High Drama in the Hallway

When we only had Millie and Annika, I remember taking pictures of them looking sweet and sugary in matching outfits.  Well, things are different now.  Zeke was excited that he and Aidan were matching, but after church when they were just lollygagging about in the hall, I asked if I could take a picture, and then he made a fine mess of things.

Then he wanted to show me that Aidan is almost as tall as he is.

Then I accidentally took a funny picture and then cropped it because it made me laugh so hard.

Then Zeke wanted to show me that HE is almost as tall as Luci.

THE END.

Manmade

After a week of warmth, the world outside the window looks like this again, only more so, so it doesn't seem at all incongruous to post these.  Our friendly neighbor plowed our driveway during the last snowstorm, and because he's extra-friendly, he used the snow to build a hill for the children.

It's almost as good as the Olympics.

To Our Patron, McGamma

A month overdue, here's the evidence that we threw that second New Year's Eve party at the end of January, with the addition of cream puffs because they make everything better.

This time Millie piped the filling in the sides instead of splitting them.  She was delighted by their tidy, compact appearance; I was delighted by their taste.

Luci was delighted by tulips and by life.

Yellow arrow alert!  That's the laundry basket full of mending and alterations that floated around the dining room for two months until I finally tackled it this week.

For Molly

It's perhaps not the best timing, posting these pictures during Lent, but here are a few of the faces and bellies that tore into those cookies last month.  We still have one box left!

During h'learning days, we paired them with a Liberty Kids episode and a Planet Earth episode.  I can't tell which one was yummier, though.

Valentine's Day; Children in Red

I was not only unprepared for Valentine's Day but also hadn't given thought as to the fact that it fell on Ash Wednesday.  I didn't really know what to do, so I (adult) continued as I would on Ash Wednesday and simply muted the usual fanfare for the children, cutting out the Fat-Tuesday fare we'd normally have on V-day.  So, unsweetened whole wheat zucchini muffins for breakfast...with chocolate on top, plain grapefruit (Molly!!!), hardboiled eggs, and the candy and valentines Grandma and Grandpa had mailed up the day before.

Lunch was another weird mix. Homemade grape juice with unsweetened seltzer, greasy leftovers, a watermelon-gift, and leftover Christmas candy they each ate a few pieces of and then split into bags for Sunday.  No donuts or elephant ears this year.

That's something.

Hallmark Needs to Hire These Children

Debbie's shower was the Saturday before Valentine's Day, which is my excuse for totally forgetting about Valentine's Day this year until Sunday.  I was ready to skip cards, but the children really wanted to make valentines, in spite of my desire being lukewarm, at best.  (Really, though, has it ever been flaming hot?  No.)  The beginning of Making-Day was so calm and relatively clean that I was lulled into a false sense of confidence and brought out the paints, hands, and piggy toes while the older girls scoured the internet for valentine ideas.

By the end of the day, the table looked like this, and the rest of the house followed suit, which fanned my flaming hot desire for making valentines.  Yup.

At least they made all these cool cards that other people threw away immediately, right?

Grapefruit is a High Occasion (attn.: Molly)

One morning the younger ones requested I take pictures of their fancy grapefruit experience.

Then, afterward, they took pictures of the grapefruit monsters gobbling pinecones that they left behind.

Leftovers

Candida gave Millie some happy crocheting company.






Lucinda finished her second grade math book.