Our favorite time of year!

Clara is 17 months old!!!

Dear Family and Friends,
It's no secret that Joey and I LOVE fall. We love the cool, windy weather and the beautiful fall colors, and we have always loved Halloween. I find I turn a bit sentimental this time of the year. Even though the leaves are dying and falling from their branches, and the weather is turning gray and cloudy, I somehow find so much beauty in it. Anyway, we try to make the most of fall every year. I think I mentioned our family "Fall Fun Days" in last year's fall blog. "Fall Fun Days" are a tradition Joey and I have maintained since we were married, and it's even more fun now that we can share them with Clara. 

We spent our first official "Fall Fun Day" visiting a local orchard. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed picking apples and choosing some pumpkins. Actually, Clara picked the apples and chose the pumpkins while daddy helped, and I took way too many pictures. Clara loved the tractor ride out to the apple orchard. It was a fun day.

                                   

We also recently visited the Mystic Aquarium. It is an amazing place and we have a family membership so we can go for free anytime we want. Clara loves the beluga whales and also enjoys running around the indoor section of the aquarium looking at the various fish tanks.  

Joey is back into busy church mode again. His chorister program really grew last year and he now has several rehearsals during the week for the kids. His choristers will join another group of choristers from Trinity on the Green, New Haven for an Evensong service this Sunday. Joey is trying something new this year by dividing the adult choirs into two choirs. He has added a new choir called Schola which is an auditioned choir. The choirs will alternate Sundays and the kids will join with the Schola choir to fill out the soprano section. Joey is also directing the hand bell choir. 

Joey is still serving as Artistic Director of Calvary Music School and maintains a piano/organ studio of 8 students through the music school as well as a private studio made up of 5 adult piano students and two high-school/college-age organ students. He is enjoying his teaching very much. Calvary Music School presented its first ever faculty recital last week. Joey and I performed on violin, piano and organ along with 6 other faculty members representing voice, piano, mandolin, cello, and trumpet. The music school is doing really well; this fall we have the highest student enrollments that the school has had. 

I am still serving on the board of directors of Calvary Music School. I am very happy to report that my violin studio continues to grow. A year ago I started with 3 students and I am now up to 11. I hope my studio will continue to get bigger. I've been getting a lot of calls and am trying my best to figure out a schedule that works for our family. So far one of us is always available to take care of Clara. I love teaching and I love my students. I think it's going to be a great year. I also continue to gig in the area. Last week Joey and I played a wedding one day and a funeral the next. In general we try to keep Saturdays open so that we have one day a week when neither of us has to work. It's good to be busy and back into a schedule.

Clara is now 17 months old and it seems her rate of development has suddenly sped up dramatically. She now has at least 10 words that she can pronounce very clearly. She tries very hard to pronounce new words. She can pronounce the first 5 letters of the alphabet and really likes trying to count. She is very sweet and always gives us hugs before she goes to bed at night. She no longer needs to be rocked to sleep. She loves to "help" whenever she can whether it's putting clothes in the dryer, picking tomatoes, vacuuming with her toy vacuum or stirring something in a pot. She is always curious and involved. She still loves to dance and will mimic my movements on the violin by moving her "bow arm" back and forth in the air as if she is playing. She also like to pluck the strings on my violin. Her hair is still extremely blond and curly. She has a very comical personality and loves to laugh and be silly. She still loves books and is sometimes happy to sit and "read" them on her own. She brings so much happiness to us and we feel so lucky to have her in our lives.

We are looking forward to some fun things next month. My good friend Megan and her 2 daughters ages 17 months and 3 years will be visiting us for a little less than a week. Megan is expecting her 3rd child in February! I met Megan when we roomed together at a music festival when we were in 9th grade, and we have been friends ever since. I am so excited that she is going to come visit us. It will be so much fun for Clara to get to play with her girls.

After Megan's visit my parents are flying up from MN. My mom and dad are giving me a very special gift for my birthday this year. They have rented a town home for all of us in Stowe, Vermont for 3 days. None of us has ever been to Vermont, but it is supposed to be absolutely beautiful in the fall. Joey and I are very excited about the trip.  My parents come up on a Thursday and then we will drive together to Vermont. It will be nice to get away for a while and hopefully we will get to see some incredible fall foliage. 

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who voted for Clara in the Gerber Baby Facebook competition. I really don't think anything will come of it, but it was a fun thing to do and we appreciate all of the support. The results will be posted on November 1st, but I believe the grand prize winner has already been contacted and, although many of our friends were nice enough to vote, I'm sure there is no way we had more votes than others who chose to go crazy promoting their child in the competition. The truth is, every child is special and beautiful and deserves a college scholarship. But, thank you again for your votes. It means a lot! 

