Impersonating Dali

Happy Name Day, Kateri!

Mohawk milk cake garnished with lilies to celebrate the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks.

Chipper

Cousins at the fair

From Bernadette, a Prayer and a Puzzle

"Mama, last night when I was in bed I promised Mama Mary and Saint Bernadette that I wouldn't hurt people anymore. Because we are not a hurting family."

"Mama, what is your shadow made of?"

Park play

Royals game

Fireworks

Climber

Caterpillars

This one requires some explanation.

Yesterday morning Matt attended the funeral for one of his high school teachers.  The kids, of course, are also very much aware that my grandfathers died recently, and they remember when Betsy's sister died last year. So death has been a topic in our house; therefore, I hope Mom will understand and won't mind that I am posting this sudden announcement made by Bernadette before bedtime prayers last night:

"When Grandma Anne dies, I will sing a song. A special funeral song. It's called, 'Dead, O Lord.' "

Smoke bomb

Only person to get burned by fireworks? Me (Matthew), of course.

Absurdities

1. According to a sheet entitled "What's Your Superhero Name?", which Isaiah brought home from summer story time, we are the Peaches. (It's based on initials, so we all have the same second superhero name.) I am Professor Peach.  Matt is Night Peach. The kids are The Phantom Peach (Isaiah), Doctor Peach (Bee), The Powerful Peach (Kateri), and The Invisible Peach (Mara). (Because Matt, Mara, and I have the same first initial, he and I used our middle initials to determine our first superhero names. Try to keep up.) The result was that the kids and I spent an hour this afternoon hunting down and defeating the evil Doctor Broccoli, who is intent on destroying the world's peach tree orchards and replacing them with broccoli farms. Once he was vanquished, we dove without a pause into the Wild Fruit Fight. My job was to hang The Powerful Peach upside down by her ankles, which maneuver activated the peach-juice-firing mechanism in her belly button. (The rest of us, The Phantom Peach explained to me, fire the juice from our eyeballs.) I simultaneously had to duck lemon juice bombs being dropped from above by the Apples. I don't call that fighting fair. Thankfully, just as I was growing exhausted, The Invisible Peach needed to nurse, which meant I got to sit down. When I was exhorted by The Phantom Peach to get up and flee from our enemies, I explained that The Invisible Peach's invisibility extended to me while I was holding her, so no fleeing would be necessary just then. To my delight, The Invisible Peach proved to be just as exhausted as I was, so I put a Spanish video on for the older three Peaches and lay down with her. I'm pretty sure I was asleep before she was. At the end of the day, then, MY true hero was Mara. I mean The Invisible Peach.

2. In the library bathroom, the bottom of the door is covered by a very shiny, highly reflective sheet of metal.  Mara banged her head into it about six times today, trying to crawl forward and make contact with that other baby.

3.  I walked into the girls' room tonight to check on their progress in the assigned task of getting ready for bed.  I was greeted by Bernadette in her underwear (no nightgown in sight), explaining, "Mama, Kateri is trying to take my jewelry, and if she takes my jewelry, I am going to pinch her.  If she doesn't take my jewelry, I won't pinch her, but I am just freaking out about all of this."

Baby Faces

T-ball

Growing

She picked out the clothes, requested the hairstyle, got the Cheerios from the cupboard, and served some to Mara in her highchair.  "Am I growing?" she asked.  "All the time," her mother said.

Ready to drive

At the game

"Hat"

Bernadette

At the supper table one night...

Isaiah: "Who do you want to be when you grow up?"

B: "I will stay Bernadette."

I: "But what do you want to do when you grow up?"

B: "I will just marry somebody."

I: "But you have to have a job!"

B: "No.  I don't want one.  I won't."

At the book store in Kansas City...

B (holding a book about how to plan the perfect Disney princess-themed party): "Liz, do you like Disney princesses?"

L: "Sometimes."

B: "Do you like them right now?"

Upon finding a My Little Pony mug for sale, she had a question for me, too.

B: "Mama, will you buy me my first coffee mug?"

Epilogue: Neither the book nor the mug was purchased, but we had fun anyway.

Mara naps

Isaiah speaks into the fan.

"It sounds like it's chopping up my voice and twirling it about before flinging it out the other side."

Not enjoying the ride

"If I had known how fast that was going to be I would not have used my ticket on it." This was the year Isaiah decided to take on bigger rides. Swings were good. Tempest was not, although he didn't puke. Afterward just seeing other spinning rides made him queasy. He even had a hard time eating funnel cake.

Enjoying the ride

After the parade we rode some rides.

Parade

Candy? We got candy at the Hanover Days of 49 parade. At one point they were jumping up and down in excitement yelling "they're throwing candy AND toys!" It was beer cookies, but close enough. We got candy, a tshirt, two frisbees, cookies and sunscreen. Not a bad haul.

Here's looking at you kid

Ladies who lunch

Bring out the good china.  It's a tea party for lunch while Daddy and Isaiah are fishing.

At the Nelson Atkins art museum

Knight a disappointment because he had no sword.

Here we had to move quickly because the large outdoor yoga group wanted to take a picture (after everyone checked their phones to see what they missed while doing yoga).

Deep Discussions

During morning lessons, we read a story about one friend who stands alone against the others when they want to steal...

Mama: "Sometimes people know something is wrong, but they want to do it anyway."

Isaiah: "Yes.  For example, I want to kill Bernadette."


In the afternoon, after hearing a Bible story, Isaiah looked thoughtful for a while...

Isaiah: "Mama, sometimes things happen the same way twice."

Mama: "Like what?"

Isaiah: "Like how I always get fries at the bowling alley, even if I order a corn dog instead of a hamburger."

Morning

Sylvia shares her doll

At cousin Sylvia's house

Guess the team colors.

Isaiah's description of his first T-ball game: "We were like nine ketchup bottles that decided to settle a quarrel with nine mustard bottles by playing ball with them." 

Two more days

They had cake for mom today, and she only has two more until she's retired.

Look what I found!

Like a cat. Chasing the ball.

Thrift store hats

La Ligament

Kateri with a look Italian soccer fans would recognize

Celebrating Betsy's birthday and retirement...

on a new deck, with lots of old friends.

Fiesta or siesta?

Mara takes a snooze, but Sylvia is ready to socialize with The Carr Family & co.

You've got a friend in me.

Sleeper

Saturday ride the train!

Chilling at Pete and Magda's

Self-painting

The Quotable Bee

(Tightly embracing Kateri while walking backwards): "You're the princess and I'm the queen, and I am dancing with you so that the prince doesn't bite you."

(Playing with Isaiah): "I am NOT a pterodactyl police.  I am a pterodactyl lady with money."

(Marching purposefully through the living room): "I am off to find money for Isaiah.  He loves to have money.  Lots and lots of money."
Mama: "Where do you think you'll find money?"
"In the laundry."
Smart girl.

(Bringing me a glass bottle that recently contained maple syrup): "This is empty.  We can recycle it or smash it."

Before the day begins