Tie Them Up

Here are some loose odds and ends. Take a pocketful home with you when you leave.


I finally fixed Millie's china doll that my mom gave her for Christmas. Millie gave her extra loving to make up for the month that she (the doll, not Millie) had a peg leg without the peg or the leg.




This squirrel is our window pet. Millie has named him Nut-maker. Annika has named him Baker. He nibbles berries.


He watches them watch him nibble berries.


Stylish slumber.


One day, Annika came downstairs after waking up from her nap dressed like this, though she hadn't been wearing any of it when I tucked her in-- Beauty and the Beast all rolled into one.


Millie dresses herself, too. Some days, she likes red.



Young children in the house means finding lots of things, many of which are wrapped around messes and mischief. Some examples: The girls were taking a bath, and I called to Millie. When she replied to my innocent "How are you girls doing in there?" with a lengthy pause and a "....nothing," I knew she was engaged in what she thought might be a dubious activity. I found this.


Where are my girls? Millie's in that cave, too.


This day's silence meant that they were assembling a neighborhood birthday tea party in the bedroom. Millie is blowing out the candles while Nixie sings.


The tea party, like all classic tea parties, ended with a rousing Jump-On-The-Bed-Till-Mom-Makes-Us-Stop Party.


And then there are times like this, when the house is sepulcher-silent for a dangerous length of time, and I tiptoe upstairs dreading the mess and hushed mischief I'll find only to find this instead.



Thugs. A band picture.



Annika requested that I take a picture of us together and then, without warning, proceeded to do this.


My triplets. The head in the lower left corner is much larger for some reason....


Lip plump plumps them up.



If only Job Bartholomew Tate were never wrong. If he were inerrant, then I would not have to have a root canal. That weird, translucent, brown popcorn thingy was actually a long-neglected infection in my bone that had spread the length of my jaw. Antibiotics cleared it up, but once our tax refunds come back, I have to schedule a root canal. Thanks a lot, JOB!!!!! This is a picture of me and a numb mouth.




Grandma Owen mailed a box of treats, including this fun book that John read to them before bed. Annika was shocked at the unfolding plot.



I had a fit of madness in which I decided that I should be a good mom and cut out a million hearts for my girls to turn into valentines.


Annika pasted hearts with a vengeance and used up almost all of the glitter.



Millie was diligent in her glue application and left no paper untouched.


They turned out (all sixty-some of them) like this. They're cute and the girls had fun, but I nearly decided that next year, they can simply mail one conversation heart apiece to each person they love. Drop candy heart in envelope, lick envelope, address envelope, mail envelope. It still sounds like a bit much.


Picnic at the bus station.


John at the bus station, so long ago.


When John was in Buffalo, I tried to take a girls-only snapshot after church, but this is how it turned out.




And, lastly, here's evidence that I sow my own brand of mischief. My clumsiness makes for lots of fun, like this knee o' mine that went through the windowpane while we engaged in the waving-goodbye-to-John ritual. (Our windows are the originals from the mid-1800's, and the entire thing needs to be removed in order to fix the pane. Brrrrr. We'll wait for spring, thank you very much.)