Lemonade, Schlemonade!

Yeah, the cool kids in Central Square are way too pretentious to sell lemonade.  They sell Pure New York Maple Syrup.

 Or, they *try* to sell syrup.  They did sell two quarts, one to the mom of Cheyenne's friend Tess (pictured here in the pink shirt).  There isn't a lot of drive-by demand for maple syrup.

Elliott holds The Magic Wand.  It's a present Grandma Jill bought him several years ago, newly exciting since it had languished on the top of a bookcase for the last year after one too many hitting incidents.  It's a shame the magic wand couldn't work some magic to keep Elliott's jeans up.

Evan, the man in charge, supervising the maple syrup stand from his comfy chair on the porch.

Lincoln has discovered the wonders of Elliott's Cozy Coupe.

It's a shame the kid doesn't know how to smile.

I was trying to take a picture of the weird animal in our garden...

But when I got close, I realized it wasn't a vole or a woodchuck, but a bird!

It hadn't looked like a bird, since it wasn't hopping and flitting like a bird does, and it didn't fly away when I got near.  The consensus among the experts I've consulted (Dana and Marilyn, Dave and Eleanor) is that it was acting differently because it's a juvenile bird.  No one's sure what kind of bird, though.  Any bird geniuses lurking out there?

I'm not sure what this bush is, but it's got pretty pink flowers the bees love.

A close-up.  I love pictures that are blurry in the background. 

The lilacs are going by.  They still smell sweet, though.  Lisa and Angela showed me some pictures tonight of the Lilac Festival in Rochester.  It was beautiful, we'll have to put it on our calendar for next year.

The kids spent half of yesterday picking pine needles of the tree out front for their "restaurant".

Rilla was in the doll stroller, requesting a "McDouble to go".  I guess our evening out this week made an impression.   Showing me her food.

 I love this squinchy-eyed girl.  

Lincoln, with a cup full of rocks, crouched in the car seat that is sitting on our porch.  And yes, he isn't wearing any pants.  This picture just screams "classy parenting."

His hair has lightened up considerably in the last couple months.  I would classify it as a strawberry blond now; Cheyenne is desperately hoping he morphs into a full-fledged redhead.

Our nice dwarf something-or-another tree in the evening light.

This picture of Lincoln playing with an old water bottle and rocks reminds me of the trailer for the movie Babies.  I forget where I first saw a link to that trailer, but my kids thought it was the most hilarious thing they'd ever seen.  They watched the 2.5 minute trailer several times, keeping them quiet while I cooked supper one night. 

Here's my other third-world child, playing in the dust on the driveway.

Cheyenne, like most seven year-olds, doesn't know how to smile naturally when a camera comes out.

She does, however, know how to smile like a total doofus.

And then some!

Grandma Marilyn bought the girls matching dresses at a sale last week, so the girls were testing the dresses' twirlability.

Matching sisters!  These two are just far enough apart that it is hard to find matching dresses that fit them both.

Evan matched his handsome little boys this morning.

My goodness, I live with incredibly good-lucking males.

I can't believe this baby is almost a year old!

Lincoln is doing "tickle, tickle" motions with his hand in this picture!  Elliott wasn't smiling naturally, so I told Evan, "Tickle him!"  Lincoln picked up on that right away and started saying his version of "tickle, tickle" and wiggling his fingers.  He's so brilliant.

And, a posed picture of the Matching Girls, after I did their hair.  We went out to Panera Bread for lunch, and they (Cheyenne especially) basked in the "oohs" and "aahs" from everyone they saw.

I'm extremely annoyed, I can't get the pictures on this post to behave, even when I center them they keep heading over to the left.  Plus it keeps throwing in extra spaces.  I guess it won't affect my job security if it's not perfect, though!  :-)  I've been fighting a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes all week, I probably should go to bed and get ready for our busy week!