Ordinary days

Ordinary days are filled with homework, and grading, and breakfast at the table. 

Hanging out with baby brothers 

And eating sandwiches on our walks

Talking Back

It's 10:42pm and I am ready for bed, but am determined to participate in Nablopomo (National Blog Posting Month). 

There is so much I want to say about this girl, but will have to another day.

Until then, I leave you with these pictures which capture the two aspects of her personality:

The quiet, compliant, easy-going girl that we hear about from her teachers.

And the sassy girl with an attitude who likes to talk back, stand her ground, and take her Dad and I for a ride once in a while.

Pretending to "be a man."

We hit the jack pot with this little lady.

The Birthday Boy

Quentin turned 2 on November 2nd. 

We treated him to a new train set, which we ended up giving to him a few days before while we were inside with our bottled water, hot dogs, candles, and cereal, waiting for Hurricane Sandy to bring her wrath down upon us. We were fortunate enough to only get some rain, and a little wind. Nothing out of the ordinary. We did have 2 bickering children, however, and decided that playing with a new train set was just the medicine we all needed. 

Quentin got to open gifts from family and friends on his birthday, including a stack of drawings from his sister. 

Later in the day, we took the kids to Ada's school to play on the playground and ride around on their scooters. 

A couple days later, we invited the neighbors over from some pumpkin cake (grown from Sam's garden, of course!), and to sing happy birthday to the little man.

Now that the partying is over, we get to bask in his awesomeness!  

Love this little man so much.

Q

Our constantly moving, into everything, scaling the bookshelves, drawing on the walls, roaring like a dinosaur, howling like a coyote, taunting Stella, taunting Ada, laughing, giggling, and sweet little boy.

The pictures tell it all:

He dare not share the block with his friend, Calvin, but would not give Calvin the stroller/baby back. He had  nowhere to put the block for protection, so stuck it in his mouth.

Big man turned 2 on November 2nd. More about that tomorrow.

The first 6 weeks

Something sweet to start your weekend off with.

Lee, about 1 week old

Around 6 weeks old



Happy Saturday

A surprise day trip

My favorite weekends are when we decide to pack a picnic and drive somewhere. Sam surprised us with a day-long getaway to York River State Park, a coastal estuary, where freshwater and saltwater join together to create a very unique environment. 

It was beautiful and satisfying.

We saw an eagle, vulture, small crabs, fish, we were warned about a big black snake on the trail (which we fortunately did not run across), and encountered lots and lots of bees. Normally one is not impressed with a bee sighting, but this was a special circumstance. You could not touch anything on the path above -- there were hundreds upon hundreds of bees everywhere, very busy at work.

American Beautyberry were everywhere

Look closely and you can see the small crabs

The artist and her palette 

Lee, 2 1/2 weeks old

I'm getting the itch to get out and go adventuring again -- maybe it's my turn to come up with a surprise destination.