Birthday boy

Dave, slowly turning to dirt, "celebrated" yet another birthday recently. [editor's note: Dave wrote that himself. Cricket would never be so cruel. Especially because she's ahead of him on the composting timeline.]

Molly and Betsy really got into the act: In the first picture, Molly is patching the big hole that had recently formed in Dave's beloved pajama pants; in the second, both girls are putting the finishing touches on the chocolate birthday cake that they prepared almost entirely by themselves.

In addition to a good-as-new pair of pajama pants, Dave also received an oyster knife, so after a quick trip to the poissonerie around the corner, we had raw oysters for dinner, where by "we" we mean "Dave". The rest of us had delicious cooked fish. And that cake. Yum.

As she had for Cricket's birthday, Betsy drew a really great card for the occasion: