Hanging out on our front door - she was outside, we were inside. This is Edie's favorite spider, she found it after all.
Pepper Party
Thursday, June 18, 2020
End of May activities
So long ago already! I'll try to get everyone up to speed.
Eric and the boys turned a log into an outdoor tortoise enclosure, intended to keep children from stepping on tortoises.
Edie had other plans.
Edie and John discovered the joy of talking into a fan. The fan was rotating so it was quite a circus!
Iron Man returns!
Panda Man adopts Iron Man as his sidekick!
Just a sullen Rhinocerose, the common name of a child x maple wing hybrid
More yard work - I removed all this sod with my favorite pick-mattock. Watch this space! Many exciting further developments planned! Boy did it agitate the neighbors to watch me moving earth!
Eric wheelbarrowed the sod out back and we now have a small sod farm going where we abandoned a mulch garden.
Edie did not want Eric to play the congas. Or maybe she didn't want many chocolate chips. Or maybe she wanted to put her baby's pacifier in her own mouth. It's hard to remember now what her grievance was, but I do remember that she was very grieved indeed.
In a happier moment, Edie gets her baby ready for bed.
One eventful day, the children were bathed and afterwards had some fresh pjs! Edie and her baby have the same pajamas!
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Happy birthday Eric!
We grilled some veggies for birthday dinner, and Edie took the opportunity to do a photoshoot.
And the chocolate cake was a big hit!
Monday, June 1, 2020
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
I'm in a Zoom meeting about returning to work...
What better time to post a few photos?
May showers brought some tremendous puddles and spawned a little green Edie-frog
But also a monster from another dimension seems to be coming through the ceiling now...some sealant has been applied to the roof and we think that will chase it off.
John and Oscar loved making wishes by flinging crabapple petals all over me
Eric ordered a pallet of edging stones and finally placed them all, uncovering an ant nest! (Not fire ants, of course, but John was very concerned)
Here you can see the stones at work - we're a little bummed we've been doing so much yard work and taking so few before pictures, but this is pretty good! You can barely see Eric hiding in the shadows with the pushmower.
I marked out a space for a gazebo and hung up a wreath Oscar scavenged from the neighbor's trash. And then of course I had to start weaving sticks and ivy through the string...so satisfying!
And then we remembered our canopy and we're ready to host a party! Right here it's a mud-pie bakery.
Oscar and Edie set up a picnic blanket that quickly turned into a car and then a train, and then sleeping bags
But the blanket got co-opted into perfecting the tent
John and I planted a packet of sunflowers - excuse me, sunsetflowers - and just transplanted them into the yard - one was a tricot!
They're all guarded by dixie-cup collars but somebody has already been coming by and clipping off their cots. The army is substantial so I expect a decent number of sunflowers in the end. I also planted some whole flax seeds from a bag I got at the grocery store by mistake - I usually get ground flax seed. They all sprouted too! The grocery store is a great source of seeds, it's full of fruits and veggies!
Friday, May 22, 2020
Sure beats working.
We're still here! The latest stay at home order ends on May 28th and we've been getting urgent emails from MSU about restarting work in the lab. It doesn't really affect either of us, especially since daycare and summer camp don't seem to be happening yet, but it's a change!
Baba Yaga sent us some wooden turtles and John and Oscar got right down to business. Oscar was very proud of figuring out how to make a heart.
One sunny morning we noticed that John's sparkly fish shirt, a Christmas present from Oscar, made beautiful sparkles on the wall. So everyone spent about an hour messing around with rainbows and sparkles.
I've been making lots of bread - there's no store bread that I love, and making it myself always makes me feel proud. Edie is a proud helper too!
And I figured out how to make my own dry yeast!
To a quantity of liquid yeast, add flour to make a thick batter. Let it rise.
Add cornmeal until it is a stiff batter and let it rise again.
Roll out flat, about 1/8 inch thick, and let it dry
Then I tested if it was actually still alive! Here's a chunk in some warm water
Not yet...
Ta-da! There it goes!
We're keeping it in the freezer like good biologists.
Some nights we play family Uno with Minecraft Uno cards from Gramma. Edie helps by not kicking over the discard pile.
It's hard to get up sometimes when it means disturbing such a cozy cat!
Oscar and Edie have been getting a chance to play together. Here they are making a house of magnets for Lamby.
After so much agonizing, Eric hung up a wire curtain holder for me in the clubhouse and I ordered some bright curtains to help give the room a different feel. It's a similar effect to putting up the tent but a lot less work! And now there's more of a play area on one side and a quiet reading area on the world's largest couch on the other side. So satisfying!
Edie is a devoted helper. Any chance she gets she will help, even if it means touching the dreaded vacuum cleaner!
All the Asterix & Obelix movies are on YouTube, or almost all, and they are big hits with the sleepyheads.
Good night!
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