Puttying Up Those Last Few Cracks

Don't even think about it. There ARE more cracks.

Grandma and Grandpa Owen sent a bunch of pictures that they'd taken, and they're just what I need to finish things off. First off, here are pictures of some of those thoughtful gifts from generous and talented people. When Susannah showed me her gifts later, she kept telling me how guilty she felt! Everyone's gifts were amazing, and she felt spoiled rotten...and loved. So much for "no gifts needed." Ah, well. It was touching to see everyone's gifts later, because each one suited Susannah so well and showed part of the giver's care for her. That's the true gift, right there.


It's sly of Susannah to have so many friends who are artists. When birthday time rolls around, they pull out all the stops and talent! Watching Susannah open gifts was like being at an art exhibit.

A note about this shirt, Justin: Susannah loves it and initially agonized about whether to start wearing it now, or to save it for later and never wash it to avoid any shrinking, because then she wouldn't outgrow it! I told her she should wear it. :)

NAUGHTY box, naughty Deirdre.

I've got to take a picture of Caleb's finished drawing now that we finally have a frame for it.

As is usual with Caleb's intricate drawings, everyone flocked close for a glimpse.

 I wanted every gift of Susannah's and am highly tempted to steal her notecards and notebooks. (She refuses.)

I guess I'm just going to have to throw MYSELF a thirteenth birthday party next summer-- invitations to follow soon.

Teeny, Tiny Photo Dump

My phone must have compressed them. Oh, well.

 Who IS that ethereal, magical creature? (All of us burst out laughing when we saw this one, so I must include it.)

Leftovers

I had twins for a couple of days.

Here is Zeke's note to the Tooth Fairy on the occasion of the loss of his first tooth. Literally, he LOST his first tooth.

I loved this pair of drawings that Lucinda and Zeke drew simultaneously. It was like a live-action, interactive drawing, with them drawing characters as they told a story about them, fighting through their illustrations.

I ran across these papers when I was cleaning. Mom gave them to me after Dad died and told me about how she and Dad had planned on moving into the Old Homestead as newlyweds. They visited it with a builder, walked through the rooms, dreamed a little, and she drew up these plans with desired renovations. The man advised against it, though, saying that for the cost of renovations, they could just get a modular. That's what they did, and I grew up in the little, yellow house down the road because of it. Now, however, I understand why Mopsy was so vicariously happy when we moved into the Old Homestead ourselves.  Old dreams made new.

Here are the children on our belated Thank Goodness We're Done with the Despicable IOWA Tests Party. Klondike bars and a couple hours on the Rail Trail is where it's at.

I didn't get a single picture of your sleepover, Candida, so I'm slapping this on here because I came across it the other day, and it made me smile.

The rest are crummy phone pictures. Blecch.

Many children at the pond. I spent the entire hour and a half counting heads over and over and over again.

Fewer bodies this time around means not as many heads to count.

Aidan's best phone selfie out of 20 or so.

Park and pizza and Annika's head.

Ethan and Anna got married! Ethan hasn't made it back from Alaska for several years, and it was surreal and a marvel to stay up way past bedtime to watch their marriage real-time, live-streamed from a little church thousands of miles away. What a privileged age we live in!

Real Time to Remember

If anyone's wondering why it's so great to have children, here's one reason!

Cadence is wandering around the house right now, dressed in a yellow ball gown and with a shopping bag full of dress-up clothes slung over her shoulder. She's been on a wild spree and has been giving me updates on her purchases. Lucinda just overheard her casually remark to Skylark, "People call me Sprinkle-Sprinkle, but that's only because they don't know that my real name is Knitting Needles."
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And as long as I'm recording things to remember, a few months back, we overheard her admonishing her light-up turtle during naptime: "Johnny Cash! Get out of there! Stop barking, Johnny Cash! Don't bite me, Johnny Cash!" before proceeding to have a murmured conversation with him...still inside of her turtle.

Real Time: A Bonus Because We Have High-Speed Internet Now!

Imposters lurk everywhere,

but there's only one birthday girl.

Real Time

Guess what?

The coddled Baby of the house turns two today!

She thinks it's great, and we think she's great.

Skylark Elizabeth, all grins and fury and mischief and smooches, we love you!

Blind Leading the Blind(folded)

October sixth.

Real Time at 7:30 A.M.

As many years as I've told children the proper place for such activity...

Annika just came out to the kitchen and in a slightly exasperated tone said, "Mama, Luci's doing her penmanship inside of a bin."

Sure enough. The best place in the house for tidy cursive writing is a giant plastic bin half-filled with winter clothing.

(And now you know that I did NOT finish switching clothes over last week, and, if you're clever, you can probably guess the state of affairs in our house. That picture's from several years ago, but the general theme holds true.)