Once upon a time I thought I'd update the blog at least weekly. Perhaps that was too lofty a goal? Because I'm slacking, Wow.

We are in full school year mania herein the Sepersky family. School, dance, gymnastics, church meetings, extra school activities (for Daddy AND girls) zoo school, church school (CCD) plus regular employment for Mom and Dad. It's a bit crazy. But honestly I do love it. It is good to be busy and having fun!

And of course, with all the scheduled activities come the unscheduled things - like a GI flu that hung around for a week. And a major school project that was suddenly due in 10 days.

Yes it's crazy - but a good crazy, a fun crazy. Let's just recap in pictures.

Maggie's first night of dance class. It's very low key - through the rec department. Honestly she's a little old for this class, but she overlapped with 2 classes, and Mondays work better in our schedule. She doesn't even realize it because she's at the same skill level as all the other girls - which is to say, unskilled. She has the energy and desire to dance - who cares if she has no grace other than her middle name! (Katherine is not in dance, because she chose gymnastics. But she enjoys dressing up for dance class with Maggie.)

I have no idea why Abby is wearing sunglasses. Does it even matter?

My girls in pink, ready to go to school for Maggie's presentation. Maggie's unexpected school project was to create a timeline of her life (all 7 years) and give a presentation to her class. She had to answer, and then read from, 2 pages of questions about herself and her family, and then read her favorite book to the class, and explain her display board of time line pictures. She took it a step further by creating a computer display as well. Chris wasn't able to be at her presentation, so he helped her to create a powerpoint-type display of pictures. Initially her scheduled date was May, so we felt we had plenty of time to put it all together. Then we were asked to switch and ended up with about 10 days to get it done. But it went very well and we had fun doing it as a family.
On Saturday we had nothing scheduled. So, despite the chilly temperatures, we went out to an Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Farm for the morning. It was awesome!


We took a hayride to the orchard, and the girls had a blast taste testing different apples and then climbing in the trees to choose the best ones.
Then, the hayride took you out to the pumpkin patch to choose your pumpkin. Abby wasn't so thrilled by this point, but we quickly chose a pumpkin and got back the hay wagon to ride back to the car.

It was a perfect family activity for a beautiful fall day.
On Monday, Katherine and I took a field trip with preschool to a farm. She got to play with so many animals I lost track. She really enjoyed milking a cow and chasing the chickens. I appreciated the abundance of hand sanitizer stations! We took another hay ride and picked out another pumpkin. And we came home completely exhausted!
We're looking forward to finishing this crazy week with a trip to Gram and PopPop's on Sunday to see our favorite Iowa cousins!

I started writing this post 6 days ago. It's completely outdated. But that's the way it goes sometimes!

What does it say about me that it took Maggie pointing out my 3 week blog hiatus to kick me in the butt and post an update today. She would sit at the computer all day if we let her I think. Games, movies, pictures of cousins are all good. But now that her class has a webpage, she stalks it and watches the same “back to school” video over and over.

3 weeks ago it was still summer vacation. That’s hard to believe now that we’re so busy with school schedules and activities. “Back then”we were still on vacation, and making the most of it. We took the girls down to Milwaukee’s lakefront and took a family bike ride. In a surrey. It was hilarious! And though my knee has given me a little bit of trouble since then, it was totally worth it! We had so much fun. I’d definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance!

Our final events of the summer were meeting Maggie’s teacher, Mrs Moker, at “Back to School night” and then having a Mommy and girls celebration of the last day of summer. Chris was already back, due to teacher inservice, but I told the girls we’d do something special. That turned into baking a cake and having McDonalds for lunch. Pretty special indeed!

The first day of school was damp and grey, but nothing was going to spoil the day in this house. Everyone was up and ready to go with plenty of time to spare. While Maggie was off to her first day of 1^st grade, Katherine and Abby and I went to Katherine’s preschool to “meet the teacher.” Of course, this is our third year with the same teachers, so it was more fun to meet the friends, old and new, who are in her class.

Abby wasn't too impressed with the back to school hoopla!
This was our first a attempt at walking to the bus stop with Maggie. Most days we drive o the end of the block so we can speed over to preschool or gymnastics. But we enjoy walking. Or we did, until Abby decided that SHE likes to walk, and push a stroller. Sadly, she doesn't have the same ability to walk a straight line (thank goodness for quiet, cul de sac street) or the same efficiency as we do.
I couldn't find the girls, when I thought they were upstairs. Turns out they decided to enjoy the beautiful weather with some books on the porch!
First day of gymnastics.
First full day of APL school. She was great - no tears like last year. She LOVES school!

