wonderful baby I'll watch while you grow

Remember these four cousins? {Beck, William, Hank, George}

They are all grown up now.
Well, you know what I mean. 3-ish is light-years away from newborn. {Moms of Beck and William looked fantastic post partum. And their babies were so big compared to mine. Beck is 6 months older. William, only 10 days older. Crazy.}

This is as good as we could get them to pose together. George was especially uncooperative. What a shocker. {L to R: William, Beck, Hank, George}

Beck loved wearing these flippers. What a cute boy!

it's a go, for [mar-GO]

Isn't Margot such a cute name? 

Margot is my niece and she is not quite a baby anymore, so the quilt I finished for her is to be an "accent-for-the-foot-of-my-bed quilt." Or a "bundle-me-up-and-read-books-with-me quilt." Or a "roll-me-up-in-a-burrito quilt." Whatever the case, this quilt will do the job.

The pattern is a new favorite from Cluck Cluck Sew, called Pow Wow. You can buy it here. It is fun and not difficult; just lots of piecing and ironing as you go.

I struggled with how to quilt it and finally decided on this two-leaf clover pattern. I am pleased with it, but I hope to master this, and other new quilting patterns with more practice. Especially since I just got this book, with Camille Roskelley's recommendation. I've only glanced through it, but there are so many new quilting ideas!

 Here's the back.

Margot and family were in town this week, so I was able to give the quilt to her mom, Leone*. So good to see them!

*See other quilts I've made for Margot's family. Here. And here.

family olympics

oreo: forehead to mouth - no hands!

pop your cousins' balloons

 water balloon relays

 uh oh. more water.

 the 2 year olds mostly watched, but enjoyed the prizes.

The Crown of the Continent

On our last full day in Montana, we visited Glacier National Park and drove the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road up and through the park. I think it was a 2 hour drive and it was beautiful the entire way!  The road had just reopened the week before, due to snow still covering much of the road (in July), so we felt pretty lucky about our timing. 

There was snow runoff all the way up the mountain, creating waterfalls everywhere!  We drove through/under several that just emptied right onto the road.

The kids loved the snow at the top, but some of us quickly realized we were not dressed warmly enough. The Canada cousins were not phased by it, even in their shorts. Showoffs.

Aunt Erin took some of the older kids on a little hike.  The rest of us didn't waste too much time getting back to the the gift shop and then the warm car.

Hank only let mom or dad hold him the entire trip.  So in every picture, one of us is holding Hank, while Aunt Erin or Uncle Dave was most likely carrying George.

I thought it was pretty unique that on Thursday we were on top of a snow covered mountain in Montana.  On Friday, we were were back to sweating it out in the 110 degree summer at home. That just doesn't seem right.

There was a bit of construction on the way back down, but seriously, it was just so beautiful, it was OK that we were stopped here and there. At the very bottom, we lunched at a cute little cafe and then had giant Huckleberry ice cream cones.  Well, some of us had the Huckleberry. Those that didn't (me), regretted it. Delicious! - Molly was nice enough to share a little.

Big Sky Country

The babies' interests in Montana were mostly limited to  "outside" and "dog" and "dog's chewed-up ball".  None of which they can actually say, but their squealing and pointing and panting (baby sign language for dog) was pretty direct.

Owen loved the dog too!  The dog's name is Ozzie.  Owen's nickname is Oh-zee (long O). So they were meant to be pals, really.  Upon returning home, Owen renamed all of his stuffed animals, Ozzie.

All the kids were in heaven with unlimited* frozen treats and soda.
*It was only unlimited until I got wind of that offer.  "Unlimited" quickly became "one of each per day."

There's that chewed up dog toy. I'm telling you, it was a favorite!

When I wasn't chasing babies or taking pictures, I actually got to relax occasionally, with help from my sister- and brother-in-law, and Mark, of course.

Probably the kids' favorite thing to do, after a long day at the lake (I jest), was to come back and just hang out with cousins in the cool Montana evening.  We can't do that at home.  Not in the summer.

We spent every evening out here. I love this back porch and stone chimney. It was impressive.