Life These Days

Several weeks ago at The Book Thing, the girls scored about 30 Boxcar Children books. They are little mysteries--adventures had by these four siblings who are orphaned (seems the best recipe for a good children's adventure is to remove the parents--have you ever noticed the glut of orphaned children stories? But I digress...) So I love that they are enjoying reading. In our bed:

In one of their Secret Hideouts:

I used to dream about having a house that looked like it could be in a magazine. Now I just hope that, when our girls think back on their childhood, they can appreciate that I spent so little time trying to make our house look like it could be a magazine.

We're totally into collections. These were from a local playground:

I have to remember to bring BAGS to the playground. Our pockets were ripping at the seams. (The rocks are sorted by color, I think.)

I was working at one end of the dining room table and suddenly thought, "From this perspective, the house looks so tidy!" So I took a picture. One quarter turn to the right would have revealed the kitchen...best left to the imagination. And yes, those are Christmas cards. I decidedI am going to leave them up until I write a nice note of thanks to all the people who were kind enough to send them. That is why it is late April and they are still there.

Evie lounging on our favorite piece of custom furniture: the wonderful bench Dad Blackman made to house Alan's music equipment. Made to fit under the entryway window, it was moved into the dining room when we got our Christmas tree. But it looks so GOOD in the dining room, it has stayed. (Kind of keeps the Christmas cards company!)

On Thursdays the girls have piano lessons about a mile away. So 75% of the time we walk--using our almost-too-small-for-them Burley stroller. They take turns riding. Like their thrift store animal print coats? We're in a phase.

Speaking of phases--here is Amelia on her crutches. I still think it was brilliant of Alan to buy them for her. It has drastically reduced the number of times she "hurts" herself to allow her the freedom to pretend to have a broken leg.

More collections. This is Evelyn from our Easter beach trip collecting pine cones. We brought them all home in a bag. And another bag full of sea shells. Love the nature collections.

That's life these days! It's good. :)