Archive for June, 2009
gideon turned five last friday. he’s so big. just ask him. it’s gut wrenching. but that’s okay, i still have my little, pirate kitty. and he says he is never going to get big.
if you can’t tell we had a pirate party (cake courtesy of antie piolet 
). sometimes i think that kid is a little ocd. when he goes for something he goes all out. for instance, this was his birthday wish list; sword, canon, machine gun, grappling hook, pirate cutlass, pirate dagger, pirate shield, a buckler, bow and arrow topped off with a request for full body armor. he particularly specified that the canon should shoot balls of fire. uncle reuben built him a potato gun and called it good.
after a picnic dinner we had a treasure hunt at the nature center. it lent itself perfectly to the task; with curving paths, streams, bridges, fish windows and rocks. all surrounded by “jungle”. it worked kind of like cattle chute that sent all 17 rabid treasure hunters in the same general direction. at first i was kind of wondering how i would design a treasure hunt for 5 year olds, but no worries. here is the video of the final conquest:
more about “pirate party“, posted with vodpod
and here i am with me pirates. girl had the cutest red striped overalls and red, crab robeez, but you can’t tell because it was freezing and we had to bundle her up. sheer waste of cuteness.
the weather was a real tease, i was quite irate. but things seemed to work out fine in spite of the almost rain and lurking thunderclouds. instead it just supplied a little extra electric energy for the children. which they really needed after all that cake, ice cream and chocolate money.
here is gideon unpacking his loot. which, among other things, did include a grappling hook from my little sister. “oh, i have one of those,” she said. so she wrapped it right up. and reuben made them all swords with blades out of white oak with black walnut handles, jael bait included. (she can hold her own and if you make her mad she’ll just bite off your leg. i think we’ve created a monster.)
boy and our friend sonia hid all the clues (little sections of map closed up in mini treasure boxes). this was my favorite where they put it in plain sight on the other side of the creek and all the kids rushed at it like lemmings. the law was following close behind though and reeled them in. shucks.
grammy sewed gideon a pirate suit for the big day. he’s so spoiled it’s ridiculous. his other grandma ordered him climbing rocks for an 8 foot climbing wall that we are going to install on the fourth of july. judging by the dexterity with which he climbed a 10 foot chainlink fence at the softball field the other day, i think he will enjoy it.
and it does look like i should cut the hair off the pirate kitty. is it just me or is he looking a little too cute? meh. i can live with that.
this is girl in her fun, little appliqued top kandi made her.
she just took a slip and stitched layers on top, adding felt elephant and turtle pockets and pom pom fringe for craziness.
the best thing is that it looks better the more you wing it. kandi loves the character of abandoned hand stitching. and i’m sure grandma’s everywhere roll over in their graves at the thought, but it is kind of fun. sewing machines are so uptight.
but i suppose it is kind of painstaking. it’s always a better plan to get your friends to do it for you. in fact i think i showed up at kandi’s door with the plain, white slip in hand and said, “hey, this is for you.” it’s a shame she took off and moved to indiana. now what?
and it will probably be another two weeks before i do it again. i’s busy baby. but here i am with my red haired boy on our way to church. i made him wear a tie. he looked so sexy i had to take his picture.
before he got home and put on his six day old pants and that ugly shirt with the three naked guys strung up in a tree by elk with guns…
that’s it, i’m outta here.
we have the loveliest catalpa tree in our backyard. it started blooming the other day so i had to run out and take some pictures before it started to fade. i think the tree is the only reason boy actually bought this house. he likes trees a lot more than he likes houses.
which might be why he spent most of last summer up the tree, instead of in the house with me and my paint brush. but now that the poor thing is trimmed and watered it seems much more optimistic. here’s a before picture so you can see for yourself. it’s much happier now and much less white trash. (and by the way, we have a lawn now too. )
plus it makes the best shade. it couldn’t have been planted in a better spot. we would be miserable without it.
what a good tree.
i found this walking this morning. i had to capture it before it passed it’s prime. roses hit middle age fast. let that be a lesson.
