Accentuate the Positive

I am a mean, nasty, grumpy mother tonight, so I'm going to write a blog post full of sweetness, light, and motherly love. Magically, I will then become such a mother.

It's worth a try, anyway.

I will start by posting pictures of our peonies from this week. To maximize their mood-lifting qualities, I'll post them in a larger format than I normally post pictures.

Ah, that does help.

Then there's this little ray of sunshine, in the new apron Aunt Lisa from Alaska made her.

Elliott, in his part of the package from Aunt Lisa-- a dress shirt that pleased him to no end. It's a little too big, but hopefully he'll grow into it by this winter. (I'm a mother who LIKES to see their kids outgrow clothes-- it doesn't happen very fast around here!)

Then we'll move on to industrious redheads who practice writing words around 17 hours a day.

GQ's latest cover model lunching with Miss Marilla.

The boy has STYLE! Actually, they were all a self-attempted effort to be brave around the sound of Evan's saw.

Evan, about three seconds before he said, "You know, it's just SO STUPID not to replace these windows while we have the siding off. They're single-paned, the glazing is shot, they have no seal..." So, we've ordered windows to add to the Continually Evolving Money Pit Restoration Project.

I think I need more peony pictures, thinking about the Money Pit.


Okay. Much better. I have been brutal and REALLY whittled down the backlog of pictures I have been wanting to post. So you'll have to leave to your imagination the Memorial Day potluck we hosted. (You're not missing much in the picture department, I forgot to take too many pictures.) We had a great day, though, and I don't know why we don't plan more potlucks-- need to shake off our laziness and congregate!

You'll also have to imagine the pictures of me (with a few other helpers!) heroically carrying boxes down a flight of twenty stairs as I helped Bet and Justin move out of their apartment. I got my exercise that day! I also have no picture of the incredulous look on my face as the landlord glanced in a few bedrooms and then gave them back their security deposit without coming within 15 feet of the kitchen. Literally! Oh, for such forgiving landlords in our renting days.

And, you'll have to imagine pictures of Cheyenne at a horse pull. (It REALLY bothers me that I wasn't there and couldn't get pictures-- IMAGINE the photo opportunities!) Anyway, picture a little girl, at "Jim's farm" (the neighboring farm to Mom and Dad) with her two aunts. She gets to watch Grandpa Lee load the weights on the sled with his tractor, and then watch the horses pull. She gets to buy food from the concession stand there-- including soda! She comes home sunburned and full of stories about "Bob and Babe" (they won the pony pull) and about how beautiful Jim's horses were, and how strong the horses were... The poor girl is stuck in Suburbia with her boring parents, and within her beats the heart of a farm girl.

I finally got on the stick, picture-wise, for Orianna's third birthday. (I don't think kids would know how to blow out the candles if there weren't sixteen cameras trained on them!)

"Hi, Nephew-of-Mine-to-be. Get used to the camera now, because between Mommy and Aunt Clover, you're going to be staring into a lens for a looooong time!"

Here is the masterpiece of a cake, compliments of Bethaney, who, incidentally, had moved that morning. It was as delicious as it looked, too.

The gorgeous three-year-old.

Her goofy sister.

Marilla being cute that Sunday.

Mr. Blue Eyes, similarly cute.

Cheyenne at the zoo for a field trip. I got to be a chaperone! Connor's mom brought him along as well, so Cheyenne got to hang out with Alex and Connor, even at the zoo!

Cheyenne, jumping up startled, when the penguin came right at her!

With some other little girls in her class, watching the elephants.

We had a library book sale here this Friday. This is what happened for a few hours after we got home. They were getting rid of most of their kid's book-and-cassette-tape bags, so we've been listening to stories since then!

Roxaboxen in Suburbia! Deprived of woods, and the attending twigs and stones, this is what my kids used to set up houses on the deck. (That's Elliott curled up in the blanket beside his water bottle and Max, the Cabbage Patch Kid.) Evan bought these panels for work (they're great floor protection) but the kids get to use them until Daddy has to take them to a jobsite.

Cheyenne building a room for the children's crib. She takes her responsibility of mother VERY seriously!

And now, for your reading pleasure, some of Elliott's most recent knock-knock jokes... These all started with this joke that we heard.

"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting Cow."
"Interrupting Co--"
"MOOOOOOO!"

Elliott and Cheyenne can be endlessly entertained by substituting other animals. Cheyenne seems to favor pigs, and Elliott likes doing a bear roar. Of course, Elliott's timing is a bit off, so he never actually interrupts, but it makes them happy. Now Elliott has branched out of strictly animal sounds and has come up with these.

"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting hymn."
"Interrupting hymn who?"
"Tell Me the Story of Jesus..."

"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting cheese."
"Interrupting cheese who?"
"Num, num, num!"

"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting fall."
"Interrupting fall who?"
"Ouch!"

And, the last one (he made it up after he saw me tell Marilla to stop her "fit", or tantrum!)
"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting fit."
"Interrupting fit who?"
"Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!"

I think the kid has a future in comedy. And hopefully, after dwelling on all this wonderfulness, I have a future as a Mommy who will get up in a more cheerful frame of mind tomorrow!