Mother's Day 2018

Matthew cooked eggs and bacon to start of Mother's Day. Then we went for a family walk/hike through the Brushy Creek trail. I ran ahead to take this picture, then Matthew started running to troll me by not being in the picture (too slow!) and then of course everyone else started running, too.

I took the kids to Gateway Church, where they had a nice message about mothers and God's love.

I marinated lamb chops for 24h for Mother's Day dinner. (It turns out it's hard to find lamb chops -- I called four HEBs after the first one I visted didn't have them, and finally found them at Whole Foods 365.) Everyone was a fan, from the two year old to Grandpa ("best lamb chops I can remember"). Rounded it out with spiced carrots and yogurt, fresh green beans and bacon, mashed potatoes, and fresh bread. Rachel made Grandma's favorite tortellini soup and a fruit salad AND a carrot cake, and Matthew and Melissa both helped out a lot. Tommy *wanted* to help. Isaac and Corinna mostly ignored the activity in the kitchen until dinner time.

Cooking for a big group is tough. I made too many green beans and (with three full racks) not quite enough lamb chops.

This is the main table, we had to overflow to the dining room as well.

Tommy and the sharpie

Glass shaping

Gathering molten glass onto a rod before shaping it with my hands.

Kites

I bought kites for the kids' Easter baskets. Here's how that turned out:

Corinna is holding her kite in the wind happily, as it blows about five feet in front of her.

Melissa is running through the field with her kite behind her, trying to get it to take off.

Isaac has been throwing a tantrum for half an hour because his kite's tail got a knot in it.

Tommy got bored of kites, and is holding onto my legs moaning because he wants to get a drink, but he is worried that people near the water fountain a few yards away will see him if I don't come with him.

Master and student

Uncle Grant teaching Matthew the fine points of FTL. Such a good game.

Power outage birthday party

(Photos taken 2017-05-28.)

Tommy paints his nails

(Photos taken 2017-05-19.)