Summer Memories 2

More items from the vault to reminds us of warmth and sunshine.


Riding off into the sunset.



Ethan and Peanut on the trike with Kay in the background.



Sophia sneaking off to the house.



Peanut on the trike with Sophia dancing in the background and Ethan just passing through.

Summer Memories

I've gotten a few not so subtle reminders that I haven't posted any new pictures in a while so here are a few of the kids running wild in my parents' backyard at my birthday party this summer.



Sophia says: Don't mess with me and my ice cream man.



Sophia feeding Sis 2 with something (probably something already slightly chewed) with mom in the background and hubby bringing one of the boys back from an escape attempt.



Sophia and Ethan sharing an ice cream bar. That's Sis 1's hand and bright green shirt in the shot.



Isaiah caught standing still and looking in my direction while I had the camera.



Sophia purposefully striding off somewhere.




Ethan being cute for the camera.




Sophia trying to drown herself in the ice bucket. She was too short to actually get in the thing but Ethan and Isaiah were not. They ended the day by stripping and climbing in the thing while Sophia stood on the side and tried to splash in it. I'll post the picture of it if I can find it.

Puddle jumper

It must be a childhood rite of passage to go jumping and stomping in puddles. Here is Sophia's first encounter with a muddy puddle. She started out wearing shoes. When I found her in the puddle I handed her inside to hubby to take her shoes off and clean her up. He got as far as taking her shoes off before he got distracted and she went right back outside to the mud puddle.

Lip Gloss

Sophia's never met a shade of lipstick or lip gloss that she didn't like. In this case she found a brand new never been opened tube of Mary Kay downtown brown lip Gloss. She had previously gotten into a tube of lipstick that I had had since before I met hubby. She applied it to her face, hands, toes, hair, you get the idea. (Sorry no picture of this incident since I wasn't home when it happened.)

As you can see she's got some practicing to do yet. This episode taught us two things, Sophia knows how to open screw top containers and she's taller than we realised. I had thought that the lip gloss was far enough back on the counter that she couldn't reach it.

I made this

I saw this fabric in the remnant bin at the fabric store and it just screamed little girl's dress to me. So I tried my hand at sewing a dress for Sophia. Not bad for free handing it eh? All that's left to do is add a button in the back.

Camera boo boo

I found the kids playing with the camera earlier this week so this next series of pictures may be the last I get to post for awhile. I'll post the photos I managed to rescue over the next few days.

Flatware skills

Earlier today Sophia came running into the livingroom with a fork in one hand and looking back over her shoulder. Ethan came running after her trying to get his fork back. I settled the squabble that ensued (don't ask how because I don't remember) and they both went back into the diningroom. This is what I found when I went to check on them in the diningroom. Yes, my that's my boy eating rice cakes with a knife and fork. Sophia trying to pilfer whatever she can (she made off with several forks and the equivalent of one whole rice cake), as well as hamming it up for the camera.

Birthday pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from Ethan's birthday party. We've got Ethan diving into his birthday cake and enjoying his birthday lollipop while playing with one of his birthday presents. Isaiah and Sophia also enjoyed Ethan's birthday cake with homemade chocolate ganache (is that the correct spelling, the blogger spellchecker doesn't recognise it) frosting.

Happy Birthday

The birthday boy hanging out at school. 



This time I got him actually looking at the camera. 



Now this is the life! 



Getting to lick the beaters and the bowl from your homemade birthday. 

On the couch and on the porch

Here are the kids cuddled up on the couch back in February. By the intent look on all of their faces they are probably watching something staring Elmo. 



Sophia hanging out outside on Tuesday just before the big storm that made it all the way to the Berkshires hit. (All of that snow melted yesterday.) 

Spring is coming

In the past 30 or so hours since I took these pictures we have had a major lake effect snow event. It blew in off of Lake Ontario and reached all the way to the western Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. Schools and colleges in the north country around here either closed or had delayed openings. As I type it is still snowing. I don't know when it will stop. I checked on some of my flowers today and they are still hanging in there.

Winter aconite. This specimen is in my front yard near the end of the driveway. It is now covered under at least an inch of snow but that's okay because these little guys can take it. The bright yellow flowers are a big pick me up in dreary end of winter landscape.





Crocuses are also early bloomers and when you see them you know that spring is on its way. I have purple, yellow, and striped specimens in my front and back yards (none of the striped ones where up when I was taking photos).













Snowdrops. These from my backyard. I would have missed them blooming if I hadn't noticed the winter aconite and gone looking for what else was blooming.















Daffodils bloom a little later in early spring. These daffodils are in my front yard. Their flowers should open in another week or so. I have daffodils in other parts of the yard that aren't this far along yet though. The tulips that are planted along with these daffodils won't be in full bloom until April and May.

Fun with camera phones

Sis 2 took these pictures of the kids when she visited last weekend.



Bacon baby. 
Sophia's got a thing for bacon. All of the kids do. I've started cooking the bacon in the oven because they kept trying to take it out of the skillet when I cooked it on the stove top.



Smiley girl. 



Smiley guy. 



Say what? 
Getting Isaiah to smile on camera is almost impossible. This is as close as Sis 2 could get.