Memorial Day photos

Our friends came over for a little evening "bread and cheese on the lawn" and took some photos of the girls with their digital SLR and portrait lens. Wow! Neat pictures - makes them look almost as cute as they are in person. Thanks for the photos P & C.

Sofia likes to take care of the bird feeder.

Hollow Trees

Here is Maia (with Sofia and Chris in the background) listening to her favorite band, The Hollow Trees, at the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest and Bluegrass Fair.

Saturday in May

I'm using a different way to post pictures, so you don't have to scroll down anymore to start "at the beginning" when I post multiple pictures at one time. You were scrolling down to start at the beginning, weren't you? Anyway, today Chris spent the whole day fixing the CV joint boots on my car - what a guy. I mean really, he is pretty awesome. Here he is:


And here is the old boot - hmmm, that doesn't look good:

And lastly, here is our little lefty. It may be a little early to be sure, but it seems that Maia prefers her left hand. Why is that so exciting to me? So that we can both enjoy trying to cut a straight piece of bread with a serrated knife and then try to butter the darn thing with one of those annoying right-handed butter knives?

New knitting

I saw this scarf on Needlebook's blog and decided to try it. After several starts, I think it's coming along nicely (albeit different from hers)... Thanks for the help!

Rody rider. 

Some of the fellows. 

All the little people after brunch today. 

"Grandma, I drew a "sssss"! 

Happy Mother's Day! 

We're planning a chalkboard, cabinets, a play sink and maybe a bench, but for now, it has a roof. 

Progress on the new playhouse. 

Playing at the Satwawiwa hut afterwards. 

We went on a nice walk with Petra, Chris and Matthew this morning. Chris had the camera so here I am... 

Did I mention it is going to be red? 

Oh my goodness, what happened to the princess playhouse?!?!? We're working on building a little playhouse that isn't so pink and purple and plastic.  

And there she is singing... this is the third little show they've put on and the first time that Sofia sang. It really is adorable the way some of them put so much feeling into their singing, while others just stand there. After the singing, the children served there mommies lunch that they had prepared. It was very nice. 

Today at school there was a Mother's Day luncheon. There is Sofia front and center. 

And in bird related news, this is our new bird feeder, courtesy of our nice neighbor. This is the view out of the window at my desk. Sofia spotted a male hooded oriole taking a sip, but he was too fast for me to get a photo. I'm happy they found the feeder so quickly though.  

Sliding at the park. Maia can do this on her own, but Sofia loves to be big sister and hold her. 

Here is a better view of the beak, which is key. I think I've got it now. I was wrong - not the oriole, but another cool bird.

Some more hints - here it is shown on the finch feeder next to some female purple finches - it is much bigger. Also, its breast is peachy-yellow, which is why I thought of the orioles... 

I stalked the bird a little more and got this slightly better picture. 

Another shot.