Scooters and Trees

We took a little Memorial Day trip to the park this afternoon.

We only have two scooters at the moment (we plan to get a third before summer vacation starts), so on the way there Joy and Daniel scooted ahead . . .

. . . while Anna rode with Todd in the stroller.

She brought her helmet along, though, so she could take a turn on a scooter on the way home.  She also thought it would be cool to bury her shoes in the sand.

Todd navigated the jungle gym with ease.

Joy found it very easy to climb a tree . . .

. . . but kind of scary to get back down.  We eventually figured out a way for her to climb down, then I climbed into the tree to see if there was a better way.  By golly, that tree feels a whole lot taller than it looks when you're actually sitting in it.

Joy's First Post

Post by Joy:

Today our family visited the train station near our little apartment.

"What is it, Joy?"

"Oh, just a rolypoly that I brought along, Mom"

Peafowl and Painted Toes

Earlier this week we were driving along and saw . . .

. . . a flock (actually, the technical term is a "muster") of  peacocks and peahens.  It always feels like a treat to me to occasionally see these fancy-pants birds wandering casually around the city.  I snapped a few pictures on my phone, and then Anna asked to borrow it. I thought she wanted to photograph the peafowl, too, but . . .

. . . she just wanted to take pictures of her painted toes and her new flip flops.

Another Profitable Venture

Joy the Entrepreneur has found another novel way to earn money.

She built a jumping pad out of sofa cushions, and charged her siblings for the privilege of jumping on it.  At first I objected to the idea of her charging small children for an activity that is usually free around here, but then I figured if she took the initiative to think up this plan and the little kids choose to pay her, that's their choice.  Of course, I took great care to explain to Anna and Daniel that they could save their money for other things, like ice cream at the elementary school later in the week . . .

. . . but they decided that cushion-jumping was worth splurging on.  Anna paid Joy $1 that she received for Easter, and Daniel paid $5 because he didn't have any $1 bills.  They all had a great time jumping . . .

. . . until nap time rolled around.

Daniel's New Room and His Artistic Endeavors

It can be a little tricky fitting a family of six into a two-bedroom apartment, and until recently the three oldest kids have been sharing a room while Todd slept in a crib in Mama and Daddy's room.  A few month ago, we decided that wasn't working well for a variety of reasons, so we asked Daniel what he thought of sleeping in the storage closet.

We thought he might object (after all, Harry Potter wasn't a big fan of sleeping in a closet), but Daniel thought it was pretty cool to get his own room (bonus: it has a cool bar to swing on), and Joy was actually disappointed that she wasn't the lucky child who got to sleep in the closet. The whole arrangement has worked out well for everyone, but I'm still tempted to put up a sign in Daniel's man-cave saying, "Harry Potter Was Here."

In more current news, Daniel contributed his acting skills to Joy's Flat Stacy project.  In this photo, Joy had asked him to look sad that they were mailing big sister Stacy to go visit a friend.  Is his shirt cool, or what?

A few days ago, Daniel wrote and illustrated this sweet note for his kindergarten teacher.  Awww.

Princess Anna

A few Anna pictures, for your viewing pleasure:

After I put her down for a nap, Anna sometimes puts on a dress-up skirt before falling asleep.  In contrast to Joy, who kind of prides herself on her aversion to most girly things, Anna embraces princessy stuff.  When I change her into a nice dress on Sundays, she says, "Now I'm a princess!"

Princess Anna enjoys drawing.  She tends to write letters or scribble, then add additional layers of letters or scribbles on top of the previous ones.  Sometimes she says, "Look, Mama!  I made an 'A' for Anna!" and for the life of me I can't pick it out among all the other lines and swirls on the page. 

This evening, we took a picture of Anna to send to Uncle Rob, who is in the hospital following a motorcycle crash a few weeks ago.  We thought the picture might cheer him up because Rob and Anna are pretty close, and because it's not every day you get to see a little pixie in a princess dress, gigantic Minnie Mouse ears, and flip flops.

Second Grade Square Dance

The second graders at Joy's school have spent weeks practicing square dance routines to perform for their families.

Tonight was the big night, and here comes Joy's class, accompanied by their teacher.

The kids danced to several songs and did a great job.  They were encouraged to wear western clothing, and I did my best to explain to Joy that that meant denim and cowboy hats, but she insisted that she would rather wear her Sunday dress so she could curtsy properly.

Toward the end, the boys each got to select a partner from the audience to dance with them (most chose their moms), then for the next song the girls chose a partner.  Of course, Joy chose Phillip.

She sure loves Daddy. :)