This morning at breakfast, Katherine held out two closed fists and asked me where her raisin was. "In your mouth" I replied with a smile.

She was indignant and asked "How did you know that?"

Of course, my answer was, "Mommies know everything."

She paused for just a second before announcing, "Well, I'm smarter than you are! I can do rhymes! Cat-Hat, Chair-Bear, House-Mouse. I'm the smartest in the whole entire world!"

And so started another day in our life!

We've all been busy, but Abby has been the busiest. She's in constant motion - either practicing her walking, or scooting because it's faster. She has 2 hand signals associated with walking. Holding one hand up means "Please extend your finger so that I can hold it for balance while I walk." If she holds both hands in the air it means, "I'm tired of this walking game and I want you to pick me up!" She also found time in the last 2 weeks to develop an ear infection. She's halfway through her meds now and clearly feeling better. I'm just glad that the high fevers are gone - there is nothing more pathetic than a feverish child! She has also decided that sitting on the bottom step of the stairs is the perfect place to be. You'll find her there, just sitting, or perhaps clapping her hands or singing to herself. Her current favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

You heard it here first: Katherine is going to be very sad when Maggie goes back to school. Even though she'll have her own preschool 3 days a week, I predict this year will be even harder for Katherine. She and Maggie are constantly playing together. They create elaborate story lines with "PetShop" in their room, they play never ending games of "house" in the basement, they create parking lots and houses, and daycares and school outside. I love to watch them play, and I try to sneak close enough to eavesdrop a little too. I love that they get along so well (except when they don't) and I hope that I will make a suitable play-partner for Katherine when Maggie is in school all day!

Last weekend we took a quick "mini-vacation" to Evanston. Because we live close enough, we rarely spend the night at Gram and PopPop's. But the girls ask every time we visit if this will be the time they get to have a sleepover at Gram's. This trip, it was finally Sleepover Time! They packed their suitcases 3 times before we left. The first 2 times they tried to pack toys and books, without any essentials. The third time, they actually got it right - and without any help from me! They remembered clothes, toothbrushes, and even a sweatshirt, just in case it might get cold.

Maggie has been very interested in the idea of a Subway Train, so we planned our first trip underground. They girls had ridden on the 'EL' with their cousins Edward and Daniel before, but never downtown, in the subway, UNDERGROUND! It was quite a thrill. Once downtown, we walked over to the John Hancock building to meet my friend Tracy. She works on the 33rd floor, and invited us to her office to watch the Chicago Air and Water Show. It was awesome. We had great seats, great company, no crowds, and plenty of air conditioning! And Maggie even got to pose with a real Gatorade National Player of the Year Trophy; probably her only chance to get so close to it: )

On Monday it was off to The Museum of Science and Industry. We had so much fun. I hadn't been there in probably 20 years, so it was essentially new to all of us. The girls thought the kid area was awesome - with water tables and balls and puzzles, dollhouse, pulleys, gears. They might have stayed there all day! We managed to get them into a few other exhibits and they found there was plenty of cool stuff at this museum. They're already asking how soon we can go back. Maggie studied a museum map on the way home, reading about everything we missed!

We stopped to have lunch with Aunt Nora after the museum. Dad got to the restaurant first and found there were 2 parking spots right out in front. Of course he did what any loving father would do: he pulled in and then kept his car moving forward and back, saving the spot for our car. What a guy! Inside the restaurant Abby kept us entertained by shaking and dancing to the music and enjoying a 'Blue Moon' soaked orange slice from her Aunt Nora.

After lunch we had a brief visit to a "City Park" (my girls think anything with "city" in its name is awesome) before heading home. We had such a fun time!

Last night we had Maggie's last softball game. Although it was tedious at times, and the mosquitoes were vicious, it was a fun experience for her. She certainly improved over the 8 weeks, and has mentioned that she'd like to try it again next summer. Hmmm, we'll have to see about that!

