Another fun day of American Heritage

A full day at one of my favorite places with my favorite people!

Before we left - they love their baby brother

Learning to play checkers upstairs at the Moon cabin

Wagon ride with Emily, Otto, and Grandma

They could have watched the trains all day

Ice cream!

Trying out the teepee. Not sure what's going on with the pose.

A happy Eddie is better than Prozac

I know, I'm biased. But he is seriously the happiest baby ever, and that makes him the cutest. I tried to get a picture of him while he was full of smiles, talking, and laughter, but he also kicks around a lot so it was hard to get a picture!

But then he kicked himself to sleep so I finally captured a shot. I told him it's not safe sleeping practice to sleep on a nice cozy down comforter with his favorite blanket, but he likes to live dangerously.

Things Two-and-a-half-year-old DJ Says

DJ's vocabulary seems to be growing exponentially, along with his general enthusiasm for life. He's particularly interested in talking about anything related to bathrooms.

I was Skyping with my friend Jerilynn the other day, and I (re)introduced her to DJ. He said, "Hi. Do you have a potty there?"

At church: "Wow, this is an amazing potty! It has a flusher, and toilet paper..."

In every single public restroom we walk into: "This potty not flush by itself. This potty flushes by itself? The potty at McDonalds flushes by itself." [We had a traumatic automatic flush experience at the Grand Ledge McDonalds.]

DJ's also fond of the word, "actually" and the phrase, "all right." When I told him we were going to visit Papa John's house, he exclaimed, "Papa John? I love Papa John, actually!" He walks around saying things like, "I'm a big boy, all right" in a very matter-of-fact way.

He's terribly cute, and he knows it. When we got back from John's after a five-hour drive, I discovered that he'd spilled a large bag of trail mix all over his seat and the floor of the car.
     Me: Oh no! DJ, did you do this on purpose? [He smiles and giggles.] DJ, did you do this on accident, or on purpose? Accident, or purpose?
     DJ, grinning: I love you, Mom!

First days of school

It was a long-awaited day for Nellie. Here's what we'd been hearing:

"I wish it wasn't just Meet the Teacher. I wish it were the first day of school!"
"I wish I didn't have to go to bed. I wish I could go to school!"
"I wish it wasn't Friday, I wish it was Tuesday so I could go to school!"

In this series of pictures, note Nellie's irritation about the first photo, then lots of talking about how we should get our picture taken, then her chance to choose her own poses, finally.

Wednesday was Annie's first day--it was great! I think that between preschool and camp, and the fact that I'm in the building, made it pretty uneventful for her (and me, though I still got misty-eyed.)

As you look at these pictures, imagine us saying things like, "Okay, now hug each other. No Nellie, you're squishing her. Just put your arms around each other. Move your arm, Nellie, we can't see Annie's face. No, put your arm down. Just stand normally. Look happy about it! Seriously, smile. Okay, now do what you want." Let's just say, these are the best pictures we got.

Now do this, Annie.

Now do this, Annie.