While banana bread bakes . . .

Well, it's Sunday, time for another post and of course, once I sit down I can't think of a thing we did this week. Or a single funny thing the girls said. So . . .

hm . . .

oh yes, yesterday was Ashton's baptism. So we got to go see the whole Jones clan participate in Ashton's baptism. It was such a sweet occasion. Courtney gave a wonderful talk about the importance of baptism, then Aubrey sang a gorgeous song, Parker baptized Ashton, Grandma Jane gave a talk about recieving the Holy Ghost, and then Uncle Shawn confirmed her. (Talmadge, I know you were in there somehow, too, but I forgot where. Usher, maybe?) It made me want a great big large family to see how proud of Ashton those siblings were, and how happy they were to participate. (I also get this want a huge family feeling when all of my siblings and I are at the table and talking over each other at Sunday dinners, Mom, even though you're probably thinking, maybe we should have gotten a dog instead of all these nutzo kids)

After the baptism, Chris and Shawn invited us for pizza and playing with the cat (Ellie and Moira) and spilling their water dispenser water on the ground (Moira) and sampling cat food (Moira again). Moira also loves waving "Hi, big puppy!" at Clark, their enormous golden retriever. Chris and Shawn sent us home with an enormous stack of books and a giant floor puzzle of a castle that Ellie's putting together while she tells the story of the family of princesses who will move in once "the castle is built". We love you, Jones family!

Chris officiated pole vault at the regional track meet this week in the middle of the day during 100 degree weather, so I guess I could give you his sunburn status: two coin sized spots on the backs of his hands and a single strip on his knee. Chris hates being sunburned more than just about anything else in the world, so he was proud of wearing a collared shirt to protect his neck and a hat and a generous dose of spray on sunscreen. Me, I hate the feel of sunscreen more than I hate being sunburned, so I guess now you know who will get skin cancer.

We also went to a gardening class and won a tomato plant (yay!) as well as a fennel plant and a mint plant.

Moira has spent the week telling me all sorts of things in long detailed strings of sound that I just can't quite catch. She also has started that adorable phase of singing to herself, so I love catching her with a few notes of "Popcorn Popping" or "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or (her very favorite) "Row Row Row Your Boat". She also thinks she can push us around by our knees and had the best time running around and around Grandma and Grandpa Orton's garage in between throwing some of her "sentences" Grandma's way and watching Grandpa hit a baseball for her to chase.

Ellie has decided her new favorite color is blue and loves it nearly as passionately as she did pink (which means she has to have a blue marker or crayon, and a blue spoon). She wants to redecorate her room to be blue. Ha. Oh, and I found a cheap chandelier at Goodwill, spraypainted it and hung it in Ellie's room along with some pink shades that I'm not quite sure I love. I've always wanted to spray paint a cheap chandelier, so I'm totally giddy and smile every time I walk past Ellie's room. Ellie has also spent the week humming songs from Cinderella, giving herself the Cinderella fanfare when she enters a room, and holding up a portion of her skirt. It's almost enough that I think she needs to be enrolled in soccer.

Well, the banana bread we're taking to Danny and Katie's is done, so we're off.