And now presenting….

Oliver! A young magician recently returned from Caroline’s birthday party. Gordo, the magician at the party, taught him many wondrous tricks which he eagerly shared with us over and over.

The red happy face jumping out of a can trick.

Posing with his new wand. I think it’s a Fred Astaire impression.

Balancing an elephant on a ball on his finger.

And making a tiny blue rabbit appear from under his hat.

His assistant and her humming bird.

This is the flower Ellis down the street cut and gave to Nabby.

Abigail’s diorama. She said it’s a man in a forest trying to catch a bunny. There’s a squirrel in a hole in the tree.

They made the U of M crowns for themselves. And then they cleaned some pennies for Oliver’s homework.

This begins the cozy section of today’s post.

Abigail and Phoebe cuddling in blankets waiting for lunch. Phoebe is 6 months old now and wearing her 9 month clothes. Her legs are really long.

Jason baked lots of bread. Smelled sooo good.

Nabby’s arms were so sore and cracked that we decided to wrap them in ace bandages with vaseline for a few days. Turning the heater on always makes her dry skin worse. Phoebe LOVES to sit and play with her.

Nabby’s favorite ipad game right now is toca-builder.

Phoebe’s favorite game is playing with suds while I wash stuff.

For a long time she just poked the pile of bubbles with her finger. Eventually she put some in her mouth and smashed them with the spoon.

Oliver and Jason built a constellation projector (machine) for the science fair. At first Oliver was deflated (and crying a little) because it was too bright in the lunch room to see it work.

Eventually Jason helped him relocate to a more shady spot where it did work and he was very happy again. He explained and demonstrated it to 12 people all by himself.

Phoebe’s Who from Whoville hair.

Playing the piano. (They’re both yellow now.)

Eating toys. She’s not happy that the beads don’t come off the wires.

Nabby and I played cooties. We each made two. I asked her which one was her favorite. Maybe this one with the bow?

Or maybe these two.

In the end they were ALL her favorite.

And then we got ready for the ward halloween party! Oliver is actually Darth Vader this year, but we didn’t have the costume in time.

Phoebe playing with a basting brush.

And finally, ambition ran wild last week when Jason took a train to Chicago to share his research with prominent financial minds for three days and I painted the piano yellow. After two days of listening to Sarah Vaughn songs all alone I had a lot of creative energy fighting to get out. I don’t feel any need to explain myself beyond that.

The sheet music above the piano is from the Scrap Box. It’s a fox trot number titled “Love Will Find A Way”. Lovely isn’t it? That’s all I’ve got. Have a good Sunday.