This baby

can pull herself up to standing. This is a skill that none of the others had until they were much older. Slow down, Penny.

Nora draws the kids.

Helena, Nora (seated), Penelope, and Henry.

Nora's Seventh Birthday

Nora stretched her celebrations over most of the month of May. We had cake and presents when Anja was in town, another cake with Liisa, and then her actual birthday. She opened her package from Grandma first thing in the morning. A new dress! And a book and an embroidered book bag. Grace came over a little later. They played for a while and then everyone designed their own pizza. Grace's had a cute topping face, Henry's had "a pile of cheese, " and Helena only used cheese and olives. After lunch Nora opened the present from Grace: a tent for Violet! She went camping immediately. They had tea outside in the afternoon. Mimmu and Iso joined us for dinner. There were presents before and after. The menu:

Beer Bread
Henry's Favorite Chicken (teriyaki)
Potato Salad
Glazed Carrots
Roasted Aparagus
Sparkling Lemonade

And a Finnish strawberry layer cake topped with a "7" candle for dessert. It was a very happy birthday.

Wienermobile! (Part three)

We got another chance to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. I am ridiculously fond of it. The mobile hot dog is 27 ft. long, the biggest it has ever been. No whistles this time, but they did give out stickers. Always blue skies inside the Wienermobile. Mark got to see the original Wienermobile at the Henry Ford museum.Haven't they grown since the last time we saw it?

A Fun Saturday

Now that we've become regulars at the Great Prosser Balloon Rally, we thought we'd check out another balloon festival. We tried to go see the hot air balloons in Walla Walla, but it was too wet and there was no lift-off. Sad. So we asked one of the volunteers for a restaurant recommendation and went to breakfast.Henry believes that each piece of toast deserves its own pack of jam.We headed back to town and the girls and I got ready for a Mother-Daughter tea that our church put on. Nora loved everything about it. The food! The friends! The coloring books! The fashion show! The favor boxes with the candy in them! It was lovely. Henry spent the time with Mimmu since Mark was on his way home from Washington, D. C. They threw rocks in the river, saw a snake and lots of snails, and had a doughnut.

First time fishin'

Anja and I took the three big kids to the local youth fishing day. Mark was supposed to take them but he had another engagement. They stock the pond with trout raised by high school agriculture classes and some from a nearby hatchery. We know very little about fishing, but fortunately there were helpful volunteers that taught us how to cast, how to properly get the worm on the hook, adjusted the drag on our lines, set the weights at the right depth, and, when we hooked a fish, showed up with a net. They also cleaned the fish for us.Nora got to reel in the line to her heart's content. We caught one fish on Henry's line. He showed it to everyone we met that day. The kids ate it for dinner and declared it to be delicious. The shirts they got were also a big hit. It was a successful trip and everyone is looking forward to next year!

Nora lost another tooth

This one makes five that have fallen out. This tooth had a much shorter turnaround time. She bit into an apple at lunch and noticed it was loose. It fell out just before dinner.

Field trip: Fire station

We went back to the fire station we visited two years ago. This time they took us around the ladder engine and showed us its features. We saw the small compartments where extra air tanks are stored and the different tool lockers. The jaws of life look heavy. One of the firemen turned out in his gear. When a call comes in they aim to leave within a minute and a half and that includes getting on the 70 lb. suit. They drove the engine out and extended the ladder for us. It is 105 ft. long! The truck has four stabilizing legs that come out before the ladder goes up. We also got to hear the siren.

What's up there?

'Nelope is curious about what is going on above her. She pulls up on her knees to look and reach for things. She's the first of our kids to do this very much. She hasn't figured out how to get all the way to standing yet, but it could happen.

The bee's knees

Our neighbors keep bees and they invited us over to see inside the hives. We sampled some honeycomb and saw empty frames and the honey extractor.It was so interesting. Bees are amazing. Each kid donned the bee veil and took a close look at one of the frames. They did a great job staying calm and not startling the bees. Aren't the hives cheerful looking?