Leftovers, or, A Clearer Version of Real Life, Without All the Slick, Fancy-Camera Edges But Also Without Videos of the Grumpy Mama, Because That Would Be Just a Little Too Real, If You Catch My Drift

Sometimes he sees me putting the camera away after taking a picture of maple syrup I just canned (or something equally silly) and flashes a grin.  "Take a picture of me!" he says.  So I do.

Because I love this goofy little face and the goofy little boy who wears it.

When everyone is stir-crazy and Mama Bear is grumpy, and she calls Ezekiel to come out of the fort so she can l'arn him his letters, she sees this.  Zoom!  Out one door and into another, quick as a wink.

No wonder he's so tired all the time.

At the tail end of Lent, Ezekiel discovered that he could turn sugarless herbal tea into popsicles for a sham version of dessert.  He did so with such great frequency that I was glad he hadn't discovered it earlier.

The girls made a lot of cool things over the last two months, and I took pictures of some of them for posterity.

A notebook for Cadie:

Socks for Millie by Millie:







And a surprise birthday pair for ME!!!







More for Cadie:

And gloves for DEirdre. ;)

Guess who isn't scared of John Wayne any longer?

Take a picture of ME, Mama!  So I did.

Here's one he wasn't aware of.  He used his Valentine's Day money from G-ma to buy sunglasses and ninja swords at the dollar store, and then he slept with them every nap and every night for two weeks straight.  Here he is at seven in the morning, fresh from bed.

John Wayne-- our dog.
Ruger-- a dog who thinks he's our dog.

Oh, my goodness.   This was so funny, and even though the video I took does him more justice than this picture, I don't want to take time to load it on here right now.  Zeke took the old PVC bows I made the girls years ago, stuffed them into his shorts, and used them as oars to row Aidan and Cadence around the house.  It was more comical than I can describe, so I won't even try.

Susannah is the Skylark-whisperer and can calm her into sleep better than anyone else.  It makes sense that Birds would flock together.

Cadence is also big enough to dress herself for a winter's day.  Seasonal clothing required:  Bloomers, a sweater, three mismatched socks, and three pairs of stockings.

A pancake man.

We were given a pair of bunkbeds and shuffled things around in the girls' room.  Some of them got their own beds for the first time and were excited to decorate their wall spaces.  Zeke observed them and followed suit, tacking a smushed cardboard box and an activity book to the wall above his bed in the hall.

Sleeping.  With boots and the ever-present Peapod.

Susannah washing dishes, as seen through the window with a cactus by her head.

The six oldest were invited for a full day of fun at the Purdy's, leaving the three babies with me.  Aidan was extremely excited about it all, including the tea party for lunch-- with TORTILLA CHIPS AND WHITE BREAD AND ICE CREAM!  We raided the house for any and all crumbs of junk food we could find and lived it up like wild people.  Then we drove to the Purdy's house that evening for a bonafide feast and realized how pitiful white bread, tortilla chips, and ice cream were.