Five!

Our birthday guy, Mr. XiXi!

As is typically the case at our house, the guest of honor was not on their best behavior on their big day.  

Too much excitement, too much sugar,

Too aware that their mother would most likely not put them in the Time Out chair on their birthday,

for goodness sake.

But he pulled it together for his requested dinner of spicy noodles with bok choy, garden strawberries, and stuffed mushrooms.  And of course he was an absolute angel come present time.

His littlest big sister bought him a PlayDough milkshake set,

Rose and Bruder went in together on a remote controlled car,

biggest big sister bought him a pirate set,

and Mom and Dad gifted him with a Hot Wheels garage.

His sisters decorated his peach cake with various cars and XiXi beamed for the birthday song.

Happy birthday sweet boy!  We love you to pieces!

(and tomorrow, if you repeatedly stick your dirty feet in your sister's face to make her scream, well, your free pass is over!)

The Birthday Girl

Our beautiful Rose had a birthday and as per tradition, she posed with the Autumn Sunset rose. 

She's 11 now, will be starting middle school in the Fall,

and is growing up so quickly.
I can't believe this picture was taken only last year.

Rose is our middle child and is so dearly loved by the teenaged crew and the littles.

Everyone worked so hard to make her birthday special.

Rose is our writer and is always on the lookout for cute new notebooks,

which she'll fill with stories that she rarely lets any of us read.

And being the tween that she certainly is,

she was thrilled with the refurbished I-Pod from her big brother.

Something about seeing her with earbuds makes her look closer to the teen years 

than I want her to be!

Happy birthday dear Rose!

We love you!

It Doesn't Seem Long Ago

That this young man was 

a nervous kindergartener.

It doesn't seem long ago

that he was a chubby baby.

It dosen't seem long ago

when he was our only child,

and Lyle looked barely out of high school himself.

But then again, it doesn't even seem that long ago since this,

but I suppose the hair tells a different story.

We are so proud of our son.

It goes by in a heartbeat.

Concrete Raised Vegetable Bed

We have a concrete theme going on around our house.   

We've made concrete flower beds

and entry walls.

 We've stamped concrete 

and carved concrete

and this weekend Lyle was back at his concrete mixer once more.

The wood around his raised vegetable beds was falling apart, so in his quest for something sturdier, concrete fit the bill.  He first made forms

and then lined the forms with crinkled tin foil

and then hired the kids for some manual labor.

When the concrete had set for a while, Lyle stuck in some copper receivers so that he could put in tubing later to train some vertical growers if the urge strikes him.

The girls crinkled tin foil to press on the top.

and while it hardened up a bit, a cute kid ran down and posed for a picture 

(not necessary for this project, but a nice addition),

And they waited and waited.

The forms came off, and we did some carving with rebar,

And Voila!  

We have a raised concrete bed.

Only about 10 more to go.

Oh, the Places He'll Go

Despite the indignity of the pink and purple bike, 

someone's feeling pretty pleased with himself.

Last night we took off his training wheels and let him loose on a local track

where there are no hills or obstacles,

and a grassy area to roll onto in case of trouble.

But there was no trouble.  

In typical XiXi fashion, 

he just jumped on in and accomplished his goal.

Mark my words.

This kid's going places.

Progress on the Franklin Front

He's nine months old. 

And will still happily de-stuff the kid's stuffed animals.

Or dig up a newly planted garden bed.

Or chew and destroy various household items.

BUT, do you see what I see here?

That's Cholita walking Franklin.

Cholita, who weighs about as much as a beach ball.

Do you notice how Franklin's actually walking behind her?

Not dragging her down the street.

Not chasing after a stray cat.

He's following!

And that, my friends, is progress!

Look What the Dog Drug In

My first thought was, 

Umm, has anyone checked on the goats recently?

But nope, all goats present and accounted for.

The mysterious skull was soaked in bleach so as to examine it further.

And we do not have a clue.

Something tiny, yet horned.

Indigenous to the Pacific Northwest.

Unfortunate.

I don't believe our golden retriever killed the mystery animal.

Franklin's too slow,

too mellow,

too inexperienced in the thrill of the hunt.

But he sure did seem proud to have found it.

Along with prehistoric-looking skulls, 

the Spring weather has also brought out the modern-day equivalent to cave painting:

Driveway chalk graffiti

XiXi got tired of making rays on his sunshine and gave up, leaving an amoeba-ish blob that 

I find very modern art.

Cholita chronicled her Dad's journey, on bike, in Sunday clothes, to deliver eggs to our neighbors......with Franklin following along.

Cholita has a new name for her older brother.

We have no idea how she came up with it,

But for whatever reason,

to her, he is now "Jelly Bean Man".

And what do you get when you have a colorful chalk driveway?

Well, a colorful, headhunting golden retriever,

of course.

A colorful, headhunting golden retriever

who's been in trouble about

oh......5 times today.

And it's just past lunchtime.