Sometimes you have a perfectly lovely and the only photo you have at the end of the day is just this one of two kids playing each other’s video games.

A week’s worth of craft fair preparation. Ten little berry hats in a clementine box.

Five kids, all dressed in blues and greens, explore “Egypt Rock”.

We had a busy time in the woods today with some hiking buddies. It was a snake spotting, rock climbing, weed pulling, ‘soup’ making, stream sourcing, bridge crossing, knee skinning kind of day!

Waterfall selfie!

Here we are, decked out in our “50s” getups for Uncle Tom’s “Happy Days” themed birthday party.

We already owned most of our costume pieces, I only had to buy my white kicks and Peter’s sweater vest. Sewing the Pinky on Esme’s jacket was a bit fiddly, but not too awful to do in the long run.

It was a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania. Friends, family, cute kids, great DJ, costumes and lots of fun!

“Saturday, what a day, groovin’ all week with you(s)!”*

*The local version, based on the speech habits of our lunch waitress 🙂

On the airport bus…to our rental car! Almost as exciting as if we were taking a plane.

This started out as a really good picture. Catherine and two new friends posing in their newly built nest at the park. All three kids looked adorable and proud and a bit messy. It was a great moment.

At the end of the day, I zoomed in to take a look at Catherine and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw in the close up. A sweet, smiling Catherine showing off her random display of teeth, her My Little Pony love and the newest acquisition for her owl collection, while smiling and sitting in the dirt. In short, a true to life snapshot of Catherine at nine.

It is not that I don’t love her sneaky expressions or her faces or her attempts to escape the camera lens’ reach, but I am so glad to have this lovely portrait to remember her passions and temperament and style at this particular point in time.

I love how kids mimic what they see. Earlier today she was ‘knitting’ with me and tonight she was playing cello.

Because, even as small as she is at 6, she won’t be small enough for this forever.