Fiona graduated from UH this weekend.  In fact, she didn’t just graduate, she graduated summa cum laude.  I think.  In any case, she done good, real good.  She hosted a party at her new house.

C&D came home remembering all their ASL signs.  We’ll have to visit with Fiona again.

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David making a picture to mail to one of the grandmas for Mother’s Day.  First he tried to make a circle.  It turned out a bit oblong so, making lemonade out of his lemons, said, "I made a trash bag!"  I’m sure grandmothers all around would have loved a picture of a trash bag for Mother’s Day.  To decorate his trash bag, he banged his marker against the paper, then asked me why the tip was a smushed blob.

Carmen made a shape, added accent lines and called it a banana.  Then she colored it yellow.

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Last week David suffered under a mysterious fever.  I kept track of his temperatures and ibuprofen dosages with a dry-erase marker and a china marker.

When he started to feel better, David requested artwork.  First, he asked I draw clouds.  Sure.  "Make rain," he ordered next.  "And thunder."  Done.  "Do you want lightning too?" I asked him.  "Yeeeah," he said and smiled.  "Then," he directed, "draw Mommy and Daddy and David and Carmen and Carmen and David are crying because it’s thunder."  I did, and he was satisfied.

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Sherry and Roy came over on Monday bringing gifts for C&D:  gardening tools for our new square foot garden.  After spending a minute stunned and asking if that day was their birthday, then grabbed armfuls of tools and ran downstairs to try them out.

Sherry and Roy also brought two gardening carts, which Carmen wanted to ride outside.  It’s almost as fun as a pony, maybe even better.

While she was trying it out (you can see in the background the bricks and cinder blocks we have been harvesting from recent residential demolition)

David was trying out the shovels and hand tools. 

Carmen went back inside, pulling the cart thunk-thunk-thunk upstairs where she could roll it around more easily, and admire her new presents without her kid brother in the way.

We had to go to the library later, so David rode in the stroller clutching his shovel like other kids clutch teddy bears.  Thanks, Sherry.