They got the brilliant idea to gather up pinecones and plant them underneath the monkey bars.  They found the shovel.  They planted.  They watered. They have tremendous faith.   I had to put a stop to the digging yesterday afternoon, though, when I walked out and noticed that Mr. Sneaky…

The Banana has had another language explosion, and in the last couple of weeks she's really been able to put her thoughts into words and express herself more clearly.  She's a riot.  She has the most interesting commentary on her elder siblings' actions.   She still loves to be doing…

The black mayflies/giant gnats have arrived.  Every year in early spring they come out in droves, and they are the nastiest little biting bugs ever.  I can handle swarms of mosquitos, but these little flies bite so big they actually take a hunk of flesh out with them, so much…

I snapped this picture of a tall dandelion in our front yard just milliseconds before Mr. Sneaky Pants, in full knight regalia, sliced it down with this plastic sword.   The Banana is a big fan of bright yellow dandelions.  She loves picking them.  She loves smelling them, and most…

Gramma Gin and Grandpa Rudy came for a visit.  The kidlets had a great time swimming at with Gramma Gin at the hotel, and playing with their puppies.  But best of all, Gramma Gin brought with these huge boxes of craft supplies, packed with ribbons, and sequins, and stickers and…

Mr. SP was frustrated about the family lunch menu a few days ago.  "If a lion with a big fuzzy mane took care of me instead of a mother, I would get to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, lunch AND supper."

These images are pretty self explanatory, but I'm so glad to have them.  

We very rarely take spur of the moment trips out of town, but last Tuesday I tucked the youngest kidlets into their naps at 1:00 and suddenly thought of Bayfield.  I am off for a little break from teaching piano lessons before summer lessons start, and Dr. Peds had the…

I was cleaning up the kitchen and getting ready to cook supper on Monday night and heard a lot of racket from the living room.  I peeked my head around the corner and discovered that Sarah had organized the kidlets into a percussion ensemble.  They set up the large gathering…

Mr. Sneaky Pants hasn't been a big fan of puzzles.  He is easily frustrated, but lately he's content as a clam to listen to audio books (We've checked out Ingraine the Brave from the library AGAIN) and put together a bunch of puzzles at nap.