Reading Time

I don't know when or if Ernie will ever realize how much of a blessing she is to her siblings.

I took these pictures yesterday- I found the girls cuddled up together after I sent them to their room to get ready for nap.  Ernie is really SUCH an awesome big sister, and I'm sure she doesn't even know it.  It doesn't occur to her to exclude Mimi because she's little- they're just compadres in everything.  We went to the library yesterday, and I think Ernie spent at least two hours reading to herself or to Mimi!

These pictures are also appropriate today because my girls are in their room right now....Wonder Daddy is out for the evening, and the kids are giving me a run for my money!  Cocoa is so clingy that he starts barking and clapping like a seal whenever he sees me, the girls took a solid hour to use the bathrooms after dinner (and missed dessert AND bath time), and then played some sort of demented May Pole game that ended up with a ribbon around Ernie's neck.  Ribbon is in the trash, girls are banished to their rooms to read until scripture time, Cocoa is taking his nightly nap, and I'm just enjoying some quiet!

We had school this morning- Ernie learned about charts in math, I think she'll take to those just swimmingly.  I pushed the girls outside after their naps today, it was a surprise GORGEOUS day.  Sunny, not too cold...perfect for playing on the swingset, sweatshirts, and getting more of the garden put to bed.  We had our first really good frost on Sunday, and the tomatillos and ground cherries and nasturtiums were ready to be torn out after that.  I clip them off just below the soil line, to let the roots decompose and leave little air pockets in the soil.  There was a lot of fruit thrown away with the tomatillos and ground cherries, but it was almost all split open with the cold and rains.  I spread last year's leaf mold on the tomatillo/tomato bed- it's GORGEOUS.  Dark brown, almost totally composted, a few worms here and there that found their way in... I'm filling up every bucket I can this year with leaves, to spread on the beds next fall.  (Wonder Daddy runs over them with his mower, with the bag attached, and puts the chopped up leaves in garbage cans I've drilled with holes.)  So, my creative item today?  A compost pile.