And finally, let's take a moment to celebrate that it was cool enough yesterday to wear Jeans. Full length blue jeans! It was delightful! Of course, Abby is full of Attitude in this picture, due to her dislike of her hair accessory. But still, JEANS! And wearing jeans meant half as many bites at the game last night! The mosquitoes swarmed our heads, not our legs. Fantastic!

It's a well documented fact that Chris is awesome. In case you need further proof, Yesterday, while I was at work, he packed a picnic, and took all 3 girls downtown to the Milwaukee Art Museum. They toured the museum, had their picnic, and then jumped on the free trolley to ride around downtown Milwaukee. Then, they played outside at the museum, looking at the fountains, before packing up the car and heading home.
This morning, he and the girls used the pictures that he took and created a podcast about their adventure.

I had a little free time at work last night, so I started composing a blog post. It's harder than you might think to capture the moments of almost 2 weeks. By the time I left work I had almost 3 pages of thoughts. So it's probably a good thing that when I emailed it to myself to publish on my home computer, it got lost in translation and is useless now. It was way too long anyway!
We managed to attend German Fest on Milwaukee's lakefront last weekend. Maggie and Katherine were most excited about the massive playground. Abby decided that Daddy's empty beer cup was her favorite. Chris and I enjoyed a cool breeze and warm sun.
Katherine started a bedtime stalling technique a few weeks ago. She asks, every night for "Cold water, cold ice, in a sippy cup, the purple one, with the flowers." And every night I tell her the same thing, if she's still awake I'll bring it to her when I go to bed. Only once has she still been awake. On Saturday, she asked for a cracker with her drink. When I gave her my standard response, she asked if I was going to stay up "Really late, or not too late?" I told not too late because I was tired. When I went upstairs about 1 1/2 hours later, I found this.

It was Chris who had to point out the obvious, "She was waiting for her cracker."

Sure enough, when I asked her in the morning, she said "I was looking down the stairs for you, and then I got a little sleepy, so I got my 'Green B' to snuggle and I guess I just fell asleep!"

Abby is still not walking independently. But she is a master at getting where she wants to go. And she's finding more and more ways to cause trouble. Today she managed to pull the kleenex box close enough to do this damage.

Last week I was declared "Best Mom Ever!" Because after rest time the girls found that I had inflated the shark pool. I wasn't sure what Abby would think, but she was thrilled and didn't cry at all until I pulled her out after an hour. Maggie and Katherine were very patient and careful of Abby. But they were also very excited to have Abby out of their way so they could turn on the spraying spout and jump and splash without worry of bothering her.


We had quite the adventure almost 2 weeks ago on a simple day trip to Appleton. I had planned a day of fun with friends, visiting a college roommate and her girls. But our outdoor plans were thwarted by a persistent, heavy rain. Just as we were leaving their house, the rain subsided and I was thankful that I might make it home without the wipers on full speed as they had been on the drive up.

HA! About 45 minutes into our 2 hour trip, Chris called to ask if I was in Dodge County? I wasn't, but would be within about 10 minutes, why? Oh nothing except a Tornado warning with confirmed funnel sightings. Fabulous.

The next hour was the most terrifying driving experience ever. Torrential rains, and wind. The radio telling me where the latest funnel was. No place to safely get off the road as many exits were flooded, and we were in the middle of nowhere, no major truck stops to seeks shelter in. All the while, the questions were coming rapid-fire from the back seat "Is this a tornado Mommy? Is this a flood? Are the booms going to get us? Are we in a tornado like Dorothy?" I tried to be calm, but not truthful. We were indeed in the path of a funnel, but I told them it was just rain. As I reached the point of total panic, I saw a sign for West Bend.

That was the answer I'd needed. We pulled off the highway and made our way slowly to Chris' grandparents' house. They were delighted to see us and insisted that we stay for Tombstone Pizza and ice cream. It was a wonderful visit and after dinner, the sun was out and I started to pack the girls to continue our journey home.

And then Chris called. "You're watching this on TV, right?"

"No, we're packing up to come home."

"You're not coming home. Not now, and probably not tonight."

As it turns out, the storm that caused me so much trouble, had settled over Milwaukee County where it dropped almost 8 inches of rain in 3 hours. Both of the highways that could have taken me home were shout down because of flooding, and the radar screen showed more and more rain coming from Iowa. Chris was right, I was stuck in West Bend for the night.

