L-R Ephraim, Elena, Emma, Anya, Cheanna, Duncan

• ~This photo was taken in front of the now-defunct Mineral and Mining Museum in Downtown Phoenix.
• ~It is almost a year old now, from when Richard’s folks were visiting from Idaho
• ~We drove to the museum only to discover that the hours were different from those on the website; it was already closed.
• ~The machinery may have had room for 6 delightful children, but getting them all to pose at the same time was much much harder.
• ~It was a fairly warm day in late April, with just a little breeze.
• ~Everyone can still wear the same shirts they are wearing in this picture.
• ~Four of six cannot wear the same shoes.
• ~Anya’s bangs are starting to grow out again after several self-cuts
• ~Anya had just given me the birthday gift of successfully transferring to big-girl underwear.
• ~Construction is always happening *somewhere* downtown….
• ~Cheanna would join the glasses crew in just a month or two from this picture

…than the faces of loved ones staring back at me there?

(L-R Duncan, Ephraim, Elena, Emma Catharine, Anya, Cheanna, Granpa Don, Richard)

The Family at Sonic, for our traditional Halloween meal of cheap corn dogs, tater tots and, of course, the free ice cream. Mmmmm!

Yep, that’s Ephraim’s baby tooth you don’t see there (not that he was able to give us a good shot without a little assistance.) When it’s one of the top, I won’t have to get my hands in there. Of course, by then, it will be old news.

My hair is pretty long right now. I’ve been keeping it in clips for most of the summer because my neck gets so hot, but I do like to wear it down when I can. It’s very very straight, unless it was wet when it went in the clip and then it gets this funky curly look.

A couple of years ago a friend went to work with a spiral curling iron, and this was the initial result:

She kind of frizzed it up intentionally, as she was trying to make me look like a character for a themed party she was throwing. (Side note: never accept an assignment when the phone call isn’t crystal clear. I thought I was going to be dressing up in a “victorian” style)

Lately I’ve been trying to do something more with my hair. I never learned to braid like my grandmother or my sister, so my attempts to do that look very amateurish. Or I can get the braid part to work but the positioning on my head keeps coming undone. In any case, it’s not as cute as I’d like. So I’m thinking about getting a spiral perm, just to do something to it.

That’s a big step. It means my hair will be shorter (both from the curl and from trimming that which will not curl), damaged, and potentially more frizzy. If it goes wrong there are all sorts of Annie or Ronald jokes waiting to happen, and I will have spent good money for the privilege. On the other hand, I have enjoyed the times I’ve tried to curl my hair for special occasions (like prom). Curly hair can look good with minimal effort from day to day. It would be ‘styled’ already.

I’m torn. I’m vain. I’m not swimming in time or money. I’m loathe to make a mistake. I’m doing nothing for the time being.

This is my navel, er, follicle-gazing post of the day. That is all…

Even when a child is 14, he might still go lie down on the nearest available bed to fake a birthday tradition sleeping photo for you.

Teenagers. Go figure.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post pictures, and I want to give a shout-out to my Sis for getting this fixed. Here’s a little something to whet the appetite.

Emma Catharine and Elena at their ballet recital back in November.

I have to get something up so October 2009 appears in the archive list…

Behold, four of the pictures taken in the last 30 hours.

Everyone in their R9 shirts, ready to go to the AZ State Fair.

Ephraim & Anya on a pirate ship ride.

Lil’ Miss Cookie Monster munching her cookie from Fry’s Moonlight Madness (she has little cookie monster hair pretties on because we lost the mask/headdress last year)

Queen Amidala, after all the Madness, looking not quite as pale as her filmed self.

Swimming lessons started out really rough for Ephraim. He screamed and screamed the first day, cried the next, and didn’t listen to instructions to stay away from the wall dividing the slightly deeper side of the pool. The teacher and I agreed that I would get in the water with him and that worked reasonably well. This past week he was kicking and screaming again–when it was time to LEAVE the pool. Today, he didn’t even need me in the water with him. I am so excited by his progress!

Ephraim holds out his “swim buddy”. This was taken before his first lesson started.

You may notice that his hair a bit shorter, no longer covering his eyes. Yes, at the end of July all three males in the household got haircuts.

He was more cooperative than we expected during the process.

Ephraim has a developmental preschool screening in a couple of weeks. We’ll see if it’s a good fit for him (presuming he qualifies) and how that schedule would mesh with ours. Something twice a week for a couple of hours would be pretty doable, I think.

Upcoming posts: Duncan; Cheanna; Emma Catharine; Elena; Anya; the Academy update; Opting out of Sunbeams (me, not Ephraim); and other drafts sitting around right now, paralyzed by perfection. 

We scattered Elena’s birthday celebrations onto multiple days to accomodate the schedule this week. Today’s sleepyhead pic was shot on location in our loft/playroom, where Miss Elena nodded off last night.

She’s snuggling with her yellow (favorite color) blanket and nestled on top of the Hello Kitty wall stickers she received from Granny D & Grandpa Mike.

[It is rather obvious that no one did loft-movies & games or loft-toys yesterday, isn't it? Oops! Richard has a passable excuse; I, on the otherhand, can only claim grocery shopping (5 stores this week) as my time away from home. But I digress...]

“I get to do bigger things, I’m stronger”  ~~Elena’s thoughts on being 7 years of age.

(Fathers Day musings will be thought of later in the week)