Shatto Dairy

Took the tour, the whole facility has expanded since we were there 6-7 years ago; had a picnic; bought some ice cream and root beer milk.

Praying Mantids

Z got a cup of praying mantid eggs -- two egg pods, each containing approx 50-200 mantids -- for her birthday. The directions said it could take 2-6 weeks to hatch, dependent on temperature, and yesterday one of them did (two and a half weeks from arrival)! I thought it was an awesome experience letting the mantids crawl onto your finger, either to lift them to a nearby branch or some would take advantage of a gust of wind and jump. The neatest part was watching them eat: one of the first ones I concentrated on caught and ate an aphid! Now we're eagerly waiting for the second one to hatch, and our butterflies to emerge from their chrysalises.

Glue Gun

Once he had it plugged in, he pointed it and said, "shoo shoo!"

14 Years

To celebrate, we had a quiet bike ride, just the two of us, around our neighborhood. We wrapped our camera around a street sign for this picture. 

Ice Cream in Waffle Cone

An extra special treat for a special occasion.

Deer

X spotted a lone deer wandering through our yard and called out, "Doggie!"
Me: Lu (Chinese for "deer")
X: Doggie

After some back and forth, and finally getting him to start calling it a "lu", he suddenly called out, "Donkey!"
Me: Lu
X: Donkey

After we reestablished that it was a "lu", X said, "Horse!"
Me: Lu
X: Doggie

Homemade Slippers

G and BB spent all afternoon constructing these. They sandwiched some cardboard in between some felt and a broken binder cover (purple). Unfortunately super glue leaked through and left those powdery white spots on G 's slippers, so they determined that hot glue was much better for their purposes.

Laundry Basket

I have an old photo of G, BB, and X piled into this basket. I wonder if it could be recreated or improved upon by piling all the kids into it.

Selfish

Newsie

Peering In

Three Oranges

Can you spot the three oranges that X stowed on the window blinds?

Three Little Pigs

Mother's Day

Girls made me breakfast in the morning, and then I had a much-needed, if sometimes interrupted, nap on the couch. In the afternoon Drew and I enjoyed mozzarella and cherry tomato wrapped in prosciutto and a bottle of amontillado. It also rained all afternoon/evening, at one point, during some of the heaviest rain, we all did a lap around the house. The girls thought it was crazy fun, and esp loved splashing in the gutter afterward. (That's why in the picture above everyone's hair is damp.) We finished off the evening with mushroom pizza and a Greek salad, and movie.

Buttonholes

Free Day 2016

Looked forward to for weeks, didn't disappoint, though G is starting to feel too old for the place.

En Garde

Wielding a long plastic stick:
X: I Zorro!