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.

Summertime

Oh, what do you do in the summertime?

We go to the library to do puzzles . . .

. . . and read.

We also break out the sidewalk chalk (shoes were optional today) . . .

. . . or relax in the shade of the carrotwood tree.

Jamming with Red Grandma and Aunt Heather

 My mom, my sister, and I held our annual "jam session" today.

Homemade strawberry freezer jam has become such a staple in our family (Phillip particularly loves it on pancakes) that if our year's supply runs out before summer I'll make a batch at home to see us through until Jam Day.

It's more fun to make it with Red Grandma and Aunt Heather, though. :)

After all the jam was jarred Aunt Heather, Joy, and Anna went for a dip in the pool.  Good times.

Joy the Entrepreneur

Joy has wanted to set up a shop of some sort for a while now.  A few months ago she tried selling her drawings and some boxes of cereal in her room, but since no one knew the shop was there no one bought anything.  I explained the importance of a good location, and when school let out last week she started making plans to sell things in front of our building.  She even made a sign that read, "Joy's Shop."

This morning she decided that she wanted to sell an unused eraser left over from first grade.  I dubiously wished her luck, and she went out front to set up shop.  A few minutes later, Daniel came back in and requested 25 cents so HE could buy the eraser, but before he got back out front Joy sold it to one of the workers moving a neighbor's furniture.  Flush with success, Joy came back inside to get more wares to peddle.

She gathered some unused pencils, sold Daniel two boxes of crayons for 30 cents each, then headed back out front.  Before I knew it, she returned saying that an elderly couple wanted to buy a pencil, but they didn't have a quarter so they gave her a dollar for all four of them.  Considering that she paid nothing for any of the things she sold, that's a profit margin of infinity.  Not bad.

I Am Your Father

Happy Father's Day!

Four dads were invited into Primary this morning, where they dressed up in disguises and answered questions to see if the kids could guess who they were.  The dads' own kids usually managed to identify them, and sure enough, even though Phillip used a silly falsetto voice, Joy easily figured out that the guy in the red sheet was her own Daddy.

At home I commemorated the holiday by serving Darth Vader-shaped pancakes (complete with blueberry eyes), because Phillip has a deep, Vaderish voice and loves to tell the kids, "I am your father!"  Yeah, we're geeky like that.

After nap time we headed to my parents' house to celebrate with dinner and a few rounds of lawn darts.  Hooray for a devoted Daddy . . .

. . . a Papa who plays fun games and comforts us when we're sad . . .

. . . and G-pa, who is such a good example of dedication to the Lord, his family, and the principles of good character.