary of kids waving long burning marshmallows on a stick around. We're enjoying eating outside whenever possible. We can't fit Taylor's eating chair or Lauri's wheelchair through our current door which is a bit of a pain. We're trying to see if switching to a french door would be too costly or too much of a pain to make it more accommodating. Lauri hurt her ankle this last week and can barely walk right now. She swears its not broken but its not getting any better.

On Monday we spent the day at the pool. We had lessons at 12 and then stayed to eat lunch and play in the water till 4:30. I sprayed the kids but besides my face and shoulders forgot to do myself. I didn't think it was that bad until I got home that night. My back wasn't red it was this purple color. So I have spent the week lying on my stomach, crying at the thought of putting on a bra, and spraying aloe vera on. Now I'm to the point of peeling and kids think it creepy in a cool way to peel off large strips. I can't remember burning like that for a long time. Its one of those things where you kick yourself because the pain was preventable. Kids had a great time swimming. Spencer convinced Robyn to ride on the slides with me and she loved it, just went "wee" all the way down.

Kids had swimming lessons all week again. Neither passed as both need to work on being able to swim the laps without stopping to tread water or float. But they are getting there and really enjoyed their lessons - the fact that our neighbors took it at the same time added to the enjoyment.

Spencer had piano camp this week. That is where he goes for an hour for 4 days in a row with a group of 4 other kids and they learn about composers, music theory, play music games etc. Then the teacher doesn't have any other lessons for the month unless you need make-up lessons. Spencer had one make-up lesson this week as well for when he will be in CA. He really enjoys piano and was excited to start learning all the scale warm-ups this week. He thinks he is so cool when he can listen to a classical song on the radio and name the composer. Don't be too impressed - there are 4 composers he recognizes who just happen to be on the air often.

Taylor started summer school this week where he went for 4 days for the morning to a local elementary school. He really enjoys it as his teacher from this past year is also his teacher for the summer. The best part is that they take him for walks which he really needs in the summer time. We went to a park this week and Meredith and he just walked laps around the shade trees until he laid down in the sun with a big smile on his face tired out.

Allison had another birthday party this week. We have a ton of girls on our block Allison's age so the parties seem to come frequently. She thinks its great! Allison had her big dance recital on Saturday so she had 2 rehersals during the week and was talking about it a lot. She went Saturday to the beauty college by us and they dolled her all up, curling her hair, doing make-up, painting her nails. (Spencer had a haircut at the same time. He went off by himself by his choice and when he came back I had to look closely to see if they cut any off! He wants to have long hair like Zach and Cody on a Disney show. But at least now it looks like he is doing it on purpose.) Anyway we picked up Lauri and all went to cheer on Allison. She looked very cute and did a great job. I will have Jeremy post his picts and videos. They did the dance version of the wizard of oz. It was a big production and really well done. Robyn was entranced with all the dancers.

Friday night Allison organized a girl party at our house. She invited the neighbors 3 girls and their chiwowa(?) over for pizza and a movie. All the girls had a great time and although they trashed the place they cleaned up when they were done. Jeremy and Spencer went out for hamburgers at 'their' place and to see Prince Caspian. Came home stuffed and happy.

I haven't made much progress on house stuff - forgot what summer is like. I did get the paint picked up yesterday with Robyn. She considers herself a big girl now and loves to help me shop. 'Help' is a debatable word but she is happy and proud of herself when she runs errands with me. She is talking much better all of a sudden and its strange to hear whole sentences coming out of this little mouth. This week our neighbors take off for 3 weeks and then they will be moving when they get back. Robyn loves their little girl Mia and Spencer considers their boy his best friend. Its going to be tough. For now Robyn runs over there whenever she can.

Not much other news. I keep plugging away at projects and eventually I am sure they will get done. I bit into a cookie this week and one of my back molars broke off. I go in on Wednesday to get it fixed. It was the tooth around an old filling. I am hoping that it doesn't end up being a crown. I swear I would have brushed more as a kid, if only I knew.

Wishing all the father's out there a Happy Father's Day. I know how grateful I am for my own father. Love, Heather