Fall at Michael Delving

Rather than trying to catch up on posts, the Mayor decided to start with Fall. Here are the hobbitlings enjoying some fresh air out at the Farm in Snohomish.

Ela hobbitling eyes a likely pumpkin.
The hobbit mommy holding her hobbitlings as they pet a kitty at the Farm.
Ela clowning for the camera - this is what happens when hobbitlings are given Laffy Taffy.
This is another picture of what happens when a hobbitling is given sugar.
Hobbitlings looking out the window at Starbucks, waiting for one of their favorite grandmas.
Boookie in his Robin Hood costume for Halloween.
Hobbitlings posing for pictures in their costumes.
Ela with her baby doll.
Boookie playing drums with his new drumsticks.
Ela playing drums with a friend.

Summer Days

Just a few weeks ago, the residents of Michael Delving were bundling up to go on "Nightwalk."And then, summer arrived! The residents of Michael Delving made the first visit to the beach this year.
The Mayor also brought the "A Riddle Aye Day" out of storage to go sailing last weekend.The Mayor had to work through Memorial Day, but was delighted to take a holiday a few days later, when the play group took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. The residents of Michael Delving spent most of the day palling around with their friends, the Tanders. Good times were had by all.
The hobbit wife is excessively proud of her latest foray into pickling.
The Boookie has a number of commission jobs (a nickel for each job). One of them is to water the plants with the "water cannon."
Ela was finally given a "com-mission job" of her own. The nozzle gets set to "mist" and she gets to hold it for a few minutes to water the plants.

Ela fell and scraped her knee yesterday. While the Mayor and hobbit wife were cleaning it up, Ela happily said, "It's like Elmo," presumably based on the bright red color of both her owie and the Sesame Street character.There is an ice cream truck that makes frequent rounds through our neighborhood. However, the hobbit wife refers to it as the "music truck" to avoid the obvious question of "Can we have ice cream?" When Boookie and Ela are playing in the yard and the truck drives by, they stop whatever they're doing and dance to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" When the Mayor was a wee lad, he also had a problem with compulsive dancing, and used to claim "I can't help it - the music makes me dance!"

May Update

Well, it's time for some updates. Since the last post, Ela celebrated her second birthday, and one can see pictures from her dessert party here. Auntie Jen bestowed a play kitchen on the household as a gift for Ela and Boookie. Here is Ela cooking in her new kitchen.
And here is Boookie in his "cooker man" costume. He's probably going to get some steak out of the fridge.
The hobbitlings have discovered how much they enjoy playing outside in the yard.
On a not-unrelated note, they have also been enjoying frequent baths. Here's Ela with her best "Cindy Lou Who" hairdo.
Here's Boookie showing off his bathtime mohawk.
And here is Ela immensely enjoying getting to use Mommy's hair wrap.Boookie has started doing "commission jobs," earning a nickel per job (not counting "chores" like getting dressed and putting his toys away). He is saving up to buy a scooter, and he's over halfway there right now. Below is the thrifty hobbitling lad after his weekly payout. He takes his tithe to church in the "Davy Crockett bag," which used to belong to the Mayor when he was a lad. Incidentally, Ela thinks that it's called a "Daveee Quack-Quack Bag."
Here's Ela holding her almost-empty piggy bank. She insists "Sissy need a moh-nee!" but does not currently possess the requisite skills for commission jobs.
Here's the hobbits getting "nice 'n cozeee!"
Here's Boookie showing off his drumming skills, playing wildly along with his current favorite song, Either/Or, by Wild Sweet Orange.

Michael Delving went on an excursion to the U-district Street Faire this last weekend. Here is a picture of some perfectly horrid, wretched little dogs we saw at that had been further mutilated by dyeing. Hint: the dyed monsters are blue and green, and we're not referring to the little girl.
Here's Ela admiring her "pity fah-lahs" while sitting in the Mayor's lap.
Here's Boookie enjoying the bounce house.
Here's Boookie going down the slide at the Street Faire. He was wearing the same shirt last year going down the same slide, and it's amazing how much older he looks!
Ela did not enjoy the bounce house, and she was removed from it after it became clear that her misery was not about to turn to joy.
Here's Boookie riding on Daddy's shoulders.
Here's the Mayor and his Ela.
Here's the pretty hobbitling lass with her beautiful hobbit mommy.
Here's Sissy with her "sah-lasses." She is a true Seattle native; at the slightest hint of sunshine, she begins whining about her eyes and requesting "sah-lasses."
Here's Sissy trying on Mommy's sah-lasses.
Here's the hobbit wife wearing her springtime daisy crown.
Here's Boookie showing off his skills with swording.

