The Hunt

My older sister Becky called me on the spur of the moment, letting us know that she and some of her children were going to head our way to pick up their tree.  We hadn't planned on getting our tree quite yet, but I would have been a terrible mother to deny some too-rare cousin time, so we took the day off. Home-h'learners unite!

Aidan (and his mother) forgot his coat, so he had to wear the blazer he (and his mother) had forgotten in the van the previous Sunday.  Then he got a bloody nose.  Then Aunt Becky held his hand and helped him up the hill.  Lucky boy.

Everyone wore play clothes for running and playing, except Aidan and Zeke who dressed themselves in "going-out" clothes once they saw how fancy Millie looked.  Then I dressed up my living doll, because I could.  So here's a picture of three fancy, pretty girls.

Jessie and Aidan are bosom buddies.  He talks about her all the time.

We found our trees! They thoughtfully grew two trees apart, just for our convenience.

I love this picture.  (Want to know something crazy?  This new 16-year old drove her family to our house!  Crazy!!!!)

Thank goodness Millie was not too fancy to perform tree-cutting labor for me.

I was Very Busy holding a baby but gave her verbal encouragement (i.e. teasing her while she rolled her eyes).  It was very cold.







Jessie showed Aidan her Brown Thing, a rock that she then instructed him "was not for eating."  Phew.  No rock-eating allowed, Aidan!

Success!

Most of the children spent their time getting lost and exploring the hills.  Annika and Zeke came back before I sent out a search party.

She'd just sprinted up and down an enormous hill, but still mustered enough energy for a grin at my silly overuse of a camera.

"Mamaaaa!"

Millie and the sleepy big baby.

I did mention it was cold, right?  Our Little Fire was so miserable that Annika lent him her coat.  With all the sprinting, she was too hot even without a coat.  What a handsome boy we've got.

Little Lu and Skylark and some big dope.

I don't have pictures of most of the children because they were running off to explore the whole time, but Susannah's one of these three...

I was jealous of Cadence.  Millie plopped her on the tree, and she and Candida pulled her down the hill on her own royal sedan.

Jessie commanded me to take this picture of her, saying, "Watch me. I'm so fast, Aunt Abby."  She is!  Look at those little legs fly!

Annika got stuck.  No one helped her.

And then we waited around for 20 minutes chatting with the owner's step-daughter while she tried to start the baler and subsequently broke it.  The End.  Until next year!