{pretty, happy, funny, real} April 15, 2016

{pretty}

I find myself wanting to talk about the weather lately---really wanting to talk about it, not simply as a way of starting conversation--because this weather begs discussion.  There were those few, exhilarating, balmy days in March, when groundhogs and seasoned New Englanders alike were saying that we'd have an early spring.  Then came the snows that ripped the better part of the forsythia blossoms off the bushes, and then the slow, grudging side-step towards spring.  Now we have sunshine, but things its still brisk, and there's only a little bit of green haze in the wood.  I'm surprised that spring isn't a little further on.

But here we have some pretty flowers in our flower beds.  I planted these bulbs last fall and fairly dote on them, visiting them each day.  They are few and far between.  Somehow, I didn't realize that one bulb produces one flower--so profound are the depths of my gardening ignorance.  I sort of thought one bulb might produce several flower stalks.  My bulbs are haphazardly scattered through the beds.  My mother-in-law is coming next week, to spiff things up, garden-wise

{pretty}

Tea parties.  

Three little girls, three tea preferences.

Let's enjoy the haircut once again, shall we?

Homemade whole-wheat cutter cookies, a tulip from the garden, Pomegranate Pizazz tea.

Miss Shell

I brought the Ikea kids dishes from the playroom to the kitchen.  This lead to several impromptu tea parties this week.  We gave ourselves special names.  At this occasion, Maria was Miss Shell, Pippa was Miss Pippa, and Louisa was Miss Challawalla.  These pictures look fairly civilized, but shortly after this, things got out of hand with the yogurt (don't they always!)  We read Reschenka's Egg as we had our tea.



{happy and funny}

My opera singer friend just started rehearsals for a production of Salome.  Her husband was out of town this week, so she needed somewhere to stash their brilliant, active boys during her Tuesday evening rehearsal.  We had them over for a sleepover.  It's wonderful when doing a little baby sitting for a friend makes you a patron of the arts!

A curtsey amidst the rubble. 

The girls were very excited.  As soon as the boys appeared, things got musical---well, if not musical, then certainly very loud.  Here are some pictures of the kids' band for their album cover.  I love how James looks every inch the melancholic artist, despite the hubbub that surrounds him.

The sleepover was great fun.  The boys introduced our girls to the charm of rice with catsup.  We introduced them to beet and blueberry popsicles.

We camped out in the living room and read the Silver Chair (book 4 of the Chronicles of Narnia).  Maria and James are entering the age when they can really get the Narnia books.  It was a wonderful thing to behold their rapt faces looking up at me from a tumult of pillows and blankets, and to go with them to the court of Cair Paravel.  Louisa and Dominic enjoyed the book, but didn't apprehend so much or listen so eagerly.  Understandably, they fell asleep first, while the oldsters, Maria and James, hung in there as Pole and Eustace embarked on their adventure.

My friend returned from rehearsal around eleven and James had just fallen asleep.  He had been keeping watch for her.  The boys have a chivalrous regard for their mother that pulls on my heartstrings.

So our sleepover went well!  The boys had a good time, but woke up raring to get home.  It goes to show---nighttime adventures are all well and good, but we all want a little familiarity when it comes to breakfast!

{real}

Birthday Bullying

My friends who have boys live in a state of heightened vigilance least their boys hurl themselves off high structure or manage to drop mattresses onto each others' heads.  For those of us with daughters, it's the social landscape that is fraught with the greatest perils.  Right now, birthdays are looming large in that landscape.

We've always  had a lot of talk of birthdays in our house, but lately, the talk has been getting out of hand.  Our girls, especially Lulu,  see their birthdays as zones where they wield absolute power.  This power may be wielded charitably, as when Louisa promises Pippa breakfast in bed and two treats from the Easter candy stash on her birthday.  But, more often than not, Birthday-girl power is used to mete out retribution.  This week, Lulu, in a fit of temper, told her her preschool teacher, KC,  that on her Birthday she may not have any jelly beans.  KC's replied that on her birthday, Louisa could have all the jellybeans she wanted.  Louisa, for once, was speechless.


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