One of my favorite parts of our California tour was getting to stop in Palo Alto and visit a very good childhood friend who is busy studying butterflies, collecting pretty vintage things, and raising four very active kids. Their house is a jumble of comings, goings and doings, and lots of conversation.
I spent a fair amount of time with Patricia’s two youngest who I found incredibly entertaining. I had to snap a few photos of them and when I got home, I wrote to Patricia and asked her if she would mind if I posted the photos on my blog Here’s what she wrote back:
Yes, you may post the girls’ photos on your blog. They aspire to be famous. This could be their ticket out of here!
And with that I give you Charlotte and Helen:
They’re a riot.
Dragonlane Artisan Jewellery 
Patricia from Vancouver? Helen looks like our neighbor Isabelle, who spends hours taking care of our chickens when we go away. Our friend Mindi has five children. They’re younger, so it’s not what we used to call controlled chaos. After she visited us a few weeks ago Kate told me how happy she was that we stopped at three.
Yes – THAT Patricia. I think at a certain point, (probably after three kids) you just have to let go of any hope of control and trust that with enough love and faith in your kids, they’ll be juuussst fine.