The Boxcar Children

Eirena is at the stage of acting out stories that she is reading (and coercing her brothers into her play as well). Lately she has been taken with The Boxcar Children, especially discovering "mysteries". Today she took a new turn: hoping to find a mystery among trash people have left behind. The 3 underfoots proudly carried their mysteries to our front porch. 

Dr. Daddy encouraged them to take it out to the back porch.  

the loot: bricks, planks of wood, a beer bottle, a cup, a bit of roofing, charcoal, a bit of string and a pipe

Tea party time

Eirena organized a tea party for all the important individuals around here. She made a list of all who were invited, a menu (popcorn and tea), dress requirements and even requested music (specifically that I play guitar, but since that wasn't going to happen she settled with a c.d.)

Obviously Fuzzy Bear was invited

And Pippin couldn't be left out of anything. Eskil either, for that matter. 

We had Dollie (recently renamed Cinderella), Panda, Adisu, Eirena, Fuzzy Bear, Eskil, Pippin, Charlie and  me.

Fuzzy Bear likes popcorn, but not tea. He shared his tea with Adisu. 

Weekend at Lees Ferry

Colorado River

Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River

Some people pay a lot of money to take mud baths...
my kids? they get it for free

squelch

hiking with Dr. Daddy in the Vermilion Cliffs

a delicate balancing act

this kid did some great rock climbing

In between this fun we kept about 40 undergraduate student plus faculty mostly well fed and hydrated. We went through 22 dozen eggs, 15 lbs of ground beef, 14 lbs of chicken, 12 lbs of pasta, 20 cups of rice, 18 loaves of bread, 5 lbs of green beans, 3 lbs of carrots, 2 lbs of mushrooms, 8 heads of lettuce, and MUCH MORE.

Nurturing

 Adisu isn't much for snuggling. Close interactions with us are a challenge for him. But apparently I stumbled onto something that is bonding for him and I: hair wraps.
He had expressed desire for his hair to be dyed pink and orange. But that would take a lot of work and hair bleach. So I tried to see if he liked this and as it turns out, he will sit patiently while I work on the hair wraps (high school was useful for something after all!) and then proudly show them off to everyone else in the family. Score one for nurturing hair wraps.

Of course, little brother wanted to get in on the fun too. I only have the patience for his wiggles to do one on him.

Our Summer

playing in boxes

making thrones (and crazy hair)

watching crazy thunder storms flood the yard

Matryoshka measuring cups are fun

crafts

swim lessons

and more swim lessons and splash parks

visit from friends

making ice cream

getting a little fixated on the Olympics

5!

When you get a helmet

and a shirt with a bicycle on it...

for your fifth! birthday!

then there might be a bicycle somewhere too.

Happy Birthday Adisu!

Jumpin' Jehosophat

On a bright, sunny day, the children were playing outside in their typical way: Eirena was communing with nature, Eskil was rolling with the ball and Adisu was kicking a ball to me. And then they got jumpin'.

First Adisu showed his physical prowess jumping high.

It looked like so much fun Eirena wanted to join in...

(I love the facial expressions and Eirena's hair)

And finally even Eskil took a few tries at jumping.

The Bubble Dance

pure joy