Blackberry Cottage and How To Enjoy Spring

We have some thornless blackberries climing up arches in the back garden box. Then Daddy dumped a small hill of extra dirt in the front of that garden box. One set of blackberry arches, plus one dirt hill, plus some old boards, plus some random rocks, plus Mary's imagination and you get Blackberry Cottage.

Those are steps, leading up to the front porch (held down on the corners by rocks).

It has all the comforts of a cottage. Rock mosaics...

A wooden plank floor and interior shelf for dishes...

And a patio set for snacks.

(Blackberry Cottage photoraphy courtesy of Catherine.)

Edie loves inspecting all the flowers blooming in the front.

Doesn't she look cute, sniffing the flowers?

It's a trick! The second you turn around, she will snap it off and run away (that's an unsanctioned tulip in her hands).

She was apparently born with an ant-stomping instinct. She sees an ant, she stomps the ant.

And she **loves** airplanes and helicopters. Every time she hears one, she will point and shout "MAMA!" until everyone within earshot acknowledges the flying object.

Mary made this dress from material lying around. She's getting pretty good at the sewing machine, and at designing without patterns!

Speaking of sewing machines, the girls were working on a project for Grandma, making some new bean bags for a game. Sewing bean bags involves sewing a straight line around three sides, which is a nice beginner's job, so when the boys said they wanted to help, I had them take turns pushing the pedal and guiding the fabric. Right after Michael finished one, Edie needed a diaper or something so I told Gussie it would be his turn as soon as I got back. About thirty seconds later, I heard from the sewing room, "It's ok, Mom! I finished one for you by myself!"

And then we learned about "seam rippers".

Anyway, the recent rains have made everything nice and green outside. Thankfully, we have lots of neighbors who don't care to kill the dandelions.

Or cut their clover fields.

Happy Spring!

Where'd It Go? (Video!)

This is maybe my favorite thing that Edie does right now. Anytime someone or something is missing, or you ask where something is and she doesn't know, she gives a huge shoulder shrug and confused face that makes me laugh out loud every time. Now she also likes to play a game where she hides something, asks you where it is (shoulder shrug included), and presents it with a big "ta-da". It's one toddler game that I actually never tire of.

Gymnasts

Once a month we go to a drop-in gymnastics class. The kids all love it; I think Catherine in particular would love to go all the time, but this will have to do for now.

There's a lot of chalk dust in the gym so sometimes by the end Catherine starts to feel asthma symptoms creeping in and has to step out for fresh air, but even with the crazy high levels of allergens and mold in the air right now, she actually made it through the hour today without a problem. I think her favorite parts are the trapeze and the long trampoline that ends in the foam pit. She was able to pull herself up to sitting on the trapeze today, and she loves doing front flips off the trampoline into the foam pit (sorry, I barely caught the end of her flip here!).

Michael and Mary love the trampoline runs and the climbing.

Michael made it to the top of the rope and was able to ring the bell hanging from the ceiling twice today!

Gussie has only been participating on his own for a few months, and he's getting a lot more comfortable with listening to the coaches without me. He was excited that he jumped in the foam pit on his own today and he loves swinging on the trapeze.

I used to have to try to entertain Edie in the viewing room, and by "entertain" I mean "keep her from darting out into the gym anytime anyone opened a door," but they started setting up an area in the corner of the gym for the toddlers to clamber around and she loves it! Her favorite thing today was walking on a high balance beam (just outside the toddler area - oops), but no pictures of that because both of my hands were on her. But I'm starting to think I need some sort of containment system like this for home:

Except she could climb right out of that. But there was a taller one filled with balls that kept her happily trapped for a while!

Edie Bug Extras

Oh, this girl. I have a hard time putting into words what it's like to be in charge of her well-being right now. Basically my brain is always on the edge of a cliff, one because she will not focus on the same activity for more than eight seconds at a time so following her is like trying to follow a hummingbird around, and two because if you lose track of said hummingbird the chances of her being in mortal danger by the time you relocate her are great. Also I'm beginning to think her hearing is extraordinary, because no matter where she is in the house, if a door opens she runs for her shoes (screaming "Mama!! Mama!!), if the fridge opens she runs for a plate (demanding "Mama!! Mama!!), and if the bath water turns on she starts stripping off her clothes (stomping her feet and yelling "Mama!! Mama!!). She still will not use any words consistently other than "yeah" (which means yes) and "mama" (which means someone get me what I want right now) but the lack of common language is not hampering her ability to communicate at all. A couple days ago she was screaming "mama" at me while I was reading a message on the computer, and when I didn't immediatey look her direction, she walked up, put one hand on either side of my face, turned it toward her, and demanded "mama" again while dropping a cup in my lap. Girl was thirsty, and "will you please help me put some water in this cup" appears to be a ways off.

But she is also endlessly entertaining, and she really likes hats right now.

Hat that was mine but Catherine and Mary have been wearing a lot, which means it was lying around somewhere; car in one hand; some random food item in the other; Mary's shoes.

I have a feeling she is going to spend a large part of this summer pantsless.

She also recently learned how to build tall block towers, probably because everyone else in the house got tired of building them for her since she always stomps or swipes them over right when you're in the middle of building them up.

But she still sleeps on me with smooshy droopy sleeping lips.

