These simple things

So remember how the Dirties (Millicent, Floyd and Thor, The Adorable Goddess of Thunder) came to visit? The whole evening was big fun and a wild and crazy visit, and here me lamenting that we never see our friends. Lovely to spend time with them. I didn't feel like taking pictures of the fun - it was better to participate - but here's the result after everyone had gone:Did I mention the part where the kid bomb exploded and left the toy and food shrapnel all over? Mmmmmyep. Wow. We only realized how much havoc our two and their one had wreaked when we started to clean up. Wow. Did I say wow? Wow.It was worth it. I know that you're going to be glued to today's time trial, so enjoy the race, guys, and we hope to see you again soon.

I forgot to post the "mess on the table" picture so you didn't get to see the new IKEA dining table. Here it is. Nice, ja? Note the old highstand table and chairs in the new home out on the deck. We're now a two-table family, so we'll be voting Republican soon. With two tables we can't be like the Poor People, right?Here's 3/4 of the crew enjoying brekker at the lovely new table. Mmmmmm, crunchberries!Another in the huge leap forward for Missykind is her New Bed. Little Miss now sleeps (when she does sleep) in her...brand new Toddler Bed! Yes! (OK, well, it's actually the Peeper's recycled toddler bed...which was originally the Poet's of the Wilson family of the Oscar the Ginormous Fish). But, whatEVER. Here's the two official bed testers trying it out.And here's Little Miss happily enveloped in her new covvies, with her soft bed friends all around her. I apologize for the blur - she was absolutely wriggling with happiness when I tried to get her to pose.So since I don't have a good picture of the sleepy Big Girl here's another of the bed testing just for fun...It's this sort of little stuff, these simple things, that make up the daily currency of parenting. They can be maddeningly dull, or frustrating, or routine, or pleasant, or truly enlivening. But they are with us long after the big moments of high drama fade...

So here they are: my world enough and time...No deep thoughts this morning. Just kids and friends and tables. How about letting Little Miss take us out by going all thermonuclear cute on you:You kids can be a pain in the ass, but your Dad loves you like he loves oxygen. You may not always think so, but it's true.