Piano Recital 2015

Kaity and Joe have been working hard on pieces for their piano recital, and today was the big day! Since the recital was in the early afternoon, I decided to invite our family to come to lunch beforehand. And since my birthday was yesterday, I made some of my favorites like chicken cordon bleu and these scalloped potatoes with leeks.

Joe impressed everyone with his performance of "The Rage Over A Lost Penny" (Beethoven)

Lovely Kaity captivated her audience with "Minuet in G" (Beethoven) She chose this one as a nod to "The Music Man".

Here's the whole crowd!

 While the big kids were inside eating cake and celebrating at the reception with their friends, the rest of us went outside for an impromptu photo session.

My beautiful Granny - Jo Floyd, with little Lauryn.

Four Generations

Bobba and the little girls.

Lovely mother and daughter.

Love in Black and White

And a little color:

Peebo & A Pillow

I know, it was rookie mistake. No mother of four has any excuse for what I did. But I did it and I paid dearly: I gave Lauryn her plate, then sat down to read a book while eating my own lunch. Ten minutes later ...

Here she is scooping up more of what she endearingly calls "peebo", which when translated is peanut butter. She could eat her weight in this stuff. And as a bonus it also works fabulously as a moisturizer.

The application process: a delicate procedure, to be sure.

And now, to moisten it.

Yeah, little Ryn got a bath before naptime yesterday.

We have lots of fun playing with the toddler in the house. This is her "angry" face, which she makes because it causes all her people to laugh at her. She only can only hold it for a second or two before she grins at the reaction of her audience. Kaity was so excited to capture the expression on her phone's camera.

Earlier today Lauryn was sitting next to Daisy, fascinated by the sight of the cat drinking water. I explained to her how cats' tongues are rough and that allows them to lap up water. She listened politely to my lecture, blinking her big brown eyes. And in an eventuality I should have foreseen, I later found Lauryn down on all fours, face dipping into Daisy's water bowl. I would have taken a picture, but my laughter startled the little "cat" and she looked up at me, water dripping from her chin, grinning like crazy.

And speaking of messes, Kaity snapped this shot with her phone today, too: Selah said, "I brushed my teeth with pillow!" She was pretending the pillow was her face.Clearly she is her mother's daughter, the silly goose.

Mother's Day 2015

The weekend before Mother's Day I spent a couple of days with my mom, so this Saturday was spent with Jeff's mom. We went up early enough that Jeff could cross a few things off his mom's to-do list, like taking care of their burn pile and setting up her water fountain:

Cheryl's adopted chicken Henrietta and her friend Rooster Cogburn.

 Selah loves to play dress up at Nannie's house!

Lauryn and Daddy playing ball.

 

Jeffrey

Lauryn knows just where Nannie keeps the snacks!

 The cousins, bonding over electronics as always.

Actually, Kaity was drawing things for Sarah.

Aunt Paige helping Lauryn with her shoe.

Skeptical Jason is skeptical.

Jacob and Joe, just a swingin'!

We attempted to get a good picture of the cousins, minus Jackson and Raegan, of course.

This was the best one I managed to capture:

Just Like Mommy

Lauryn plays with the little kitchen all the time. Part of it is simply that she is her mama's girl and wants to be wherever I am at any given moment. She is so sweet stirring her little pots and pans. She'll bring the spoon over to me to taste what she's cooking. Last night I baked oatmeal cookies and she kept bringing me her bowl so I'd put more raisins in it.

(And I just realized - again with the pajamas! In this case it was 8:00 p.m., Lauryn had taken a bath and was dressed for bed.)