The Boys' Room

My Elly-belly (yes, I realize he is too old to be called that) came back from a couple of weeks away with his grandma and grandpa. I know how much Elliott loves order and cleanliness, and how rarely he gets to appreciate them in this household, so I cleaned his room to a fare-thee-well on the day he came home.

The view from the doorway.

This was Elliott's birthday present this year-- a magnetic board for playing magnet-shoot!  Evan hung it on the wall for him.  ( I don't know why this picture is smooshed into a square-- it isn't if you click on it, but I can't make it behave.)

This is another birthday present that came belatedly while Elliott was gone-- how can we improve upon a present that involves Magnet Shoot AND Apple products??

The boys' beds.  Evan had also just hung up their IKEA wall lamps (known as "bug lights" in this family from the shape of the inaugural light we bought Cheyenne years ago).

Elliott's bed, with the play refrigerator and microwave at the foot.  The Minecraft poster is another present from Evan for a little boy who is a bit obsessed.

Lincoln's bed.  I just hung up the clock on the wall-- another thing Elliott loves to know is EXACTLY what time it is!  The play kitchen stove and sink cabinet sit at the foot of this bed.  The wide open space in the middle of the room often becomes a restaurant, with the addition of a folding little kids' table.

The boys' closet...

Which is where their bureaus hide.  Eventually, they might have clothes that require some more room, but by then the play kitchen will probably be relegated to the attic so the bureaus can march out into the room.

And that's one room in our house.  As soon as school starts, I won't have anything to do, so I can clean the house from top to bottom and take lots of pictures.  (Okay, now my side hurts from laughing).

Our Friend Gilbert

We headed North for just a few days last week. We got to celebrate Gilbert's birthday while we were there!

Five years old!  Hard to believe it's been that long since Gilbert entered our lives.

What a sweet little face.

Starting to smile for real.

Look at all these people singing to me!

Delighted.

All five candles in one breath.

Justin bought Gilbert a tool box, so Gilbert had to help with the trim in Grandma's kitchen!

Earnest pounding.

For some reason, I only photographed boys during this trip!  Here is Mr. Hoyt, matching stripes with his mommy.

Lincoln was completely obsessed with Lily's old bumblebee costume.  The fact it was a skirt didn't deter him in the least.  I didn't get a picture of it, but he put the handle of a basket around his waist so the basket bottom was his stinger.  He was an enthusiastic stinger.

We might have to find a more masculine bee costume before Halloween.

Let's Pretend it Never Happened

Let's just pretend that I didn't ignore my blog for eight months, failing to capture the entire building of our beautiful house.  Let's pretend I didn't fail miserably at taking pictures during the last beautiful week at the farm because I'm such a doofus my memory card was chock full and I had to manually delete a picture every time I wanted to take a new picture.  *And let's really pretend I didn't finally get these pictures to upload over an impossible Internet connection, only to not do anything with them for an entire month.  So, just to be clear, these are pictures from mid-July, 2014*

Mum's beautiful flower bed, no thanks to me.  Lindsey and Bet planted it, and Mom has tended it faithfully.

The photo session, one beautiful night.

Frizzy-headed summer girl.

Elsie was wearing all sorts of country baby accoutrements-- hay chaff, dirt, water from unexplained sources...

Cousin stare-down.

All the kids are enjoying the tire swing their adventurous uncles put up.

Double-decker ride!

Pushes from Aunt Ashley.

Lily loves the swing.

Silly goobers.

Evening sun makes weeds beautiful.

And little girls on swings breathtaking.

Uncle Cody decided the kids needed to play tag on top of the hay bales.

Quite a few of them needed a hand over the gaps until they felt a little more confident.

Lincoln doesn't believe a stuck-out tongue is a breach of manners.

We lost one!

A running jump helps!

Backdrop of the barns.

Gilbert the Great

The counter balance of one cousin is necessary to pull another cousin up.

"Tag!  You're it!"

What a sweet boy.

Not a sweet boy.

The participating cousins.  (Rilla refused to be in the picture, shades of Christmas 2010.)

Elsie and Cheyenne.  Cheyenne's face about matches her shirt!

Golden hair in a crown-- my sweet niece!

I like Lily's distrustful look in this one.

Big Doug.

Gilbert fell between the bales...

And manfully tunneled out.  As we were walking back to the house, I asked Gilbert, "Was that fun jumping on the bales?"  His answer blew me away, "No, it was INCREDIBLE!"  What a little smarty.

There was lots of swimming.  Since Tori and Livie deserted us this summer, I actually had to stir myself to go swimming every time the kids wanted to go.

Orange suit...

And white.

Goggles were a hot item.  Since there wasn't quite enough to go around, they were always good for a nice argument.

The Elsie Junebug.

Little ponytails are the best.

A pool getting full of kiddos.

The elephant floaty, with a monkey onboard.

Gilbert's knee-jerk reaction to seeing a camera.  Silly boyos.

A precious sleeping Hoyt, while I was beating my brothers in Hearts.

What a precious munchkin!

Elsie feeding Hoyt's calf, named Gracie by the girls.

High stepping through the grass, basket in hand and ponytails blowing.

Toddler buddies.

That is the vestiges of face paint on Elsie's face.  Have I mentioned lately what a fun aunt Aunt Ashley is?

Not to mention, she has a pretty cute son.  Hoyt is resting up for the big Heritage Day parade here.

The spectators are ready!

Elsie hanging out with Grandma Jill.

If these adorable sandals aren't envy-inducing...

As is Bet's shirt.  Love it!

This guy wasn't part of the parade, but it's a cool van!

Here we go!

Sweet Jeep!

I guess Moira has a Red Hat Society!

Examining the candy haul.

Cute girls lined up at the curb.

These were the hot-shot athletes when I was in school.  They got a place in the parade because they were just inducted in the school's Athletes Hall of Fame.

Dave on his tractor!

The kids all swooned over this pony cart.

Dukes of Hazzard in Franklin County!

Daisy Duke wasn't as exciting to the male spectators as they had hoped.

Mary Poppins came to town to pass out pencils!

The school superintendent, and a good sport!

Nice car!  And I like Lincoln's stance.

The dance studio.

A couple of nice tractors...

Ashley pointing out the ponies.

The last float.  Mom used to babysit that girl, who is no longer a girl.  The number of people younger than me who are actual adults is growing at an alarming rate.

And that's all for now, folks!