Happy Days at the Hales’

Happy Squash Day!Okay, so there’s no such thing as squash day (not that I know of anyway) but Andrew has such a cute grin, and such a decided preference for butternut squash, that I just had to include it.  Watch out though; he needs a bath after every feeding!  Or maybe we’ll just settle for a wipe down (you just have to watch out for squash eye goobers all day long).

Happy Pi (3.14) day!To celebrate the arrival of Pi on the calendar we had some friends over for Chicken Pot Pi and Blueberry Peach Pi.  While making the Peach Pi I got sidetracked and helped Susanna make two cupcake sized blueberry pies while I was supposed to be making a salad and setting the  table.  It was so fun though!  Susanna did most of it herself, and my friend brought the beautiful (and oh so tasty chicken pot pie) so everything worked out fine.

 

 

And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!I realize St. Patrick’s Day hasn’t arrived yet, but since we’re here I’ll show you Susanna’s door sign.  In the upper-left corner it says “Welcome Leprechauns!”  She doesn’t draw representationally very often (she get’s too frustrated—”my lines wiggle too much,” she says) so I love looking at this picture.

UPDATE: Andrew cut two teeth today!

Susanna Marie

a.k.a. Jane Banks, Gretel, Goldilocks, Wendy Darling, Maid Marian, Fern Arable, and Pa-Peacock

Susanna is a fantastic little girl.  She keeps us on our toes, no doubt about it, but she is also loads of fun and very sweet.  She’s incredibly imaginative, wonderously witty, and a jug of joy.  I think she deserves her very own post.

I’ll start with a story: In the middle of making the perfect sandwich yesterday I suddenly discovered we were out of tomatoes.  “Oh no!”  I said aloud, “we don’t have any tomatoes, I was sure we did!”  Susanna cheerfully said “It’s okay mom, we can pretend we have tomatoes!”   She then picked up a handful of nothing and then handed it to me.  “There, she said, “is that better?”  This kind of thing happens a lot, and she often deals with her own frustrations in a similar way—making do or pretending.

In recent news, she also has developed an infatuation with clothing, especially tights, tutus, dresses, and anything pink.  She usually wears all of those simultaneously, often with the addition of an additional dress to serve as her dress coat.  She also calls me mother (once recently “muth” for short), dances everywhere she goes, and on Sunday she exclaimed with sudden rapture “Mother, look at the beautiful trees! And the wind gently blowing the leaves and branches!” She surprises us every day. This little lady is a ray of sunshine (as her doctor said at her last visit).

Pictured: the troll is telling one of the Billy Goats Gruff to get off of his bridge.

 

I took these photos of the kids reading a couple days ago, and I think they’re hilarious so I’ll give you a look too.