Candles and Cartography

We gathered at my parents' home today to celebrate two August birthdays:

 The Queen Mother (my grandma) and Princess Anna.

Only one candle left, ladies!  You can do it!

Daddy helped Anna with her ball o' presents.  Each layer of wrapping paper they removed revealed another little gift.  It was fun to watch (and to unwrap, no doubt).

The kids also enjoyed helping Papa make a map of one of the battles in the Book of Mormon.  Papa read verses from Alma 43, then the kids drew arrows to show which way the armies were moving.  When they wrote the names of the armies' generals, Joy pointed out that the Nephite army actually had two commanders: Captain Moroni and the Lord.

Celebrating Four Years of Anna

We celebrated Anna's fourth birthday this week!

We sang her the Super Long Birthday Song . . .

. . . then she blew out four candles on her dessert of choice: ice cream.

Anna's favorite gift of the day came from her big sister.  Joy loves to give gifts, but she often forgets to make or buy something until the last minute (or later).  Today was no exception, so as celebration time approached she Googled "homemade gifts" and found a recipe for homemade play dough.  She made it with a little help from Mama, and tinted it pink (Anna's favorite color).  Anna loved it.

Rock, Paper, Paint

Joy's rolling out her newest line of merchandise this week:

Painted Rocks, which she painted over the weekend. 

Here she is today with her sales assistants (Daniel helps spot potential customers; Anna charms them by being guilelessly sweet).  It probably won't surprise you to learn that Joy sold out of the rocks (except the one she gave to Daniel) and most of her paper airplanes.  Incidentally, the little white spot on Daniel's chest is a tooth-holder necklace containing the tooth he lost at school today.  It was his room's first in-class tooth loss of the year. :)

Back to School

It's Joy and Daniel's first day back to school!

Here's Joy with her teacher Mrs. Huls, who is an unabashed Angels fan.  Joy's wearing flip flops because she hurt her big toe a few days ago.

Daniel arrived at his first grade classroom to find that his classmates include a boy he knows from Primary . . . and a kitty cat. :)

As for me, I didn't realize how draining summer vacation had been until I went home and spent the morning with just TWO kids (one of whom doesn't even talk  yet).  I can't wait to go to the grocery store tomorrow!!!

Two Tuffets, a Spider, and a Monkey

Anna likes to watch nursery rhyme videos on Starfall.com, and lately she particularly enjoys Miss Muffet.  She has even taken to acting out the story.

Since we lack a tuffet and a spider, she makes do with our rocking footrest and an inflatable monkey.

Run away!

Inspired either by Starfall or Anna (or both), Joy decided to act out the story with her toy Creeper.  She even made him a tuffet . . . 

. . . and a (very friendly-looking) spider.

Creep away!

Pool Party

We hosted a pool party for a friend's son today.  She expected that about five people would come.

A few more than five showed up, but hey, the more the merrier, right?

Even Daddy got in the pool, which Joy thought was awesome.

Hey!  No squirting the photographer!

Can you identify the spot on the pavement where I sprayed sunscreen on Anna?

A Hendrickson Summer Day

It's hard to believe that school starts next week.  It feels like summer just started.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say that we've gotten really good at enjoying summer vacation just as it's ending.  The first few days after school let out, the kids kept complaining they were bored; now they're finding lots of activities to fill every day.

This morning Joy coached Anna on how to play chess . . .

. . . then the kids explored some of the roads less traveled on our block . . .

. . . and scooted on their scooters . . . 

. . . (under the watchful eyes of Joy's Creeper) . . .

. . . and showed me some of their favorite "secret passages."  I'm glad my kids find creative ways to have fun, and that they like to do a lot of those things together.

Our Friendly Neighborhood Caped Crusader

You might not believe this, but . . .

. . . we met Batman at the park today.

He's actually a pretty friendly guy--not dark and brooding, the way he comes across in the movies.  He's also a lot shorter than I would have expected.

Caftans and Casseroles

A couple of friends from church hosted a "Caftans and Casseroles" sixties-themed retreat at a cabin this weekend.

They sewed caftans for all the attendees . . .

. . . and teased our hair up in fab styles.

It was one hip party, let me tell you.

This morning we played a version of Taboo using dozens of things from 1960s pop culture (many of which I'd never heard of before, because I barely caught the end of the 1970s).  Fortunately, there were three rounds (each with slightly different rules) and we used the same terms each round, so by the last one I was able to keep up with the more experienced players (it helps that I majored in lightning rounds).

And, at some point, Tina's hairpiece ended up on the wooden dear above the mantle.  Groovy, Baby.