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.