What pattern is that?

Here is a beautiful photo of my latest project by my friend Laurie, who kindly said I could use it on my blog.  I made this quilt, a friendship star, for Shanda, who is adopting this little boy.  We held a shower for her, and we brought our favorite picture books for his library, which was appropriate, since we are all in her book club.

The Rainy day readers, and we are awesome.

What play are they doing this time?

I just watched the end of Moulin Rouge and had a good cry.  I love that movie very devotedly, and I'm having a little bit of a hard summer.

But Molly and her theatrical pursuits always cheer me up.

Lovely Erin, camp director makes sure Molly has Ancient Greek-style sandals

Every year, our children participate in the Backyard Broadway drama camp.  I can't express how much I love it.  This year, the impresarios are hosting it three times, and Molly is doing the camp every time.  We have been participating for 4 years now.  Roland sat out last year, but missed it, and will do it again one time this summer.

Associate director Anna fixes Molly's toga

This session the play was Jason's Quest for the Golden Fleece.  Molly initially wanted the lead role (who had a solo), but when she tried to sing the song for the part, she didn't really know it already.  She felt sad, and I sympathized, but explained to her that:

If she always played the biggest part, no one else would want to come to drama camp.

I also felt consoled that the lead female was Medea, who is the worst mother in all mythology, which is quite a distinction.  The ugly details of infanticide were left out of the script that Erin wrote, but still!

Instead she played her second choice Pollux a twin daughter of Zeus, who is one of the Argonauts.

She was excited, because Pollux gets a few laughs.

She really seems to be emoting here!

The musical choices were fun.  The kids sang 'Hey, Hey We're the Argos!' to the tune of the 'Monkee's song.  They sang "With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal" from Pirates of Penzance which was pretty cute and funny as they were loudly trying to steal something from some king or other.

Almost all productions at this venue seem to involve some sword play.
 Molly's comedic timing seems to be improving, as she started one of her lines 'Aww...Group hug!' while there was still some commotion on stage, so she waited a beat, and repeated it for maximum laughs.

And then the batteries died.  So...the end!

What does Jack say?

He said 'Dad' first.  He says 'Mom', mostly yelling it if he wants more food or to get across some barrier.  We've heard him say 'What dad?' and 'Hi'.  It's also sounded like he's said each of the other children's names once each.

The baby gates are up again.  That was a fun 6 months.

What are you up to?

Sometimes I think that the big kids are way nicer to Lillian than I ever was to my much younger sibling, Lindsay.

 Wesley told me, "They're dogfighting in the back yard."

Yep, a bunch of planes were zooming around back there.

Is anyone doing something for the Willis family?

The dads, Wesley and Steve, and the babies, Jack and Truman

So my sweet friend Hilary called me, and wanted to know if anything was planned to say farewell to our longtime friends and neighbors.  She threw and open house and lots of people turned out to say goodbye, and wish them well in their new home.

Alicia and Barbara with a slightly late baby gift.

Roland and Orion posing for a picture

Paige and her mom

Lillian and 'My Ian!' as she calls him

How would you like your hair?

Uncle Brad is the most patient of clients! 

What fountains did you mean?

So I took my kids to the park with fountains.  Some of them had a great time.  One member of the family thought I meant a different location, and got even with me by refusing to have a good time.

 I love to see any sibling affection and care.

Jack is getting to the age where he cries if he thinks we are going to go somewhere, and then don't.

Lillian just laughed like crazy when the fountains started at noon.  She never got that wet (it wasn't particularly warm) but she loved it so!

Molly was a great sport, and got dripping wet several times.

Roland chilled with Jack for a long time.

So for a lunch time, I was a good mom to 3 out of 4.  Pretty good for me.

Does it fit?

Lillian tried on this old dress of Molly's.  Still too big.  It is really one of my favorite projects though.

What does a handmade gift cost?

One chocolatey mess made while I was sewing!

Do you like puppet shows?

The lovely library produces wednesday shows for us beleaguered parents.  Today the offering was a puppet show "Rapunzel Redeems Rumplestiltskin".  The kids enjoyed it, I narrowly avoided a parking ticket that I had nearly brought upon myself by feeding the wrong meter initially.  Lillian really liked it, laughing when the crowd laughed, and Jack crawled around looking cute.  We took a couple extra kids (all that the van allows).

I tried to get a picture of the kids in a row from my perspective, but had to give up due to baby wrangling.

Last night I went to lovely Katelyn's bridal shower.  I bought some spices for her kitchens, and decided to make a couple placemats to add to the gift.

I loved that fabric when I bought it for my first quilt.  It was fun to make something handmade for a shower, because I usually don't.

Where are the kids?

My big kids went to their Great-grandpa's hobby farm in Gateway, Oregon for the Fourth of July Weekend.  It was awesome for them and for me!

The kids are always in the Gateway parade, it's a tradition.  Molly is in the back of the truck.  Seeing her adoring public.  She's looking pretty beat up, her eyes were really bothering her, she desperately needs her bangs cut, and her shirt is filthy.  But I'm proud she's mine.

On Molly:
She is a great help to me around the house and with the kids.
She is really kind and friendly
Her report card was like a love letter
She is a confident performer
She is nowhere near as mouthy as I was
She is very loving
She is physically brave
She is long suffering
She is a requirement for me!

Want to come to a girls' night?

Since my workload was a little lightened yesterday, I wanted to do something fun. 

Lillian and I made Strawberry napoleons and stuffed mushrooms. 

Several girlfriends came over and we talked and laughed like crazy.  Topics included

• Vomit
• Dishes
• Poop
• Boyfriends you had treated badly
• Having a new four year old in your family
• What happens if you always want to pee standing up
• My Name is Earl

I have truly been sorry to be having a very good friend move away, but it is comforting to know I do have many amazing friends, who even seem to like me back.

Are my kids still over there?

I hear this question often from Paige and Orion's dad.  These four are pretty fun to have around this summer.  They can spend hours doing apparently (to me) nothing, and they are in that Summer groove where you play outside all day, no matter the weather.  They cheer when I bring out lunch or snacks, and devour foods ravenously.  They make their own fun.  I overheard Molly telling Roland "Yeah, Paige kidnapped me and turned me evil, so I chased Orion to kidnap him".

We are starting to have the kind of summer I'd really hoped for.