Esther's 90th Birthday, and Other Not-So Monumental Happenings

 A typical evening, Saturday night-- the kids see the camera and beg, "Take a picture of me!"  I'll take lots of pictures if these little cuties hug and are friends!

 Gorging on Playmobil sets.

 I'm trying to be a better Mommy and let them actually play with their toys-- even if it means they mix things up!  :-)

 It was Esther's 90th birthday Monday evening!

 Her birthday is 4 days after Lincoln's birthday, so we have an 89 year span in our little meeting.

 Lincoln, happy to see his daddy.  Evan came from work-- a full day of painting, as you can tell from his hands.

 Some of the celebrants.  We were all VERY full from a delicious Eleanor Barkley dinner at that point!

 Esther, Sara and Garret laughing...

 Probably at these three.  You have no idea how excited my kids were to see these "kids".

 Twining around the Barkley's treehouse tree.

 Goofy faces.

 She is definitely in the squinchy-eyed smile stage.

 All proud of himself, up in the treehouse-- all of three or four feet off the ground!

 I found this in the entryway the other morning-- Elliott had draped his jacket over the stroller solicitously so the Gilbert doll could sleep better.

 Minus the interfering little brother, this is Marilla's bliss nest-- her ducky blanket, pillow, a Peggy Rathman book, and Lincoln's birthday piano.

 Poor little Marilla woke up sick Wednesday morning.  She hadn't eaten supper Tuesday night, so I thought she was just nauseated from being too hungry, but after 6-7 different vomiting episodes, I didn't know what to think.  After this highly uncomfortable-looking nap, though, she woke up and didn't have any problems for the rest of the day.  When I asked her if she was feeling better, she said, "Yes.  My froat went back down to my tummy now."  It's a good way to describe how throwing up feels!  :-)

 This is the reason I usually don't leave my stepstools set up.  The little monkey was throwing all the lids out of the lid drawer onto the floor.  Fair warning-- if you're cooking at my house, you probably better wash or at least wipe out all bowls and utensils that are in lower cabinets or drawers.  They HAVE been touched by a toddler.

 Rilla during her favorite pastime-- a slideshow of "Pictures of Me When I Was a Little Baby."  She takes a certain displaced-baby satisfaction in periodically saying, "Lincoln wasn't even ALIVE!" with great relish.

 Elliott's artistic endeavors.

 We may be related.

 Playing in their house, even though the official temperature that day was 97°.

 Elliott, who makes his cars talk in.cess.ant.ly while he's playing with them, had one of them say that day, "It's HOT!  HOT like butter!  HOT like spaghetti! HOT like oatmeal! HOT like toast!  HOT like a FLASHLIGHT!"  The flashlight was the hottest thing on that list, according to his inflection.  Thankfully, flashlights aren't that hot.  I went to collect dirty laundry Monday morning, and there was Evan's big Maglite, on, facedown in the kid's hamper.  Still not sure what chain of events led to that one!

 It was a good day to try out the fudge popsicle recipe from Smitten Kitchen's blog.

 I like how the tongue is anticipating the first bite.

 Definitely cute enough to be worth the inevitable stain treating on every piece of clothing my children wore.

 Dirt and strawberry juice can't disguise this goofy gap-toothed baby's gorgeousness.  This boy likes strawberries as much as his red-headed sister.

 Showing me her empty fudgsicle stick.

 After-bath pajamed kids that snuck out for one last play before bed.

 I'm not a knick-knacky person, but a friend in Alaska gave me a Willow Tree figurine right after Cheyenne was born that captured our life at the time perfectly.  It was of a daddy holding a tiny baby, and the mother peering over the daddy's shoulder.  I might have been slightly post-partum hormonal at the time, but I burst into tears over how right it was.  Evan and I spent so much time just staring at our new little girl.  Anyway, I love the non-angel Willow Tree sets, although I told Evan I wanted as many figures as I had children.  I do have five now, including a wall plaque of a family that my mom gave me, so I'm finished collecting them.  This little box was one Evan bought me for an anniversary present when I was pregnant with Marilla.  At the time, I was trying to make maternity clothes, so I used it to story safety pins.  Today, as I was doing some mending, and trying to fit the extra bobbins back in their woefully small storage case, I realized that this was perfect for bobbin storage!

Pretty colors.  And apparently, some dust.  

I'm so proud of myself it's ridiculous, but I patched a three-corner tear in my skirt today.  It's an old skirt, so it didn't have to be perfect, but I put an old piece of jean skirt behind the tear and made it look very neat and tidy.  I'm really enjoying sewing these days, when I get the time.  I think I could spend 8 hours a day doing projects (not just sewing) I've been wanting to do.  I'd probably get bored (though I'd be prepared to test that theory!), but for now, I'll just enjoy the times I do get to do a few things.