Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

I know I've gotten a little behind here on MiH, but for good reason. We have, each of us, had a virus of one shade or hue. It all started with Hans, who developed a wretched chest cold (which has me worrying like a mother hen because of his asthma--while he blithely ignores the fact that his inhaler has EXPIRED). Anyway, he sailored on through that for a couple of weeks and is just now getting rid of it. Then, as most of you know, William woke on the night of Annika's birthday party and started throwing up. Oh, little baby and toddler puking is so sad. Sad and messy, since they don't know how to control it. There's no hitting the toilet or a bowl or even a towel. Poor little chap. I pulled him into bed with me and woke every 30 minutes to his gagging, trying to catch it in a towel. Eventually we fell into an exhausted sleep surrounded by soaked clothes, towels, sheets, washcloths...I was about to start pulling T-shirts out of the closet. Next morning, he was fine. I had...

As usual, backwards and just for fun--skewed! Annika, last night, blowing out her candles with Jake and Roan on either side. The perspective from Will's end of the table. We had 16 kids and about ten parents. More shots from the party room... Nathan, Annika, Kiersten and Riley (and Charlotte peeking from behind). The girls with her are her classmates. Riley, Annika, Mikayla, William and Kiersten William on the inflatables--last year when I brought him to Jac's, I had to climb along with him. This time, he was like a spider--no problem climbing the biggest ones on his own (and no fear). Hmmm... whoever does he get that nasty pout from? Roan and Will "driving". I guess Will doesn't take kindly to riding shotgun. Weird that our child would want control. Our neighbor and friend, Michael. Also one of Annika's classmates. The birthday girl. She wore a dress! She let me curl her hair! Oh Lord, her hair is so beautiful and fun to style...I wish she'd let me ...

Pensive Will likes to take her food out of the bowl and feed it to her, piece by piece. I'm not sure if SHE likes that or not... Those soulful eyes... My favorite time of day...about 4:28 p.m. when the setting sun floods our little bay window and everyone is hard at work on something creative. Daddy's about to come home and supper is on the stovetop. Annika in the sunbeam. Her birthday party is next Saturday! Hello? Yah? Uh-huh! Really? Mommy? It's the lottery!