What's up at the E House

See that picture above.... We've been seeing a lot of those clouds lately. Actually, since the beginning of April we haven't seen much else but those kind of skies. I actually think the picture turned out rather pretty. Especially the glimmer of blue skies...which was about all we saw of blue skies all week. The rain here has been insane. I feel like it has been raining constantly since April. We get a few couple of days of sunshine here and there, but it has been overwhelmingly wet here. Sometimes I wonder if we are living in Seattle.... It is a topic of frequent conversation here. Mostly people are grumbling that they are starting to get depressed with all the rain. A little vitamin D would do us some good here, I think.

Because of all the rain, we have spent a lot of time indoors. Lots of movies. I usually chalk up rainy days to movie days, but is has been so frequent that we're all starting to go a bit nuts. So what's a mom to do? I get a bit uptight about the girls getting really dirty outside because then I have to clean the clothes and I like to keep them in somewhat good condition so they can last for the next child. But yesterday I surrendered.

It has been so wet that I think I've given up hope of ever having hot sunny days ever again. Despite the fact that everything was wet and muddy, I took the girls outside and let them play. It even started pouring for about 5 minutes and I just let them play in it.

Look at this child! She was so filthy it wasn't even funny! Actually it was hilarious. I hosed her off before taking her inside to get a bath.

There are some good aspects to the rain. The lawn is very green. Mr. N's garden is growing out of control. He's got a cherry tomato bush that is at about eye level (granted we are short people so maybe that's not saying much). We've only watered our garden maybe 10 or 15 days all season. On a negative note, nothing is dry. The humidity is out of control, and there are mushrooms growing all over the lawn. Ick.

On another note, I made peanut blossoms yesterday because the senior missionaries were coming over. The first batch turned out beautifully.

The second cookie sheet full...not so much. I took them out of the oven and placed them on the counter...but apparently I didn't place enough of the cookie sheet on the counter and it all fell. It was slightly heartbreaking, but not a tragedy. The first thing Mr. N said was "It's too bad Bryan isn't here." Apparently his brother was always the recipient of ruined cookies in their house. It didn't stop us from mostly enjoying them. Mr. N and the girls dug right in...but I kept my distance.

Baby L turns 1 on Tuesday, so I figured she was okay to try peanut butter. Plus, my mom had given her a PP&J sandwich when she was about 10 1/2 months old so I figured she wasn't allergic. I love M's face. She was so happy.

This is how Baby L folds her arms for prayer. She slaps them on her stomach and bows her head for a bout .5 seconds. She doesn't keep her hands "folded" for most of the prayer though!

Here's Baby L giving Pop-pop kisses.

Here is Baby L this morning. A mosquito bit her yesterday while she was playing in the rain and she has this massive bite right in the middle of her eyes! She looks like something out of Star Trek! The bite is SOOO swollen.

The girls were reading books this morning too and it was very cute. M was getting all upset though because Baby L kept ripping the moving parts off of her book. Oh, by the way, the outfit Baby L is wearing is the outfit Little M had on the day Baby L was born!