where my mind and heart are today . . .

Hope he has a good day--even sleep-deprived and drug out of bed to be uniformed and sent on his way.

Slacker (AKA on the grand Western tour.)

I read Kelsey's "Slacker" title and thought I ought to send a shout-out to those readers who are wondering what's become of us.  We're out West through the end of the month.  Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure.   

Lots more for you to see when we get back.  Even though I'm not writing, I'm still reading yours occasionally. :)

Melodious multi-tasking

I found out the bottom hand in the Children's Songbook is simple enough that you can prop up a baby and still keep playing. She was fussing until I sat down to play and sing.

I guess those Primary kids who got to have me "sing" each week actually had it pretty good.

You should know that the big kids didn't hang around to be tenderly lulled to sleep. They went in the back room and turned on tom petty.

And, please forgive the wrestling singlet she's wearing. Simon was good enough to get me clothes for her--I just didn't know we were going to have so many photo ops that afternoon.

Things you wish you could always catch your kids doing #1

Look at that rapt four-month-old attention--delicious.

Biking at its best

Simon got a real bike last month and learned to and loves to ride (finally--the trike and his long legs never quite connected). Now he's giving tips to serious pros. ;)

I love the little bike bell ding at the video's end.

it's all here

weight:

95th percentile

height:

>95th percentile

Happy 4 month* Mary Tessa! . . .

. . . in all your 16 and a half pound glory ;)

*way to reach that age without any surgery!

He walked and walked . . . AND walked

Here are all the church shoes of Simon's young life. Gaaaah!

In the spirit of pioneer day (?) I was going through/organizing all the boxes of kids' clothes and came upon these in the process. But let me tell you, it was the girl clothes that were the treacherous endeavor--I found another box of 0-6mos (for the next one, I guess???!)--and I cannot for the life of me decide whether to organize by size or season; season being a complete joke here and size being subjective. Just let it be said that there will be clothes left unworn and forgotten, but at least many of them started out as hand-me-downs. Very pioneery.

Well, I've got kids in the bath and a baby protesting tummy time--maybe I'll sign off!

the accidental buzz

As far as boys go, I prefer a little hair to comb on top. Today was the day that I decided Simon's bedhead rooster had gone a bit beyond that call of duty. I decided beforehand that, no, even though I have three kids, I will not be giving him a buzz. I lined up my #3,#4, and #5 and went to work with our new 35% stronger clippers. I think my fatal error was reading the included instructions

because they were for a crew cut after all. Oh well,

easy, breezy, beautiful . . .

Mark's next.

Come out back and see our girls!

the grand finale . . .

And one more for good times' sake:

Happy Sunday!

at the pianoforte . . .

JOY

RAPTURE

AFTER 10 YEARS . . . I LIVE WITH A PIANO AGAIN!




It's so easy to practice every day, twice a day, when you're a grownup--loving it!


Though I play other instruments, I have a unique love for the piano because it's always ready; there's no unpacking it, tuning it, accompanying it--just wander by and play for thirty seconds or thirty minutes.

By the way, she's a Yamaha clavinova 115 that likes:

changing climates
sounding grand
sitting by trees and windows
Bach
kids
seeming Jane Austen-era-esque (is that grammatically allowed?)
the octave below middle C
being played

So I'm accommodating her.

We like Dancing

It's worth it to go to youtube and see this in high quality (Mark says it's *really* worth it!).

I found it here.

Oh what do you SEE in the summertime?!

If you're in Texas, you see big things

No, I'm not going to post pictures of those occasional gross, brown, long-antennae-d things.

But this (it's still out there as I type--wanna come over?):

You should have heard Simon rave: "Mom!!!! There's a bird from the zoo outside!!!!! Oh, look at that bird. Now THAT's a beautiful bird!"

A little bit of blue country

Coming up from our 5.5 lbs of blueberries: lots of snacking, a frozen gallon bag, and COBBLER.

Really, they're Mark's 5.5 lbs; I contributed 6 handfuls, Simon 10 berries, and Allianna 3 berries. Mark could reach all the topmost berries that all the shorter humans had left behind--big and smoky blue and delicious!

It's going to be a day well-seized

TOMORROW:

early a.m.

blueberry picking

i figure the kids won't need breakfast, just gorge on all they can pick berries

THEN

an afternoon matinee with

Wall - E

Bodily harm

Tonight when putting all the kids to bed by myself, not feeling particularly sweet or spiritual I said: "Stay in your beds or risk . . . . . . . . danger, bodily harm!"

As I go out the doorway, "Mama, what's moddily farm???"

Really takes all the oomphf out of the threat.

You don't really feel like you can keep your word and throttle them, when they didn't get the vocabulary.

So maybe I knew they wouldn't get what I was saying, but said it nonetheless because it felt good. Guess I didn't really want to have to keep my word if they were to follow me out of the room (which they did!!! grrr)--you know, the whole "don't threaten a punishment unless you're going to follow through."

So I'm still the mellow mom you thought me to be.

Ask me sometime how I unsnarl Alli and Simon when they're all tangled up in a mutual attack while I'm nursing; it involves a foot.

The living is easy

Happy ZOOBILEE to you! We are ever trying to teach them how to smile for a pic.

My new genius million-dollar idea is a fun at-home kid-styled mister to replace running through a sprinkler--conserve water, eh? It's probably already out there, but I'm thinking of it cause even here in H* (finish that as you will) we seem to be in a drought!

Now there are smiles! I guess I just have to expect a smile hiatus between ages 1-4.

This guy was going around saying "Mom???? Mooo-oom?" Ha ha. Alli was quite concerned, but she still gave him five.

You can notice how he becomes less impressive standing next to Mark. ;)

But I still liked all his jokes.

These are frogs! a monkey would have a rounded forehead, i tell you! Happy Year of the FROG.

So back to the smiling topic, I'm not quite sure why I'm smiling like I have mis-aligned dentures . . . and for further anatomy fun, all those who are curious can see my scar in this pic.

AUGGGHHHH!!!!!!

My kids haven't used crayons for weeks. I asked them both if they had any in their pockets. But still, two not-back-to-back loads of laundry have been ruined by a crayon phantom. First, a red one; now an orange and blue one. It's like they were hiding in the aggitator and just managed to wriggle their way out!!!! augh! you try to keep your kids from looking like ragamuffins, and . . . grrr. i'm off to inspect the full damage. i don't care as much about the clothes i got for a few bucks (a lot of them), but mary tessa's new baby clothes particularly get to me. and to replace simon's $3 shorts is a new challenge: taking three kids (read: Allianna) to the store.

i soaked the last ruined load in oxyclean for two days . . . i think that it helped, but that's too much laundry zealousy for me to maintain!

A requisite photo shoot . . . her cuteness factor has increased!

I soon had help. . .

Photo shoot continues . . .

You have to pretend a two year-old is in trouble to get her to smile.

You have to give a four year-old a new baby to get him to smile.

You have to exist to get your sweet baby to smile at you. Really, she is too generous!* We're so lucky to have her around--I would recommend you get a Mary Tessa, except there's only one!

*Of course, she's not quite smiling in these shots because she's concerning herself with surviving a SimAlli sandwich.