Swinging. So much fun.
That’s paint on Phoebe’s face, by the way. We – that’d be me with all five kids in tow, my first real outing alone with all of them. (!) I’m very proud of myself – had a lovely excursion to the Minnesota Children’s Museum yesterday, and face painting was one of the many fun things that we did. Phoebe and Noah came home looking like Native American war heroes and Elijah and Zeke like baseball players.
Have you heard of/seen the new-fangled skateboard called a RIPSTIK? Oui? Non? (I need to brush up on my French. We begin a French foreign language course this fall. Exciting! Elijah and Zeke think that they’ll finally have a language to have secret conversations in the same way that the Portuguese speakers on campus do.) A RIPSTIK was all Zeke wanted for Christmas this past year and a RIPSTIK he did get.
As soon as the snow cleared this spring Zeke started practicing the wiggling maneuver used to propel himself on his RIPSTIK. He soon found out that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. He fell…a lot. But he kept at it. And fell a lot more. His elbows took the brunt of most of his collisions with the sidewalk. Ouch. Me? I would have given up.
But finally – like overnight – Zeke figured it out! Now he’s cruising all over campus. I love this picture of him doing a U-turn and the concentration evident in the tongue curl.
Of course, it simply would not do for Zeke to have a skill that Elijah didn’t have, so now Elijah is determined to figure out the RIPSTIK too…
Boys…everything’s a competition.
Now could all three of you look at the camera? Just once. And smile…or at least not look weird. Please?
Not gonna happen.
(Hmm…I wonder if “Yumm-O” is copyrighted?)
Well, I’m no Rachael Ray, but I love to cook. And bake. And be inventive with food. And be artistic with food. Living with five rather picky eaters (well…I guess Ellie isn’t picky…yet ) has squelched all of this a bit; having peace at the supper table has trumped being adventurous with food for this season of life.
However, last evening we had this delectable treat for dessert, and it was a winner…
Oh my. Who knew how easy it was to actually make shortcakes? It’s so easy! You must try…
1/3 cup of shortening
2 cups flour
2 T sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
3/4 cup milk
Heat oven to 450. Cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until just blended.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Gently smooth into a ball. Knead 20 – 25 times. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with knife into 6 wedges. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Split shortcakes horizontally in half while hot. Spread butter on split sides. Fill with strawberries; replace tops. Top with strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.
(The baking and enjoying of these shortcakes was bittersweet, though, I must say. I used my last bit of Canadian baking powder in them. 
Would any of my Canadian readers like to send a care package?)
What better place is there to watch a game of football catch anyways?
Yes, school…let me explain. For the past couple of months Noah has had the privilege of attending a Christian Montessori preschool (for free!). There is a training centre right here on the college campus, and recently they invited children between the ages of 3-6 to attend. It’s a beautiful thing. The students in the training centre have real, live children to “train” on, and my kids are learning about everything from geography to prayer to sewing. (Yes…sewing!)
So…now that Phoebe is three and potty-trained she can go with Noah! How cool is that? She was so excited today, and it was so cute to watch them walk over together. It’s literally a stones throw away from our front door, too. Well… depends on who’s throwing the stone, I guess. 
Well, first my littlest baby turns nine months old and then – like, the next day – my other baby turns THREE! It’s almost too much for one week.
Phoebe had a birthday fit for a princess. We had a party for her last evening with some other little princesses and princes. Here she is waiting for all the royal guests…
This was her big present. She hopped on and started peddling like a pro. It was very cute.
Here, also, if you’d like to take a peek, is a little slideshow that we prepared for “Phoebe’s 3rd Birthday Ice Cream Cake Social.” (Dave came up with that name for the Evite – makes me giggle.)
