Hannah and other balms to my soul

It is career day at the kids' school today.  Ben dressed up as a carpenter.  He wore a toolbelt with a few of Dave's real tools stuffed in the appropriate slots.  Joseph dressed as a cowboy after asking if it would be OK if he wore a dragon costume.

Jacob is at home after crashing on his kneecap last night following the scaling of a pole in the basement.  Joseph tried to help as best as he could by placing his eldest brother on the couch with a blanket, some ice and a hobby horse to be used as a crutch.  Jacob vetoed the hobby horse and opted for the plasma car as his means of transport.  The plasma car was our birthday gift to Isaac; consequently Jacob has to avoid Isaac as he navigates the house so as to prevent the high-pitched screaming with which Isaac is so gifted.

And, Hannah, dear Hannah, without any prompting, dressed as a mother for career day.  She wore my apron and carried a measuring cup.  She did, however, balk at the idea of carrying a baby doll in a sling.   For any of you who attended my wedding shower, Hannah is wearing the apron that you helped decorate with drawings and cute sayings.  One of the sayings, written by Dave's sister, is:  "Cooking wears me out, Kissin' don't!"  However, over the years the fabric-painted letters have worn to:  "Cooking wears me out, ssin don't!"  I wonder if anyone will notice.

In other news, I have begun to knit after much prompting by my mother.  I finally sat down last night after supper with two needles, a ball of pink yarn and a youtube video.  In no time I was casting on with ease and purling away.  After an hour and 10 rows of stitches I was still at the table with a baby teetering on the edge of real discontent, two children on my lap, three on the table and one computer playing the full musical of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (minus the questionable scene with Potiphar and his wife).  If Dave hadn't been present the kitchen would have been in complete disarray and I would probably have moved on to Godspell once Joseph had come to a close.  It is amazing the lengths to which a woman will go in order to create something, if only a long pink rectangle.  Dave called us to the front room for prayers where I put down the needles in order to re-ball the mess of yarn made by Isaac who refused to watch Broadway.  I then sat down in the Lazyboy, put the baby into nursing position and turned on Foyle's War while continuing to knit.  The night was immensely satisfying.  I now understand how creativity routinely trumps housework and why so many children wearing handmade clothes can sing Broadway from memory.