Fish

A few more swimming pictures in honor of the last day of August.

Ky is a fearless jumper. 
Seb is an anthropomorphic sprinkler. 
Abe is too busy holding his breath to be photographed. 
Daisy slept through it all in her stroller.

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Kites

Windy and fun.

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Daisy loves Daddy

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Donut nobis pacem

Critical donut mass has been achieved

Malachi loves donuts. He is rarely seen without one, sometimes two, on each arm. When he wakes up in the morning, he immediately says "Nut-nuts?" in a plaintive voice. He seems to like the green one and the purple one best, although he'll make do with other colors if he has to.

Also: he yells "DID IT!" enthusiastically when he does something by himself, or when anyone else does something he deems worthy of praise. (e.g. As I struggled to fit my sunglasses into their compartment in the car, and finally got them in, I heard "DID IT, Mommy!" from the backseat.)

Yesterday while Daisy was sleeping, Sam said, "Can you whisper, Malachi?" and Ky very quietly whispered "yesss!" Sam whispered back, "You're a good whisperer!" and Ky yelled back, "YEAAAAAH!"

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Things we accept in fictional dialogue, that are never actually said in real life

Exhibit A: the repeated fragment (aka "the Lord of the Rings Movie Rule").

"Oh Samwise, will we ever reach the end of this dark place?"
"Indeed we will, Mr. Frodo. Indeed we will."

I think this one is intended to add weight and finality to a saying that doesn't have enough weight on its own. You feel you can't simply end the scene/chapter with "Sure we will!" so you add in another just for good measure.

Exhibit B: The prescient interruption

M: I don't know if you're mad or . . .
P: Desperately in love?

Interrupting to finish someone else's sentence? Who's quick enough on the uptake to do that? Takes too much foreknowledge on the part of the interrupter. And even if that part worked out, the interuptee would still be finishing his/her original sentence, rendering the interruption too hard to hear/decipher.

Exhibit C. The lovey-dovey full name (aka the "Work and the Glory" rule)

"You'll be the death of me yet, Jenny McGee!"

[often used in combination with exhibit A:
"You're a spirited woman, Jenny McGee! A spirited woman!"]

According to books and movies, there's no term of spousal endearment like the full name. (A close second: calling your wife "Mrs. ___": "What a woman you are, Mrs. McGee! Come and kiss me!") But I've never heard this usage in real life. For the child in trouble, yes. But for your spouse? What are you, a telephone directory? If your spouse doesn't know who is being referred to when they hear their first name alone, something is wrong. ("Jenny? Jenny who? Oh . . . Jenny McGee! That's ME!") And if you think "Mrs. McGee" is a good substitute for "darling" . . . something is also wrong.


Well? Any others?

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Temple

I don't think I ever posted these pictures from the temple open house. It is such a beautiful temple! I love this top picture that we took the day after Daisy was born.

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Housekeeping

A few photos, as I'm clearing out my "share" folder:

The family a couple days before Daisy was born. (Who is that poor woman in the middle? She looks exhausted.)

Bear sweater and hat I made for baby Benjamin

3 boys holding cameras up to their eyes

Pretty sunflower

Darling superhero outfits made for us by a friend (there's also a Superman one for Sebby)---don't you love "Wonder Woman"?

Abe wanted his cape to fly out behind him

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More Daisy

It's hard, because babies always look so much cuter in person than they do in pictures. I think the only way to see what they really look like is to look at a whole bunch of pictures and sort of piece them together in your mind.

When she's awake, she seems very alert. But she's still very, very sleepy a lot of the time.

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A monkey turns four

Sebastian turned four last week (thank you, Daisy, for not arriving on that day!) and we had a good time celebrating. We made his favorite, Sebby cake (as usual), but this year we made it into monkey cupcakes. (I saw this idea somewhere online---didn't come up with it myself.)

(Abe helps out in the background)

For his present, we gave our little sprinkler fanatic this working "sprinkler system," which he can put together himself and hook up to the hose outside. (Sam figured out all the components it should include.) The boys spent about 4 hours playing with it that very afternoon. Seb was in heaven.

Happy Birthday to our favorite four-year-old! We love our Sebby!

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