Memorial Day 2009*

(*Warning: this post probably contains too many pictures)

We had a fun time up in the canyon on Memorial Day.

Malachi was a tiny man. (See his rugged camping shirt?) (I think he looks like my brother Philip in this picture; I'm not quite sure why.)

He thought the campfire smoke was really funny, for some reason. I thought he would complain when it got in his eyes, but instead he laughed.

Ky kept himself very busy gathering up every rock in the vicinity and presenting it to me or Sam with great fanfare: "OCK!" (Not to be confused with "guck" [truck] or "kock" [clock])

He also thought he could hike uphill and downhill and anywhere he pleased (anywhere his brothers went), and he did pretty well, for the most part. He wasn't too bothered by his falls, anyway. I think he liked being able to go off on his own like a big person.

He thought this muddy hill (above) was a slide, and kept trying to inch himself down it on his bottom. (Didn't work---not quite muddy enough)

I don't have as many pictures of Abe and Seb because they were off in the woods exploring (and playing The Gunnywolf, they told me) most of the time. They loved going off on their own and climbing things and collecting things and so forth (not unlike Ky, come to think of it).

They did find time to bring me several dandelion bouquets, though. Our sweet boys. We love them.

It's hard to hold a monkey

Funny

• We had a jug of milk on the table that was about 3/4ths full. Sebby asked, "What is a gallon?" I pointed to the jug and said, "This much is a gallon." Then Abe interjected---"That's more like a 'gibbous gallon,' don't you think?"


• Sebby words: "iceburgers" for "icebergs" and "hand appetizer" for "hand sanitizer" (both food-related . . . hmmm . . . coincidence?)


• Malachi was saying, "kock! kock!" for "clock." Sebby told me, "Mommy, he says it just the right way, except he forgets to say the 'w'!"

Win-win-win

One of Sebby's jobs is to transfer the diapers from the washer to the dryer, and start the dryer going. He LOVES the washer and dryer (especially the dryer vent---it opens when the dryer goes on), he loves the smell of laundry, he loves warm clothes, and he loves sorting colors and handing me the clothespins and gathering up hangers to put on the clothesline. So he's a good little helper.

The thing is that Malachi really, really wants to be a good little helper too, and Sebby is not always pleased to have Ky's help (especially when it consists of undoing what Sebby has just done). But lately Seb seems to have decided that a supervisory role is just as fun as an active one, and here he is happily instructing Ky on the finer points of diaper-drying.

Seb is very careful to make sure Ky does everything right.

And when they're done, Seb shows off the dryer working to Ky as proudly as if he were personally responsible. And Ky is just as delighted as if he'd never seen it before. And everyone is happy. (Including me, having just been saved bending over to do this myself!)

Backyard flowers

Our backyard is just about done, and it's looking really nice. Everything is still kind of new and puny-looking, of course, but it improves upon closer look:

Herb garden---everything is still pretty small, but growing. My lettuce garden is in another raised bed like this. Tomatoes, zucchini, squash, onions, and peppers are in our plot at the community garden down the street.

And I'm excited to see how everything looks next year as the plants start spreading and getting bigger.

Lilies of the valley---coming along. We hope they'll spread over this whole area eventually, as my mom's have at her house.

These are from Mom's yard. SO pretty.

And lastly, these. Not from the yard (although I do have a yellow rosebush), but so beautiful!

A few more playground pictures

Whee! (I love this picture)

Abe can do anything on the playground now. He's fearless.

Sebby is a bike rider now! Soon Malachi will take over the trike.

Malachi is pleased to be climbing things like a big boy!

Aht-da

Ky loves to go outside. He stands and the door and says pleadingly, "Aht-da? Aht-da?" And he loves to play at the playground with his brothers. He thinks he can do everything they can do.

Another of his favorite things to do is bring rocks over to show me, and say "Ock!" (Sometimes he also wants me to give the rock a kiss.)

At this playground, which had sand on the ground, Ky kept getting sand in his mouth, causing him to spend much of the time making "blech! blech!" noises, sticking out his tongue, and trying (in vain) to clean his mouth out with his sandy fingers. He didn't seem to mind too much, though.