And she recently started initiating her "I love you" game instead of just repeating it, which is off the charts adorable. This morning I was in the kitchen and she was pulling at my shirt and jumping up and down and wedging herself in between me and the cupboards in order to push me away from the countertop, and when I could finally put down the pot and cup in my hands and dry them off and squat down to talk to her, she broke into a smile and raised her little pointer finger up and gave me her "I love you," complete with a very long and high "you" squeal. Then she tackled me.

Some Cousins

The kids are all super, super excited that Aunt Kristin and family will be back in St. Louis come Fall. They popped in for a very quick visit a few weeks ago, so I tried to grab a picture mostly so Dema doesn't yell at me. :)

Julian was the only one who would give my camera a second look, but don't worry, they'll get used to it once they're here for a bit.

Springtime Odds 'N Ends

We have been making good use of our Botanical Gardens membership this Spring. Other than a small scuffle between my kids and some garden workers over the need to wear shoes in the Gardens, the kids all love it and have a great time whenever we go. We even made it in to see the orchid show! This one is still my favorite.

Apparently it was still quite cool when these pictures were taken. The girls were out with Daddy so I only had the younger three with me on this trip. Edie loves *all* the fountains.

And she loves smelling flowers.

Incidentally, she also loves picking and crushing flowers, so much vigilance is required for a trip to the gardens.

So sweet when she has a bench to occupy her...

Of course she immediately tried to climb onto the back of the bench and walk it like a balance beam. Because, danger.

But Michael was there to keep her safe (in snow pants, obviously).

This was before he went for a hair cut (also obviously).

All of the kids spend a lot of time riding bikes right now. Gussie said he wants to switch to a pedal bike and we have one his size, but he hasn't been willing to put in the wobbly practice necessary to make the switch. He does pretty well at keeping up with the big kids though.

Tower Grove has also been a lovely place to spend time the last few weeks.

Don't tell the park rangers you saw this.

This isn't five kids in a tree. You're seeing things.

And this tree isn't in Tower Grove - we would never climb the trees there! There are dozens of this highly unusual angled tree trunk all over the city.

Nope, still not a boy in a tree.

Edie has discovered the joy of baking: butter.

 Just dig right in there, darling. Your brain needs the fat.

Happy Easter!

Yes, I'm woefully behind on life. La-dee-da.

A good friend was confirmed at the Easter vigil at our church this year, so for the first time I braved going to that mass with the kids. You know, the one that is several hours long. And starts at 8pm (aka bed time). I talked myself into it with a foolproof plan: leave at 7:30, which means Edie will fall asleep in the car on the way, wrap her up before going in, she sleeps the whole time so I have a hand each for Gussie and Michael, girls are fine, everyone's happy. Except Edie was only 3/4 asleep when we got there, and only 7/8 asleep when I wrapped her up, and the Easter vigil starts with everyone in a big crowd outside and the lighting of a large fire, at which point she was 100% awake. So she spent the first 45 minutes of the mass in that over-tired but over-stimulated state in which she can't get to sleep and just randomly stretches, stiffens, slides off my lap, and shrieks loudly. Fun! But after she fell asleep it was mostly quiet in our pew, except that one moment when Michael fell asleep sitting upright with his legs crossed so that when he started to tip over he sleep-startled and all four limbs went flying out and he bonked sleeping Gussie with his fist and startled the two old women behind us.

Since we went to Saturday night church, we spent Easter morning at home. We made fresh fried cream filled donuts for breakfast, hid Easter baskets for the kids, and made and enjoyed our lamb lunch.

The week before Easter, the kids participated in the egg hunt at church (which got snowed out and had to be held in the gym) and another egg hunt at a friend's chuch that had way, way, way more eggs than necessary for the number of kids. Edie accidentally discovered the glory that is eggs filled with chocolate surprises at the first one, so at the second egg hunt her strategy was find an egg, open it, eat whatever was inside, discard egg, find a new egg, open it, eat whatever was inside, discard egg, etc etc. And since there were tons of eggs and no hurry, her strategy worked rather well.

Their Easter baskets at home were mostly toys but also some good chocolate, which Edie discovered immediately. This is basically the culmination of Easter for Edie.

I'm honestly not entirely sure why she's naked. I think maybe her pjs were wet when she woke up so I just dressed her for the day right away in her Easter outfit, then remembered we were having cream filled donuts and chocolate for breakfast and took it right back off of her. It was a good instinct.

Our traditional Easter feast family photo! Mary was holding Edie while I set up the camera and was happy until I came and stood behind Mary, so I picked her up and started clicking without realizing that she was tucked oddly behind Michael. Whoops! But resetting everything isn't worth cold lamb.

Somehow even though I had all morning, the kids melting down at various times meant lunch was late and we were late getting to the Easter celebration at Grandma's, which meant it was raining by the time we got there. So Grandma broke out some ponchos and garbage bags and the kids went egg hunting in the drizzle!

I think they liked it, but their favorite part of the day was the new zipline Grandpa put up in the backyard.

Catherine and Mary jumped right on.

Olivia had tested it out previously and was an old pro.

And Kali loved it!

Michael was hesitant at first, but as soon as it started moving he broke out into a mouth-wide-open belly laugh and kept it up the whole way down.

Catherine was tall enough that she had to work really hard to keep her legs from dragging on the ground, so after a couple times she tried standing up and holding on to the handle at the top.

A rainy, grey day means no great group photo of all the kids, but they were all there!

One of Edie's presents from Grandma was this bubble machine, so even though it was nearly bed time when we got home, the kids immediately had to turn it on in the yard. Edie was pleased, obviously!