Luckily, Rita was now home, so we went over to camp out at her house. She even had a stash of brand new jammies for the girls, so at least they didn't have to sleep in their clothes! By morning, the roads were dry and we were able to finish our trip home without incident. Our house was dry through the storm, Thank goodness! The rain gauge in our yard was overflowing, and it's height is 6 inches. CRAZY!

This week we finish swim lessons. In 2 weeks Maggie will be done with softball and Chris will finish his last class of the summer. Just in time for him to go back to school for inservice in 3 weeks. I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. I'm not ready for it to be over! Good thing we have many exciting adventures planned before it is! I wonder if I can keep up with blogging about our fun times? HA! We'll see!

Our summer of fun continues. Last week, we bought Abby this booster seat. We're a little tired of the big high chair, and the booster also works well for travel, so I was happy to buy it last week. Aside from it's trial at home, it was perfect at a family gathering this weekend. Soon enough it will be in full use at home and we'll get rid of the high chair. But we have to buy a 5th Kitchen chair first. Our table only came with 4......long before we ever dreamed we'd have 5 in the family!

We were given tickets to a Brewer's game last week, so off we went to Miller Park on Thursday.
It was an afternoon game, so we packed a picnic lunch and "tailgated" in the parking lot before the game started. The girls got a kick out of watching other people with grills, tents, fancy food, special chairs, and even lawn games. We kept it pretty simple, but it was still fun to have a "car picnic."


We weren't really sure how long the game would be interesting for the members of our family. I'm not sure Abby made it through the first inning. She had to sit on our laps and found that too confining. Eventually she ended up on the ground at the end of our aisle, using empty drink bottles for toys. I had to just accept that she was going to be filthy dirty and gross in order to make her happy.

Katherine made it until the third inning before she asked if it was over. She was easily distracted by snacks and drinks. She kept waiting for Bernie Brewer to slide down his big yellow slide. It's all she wanted to see. Sadly there were no home runs, so she left disappointed.

Maggie actually did really well. Other than being hot (which we all were) she was very interested in the game, and willing to listen to me try to explain everything I could. She was sad when we had to leave int he 6th inning. She might end up going to another game this year, without her sisters?

I hadn't been to a baseball game in many years. I was flooded with memories of watching Cub games with my family. And, as I explained to Maggie what I could about the game, I couldn't help but hear the tune "Seeing My Father In Me" in my head. I don't remember Dad ever sitting me down and saying "this is this, and that is that" about baseball. But it was such a part of growing up, that, it turns out, I really learned a lot from him. And being at the game just brought it all back to me. I even figured out that a 'Balk' had been called when no one around me could understand what had happened. We all had a great day at the ballpark.
After the game, we went to a local appliance store to choose a new dishwasher. Our existing dishwasher was original to the house, making it at least 25 years old. We had it repaired once and the repairman referred to it as "Old Bessie." Thursday morning it stopped working. I needed a new one ASAP, so I called to find out who could get it to me the fastest. And we went to that store. BAD CHOICE! (more on that story later)

Moving on to Sunday, our annual family gathering in Salem, WI. This year, our gathering was extra special as we were celebrating Aunt Peggy's 50th Jubilee as a BVM. It wouldn't be a Geraghty Gathering without some music. Mom and Dad did the bulk of the work creating some special tunes for Aunt Peggy, and we all had fun singing to her; teasing a little, but caring a lot.


It was fun, as always, to be together with family. But especially to recognize the milestone with Aunt Peggy. (I have some memories from her 25th, which really just makes me feel old!) I wanted to teach Maggie and Katherine one of the songs, but first had to explain why we would be singing. When I told them that we were celebrating 50 years, they both got big eyes and Maggie said "Wow, that's even older than you are Mommy!" Thanks for that, Maggie!

I don't have any pictures for this story, but it's too funny to leave out. Yesterday afternoon, we were going to go out for dinner and to a members' event at the Zoo. Knowing that Chris would be home soon and ready to go, I went and found the girls upstairs playing some elaborate game of School or House or Store. It was a mess whatever it was. Knowing that they would whine if I simply said it was time to cleanup, I explained that Daddy would be home in 10 minutes, and told them that they should work "as a team" to clean up the room before Daddy got home. Then I went to Abby's room to get her ready.

