L. is 8!

There was kind of a dragon theme to this one.  Like, dragon party favors, dragon games (pin the fire on the dragon, hot-potato hot-dragon-egg, etc.) and a dragon cake, raahh!

the blue is a wave and the red is the glow of the sunset (duh)

dragon food art:

 

AND she had a slumber party, too!  Her very first, and boy was it exciting.  It was a first for all the little guests, too, which provided an almost perfect balance of giddiness and cautious nervousness (translation: they actually went to sleep at a pretty decent hour).  They read silly dragon poems and curled up in sleeping bags and watched a DVD (not about dragons, but no one minded) and got up early and had pancakes.  An all around success.

Happy Birthday, L.!

evening meal in the new home

"hey mom, take a picture of my armpit"

look who!

 Remember how I haven't returned your call yet, Mer?

Yeah, I was kinda busy hanging with a new pal...

Cousin Cheyney and her littlest guy stopped overnight and the kids are fast friends now.  Jake (the dog), however, probably couldn't wait to leave town...

Poor ol' fella.  He just wasn't up for a steep climb first thing in the morning, I guess.

See ya on the roadtrip home, guys!

fabric markers

They're all the rage around here.  I especially liked this creation:

"I'm (only) a yellow belt (but I'm still cool)"

And then we ran out of new white t-shirts, so I suggested she recycle an old one.  It might just be the greatest thing of all time:

5, 6, 7

It must be that time of year again.  (start here to see previous years.)

drumroll...

At the edge of town, in a truck stop off Exit 16, in a place that used to be called "Country Kettle," they opened an Indian restaurant. 

Not fry-bread-Indian---I mean tandoori-chicken-Indian.  Or, channa-masala-Indian.  Or, naan-and-paratha-Indian.  Any of the above; they serve them all. 

The lunch buffet is served at the old truckstop diner, at their salad bar. It's tacky and the service is horrible, but the food is dee-lish.  It's really all that was missing around here.  We can't very well leave now, can we?

So, yeah, we bought a house.  Come visit, ya'll!

Them: "You're leaving?!?  But while you're gone [for an hour], Daddy is going to take care of us?" (collective groan)
Me: "Why is that bad?  Why are you complaining about that?"
Them: "Because he never lets us do anything!"
Me: "Like do what?"
L.: "Like explode potatoes in the microwave!  That's the kind of thing I'm into."

clunk

I know it's been quiet on RandB for awhile.  That's because, for the last several weeks, we feel we have just about enough energy to crawl under the dining table with a blankie and do this:

Today was a bit better, though, so I posted a couple catch-ups down below. 

last month in Europe

A quaint Bavarian town:

...with a stopover to watch the Cambridge ladies at the regata.

Ok, not really.  We were really in the Northwest.  But we did go camping, and there was plenty of rain and fog, so the English and Germans would have felt right at home.  (And there was a crew team from Cambridge there--I'm not making that part up!)

But maybe Calcuttans appreciate cold like no others:

they look so happy to be wearing jackets!

What is it with little (reckless) boys and rushing water?!?

where there is water, things grow.  everywhere.

looks like little girls can't help themselves, either...

Happy times with good friends.  Rendezvous same place, in two years?

annular eclipse

"pinhole camera"

almost complete...

complete!