These past few weeks we’ve bought quite a bit more than we usually do, particularly some bigger-ticket items. We’ve also bought a few smaller things for around the house, and there have been enough new items that Petra said the other day that “our whole house is changing.”

It’s really not as drastic as all that, but apparently all of the older kids have been noticing it. Yesterday I was driving home from town with Lydia and Tage, and Lydia mused, “It seems like we must have a lot of money right now, because we have so many new things. New couches, a new coffee table, new computers, new monitors …”

“New toilet seats,” Tage interjected.

He’s his father’s son, that one.