10 Months!

--'Scrunch-nose' graduate

--Crawling officially in traditional & untraditional forms

--Cautiously standing up to anything she can

(then falling with a solid 'thunk' on her thankfully

diaper-padded bum)

--Look close, do you spy her solitary tooth?! Yes, folks, she finally has one! (with another swiftly approaching 'the breaking point' as well)

--Thrusts her tongue out, spilling the contents of her mouth to

let me know she is 'all done' with her meal

--The kitty & baby discovered each other: relationship? TBD

--Favorite toys: orange nerf bullet sticking out of her mouth & Daddy's glasses

--Favorite food: Anything off the floor...sick, where is her mother?

--Emerged, endearing quality: plays for a bit, then crawls to her mum's lap for a hug & an 'ahhh' & then ventures forth again for another 2 minutes before coming back. Repeat.

--Misses her brothers mucho already!!

Yoinks!

That nice patch of fur is SIX skunk kits, count them if you can (we were NOT going any closer, I tell you what). Rather sad actually (& scary to think how much stink power was in our backyard)...they were sniffing, going round & round a dead skunk in the middle (the mother?). Finally, after about 15 minutes they waddled off single file into the field. Meanwhile, after the novelty wore off a bit the boys were catching fireflies & putting them in one of the many glass 'habitats' they have created for such marvels.

The Empire State Building (apparently the educational video we watched did have some impact after all) that HAD to touch the ceiling. Then the boys threw a plane into it for the awesome I-am-a-boy-must-deomolish-effect

Summer

Pizza, Pop, & Game Night w/ Dad at the library!

Ding-dong...special delivery from my sweet boy

Our crawler discovered the animal crackers in a back-pack & was devouring upon discovery

FHE, lego style--The Tabernacle in the wilderness & Hagoth's ship

Tony's Project

Tony has been taking a few classes from Berklee College of Music online in order to get a special certificate. This was one of his sound projects & the boys had a blast because they got to help find random objects around the house that would make 'cool' sounds (banging against the fireplace, tapping walls vs. banging them, etc.) to go in the clip. The highlight was their voices were recorded (& distorted) to be the 'main' characters! Jyson: Skinny robot; Jaydon: Beefy, cranky robot. I'm learning to appreciate how much work goes into just a few seconds of video!

Desperate bed'time' called for a guitar...

Bring on the Water

For Field Day it was just a bunch of water rotation games which was totally perfect because it's been high 80's with a bazillion percent humidity for a couple months now. The boys' last day of school was yesterday (they had to make up their snow days, plus they have 'fog' days here too!). They enjoyed a submarine presentation in the library, a cook-out at the near-by park & ended the day with a movie. Wow, my 2nd graders have graduated. Today they were quite chagrined when they learned we would again be doing the daily summer routine of a bit of math, writing, & reading--starting today...can't help it, it's my teacher genes. I guess that's one good benefit of having to buy their textbooks every year (we west-coasters aren't used to that), we're just continuing where they left off! We also have great plans for the fun we'll have too for the next 2 1/2 weeks we have with the boys before they take off to their dad's for 7 weeks. Let the good times roll!!!!

Memorial Day at YMCA, plus lightning...

For those of you familiar with lightning protocol, this will not surprise you, but whilst we were swimming in the indoor pool they suddenly told us we had to get out because of the lightning! Better safe than sorry!

The baby's first water experience :)

Peonies & Parenting

As a child I was certain yard work would be my undoing & gardens were only a necessary evil, emphasis on 'evil.' Now as a proud renter with a yard, I'm finding I enjoy giving bushes their much-needed haircuts, aiding my plants by plucking out nemesis weeds, & seeing the wildflowers take over in a beautiful, natural way at the back of the yard. In addition, it gives me ponder time as I accomplish these tasks. This week, it was a parenting lesson.

Nature's messes are beautiful to me. I feel no need to scoop up these lovely petals the moment they drop. And yet, I am too quick to hover over my children, ready to immediately 'encourage' them to clean up every speck the moment it gets messy (my definition). Lesson: Cleanliness is next to Godliness; but, I believe, so is the freedom to be childlike & wonder at all the world around.

We needed a place to put wood last winter & the side of the house seemed perfect. Plenty of room with easy access. Summer flowers with a tenacity to live showed themselves recently from behind, brightening that woodpile incredibly! Lesson: Sometimes our circumstances seem to be crushing in the extreme, we feel we will not be able to bear them. Other times it seems it is others around us that diminish our dreams or spirits. It would be easy to then just give up under the weight, or put the blame on someone else for something that was 'put' upon us. However, that is not the plan. We must never give up. We have responsibility to get out from our own woes & help others. Children are shining examples of this. They try again & again to accomplish their feats. They forgive almost as quickly as they are wronged, and they certainly know how to dream their own big dreams.  

'Ewww,' and 'Ahhhh...'

My Dear Wispies, how I love thee

Post-partum Ari I seriously lost SO much hair, I thought I would go bald before any of it grew back. Here is the proof that my hair is being replenished! I blog this in order to remind myself how grateful I should be on days that 'Spiker' & 'Megahold' hairspray are not as successful as they should be.