At the park

She is close to walking, but not there yet. She cruises along furniture and can get where she wants to go very quickly. She can safely go up and down stairs so our baby gates are open again.

A modest dream come true

I've wanted a herb garden for years and finally have a small one! I grew this basil from seed and the rosemary was a gift from a friend that I divided. It has been so fun to have them and I hope they continue to live.

Happy music

There was a band organ rally in the park Saturday. We went in the afternoon and enjoyed some music. We saw small hand-crank organs, a big one with percussion that sounded like a brass band, several older organs that had been used on steamboats or in movie theaters, and one calliope.

Henry was admiring the old car that holds this organ and was offered a chance to sit in it and honk the horn. Here is the calliope.


After we had visited all the instruments we bought a bag of popcorn and checked out the carousel horses that were on display.

Art in the afternoon

The big kids spent a happy hour coloring outside.

Outside

Liisa spent a day dividing my irises last Fall. I was grateful then, but am even more so now!

Nora's Fifth Birthday

We had our decorations up all day. Helena approved and had much to say about them. Nora and Henry helped make cupcakes on Tuesday afternoon and the we decorated them in the morning. The kids at play group sang to Nora and everyone enjoyed the cupcakes. There was a near tragedy when Henry's foot mashed Nora's cupcake as he was sitting down, but a new cupcake appeased the birthday girl and Caleb generously accepted the damaged cake.

At her 5 year Dr. visit Nora was deemed healthy, with good vision and blood pressure. She weighs 36.5 lbs (16.5 K, 30th percentile) and is 3 ft. 4 in. (102 cm, 20th percentile) tall. She had two shots and didn't cry or fuss at all.
Nora requested egg salad pitas, pasta salad and glazed carrots for her birthday dinner.There were lots of presents to open from family and friends, including her first accordion.It's good to be five.

Kitchen 4:30 pm

The dishwasher is running, there is granola in the oven, and Nora is rolling out tortillas for dinner.