Memorial Dayish

We were off to the Memorial Day Parade in Cambridge and Elliot wanted to "get fancy". So she did, and did a good job of it all on her own.

Later, Elliot & Sam indulged me with a little play dough - I am on a quest to make a German soft pretzel akin to the one I just had at the Hoffbrau House. These pretzels are my first attempt at a Cooks Illustrated-style recipe investigation - and my first ever cooking with yeast. I don't even like pretzels, which is why its a good thing Ben LOVES them. He said these were fantastic. They are so far from what I was going for though. Stay tuned for future batches.

Monkey pile on Uncle Jamie.
Money pile on cousin Andrew.

Mini Monkey Pile on Auntie Shannon!

All Baptized Up

There's a story for every picture. And I should be making time to tell how Samantha boldly took tantrums to a whole new level during the service, didn't mind getting wet, wouldn't sit in our pew, and then marched down the aisle after the procession and danced with the choir, fell backwards and hit her head, but did not cry, and then the old church pastor came up to us at the end and said, "you might need to do her twice, seems the devil was about half way up to her belly..." not sure what this meant and Ben assures me he was kidding, but, yeah, Samantha was definitely making her own way. And then another guy told us that it will be a crying shame if we do not get her into hockey. Stat.


Dancing with Miriam and the choir.
Zoe holding a protesting Alden, who was also baptized that day.
Elliot and her Godfather, Brad.
Samantha and her Godparents.
Elliot with her Godparents and us.
Elliot, Stella, & Charlie enjoying some godly cake after church. My dad thinks they look like they are on a train to grandpa's house in the olden days.
Da Godfathers.
Jen, Stella & Jon above
Mindy, Charlie & Chris below

The gals lounging before church.

Rub a dub dub three babes in a tub. Hmmm, second time they all got dunked today.

And LOOK at that banner. It is my Mother's Day present. While I was in Germany, Ben & Brad lined the girls up to spell "Happy Mothers Day" yep, look close, a picture for every letter. And the girls are scrubbed and matching. Good job Ben! You set the bar tooooo high.

So sick of the Meatballs!

I am so sick of the meatballs, but haven't gotten around to uploading any more photos. Plenty to show you when I finally get to it! Samantha started walking. She toddles along adorably and looks kind of like E.T. so its extra-cute when she says : "Ay-Ot" for Elliot. She also graduated from her infant room into the "Toddler" classroom that Elliot just left. Elliot started pre-school (at the same day care). Ben has been traveling, but I unravelled us by going to Germany again for a week. So happy to be home.

Today in the car Elliot told me that she is going to travel. When she gets big, she is going to marry Samantha so they can go on dates, like to the restaurant mommy & daddy went to last night. Then when she is really big, she is going to travel alone. Alone with her backpack. She will send us cards and presents and keep a journal. She told me I cannot come with her. She is going to be traveling alone. She is also going to do some work while she is traveling. Maybe to Germany. And her cousins are going to go with her. When they are big.