Snapshot of today

Today Patch spiked his hair for church. All during the meeting his hand kept sneaking up to carefully touch the spikes and make sure they were still there. He was adorable sitting there on the bench with his brand new white shirt. The new shirt is long enough that it stays tucked in. Patch didn’t like that. He wanted to untuck it. Five years old and he’s already developing his own sense of style.

Further down the bench was Link wearing a matching white shirt. Link’s shirt was also new, but he was more pleased with the new tie. It is a bright blue zipper tie. No more difficult knots for Link, he just slips the tie around his neck and zips it right up. Link not so happy about the new pants. They were big on him, but better than the ones he had been wearing. Link has grown so much lately that the old pants no longer covered his ankles.

Kiki was also on the bench. She was the only child on the row who didn’t have new clothes today. Since she has more Sunday options than anyone else in the family, I do not feel guilty about this. She’s gotten tall and slender and beautiful as she has transitioned into being a teenager. Her hair is almost as long as mine now. Today she was tired. She’s been taking advantage of the summer to stay up late. We need to watch that or she’ll become entirely nocturnal.

Gleek also sported new clothes. It was a purple dress that used to belong to Kiki. It has been hanging in my closet for years waiting for her to grow tall enough. Today we checked and it fit. Gleek danced with delight and then held very still while I brushed the tangles from her hair. The chlorine from daily swimming has been hard on her hair and so the tangles were fierce, but she held very still and didn’t cry once.

It was a good turnout for Father’s day. After church was over and everyone changed, we had a procession to give Howard some small gifts and some hugs. Later in the day Howard played his new game for the entertainment of the kids. I got to work on my family book project. There was a nice dinner. It was a good day.