Dinner and a Duet

At Last Sunday Dinner today . . .

. . . Aunt Heather played with Todd . . .

. . . Uncle Rob and Uncle Turbo cleaned up Anna's nose . . .

 . . . Daniel did a puzzle . . .

. . . and Joy held a little piano recital, including a duet with me.  She's chosen to play duets for most of the play parties lately, and though sometimes the songs turn out better than others, I always enjoy playing with her.

At the Beach with Todd and Todd

We met up with Phillip's best college buddy Mike and his family at the beach today.

Mike's middle name is Todd (and his parents and siblings call him that in lieu of his first name).  When Michael Todd heard that we'd named our new baby Todd Michael, he thought we were teasing him.  Actually, the coincidence hadn't even occurred to us until he mentioned it.  Life's funny like that.

The Todds regard each other.

Guys and Dolls :)

Like my glasses?  I don't, but then I'm not a fan of glasses in general.  My contacts have been bugging me lately, and my kids destroyed my back-up glasses long ago, so I've taken to wearing the super-cheap glasses from my emergency kit (good thing I chose some kinda cute ones).  Those kits have come in handy countless times--I'm learning that there's more than one kind of emergency.

As we got ready to leave, Mike and Shelly's girls and our middle kids built a small mountain of sand to play on.

Joy felt chilly, so she wrapped up in a towel and watched the biker gang ride by.

Tiny Todd crashed in the cozy sling.  I love my snuggle bug.

Freedom from Oppression and Red Nail Polish

We celebrated Independence Day at my parents' cabin this weekend.

We ate pancakes for breakfast on the back deck . . .

. . . played the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game with Aunt Heather . . .

. . . took a ride on Papa's boat . . .

. . . and celebrated Papa and Uncle Rob's birthdays with a rousing rendition of our extended, hodgepodge, off-key birthday song.

Red Grandma and I had painted our toenails red in a little flourish of patriotism, and Anna was so intrigued that she asked me to paint her toes, too.  She's flexing her toes in this picture because she was a rather unnerved by the result. The moment I finished applying the paint, she cried out in dismay, "My TOES are red!"  Um, yes.  Wasn't that what you wanted?  "My TOES are red!"  Yes, aren't they pretty?  Just like Mama's and Grandma's?  "My TOES are red!"  Anna, do you want me to take the paint off?  "Yes!"  So I did.  Pity--her little red toesies looked so cute.