The Last Days of Summer

                                                       

                                                            Dear Family and Friends,

Fun in the sun!

Summer is winding down. The last of the summer people will head home after this holiday weekend, and we will have our quiet little borough back. It's been a good summer, and we have enjoyed a lot of time in the sand and by the water. We have also been enjoying our new housing. It's really feeling like home now that we have been here for a couple of months. I was afraid I might not make my August post. Clara came down with a bad cold on Tuesday and now all three of us are sick. But, I am having a surge of energy so I will take advantage of it to do a quick August review before we head into the month of September.

Our cat Lucy has made herself right at home!

We said goodbye to my parents at the beginning of August after Joey returned home from his work in England. Having my parents here while he was gone was a huge help and Clara enjoyed her time with them. A couple of days after my parents returned home Joey's parents arrived for a two week visit. It was also a great visit. Clara is lucky to have two sets of grandparents who love her so much.

Clara loves to swing!

Joey and I stayed busy during the month of August playing weddings and teaching summer students. I was able to work with several students whose parents own summer homes in Stonington as well as continue with some of my year round students. Calvary Music School began its fall semester this past Monday, so Joey and I are back into full teaching mode with our students. I am happy to say that I am up to 9 students now. I have recently recruited several advanced high school students and am looking forward to working with them along with my beginning students and adult students. Joey also has some new students this year and is enjoying teaching both piano and organ. We are happy that our studios are growing and are looking forward to a rewarding fall semester. Joey's work as Director of Music at Calvary Church will pick up during the next several weeks as the adult and children's choirs and handbell choir begin their weekly rehearsals.    

Clara is doing really well other than suffering with her current nasty cold. She is extremely active and loves to be outside. We have an infant swing that we hook to the playground in our backyard that she really enjoys. In the morning she will run to the screen door and point to the swing asking to go out. She has a really healthy appetite and, to our amazement, loves vegetables. (Her favorite is broccoli!) We have to watch her like crazy because she wants to climb up on all of our chairs and stand on them. She has a light-up stuffed glow worm which plays music that she is crazy about and insists on sleeping with. She still takes a nice afternoon nap most days and we hope that will continue for a while. I have posted some pictures of Clara's room at the bottom of this blog. Her room is my favorite in the house and we spend a lot of time in it reading books and playing with toys. I still need to take some pictures of the rest of the inside of the house but for now pictures of Clara's room will have to suffice.

A close friend recently called to tell us to enter Clara in a competition the Gerber Baby company is doing on Facebook. Apparently you can win a college scholarship for your child if he or she gets the most votes. There is also a grand prize scholarship winner selected by judges based on your child's photo. Anyway, after contemplating the cost of college these days, we decided to enter Clara. We are not holding our breath, but if you are interested in voting for her you can look her up at the following link. Voting begins September 4th. I think you have to have a Facebook account in order to vote.

https://www.facebook.com/Gerber?sk=app_309623475794647&app_data=

We hope you have enjoyed a fun summer. Now begins our favorite time of the year. I always seem to get "Fall Fever" when the weather starts to cool and the leaves begin to change. We already have some fun and exciting things planned this fall. Till next month...

Erin, Joey and Clara