Bummer.

Ah, Isabel. What more can I say about this crazy duckie? Tonight she was in a jumping mood and had to take flying leaps where ever she went, which was often on something high.

Elena and Josh (our neighbor) climbing trees.

Isabel doing what all of my kids and Natalie's (my neighbor) kids love doing the most. Digging in the dirt.

Josh in his most stellar tree-climbing-footwear. He never takes his boots off.

Elena in the pose that she planned herself.

Levi, another of Natalie's kids.

Sebastian, the kid that Levi most likes to pick on.

Luke--yes, I know he's in a girl's pirate costume, but Natalie wasn't opposed and I wanted to see how it turned out. This is actually Ruth's Halloween costume. Pretty sweet, eh?

Josh and Isabel hard at work scrubbing the tables. Best money I ever spent on kids toys was buying two buckets and a couple of bars of Zote soap. The kids will scrub down the patio, the playhouse, the trampoline, the picnic tables, and even the trees for hours while singing, "It's a hardness life for us! It's a hardness life for us!" They've never quite got down the hard-knock life for some reason. And it sounds like a broken record because that's the only part of the song they know.

The best part is that sometimes Isabel (who always plays the mean step-mother) says "Get to work!!!" in the most awesome mean voice ever. I had it on my camera videotaped, but then for some reason iPhoto didn't upload the videos and then I deleted everything on the camera before I realized that. Trust me, you missed out. That's why this is a bummer.

This is from two weeks ago at Ruth's baby blessing (or afterward anyway). Wyatt brought his car to jump it--til it broke anyway.

Sad to see this picture after last night's horrendous loss to U of U, but all those cousins are cute anyway. Too bad Orrin and Karlee weren't there.

And this was a fruit tart I made a long time ago. Leo loved it, I liked it alright, and the kids weren't interested.

The recipe is here on Joy of Baking.

As for me, I've been busy sewing and studying. I led my neighbor, Natalie, astray down dark paths. She is now sewing costumes for all her kids. (Hey Mom, I also taught her to make bread!) I now have solidly in mind what costumes I'm making for my own kids this Halloween. Yes, I know I'm insane, but I am sewing one for each of my kids--it should be really simple though. I was encouraged by how easy that baby pirate costume was. These should be similar.

And that's it. Buenas noches.