Late again.

I meant to publish this post on Fathers' Day. Seth was supposed to get them before he left the Philippines in June. That' s how long these pictures have been sitting in blogger saying, "Post me, post me." But between personal projects, VBS, and homecomings, I just haven't had the time. So it follows that some of these are pictures only a father (or grandparent) could love. However, I flatter myself that they're all pretty darn cute.

It is summer, and so we spend a lot of time in the water up here. Annika prefers the bathtub because she doesn't have to wear clothes in it.

We have a swimming pool too, but everytime she gets in it, . . .she thinks she has to strip. Check out how nasty that water is, and she's willing to be naked in it. It never fails but that she gets in the pool and takes the clothes off. I suppose I should be thankful. It cuts down on laundry. And she evidently thinks that swimsuits have other purposes.

Laundry basket boat. We've all done this at some point or another.

First pigtails to stay in. They lasted fifteen whole minutes! But then she figured them out, and now she won't let me anywhere near her if I have a hairbrush in my hands. Our favorite sport: table climbing. The quilt I'm working on. There was a point when I thought quilting was the apex of domestic activity, way above the level of a part-time domestic diva like me. The truth is, it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I now have the top pieced, and I am beginning to quilt the whole thing together. I'm quilting by hand, which is a little tedious but also somewhat addictive, like crocheting.

Making Ernie ride the horsey. Boy, she got a kick out of that.

Annika singing along to Veggie Tales. You have to listen closely.

That's about all for now. Seth is home, and when I post next, I will include some pictures of our aborted camping trip.

Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob!

Annika has discovered Veggie Tales. Or rather, I got her three Veggie Tale dvds, little dreaming how quickly she would take to them. I always promised myself that I wasn't going to be one of those moms who inculcate my children with imaginary role models (are there any moms out there who do it on purpose?) like Disney princesses or Dora the explorer. No fancy character bedspreads. No "Cinderella teaches the ABCs." My kids were going to develop their own personalities. Well, her personality likes Bob the tomato.

For those of you not familiar with Christian children's media ( I don't think there are many among my audience, but you never know), Bob the Tomato is a computer animated tomato who translates Bible stories into cartoons starring other computer animated vegetables like Larry the Cucumber, Jr. Asparagus, Dr. Archibald Asparagus, Jimmy and Jerry Gourd, and the Grapes of Wrath. I was in high school when VeggieTales first came out, and it was so quirky that they let us watch it in chapel even though it was aimed at a much younger age group (in some respects at least).

Every morning, after breakfast, while I'm getting the day ready, I put in a VeggieTale. She asks for them by name. "Mommy, Tales." And she sits on the chair in front of the computer until the video is done. She sings the theme song. "If you like to talk to tomatoes. . ." "Matoes." "If a squash can make you smile. . ." "Smile." I got her on tape. And when I turn it off, she gets really upset and yells "Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob,Bob." This morning, when I turned it off, she wouldn't be happy until I drew her her own Bob and Larry. And she named them. "Bob" and "Laiye." I think we might have to follow up on this trend. Just a cute picture.

Pinewood Derby results: pathetic.It went all of eight feet. It didn't even get off the curved part of the track where the cars build up gravity. Not that I competed. The adults didn't compete. We had our own races while the results were being tallied. Pastor Dave made a big announcement about how I'd always wanted to build a car and this was my big opportunity. And my car went eight feet.

We've had a lot of rain here lately, so much rain that our wading pool is full, and I never turned on the hose. Annika loves water and has no regard for temperature, so yesterday we went outside, and she played in the pool. Then she discovered that she was wet and took off her shorts and diaper. So I convinced her to put on a swimsuit. Doesn't she look like an aerobics instructor from the 80s?

That's about all for now. We haven't heard from Seth lately, but we assume all is well. God bless everybody.