But is it art?

I called Margaret for dinner last night which usually results in her tearing down the stairs. Nothing.

In a few minutes I called again and got this response: "I can't come right now, I'm stuck."

Hmmm. "Do you need help?" (asked only because we are trying to get Margaret to tell us what she needs)

"Nope." Ok. I'll give her a few minutes...

A visit from a Butterfly

When we got home the other night a Monarch Butterfly came in the back door with us. We all gathered in the kitchen and watched it flying around. We had learned all about butterflies and the kids had been trying to catch one for several days on the wonderful "butterfly bush" we have in the back yard. But, they hadn't been successful.

After a little while fluttering around it landed right in front of Emily and allowed her to pick it up. Even with an open hand it stayed on her for quite a while. It went back to flitting around the room only to land on Molly's shirt. It stayed, flapping slowly and crawling up towards her face.

Margaret even got to give it a very gentle kiss before it left the kitchen and landed on the ceiling of the living room where it stayed until the next morning when we sent it back outside.

More pics here.

A Birthday and a Creek Walk!

For Elaina's 13th birthday party (the first celebration), Oma and Opa prepared a great picnic and we all went for a long walk in Little Sewickley Creek. Here are a few shots with a bunch more in the album here.

Happy Birthday Boof!

Here second celebration was a day with mom and dad at Kennywood, the amazing Pittsburgh amusement park. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jonathan joined us at the very end for some wooden roller coaster action. Sweet!

Don't trust the photographer

Flying Lessons

Do you ever have one of those days where you are convinced you aren't communicating very well with your soon-to-be teenager? You're pretty sure that what she's saying isn't what you are hearing and visa versa? Days like this:

"Hey, dad. Can I have flying lessons?"
"Um. Why do you want them?"
"Well, I just think that while I have the basics down, I am not sure my technique is as good as it should be."
"Um. What? The basics? What?"
"Yeah, I've got lift off and stable flight, but think I could be a lot smoother"
"What? Are you talking about a video game? I am so confused."
"Oh, nevermind."

Then one of the automated sentry cams comes back with this:

More Margaret

Yes, we let her out of the house looking like this...

Margaret's Outfits

Margaret (not quite 2½) changes clothes about every 17 minutes throughout the day. At least that's what it seems like. Here's one of her latest creations...

Meet Thunder

This is Thunder. Well, Thunder is kinda in the shot. He's the horse. Hard to see, but the photographer wasn't much interested in the horse until he decided to make Thunder the central topic in this post. He must have been distracted by the riders.

Anyway, Thunder lives in our living room, eats gluten free oats, and doesn't make a sound. His riders, on the other hand, seem to be everywhere, also eat gluten free oats and make a terriffic racket: "Hyaa!" "Giddyup, Thunder!" "Don't pull my hair!"

Poor Thunder. Although he's a mean, spring loaded, running machine, he never manages to go very far. Even with an hour of hard riding each day, he only moves a few inches one way or the other, and he works so hard for those few inches. His tyrannical riders never seem to give him a break and shout incessantly while riding. On occasion, his load lightens and a doll or stuffed animal hops into the saddle. But, mostly he's being driven by the little girls.

However, he doesn't complain; his new life must be better than living in that thrift store where no one yelled at him or spurred him to achieve all the wild inching he has accomplished in the last few weeks. And, he's now valued far above the $6 that we paid for him.

Sled Ridin'!

We have the greatest yard for sled riding! It's steep at the top to get you started, has a long straight stretch where you can build up speed, a tree at the bottom just to keep things interesting and a solid fence at the bottom to catch you. What more could you want?

First Show!

Not much to say:

MOVING to PITTSBURGH

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted anything, but things have been a bit on the busy side. Here's a brief summary:

• Our time at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center has drawn to a close. We will miss everyone there tremendously.
• We have sensed God calling us back to our roots in Pittsburgh and have moved in order to follow that call.
• We are living with my brother in Bellevue for a month while job and house hunting.
• We are quite happy and at peace.

More as we know it...

Happy Birthday Molly!

4 years old!


Turning Four
by Elaina Sadd

My little sister is turning four.
I hear her friends knock at the door,
To bring her presents and gifts galore.
For little sisters turning four.

18th place!

Hi all, just wanted to share one of my favorite shots with you. It just won 18th place in a professional photo contest with 500 entries. Not bad considering it was shot with a disposable camera. Not a huge deal, but lots of fun!
Here's the link:
www.dpreview.com/challenges/Entry.aspx?ID=100914&View=Results&Rows=4

Margaret out on the beach

Here are a couple of shots of Margaret out on a recent adventure.

The Kidz

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew turned 8 on Sunday. Here are a few pics of him with one of his new presents: a Leapfrog edu-gaming device. He got a lot of "help" in the beginning from just about everyone in the family.

SNOW!!!

So, um. It's snowing at the moment. Real, honest to goodness snow. You'll have to look hard at the pics, but that's not dust on the frame, it's snow! Andrew and Molly got to catch some on their tongues even if it didn't stay on the ground. Andrew even taught Margaret how to stick out her tongue to catch some snow. Now, if we only had some long pants...

MEAT! the game

Dear Messrs. Milton and Bradley,

I write to call your attention to a new game being played in kitchens across the country: MEAT. It starts with a pound or so of ground beef to which some sort of spices have been added to make it a bit more tasty. A spoon and some sort of dish are also a good idea.

Both girls and boys may play, but one at a time is preferable. We will call the contestants/combatants in this particular example Noah and Dad.

Step One: Noah runs away by going out the front door or up the bunk bed ladder. While running he turns and calls over his shoulder, "MEAT!"

Step Two: Dad chases Noah to wherever he has gone, attempting to extract him from a hiding place and gently drags him, both howling with laughter, back to the kitchen both calling out, "Meat," as they go.

Step Three: Noah is placed in a chair and says again, "Meat," at which point dad takes a spoon filled with the above mentioned food and attempts to insert it into Noah's mouth. While this is taking place, Noah may block, weave, duck and dive to avoid the spoon.

Step Four: Dad eventually succeeds in inserting the spoon into Noah's mouth which is followed by Noah trying to swallow while laughing.

Step Five: Game continues until container is empty or dad collapses. Noah then be declared the winner and eat the rest of the meat on his own. Followed by strawberries as needed.

I submit this game to you for development as a whole family affair, but please do so quickly. Once this game gets out on the internet, your chances of making any profit from it will evaporate as quickly as a bowl full of meat.

Sincerely,
-dad

More Molly Saying

I know that Molly is getting a lot of press lately, but there are some choice things coming out of her mouth which are worth recording...

Molly: Hey mommy, I take my magic wand and turn you into a duck!
Molly: I turn you into a sheep. POW!
Molly: I turn you into a sheep. POW POW!
Molly: I turn you into a human. POOF!
Emily: Alright Molly, I'm your mommy again and it's time for bed!
Molly: AAAAAH! I turn you into a good human!

Cutest Picture in the World!!!

Here it is! The cutest picture ever taken! So cute, it's amazing, but I am risking it and putting it up online.

(update: within seconds of posting this picture, it was immediately taken down by the international internet police. Apparently they have learned from the funniest joke ever and have taken appropriate precautions. Oh well, at least I can stare at it for hours on my own computer and go "awwwwwww")