612

That is the number of items I have to download from my camera. I'm not even sure how to approach a post based on 612 photos. And that's only one camera. There's still the spare, and the video camera.


There has been an interesting assortment of momentous occasions recently, with more to come. Just this week Violet was in her first gymnastics show, she graduated from preschool and we had another (final - phew) IEP meeting to determine the future of her kindergarten career. Plus, we will shortly be going to her best friend's sixth birthday party, and we will leave on Friday for my brother's wedding, where Violet will be a flower girl, get her hair done with the ladies and have real nail polish on her fingers and toes.

So I think what you will get here is just a mish mosh of my favorite pictures with no running narrative to link them into something bigger than themselves. You will just have to use your imaginations to see how these all connect into the bigger picture that is our life. I have faith in you.

Stella makes princess crackers - cashew butter and sprinkles. And the princesses all feast on them. Or something. Please notice each princess has both 'slippers' on. Thanks, Mama.

Stella is every bit a princess. She adores throwing tea parties.

I know I'm biased. But she really is just beautiful.


Little House on the Prairie, eat your heart out.


Chef Stella makes a guest appearance at the Children's Museum of Maine.

In Violet's world, this place is called "New York Wild Kingdom". It used to be called "animal signs", so we're getting there.


Stella and Isabel's favorite part was undoubtedly the ducks. A fist full of food for a quarter.

Newly minted graduate. How cute is this.

Can you spot our favorite girl? On her right is her best girl friend, Cayden. On her left is another best girl friend, Alayna. Of course you all know that Evan is her best best friend. There will be a quiz later.

I am eternally grateful for the devoted, loving care that Jen Lang gave Violet at Bear Hugs. She is an amazing teacher, who treats all her kids like they have special needs - because in her eyes, each one is special and deserves to be treated according to their needs. Special needs kids. I don't know where we would be today without Jen.

Stella has been in gymnastics for a year. She loves it, and often during the week will ask for her 'eee-oh-tad' and go to 'imasics'. That's leotard-to-gymnastics for the uninitiated.

When Violet started gymnastics, she couldn't even follow the group for 10 minutes without wandering off. Now look. Look at the concentration.

She loves gymnastics. Look at that smile.

What we've been up to

Well, Jason had a birthday. I can't remember how old he is now. The girls decorated a cake for him. It was a vegan red velvet cake that I thought, with the exception of the decorating, left a little to be desired. But vegan cake is better than no cake at all, isn't it?

We've been playing outside. Stella was working with me in the garden the other day when she stopped, looked up at me and said "Big helper." Practically crushed my heart, the weight of love.

Lately, Stella's favorite activity is mailing letters. Is there anything there?


Yes! There is!


Maybe I should deliver it again.

It goes on like that for quite some time.

Here's something else that goes on for quite some time.


Violet is turning into a fantastic hula-hooper. She just keeps going and going and going with her thumbs in the sky. She's so cute while she's doing it. I'll have to take a movie.

And then, there are the things little girls just - do. Violet informed me that we are not allowed to pick the dandelions in the yard anymore so they can make seeds and we can grow more dandelions. Our yard doesn't have enough.


Auntie Tiffany came over the long weekend. Of course I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have, much to Tiffany's glee.


But it was a nice, relaxing weekend, and the girls had a great time with her. Can you tell?

Now I'll leave you with this little speck of cuteness.

Paint

Much like her big sister, Stella loves paint. How cute is this progression?

Our House

We've been lucky enough to have a carpenter around for the past three weeks. All those projects that Jason and I started and never quite finished? Well, they're still not finished, but they're MUCH further along. Unfortunately, the rest of the work is for me, and it includes a lot of nail hole filling, priming and painting. That doesn't sound like much, but last Saturday I primed the mudroom and painted the mudroom and bedroom ceilings. It took me the entire day. No kidding. The entire day. I'm not complaining, mind you. I'm thrilled that the mudroom is almost finished. I'm thrilled that the bathroom is almost finished. I'm thrilled that the bedroom is almost finished. I'm thrilled that the hall is almost finished. You see where this is going, don't you?

Here is the bathroom. A sink! We haven't had a sink in two years. Unfortunately, there is still not plumbing in our sink. But I have hope that the plumber will come back - someday.



Also in the bathroom - closets! With doors! Here, there used to be one door to access the shelves with great difficulty.

"Hellooo!" says Stella from the new bathtub. And now we have a shower, too! Okay, in all honesty, a shower we'll be able to use once I put up a curtain.

The old tub. See that bad closet? This was after the floor had been improved greatly.

The door now opens the right way. Hooray! It's a little thing, but it makes life so much easier. And to think we only waited 7 years to fix it.

This picture is for Karen. See the bi-fold doors? Those go to the laundry room you and I built three years ago. Or was it four years? I only wish Mike hadn't pointed out to me how great it would have been if the laundry room had been under the stairs and the bathroom had opened up to where the laundry room is. Whatevah. We don't want to make this place too nice or anything.

My new favorite part of the house. Closets in the hall. Our house had exactly one closet before, if you don't count the closet in the bathroom. Now we each have a closet. Mine will soon be chock full of fabric and yarn. It's blissful to have a place for fabric and yarn. Or rather, it will be blissful as soon as I get the closets primed and painted.

Wedding Girls

"When I grow up, I am going to marry maybe Evan or maybe Stella but I don't know which one." - Violet

I think I have mentioned that my brother is getting married this summer. Violet is going to be a flower girl, so I had to put double the effort into choosing Stella's attire. It was actually a whole lot of fun to browse online for her dress. And even better - no matter which one I chose in the end I knew she would be absolutely adorable. Sure enough, she is.


When Violet saw her wearing the dress, she immediately ran upstairs to get her own red dress. The dress that belonged to my mother when she was about 6 years old. It was made by a seamstress in Japan when my mom loved there.

So they had a little red-dress-band. They look a bit like the Partridges, don't they? Much cuter, though.