Build a Bat

Aleks built this totally awesome Lego bat.
When it hangs upside down, it folds its wings around its body.

Dancing

We dance a lot as a family, I'm realizing. I thought a compilation of our dancing would be entertaining...

Harry Potter Dance Party.Thanksgiving Day Line Dancing to Bosnian music.


Here we are, years ago, when Bastian was first born, Natty was still in high school, and Aleks spent all of his time in the buff. This is before our digital camera had sound. I gave birth about a week before this.


The whole family to the TomTom Club.

Aleks after the orthodontist to the Young Folks/Rehab mashup:

Aleks' "Gold Lion" interpretive dance:

The "Thriller" Dance.


Booby Bird dancing.


Dancing to Sergio Mendez at Grandma's house.


I'm certain there's a lot more where this all came from...

Oh Right, The Garden...

Here it is. It's not growing. There hasn't been any sun. It's just sitting there, surviving, at this point. I'm sure it will grow eventually. The boys and Natty and I built it out of scrap wood we found and sticks. It's very hobbit-y that way. We have a row of sunflowers in the back, which will look pretty at some point. Somehow, they're growing without sun.
Tomatoes have a couple of tiny tomatoes on them. Teeny tiny.
Basil. This one we bought. The others, growing from seed, have sprouted, but aren't growing much.
Our gnome tends to the herbs. And his collection of shiny things.
These potatoes started growing out of the compost, so I transplanted them. Now there are tomato sprouts growing out of the mounds. Behind are fennel and dwarf curry. And rows of found rocks.

First City Fresh

First off, before we ever got to City Fresh, we had swim lessons. Turns out that Bastian is a little ahead of the curve and will be moving up to Level II. I feel very proud of him. Aleks caught on soon enough what it meant, but when we talked about it I told him that Bastian, as the littlest, is never the best at anything, so it's good to let him have this one thing and it's exciting that he gets to move up.

I also assured him that it just means that they'll be in different classes and that they'll still likely be on a similar pace. No one's going to start swimming breast strokes and outpacing anyone. He thought that was all good, but told me he still didn't like swim lessons. I asked if it was because it was cold. He replied affirmatively. I told him that that was just the weather and not the lessons and that it would, in all likelihood, improve soon. I sure hope so. It was more breezy today, which made the lessons even colder than yesterday. Aiyaiyai!

Then it was home for lunch, then on to City Fresh. I'm the volunteer coordinator this year, so I did the whole day again just to help make sure everyone knew what they needed to do. I'm not sure how this is all going to play out though. I may still end up doing the whole day, kids in tow as always, all over again. At least this year Natalie will be there by my side.
Every year, I take veggie photos and they never get boring. The radishes were huge!

As was the bok choy. Especially considering nothing seems to be growing in my garden (remaining alive - yes; growing - no).
We also got a special treat of Amish-made Huckleberry jam.
There were chives. With purple chive blossoms attached.
And strawberries! Everyone's favorite! Everyone always loves the fruit.
There was way too much kohlrabi. We had trouble last year figuring out what to even do with the kohlrabi. We made slaw, if I remember correctly. Also, I don't think it was the best choice. Despite the homemade mayonnaise we put on it.
Red onions. So so pretty.

Aleks has been a bit testy lately. I'm going to blame the expander. Because it's the only thing that makes sense.
Aleks did return all our library materials and draw Summer Reading propaganda on the sidewalk, however. He even added his own touch of Poseidon (proof of his recent obsession with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series - an excellent read if I do say so myself).

I liked his monsters. So did Henry the children's librarian.
Cleanup. The children walked home with our neighbor, who has been so so nice through all of this. I hope she likes her City Fresh share and doesn't feel too roped into it! Maybe she has some good kohlrabi recipes to share with me.

Life in a Day

Today was the start of summer swim lessons. The boys loved it, but got very cold as it was overcast and not terribly warm out.Afterward, we went to Half-Priced Monday at the thrift store and got a butt-load of board games for cheap.
Then we brought out all the City Fresh stuff from my basement to scrub it up in preparation for the big first day (starts today). The neighbor girls helped. They all acted totally goofy and got soaked (it was less cold later in the day). Due to not enough sleep, my mood was not what it should be. There was too much to be done. The boys had an okay day despite my grump though.

We Were Supposed to Go to the Parade

I had big plans to go to the Parade not five minutes from my house today, but I'm a nightowl and had an appointment (or several) every day this past week, meaning that I hadn't gotten much sleep at all in awhile. This has become a real problem for my husband who would like me to have watched Public Enemies by now so it can go back to Netflix, but alas, I keep falling asleep during it. Last night, I went with my sister to see this Swedish folk band. So I was really tired this morning and uh, we didn't make it.

We did some pretty good things though. It was super humid and everyone who was at the parade has been reporting that the mugginess was oppressive and the parade was smaller and less impressive than in previous years anyway. The boys ran around with the little girls from three doors down a bunch, and I found them all in my dining room at one point, all beading necklaces. I wore Bastian's for most of the day:
Then we got the sprinkler going to combat the heat and had our friend River come visit for a long while, which was nice. I'm thinking of taking us all to a movie tonight to sit in air conditioning and eat popcorn. Maybe after the kids go to bed, I'll finish the Johnny Depp movie.

Bastian Has A Robot Head

A friend linked to this blog on her Facebook about sand light boxes. That's all cool and whatnot, but that's way too involved for my taste and ability. I did like the robots in the masthead though, so I saw a box in my hand as I was walking to the recycling bin and thought better of it. I cut a hole, got some tin foil and gave Bastian some paint brushes. He went to town.