Musical children and the Daddies Patrick
Somehow this turned into a very long and tiring weekend.  Lots of things on our plate combined with fretting over Noella and her skin.  Patrick even joined my state of general anxiety, heading to the drug store early this morning to buy special Eucerin Anti-Itch lotion.  I declared her a victim of seasonal allergies, and said she was not allowed to go outside. This was not easy, her being a kid and it being a gorgeous day, and eventually I actually had to go outside (she could either come with me or stay home alone, which did not seem the best option).
Patrick spent most of today trying to take down the crushed gutter from our massive storm last weekend.  (Side note: This weekend we got our family basement time at 9pm on Friday night for tornado warnings. We need a better basement arrangement!  Sometime over the course of that storm a rear neighbor's tree split and is hanging over our yard. No damage..yet.)
Anyway- Patrick's day was devoted to the gutter with the help of various neighbors and "the other Patrick"s very very tall ladder.  The other Patrick (this is what Mariel actually calls him) lives two doors down with two daughters of his own.  His eldest, Beatrice,  is just a bit younger than Mariel, and the two of them started off playing at their house, broke it off for lunch, then came to our house for several hours this afternoon, and then went out shopping with her mom, Amy, before dinner.  We declared it "musical children" day. 
It is an interesting study to see the moods the two of them go through in a day together.  At their house, Mariel was polite, quiet, thoughtful, and well behaved while Beatrice and her sister fought and refused to share with one another.  At our house Beatrice was sweet, well mannered, and so kind to Noella while Mariel descended into a frenzy of misbehavior.  I wonder if there is something territorial about it all? 
There was a time this afternoon when the girls were playing (nicely) in the living room while both Patricks climbed ladders outside the window and sliding doors.  The girls watched, laughing, trying to identify which of the ladders belonged to which of the "Daddy Patricks."