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No kids in these pictures (unless you count Clara's belly) but there are some pretty flowers and buzzy bees.

Happy Fathers Day to Zach. While Molly & Zach went to a ship for a father's day brunch, Clara and I pulled weeds, looked at the flowers, and saw bees. I actually hadn't even noticed the bees until I heard Clara exclaim "bee!" over and over again. She loves spotting them in books, and apparently in real life, too!

Other fun Father's day things we did include: putting a fancy kickstand on his bike, fixing the brakes on his bike, and tonight Zach and I went to see Food, Inc. The movie was good. A tough watch, but good.

On an unrelated note, we had our usual lovely babysitter (Julia) come to put the girls to bed. It was interesting for me to see that Clara freaked out this time. I think she's at that crossroads of understanding just enough to hear when Molly talked about "mama" and "daddy" but not enough to know that we were coming back. Julia was super with her, but for whatever reason Clara would only sit at the table and ask for food while Julia sang to her - she wouldn't let Julia rock her, pat her, or otherwise soothe her. Of course, as soon as we walked in the door, Clara was over it an on to other more interesting things ("maow?").

MeeToo (Lake Temescal)

Clara's catch phrase this week is "meetoo" or "meetoo-meetoo-meetoo". As in, "I want to do everything my sister is doing". So far, it's really cute. And Molly is mostly cool with (or doesn't notice?) having her sister copy what she does.

This morning we went up to Lake Temescal - we brought Nate who just became a big brother (hence the t-shirt) to baby Annaliese. As you can see, Clara is dutifully trying to follow what the big kids are up to.

And this is a picture I found from another recent (pre haircut) trip to Lake Temescal (Molly, Clara, & Zach):

Early May - Clara & Simone

One of the (many) wonderful things about Clara's daycare is the lovely photos she takes. The with Clara in stripes are hers. The ones with Simone are from Simone's mom. (photos from early may, posted june 26)

Friday evening

Friday was the longest Friday night of the year. We enjoyed the lovely weather, and luscious back yard.

Photos: Our peas; Pile 'o Girls (Clara on Molly on Sofi); more pile; Hanging out the laundry; Clara & Laundry; Molly; Molly; Molly; Molly.

Lego Sculpture

Molly makes some awesome lego sculptures. Here's one she made in May - if I recall correctly it's an ice cream truck. Each one has a great story to go with it. Sometimes she presents them as gifts to a specific parent. Sometimes she wants them displayed in a specific spot. Recently there's been a lot of symmetry - both in the pieces she chooses and the colors.

Interestingly, she hasn't been as inclined to do "sculptures" with the little (big kid) legos. I'm not sure if it's because we still keep them up on the table (away from Clara), or because they came with instructions on how to build specific things and she wants to follow the instructions (she's one for following instructions, that girl).

Clara & Nana

Harvest

Fun in the garden this evening: We pulled up some beets (Molly's been keeping an eye on them and determined that these three were "HUGE"! and ready to harvest); Jane (the hen) gave us an egg; we got picked lots of yummy snap-peas (that's Clara's hand reaching in to grab one - she couldn't stand to wait!); shared a strawberry (not pictured); and picked some flowers to put on the breakfast table. Not bad for some very distracted gardening.