I could hear Maggie and Katherine working, and was immediately struck with the fact that they hadn't whined. and it sounded like they were really cleaning up. As I listened, I laughed so hard I cried. They have clearly been watching too many musicals or something, because they took their job of cleaning up and starting with a cheer, "Team Work, We can do it" they then sang their way through cleaning up their room. It was truly one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. But, they got the room cleaned. And there was no whining! Perhaps living in a musical isn't so bad?

And finally, let's talk dishwashers. Meet 'Old Bessie.'
After much drama yesterday, when the new one was not delivered because the sales guy neglected to actually schedule the delivery when he made the sale as he told us he had done, we had a brand new, shiny, happy dishwasher installed today.
(She came from a different store, as I was not going to wait until Friday for store #1 to get its act together and make things right.) I think maybe we need a name for this one. Any suggestions?

Life goes on, even after a week-long vacation. We jumped right back into a busy week, with Chris in class each day 8-4 and me back to work as well. I ended up with pink eye early in the week, but a quick trip to urgent care and a bottle of drops later, All was well.

Also this week Maggie finally got to play in her first softball game. (She missed the actual first game when we were at Disney World.) Wednesday evening was cool but sunny and the excitement level was high. Maggie was up to bat first. (In this league, the coach pitches, each player swings until they get a hit, and each player on the team bats before switching to the defense.) Of course, once she made contact, she forgot what to do. She listened to the crowd urging her to run, but took her bat with her. When she heard the shouts of "Drop the bat" she ran back to leave it with the catcher. She ended up getting tagged out at first base, but hey, she had gotten a hit - so what did it matter?

She was then assigned to play second base. She paid close attention and didn't miss a single play. And she certainly wasn't more interested in chatting with Lauren than playing ball! Ha! If you believe that, well, you'll believe anything! Many balls went past her. And even when she got the ball, she wasn't sure what to do with it. After a few mishaps, she did manage to tag at least one player out - Success!

Chris took a turn as the third base coach. Here he is giving her wise base-running advice: When the bat hits the ball, you run for home!

She loved it. Everything about playing. She was still grinning when she climbed into bed. And she can't wait to do it again next week. (This week is an off week due to the holiday.)

Which holiday? Why, 4th of July of course! It was a weekend of Red, White, and Blue. We packed up and found shade along the local parade route on Sunday. The girls had fun for the first 20 minutes or so, but this parade was VERY slow, with huge gaps between entries, and that did not help the short attention spans of 4 and 6 year olds. Especially 4 and 6 year olds smart enough to figure out that the festival rides had started.
So after about an hour of parade waiting/viewing, we went over to the rides. Both girls wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, and since Chris refuses to ride, I bravely went with the girls. (hint, I LOVE Ferris Wheels!) They each got to choose one other ride, but we were cheap and limited ride spending to $20. And that is all you get for $20 these days. 5 total rides.

Abby doesn't often wear bibs anymore - she tends to yank them off the first chance she gets. But I did manage to keep her in this patriotic gem long enough for a picture. So funny!

Later that night, Chris took the big girls to see fireworks. This was his first year going to the Franklin Fireworks, as I have taken the girls for the last 2 years. We have a perfect viewing spot not too far from our house which isn't too crowded. Maggie promised she'd show Daddy just where to go. Unfortunately, we didn't check the times,and he ended up ready to watch a full 40 minutes before they were scheduled to start. That left him with time to snap this picture, and time to swat about 4 million mosquitoes.

Even though they bathed in bug spray before they left, the bugs were apparently unafraid of a little DEET. Then, to make things more interesting, once the show started, the wind decided to blow all of the smoke and ash and debris from the fireworks to exactly where they were sitting. They were pelted with little bits of fireworks throughout the whole show. Chris has already told me that it's OK if I want to take the girls next year!

Yesterday we made some tailgating food for friends who were in town for the Brewers game. They came for lunch before the game and we had a great time chatting and catching up with them. Then Chris enforced mandatory naps for the girls and I went to work.

And now this week starts a new kind of crazy....swimming lessons. Of course if you have 3 kids you can't expect that all 3 will have lessons available at the same time right? Abby goes with Chris at 0800, Katherine at 0900 and Maggie at 0930. So Chris takes Abby and I take the big girls. Every day for the next 2 weeks. I saw a mom pull up to the school today and drop off 4 school aged kids and wave goodbye to them from the car. Someday, I will have that luxury!