Babies in boxes, and so forth

I know you have come to rely on me for your Babies in Boxes content, and this post will not disappoint. Here we have a cupboard-emptying baby in a basket (I can only assume he pushed the basket over there and got into it himself, as I found him like this early in the morning and no one else was around!)…

Two babies in a basket, reading books (though they look awfully guilty in this picture, as if they're hiding something)…

A baby in a bucket…

And a baby looking much too fat for the box he's in!

If that's not enough, I present to you Three Boys on a Stool. Babies on stools are just as bad as babies in boxes, in my opinion…maybe worse…since at least in boxes they're somewhat contained.

February is a long month, in spite of it being the shortest one, don't you think? But it is saved from complete Winter Dreariness by three birthdays right in a row, starting with mine! Daisy made me waffles with lemon curd for breakfast on my birthday, and set this beautiful place setting for me at the table. (The flowers are from Sam. And it was such a pretty sunny morning!)

Junie and Goldie made me this pipe-cleaner masterpiece. It's a bouquet of flowers in a vase—you can't see them very well, but each individual flower is a specific kind (rose, daisy, violet, daffodil etc) and they come out of the vase if you want to rearrange them. They are covered with pipe-cleaner caterpillars and ants, because…who doesn't want a little insect life on one's bouquet?

For Teddy's birthday we went to the dinosaur museum! I was astounded to realize that he had never been there. We've been so many times I feel like I have the exhibit cards memorized. I know every fossil and every bone in the place. But it was all new to the little boys, and they loved it! Ziggy said afterwards, "Dinosaurs and 'keletons are the same thing." Um…yes?

Daisy crocheted the cutest rocket ship and astronaut toy for Teddy. (She just made up the pattern!) The astronaut attaches to the back of the rocket with a button, so he can spacewalk whenever he wants. When he's done, he can climb back into his rocket and button up the door!

Sweet birthday boy. I love this inquisitive, sensitive, smart little Teddy of ours!

Sam had a birthday too, but all I have to show for it is this picture of the bread pudding I made for his dessert. It had caramel sauce and creme anglaise on it. It was so good! We had tried something similar at a restaurant (it was a happy mistake that brought that to pass, actually—something had gone wrong with our order, so they brought us free dessert!), and it had been pretty good, but far too short on sauce. Sam had felt he couldn't be quite easy in his mind until tasting it as God intended bread pudding to be eaten (i.e., adequately sauced). So I made a huge vat of the creme anglaise for ours, and it was much improved!

Zig is becoming quite the kitchen helper these days. He especially loves to help butter the toast for breakfast. It…er…needs some attention after he butters it, but he is so grown-up and businesslike as he works, no one has the heart to stop him.

He also quite enjoyed helping make sugar cookies for Valentine's Day, though he spent most of the time driving three ice cream scoops through the flour on the counter and calling them "cookie tractors."

We had the strangest, dirtiest snowfall one evening! It was beautiful while it was falling, but as it piled up it was almost yellow! Sam said he read there was a big dust storm in Tooele and the snow carried all the dust over the mountains and dropped it on us! 

It was weird while the dust was in the snow, but it was after the snow melted that you could really see it. Everyone's car was filthy! And so was everything else—people's roofs and solar panels, the roads, our deck. Our floor is still covered with the dirt everyone tracks in when they come inside. The next day when I was out doing errands, every single carwash I passed had a line of about 20 cars waiting for it! 

These cute girls used their play silks to dress up as the Fire Queen and the Ice Queen one day.

Speaking of dressing up: we've been learning about the Revolutionary War for school, and one day we made mob caps for the girls. Daisy wasn't content until she'd found a way to recreate an entire colonial outfit, complete with long stockings and garters. So cute!

We've been having some cabinets put in, and the man who is building them for us is the nicest person ever. He lets Teddy and Ziggy help him and hand him his tools and so forth, and he explains everything he's doing, and says "Okay, make sure I have my helpers here next time I come!" when he goes home. I love him for it. (I love the new cabinets too.)

A pretty sky over the hill (snow all melted!)

Here is another of Daisy's crocheting projects, this time a little monkey she made for Ziggy. (Also of her own creation.) After she made him, she decided he needed a little backpack…

…and some bananas to put in it! Some of the bananas have strings on them so the monkey can hold them. :) I think it is the cutest thing ever!

And you can see how Ziggy feels about it. He carries that monkey around all day long!

Teddy is getting to be a really good reader and writer, and I love the things he writes. Here is his Valentine for Daisy. Cutest!

Here's the temple on a pretty day I happened to be driving by. I don't get to walk by the temple every single day now, and I miss that, but I'm glad it's still close enough for me to get this view often!

Abe needed me to take some pictures of him, which is an experience I don't get very often these days! He is so handsome.

All my favorite pictures were the ones where he was off-guard and laughing about how weird it is to have your picture taken.

I also quite liked this one with a panda bear friend. Just like old times! :)

I will leave you with this picture of Ziggy engrossed in a book. Don't worry, he will be asking me to "weed it to me!" momentarily, I'm sure!