Made It

Can't believe a whole week has gone by since I last posted. It didn't hit me until the time rolled around again today for ballet class. Yes, we survived a week of waiting and finally made it to class, which I think met everyone's expectations. Better yet, we found out that the ballet teacher also teaches piano, and Lanie was wanting piano lessons. She teaches at the student's house, which I guess is great because I don't have to drive to yet one more lesson.

But does this mean that I have to clean my house in preparation for the lesson????? 'Cause if that's the case, the lessons will be short lived.

We spent the last few days in Tokyo, celebrating Lanie's 9th birthday. Pics have been shared on FB, so I won't put them all up here, except for a few of my favorites.

I think my three "middlers" look very sweet in this one:

This one is one of my favorites because it shows that wonderful big brother - little sister thing they've got going (more details below):
The Tokyo tower (model after the Eiffel Tower) was Abby's absolute favorite thing in the whole trip. And I think her expression in this next picture says it all. It's interesting because the rest of us have traveled so extensively that it's quite hard to impress us - we've seen it all by now. It is neat to see things through Abby's eyes - everything seems so exciting when it's the first time you've done it.
OK, this last one is not from the Tokyo trip, it's from the birthday party after we got back. But it's just so cute, I couldn't resist!!

We had a fantastic time in Tokyo, but it hit me how much squabbling is going out lately. TWO girls to pick on is way too much temptation for a teenage brother - and he is relentless. Abby is definitely getting a taste of what it is to be a younger sister. And I am having many fond (really) memories of my big brother. And James would much rather tease Abby than Lanie, because Lanie actually enjoys it and just begs for more, while Abby responds with that high pitch WHINE that mothers everywhere LOVE. It is very true to her lil' princess personality.

So to top off the stress level around here, we got back and I decided that it is time to say bye-bye to diapers. We did so ceremoniously this morning, and had one succesful errand running outing with NO accidents. At home, however, it was a different story. Although he did stay dry through an entire Barney video, and then flipped out the second it was over and said "I have to go potty RIGHT now!!!" Think we'll do a pull-up for KinderMusic tomorrow.