Sibling Love Train

Hallelujah! The sibling love train has pulled into the Byrd station. Maybe it will stay for a few days, maybe a bit more or less, but we are delighting in each splendid minute. Yesterday William and Charlotte played together for 5 hours. We didn't hear a word from them. Five hours!!

The day before, William made the sweetest award for Charlotte.
I'm thinking if I was Charlotte, I'd just keep a copy of this nearby and I'd be set for life. Really.



Transcription: eward to charlotte becas of hre goodnis in lif. we love you. goldinmatl.

Translation: Award to Charlotte because of her goodness in life. We love you. Golden metal.

Did you know Gracie's favorite activity is toothbrushing? Everyday, the toothbrushes come out at least 7 times a day and she gnaws on them. All of them. (Don't tell my mom.)



Last week Charlotte found out in her field days at school that she is great at t-ball and she loves soccer. Here is with her special award. And, showing you a splendid 5th position.






Here are some more cutie pie pictures from Grandma Carole's special visit. We still miss you, Grandma!

A special week with Grandma

What a treat to have Grandma Carol for a whole week! We had a wonderful time drinking tea, watching the kids swing, cooking, and gardening. We also made excursions to the farmer's market, the sculpture garden, the kiddie amusement park, had a party, and went to a party. Horray for Grandma Carol!!


Look how happy Gracie is with her new friend.



We also had Charlotte's last day of school. She cried and cried because she didn't want it to end. Mama cried, and her teacher just about cried too. It took Charlotte a while to warm up to the idea of preschool, but once she decided it was okay, it was wonderful. She had a great year.




Along with the last day of school came teacher gifts. We tried our hand at felting soap with the great wool roving I got for mother's day and some delicious Italian soaps. Then I made big felt flowers for the top.





The other super big news is that a huge tree blew over into the play yard on Wednesday. The windstorm had knocked out power at Michael's office, so he happened to be home. Thank goodness! The tree missed the house by about 10 feet, and Leo by 5. It hit a powerline on the way down, started smoking, and the firetrucks came. Yikes! Michael spent the better part of two days cutting it up and hauling it out.



In our most recent baking adventure, we made homemade fig newtons. They were a hit! Not particularly easy (I'm not very good with rolled doughs, to say the least) but yummy!


That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

One rockin' week

We love Aunt Julie! What a wonderful week we had. We have crowned ourselves queen of the consignment stores after visiting approximately 92% of them in the metro area. And we found some rocking finds! And we ate some great ice cream, saw some russian art, baked lots of muffins, and frolicked in the sun. Hurray for aunt juju!!





It was a big week. Let's start at the top. For a wonderful mother's day, we went to the Shepard's Harvest Festival, where there was everything fiber. They had sheep, goats, alpaca, and an angora bunny running around. We saw sheep shearing, sheep herding with dogs, and people spinning fibers. Mama was in heaven!




By far, my favorite was the alpaca. Their fur is little fluffy piles of silk, and I love, love, love, to knit with it. Right now I'm working getting a variance to keep them in our side yard with the chickens (that's right, chickens. You haven't heard the end of this yet). We'll have our own bucolic paradise with one of these little numbers running around. And I know Michael will learn how to shear them like this to keep all the neighborhood knitters happy:




My lavish mother's day gift was the purchase of some lovely wool roving so I can try my hand at wet felting. On the way home, the kids made some of it into little marbley balls. Even Gracie, who was just thrilled with herself:



William made me the sweetest little box with some plant seedlings at school. See the cute curly letters and the phonetic spelling (hape mathr's day):


Later on that day we heard a soft squeeky sound and discovered that Gracie had gotten stuck in a bucket. Don't ask how these things happen.


On Monday, it was the much anticipated rocket night with the boy scouts.



On Wednesday, Charlotte had her dance recital.















That's all for now. Look how tiny sweet Gracie looks on our springy sidewalk.

Tulip time

Well, we've got quite the backlog of blogging material! That stinky old spring cleaning put a major crimp on my blogging roll. Then when I was ready, my computer got sick with a kernel panic and had to go the shop. Isn't that fun to say? Kernel panic. Anyway, it's all better now and we're back at it.

The tulips are blooming and we are finally playing outside again.










William made the cutest game for us to play. It first involved a "convention" where we listened to a lecture about energy efficiency in his room and watched his model train. Then we signed up for the workshop component (Sign up sheet shown below. Yes or no fill in the blank: Charloitte, Mickl, Kimbrle, Grasee. I love phonetic spelling!)

The workshop involved us brainstorming ideas for improving cars. Mama's ideas included crash-proof and 500 miles per gallon. Dad's ideas involved a burp-powered invisible chicken car.

The next stage involved a treasure hunt around the house with numbered notes written with invisible ink, only to be deciphered with a magic light.



Caramels

Last week I had a caramel smack-down that involved 3 batches of caramels in about 12 hours. It all started when Ahna brought me a wonderful gift of homemade turtles that were just about the best thing ever. I decided to try and replicate them.

The first batch had to be thrown out. Apparantly, evaporated milk is not the same as condensed milk.

I got tired halfway through the second batch and sat down, when the caramel promptly scorched and shot up to the hardball or hard crack or hard something stage. William found them late at night and had to use a butter knife to pry one off the roof of his mouth.

The third batch was so soft we had to eat it with spoons! I think I have met my cooking match. So far the caramel is winning in the caramel smack-down.




Just for posterity, I thought we should document how much honey a certain Mr. Michael C. Byrd applies to a piece of toast. Can you see that half inch thick spread? Can you see the bread collapsing under the weight?



Here's William rockin' out with some studly baby sunglasses:


I got a huge papaya at the farmer's market, and it just about blew the kids' minds when I cut it open. I made my favorite bowl of yumminess, tweaked a bit from Healthy Healing by Linda Page:

-Create a nut & seed mix: 1/4 c sliced almonds, 1/4 c pumpkin seeds, 1/4 c sunflower seeds, 1/4 c walnuts, and some apple pie spice.
-Soak 4 oz pitted prunes, some dried cranberries, and another dried fruit (I used pineapple) in water to cover. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in fresh fruit (I used papaya, banana, and strawberries). Delish!






Did you know Gracie is the best hugger ever? She just grabs onto your neck with both hands and hugs away. A lot. It's the best.


More coming soon! Love to you all.