Here's Ela showing that she will not be out-done in the weapons category.

And finally, here's Ela showing off her 3 little baby flowers.

Friday!

It's been a busy week at Michael Delving, but fortunately, we've been able to get some down-time here and there.
Today, to celebrate the start of the weekend, the Mayor took the hobbitlings down to the shop to play with blocks. Not any old blocks, mind you. These are the coolest blocks ever. They were custom designed by one of the Mayor's grandpas and built by his other grandpa. There are four sets; the Greek-inspired gray set was the Mayors, the black Roman-inspired set was Uncle Andrews, the light brown Roman-inspired set was Uncle Matty's, and the brown Greek-inspired set was Auntie Alexis'.
Here's Ela playing with Uncle Andrew's blocks on the floor of the shop.
Here's Boookie being an engineer, just like his daddy and the great-grandpa (and namesake) who designed the blocks.
And finally, here are the hobbitlings settling down for bed.

Another March Update

Last week, the hobbits of Michael Delving celebrated St. Patrick's Day. The Ela hobblitling and the Hobbit Wife got their nails painted orange to celebrate the day.

The Ela hobbitling walked around for days afterward showing off her hands and saying, "See? Is so pity!"

Last Friday was the fifth anniversary for the Mayor and the Hobbit Wife. They have made big plans to take a trip this summer, so the event was kept low-key. The whole family went down to ride the South Lake Union Streetcar (not to be confused with the South Lake Union Trolley). A fun time was had by all, but especially the Boookie, who loved riding the train down to Westlake Center, where he got to eat pizza and watch the monorail. As a special anniversary gift, knowing full well that the fifth anniversary is Wood, the Mayor went ahead and bought the Hobbit Wife...Metal. The picture below shows the bottom element of the Hobbit Wife's oven earlier in the week. The Mayor had awoken to discover bright orange flames filling the oven. Apparently, the oven element had burned through - did anyone know that oven elements could burn? The Hobbit Wife has assured the Mayor that his gift of Metal is entirely appropriate for the Wood anniversary.
Speaking of wood, on Saturday the Mayor built himself a cart for under-the-stairs storage. One doesn't attend Crosspoint Church for this long without learning all about carts!

The Ides of March

Michael Delving has seen more fun and relaxing lately, giving the residents time to do important things like making Duplo space helmets, ...
...putting olives on our fingers, ...
... and wearing our hair in very small ponytails!
The Mayor spent all day Saturday building his workbench and pegboard. This is the Mayor's very first work area that is his very own. He keeps disappearing to the basement for undefined errands, just to go stand in the shop.
The Mayor now has a place to hang his sword and shield from Afghanistan. He received an iPod dock from his company as a 5-year anniversary gift, and is enjoying filling his space with his music.

1Q 2009

Here are highlights from the last months at Michael Delving. Let's see - in December we had Christmas...
The hobbits got presents like a baby doll from Auntie...
Legos from Grampz and Grammy...
Automoblox from Uncle Matty...
Earlier this year, Auntie moved out of the basement, which means that the hobbits now get their own huge playroom!
GranDma and Apu gave the hobbits a tent/tepee/tunnels playset for the new playroom!
With the extra space in the basement, the Mayor decided he could finally fulfill a lifelong dream to have his own shop area, which started out looking like this:
The Mayor enlisted Boookie's assistance for painting.
What was the Mayor thinking? The shop is now painted from floor to ceiling in "Man Cave Gray," and is waiting for the Mayor to build his workbench.
For the Mayor's birthday, he got a 2-person unlimited annual pass to the Space Needle - $30 web special!
And finally, last weekend, the Mayor rented a flatbed truck from Handy Andy...
...and with Uncle Matty's assistance, disassembled and brought home a huge playset from a friend's backyard. This is not the first time the guys have seen this particular playset, having built it in about six years ago for another family! The Mayor felt a peculiar sense of goblin-like joy at recovering his handiwork!