We wish you all a beautiful fall. Stay tuned for our October post!

Joey, Erin and Clara

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

Summer in Stonington

Our feisty 15 month old!

Dear Family and Friends,
We hope you are having a wonderful summer so far. I find it hard to believe that August is just around the corner, but I guess time flies when you are happy and having fun.


Joey celebrated his 30th birthday on July 2nd. I don't think he was too excited about turning 30, but many people say their best years were in their 30's, so let's hope that turns out to be true. I cooked Joey a special birthday dinner...Yes, it's true... I cooked HIM a dinner! For those of you who know me well, I do not have much talent in the kitchen. Normally Joey takes care of meals. However, I persevered, and the dinner actually turned out pretty well. We finished it off with a delicious birthday cake baked for Joey by a friend from church. 

We had a fun and eventful 4th of July this year. Clara and I walked in the annual Stonington Borough parade behind bagpipers and war heroes. Actually, I walked and Clara rode in her stroller which was decorated very patriotically in red, white and blue. Clara wore her adorable patriotic dress. The parade ended at the town green with a reading of the Declaration of Independence. This year Joey decided to add something new to the borough festivities by offering a free, 30 minute program of patriotic music on the organ at Calvary Church. Joey played some Sousa marches among other things, and the church was nicely decorated. We weren't sure what the turn out would be like since the concert immediately followed the parade, but surprisingly we had a full house. There were so many people that the upstairs balcony was completely full and some people were forced to stand at the back of the church. The event turned out to be a huge success, and many people from the community attended. Joey's "Organ Fireworks" may turn out to be an annual 4th of July borough tradition!  

Clara turned 15 months old on July 20th. She is now in the 80th percentile for height, and the 60th percentile for weight for her age. She is incredibly active now. She is walking and running and absolutely loves to dance. Joey and I were recently at a mall walking past stores with Clara holding each of our hands. As we passed a store with loud rock music blaring out of the entrance, Clara dropped our hands and began to shake her little behind to the music. It was so cute and she caught the attention of several people around us. The most interesting thing about Clara's dancing, I think, is the fact that she changes her motions based on the type of music she hears. She can go from smooth, ballet type moves to stomping her feet, clapping and shaking her behind. I am so happy that she loves to dance. It's good for her body and good for her musical development. Clara also loves the beach. She can sit and play with sand for hours, and she really likes the water and waves as well. 

Shopping in the house for toys! (My way of teaching Clara to clean up! Haha!)

This past Friday Joey flew to England to accompany the Anglican Singers on their tour of the U.K. They are mostly staying in Bristol and are performing services at several churches in the area. Joey will also accompany a choir from the Hartford Cathedral at the end of the tour for several of their services. We were sorry to see him go, but he will only be gone until August 6th. It was so hard when he had to be in Europe for 5 weeks last summer for his concert tour. I'm thankful that this is a relatively short trip. Meanwhile, my parents are here visiting and helping me take care of Clara. Last week my aunt and uncle from Virginia came up to visit. Along with some close friends, we all celebrated my parents' 34th wedding anniversary. It's always great to have family here, and we appreciate their willingness to come see us.

People gathering in front of the church and our house after Joey's July 4th concert. 

We are finally settled into our new home "Calvary House". We really love the house. We are using most of our own furniture and have been able to decorate and personalize the house they way we want to. As you can see in the picture below, we are living steps away from church. People ask us sometimes if we feel a lack of privacy living right on church grounds. I have to say we really haven't had a problem with that at all. People know we are living in the house and are very respectful of our privacy. Also, the windows in the house are very well insulated. Sometimes there will be groups outside the front of the house or using the back yard, and we don't even realize they are out there because we can't hear them. And, during down times the house and its surroundings are so quiet and peaceful. We love to sit out on our back deck and look at the stars or watch sailboats go by on their way to Watch Hill. Clara loves her room. it's a darling room at the back of the house with views of the garden and the ocean. She also loves the backyard because she has her own private playground. Well, it actually belongs to the nursery school, but during the summer it feels as though it is all hers. We feel so lucky to be able to live in Calvary House and we so appreciate the people who helped to prepare and update the house for us. The amount of family time we have because Joey doesn't have to commute to work is priceless. I will have to post some interior pictures, but for now I have included some pictures of the back yard as well as a view of the front of the house seen above. 

View from the window of our eat-in kitchen

"Clara's" playground

Our tomato plants are doing well so far!

Well, that's the news for now. Have a wonderful summer and watch for another post in August! (My goal is to write one post per month. We'll see how I do.)

Be well!

Erin, Joey and Clara