Eeuwww!

Lissa managed to slam her finger in the door just as she and the other kids were leaving Grandma Songer's on Friday. It took seven stitches to close it up again and she's on antibiotics because the bone is fractured. But otherwise, Lissa, how was the tea party?

I could not love thee half so well, loved I not Baltimore

At the last minute, last week, Casey and I decided to go see my brother Joey (Casey's sister Katie's husband) graduate from Dental School. Casey's parents couldn't go after all, and we felt we should show some support, especially as we represent both sides of the family. So we split our kids up with Wendy and Kate, took Rosalie along and flew away to Birdland. (That's what they call Baltimore, on account of their local teams, the Orioles and Ravens.)
Joey was surprised and delighted to see us, as Katie hadn't told him we were coming, just for fun. And the very next day we got to go see all the pompous circumstances of Joey becoming an official DDS. We managed to get a blurry shot (from the balcony to which baby bearing families were shunted) of the hooding of the rare lavender banded dental grad. Go Joey! I mean Dr. Joey!

And for the rest of the week, we had lots of fun hanging out with Joey, Katie, and Luke. Actually, they didn't let us hang out much, they felt we should use our time more productively. So we toured Baltimore's inner Harbor, Washington D.C., the Dental Museum, the Dental School, Johns Hopkins, the local Aldi store, several restaurants, the church in Hampstead, etc.
At the Washington Monument on the Mall in Washington D.C.

Rosalie and the bugs at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Yes that tarantula is as big as her head.

This is where Joey has been learning his trade. He looks kind of official in that white lab coat, don't you think?

Rosalie was ambivalent about Luke. He looks exactly like one of her dolls that she loves to hold and pat, but every time she tried to heft him, she realized he is bigger than she is, and that bothered her. But she really took to Joey. Every time he walked by or talked she just giggled.

Mother's Day

A Poesy for My Mom (by my brother Jon Hale?)

Oh, how I love my mommy's smile.
She makes our humble domicile
A place we love to stay a while.
She does away our fears beguile.
For us she goes the extra mile.

So adoration on her pile!
(Observe her aquiline profile.)
Let's do the anti of revile.

Forever love her, always I'll.

(Happy Mother's Day, Mom
Love, Edith)

(I couldn't find the original of this poem but it stuck with me so well I think I remembered most of it. Jon, if you are the author, would you send me your original?)

Super Kids

It's so nice outside at last, the kids love going out to swing and jump and exercise their superpowers. Behold!--Inflammable girl! And the amazing Bug Boy! Sparkle Girl would have been in the picture too, but she was too busy changing from all pink with sparkly tutu to all black. She looked like the Dread Pirate Roberts but I didn't catch the name.I don't know if Meredith caught on to the whole superpower theme, but she did make her own mask! Help me name her--Postmodern Girl? Toddler of the Opera?