Category Archives: Family

The kids tell us that they love us plenty often enough, but you always have to wonder how much of that is sincere, and how much of that is reflex. Sean has told me on a couple of occasions that I am his best friend, and I kind of like hearing that too. But those sorts of moments are few and far between. Well tonight we were watching our 'goodnight show' before bed, and Sean was sitting with Lori on the love seat, sort of snuggled in. And out of nowhere, at one point he looks up at her and says "I'm happy about you". I found it more than a little touching - that is not a sentence we've ever said to him, so we know it came from his heart.

Sean had a party to go to last Saturday, so Carter and I had another daddy-daughter day. In the morning, we went to Maudslay State Park for a hike. She did great! We did almost two miles total, and she only asked to be carried the couple of hundred yards. She got to see a lot of cool things there - at one point, we were hiking through an area of dense, overgrown rhododendrons that we as big as trees, and that pressed in tightly on the trail. As we hiked along, we came across two pretty little granite bridges that I never even knew were there. And when we came out to our normal picnic spot, she walked back and forth along the top of a stone wall for a solid 15 minutes before I could convince her to move on. We also found an ancient pine tree that had 5 trunks all growing together, which left a cool little hollow in the center about four feet off of the ground. I gave her a boost up into it, and she played up there for a little while. She said it was her nest, and she was a little birdie. When we got the remains of the formal gardens, we spent another 20 minutes playing there. She was racing around the gardens, with me following her. She kept telling me that the whole area was her pirate ship, and that we were looking for the treasure. It's amazing how much she opens up chats my ear off when her brother isn't around competing for my attention.

As usual, we've got exactly one picture from Halloween. For some reason Sean refused to wear his Hulk mask, even though he had worn it no problem at the Halloween parties at the library and his school. But he still had fun. This was the first year where we didn't have to accompany the kids all the way to the door - we could stand 10 or 20 feet back, and let them go up to the door themselves. I think they loved the independence.

For a few months now, Sean has given the two of us nicknames - he is acorn, and I am oreo. I have no idea where or how he came up with this. He just suddenly started it one day, and he's stuck with it. No deep insights or anything. Just something cute that I wanted to share. Carry on.

Lori drew a hopscotch board (do you call it a 'board'?) on the driveway Friday afternoon, and the kids spent some time enjoying it. especially love this shot of Carter - she lands her jump with authority! What conviction!

The kids were playing a wrestling, hugging, kissing game the other night. No real story behind this one - I just thought that it was a sweet picture. They spend so much time arguing, it's really nice to see them getting along.

Two nights ago I came home from work to the announcement that we were being invaded by ladybugs. The day before, there wasn't a single ladybug in the house. The next morning - dozens. I rounded up and released almost thirty ladybugs that night before the numbers got low enough that I could ignore the rest. Carter followed me around the house, serving as my "ladybug spotter". She's got sharp eyes.

So we are about to start the goodnight show for the kids' bedtime wind-down, when Sean says "Mom, where is my milk?". Lori is outside getting the dogs to come in, so Carter says to him "I will get it for you, Sean." She brings it to him as he's watching the show, and he distractedly mumbles to her, "Thank you, mommy". To which Carter replies "I'm not Mom, silly." So just to keep it going, I say to her "Are you sure? You look like Mom to me!". She looks at me and says "No....I'm not Mom. I have a different shirt!" As though she thinks that the only way that I can tell my daughter and my wife apart is by their wardrobes. So cute!

Lori took the kids out to play in the leaves last Thursday, and she caught two especially good photos of the dynamic duo. She said that they had just as good a time as it would appear from these pictures. I wish I could have been there. It was good timing for them though - I blew all the leaves off of the lawn over the course of the weekend.

		We had Carter's third birthday party last weekend. We rented a moon bounce and had it at home. We had looked into doing it somewhere else - like Party Playland or Chuck E. Cheese's, but at most places you only get an hour and a half, and then they toss you out. I've been to a few of those parties, and they always feel so rushed. And renting the moon bounce for the whole day was the same price. Every had a great time - even the adults. The kids were all starting to 'help' Carter open her presents, so I went in the moon bounce with all of the kiddos to distract them. I was tossing people off of the walls, flipping them over, starting pig piles - even the kids I don't know as well got into it. Carter got lots of great presents, including a toy mailbox that she's had her eye on for a long time. The weather was cooperative, the food was great, and glorious, glorious fun was had by all.