Category Archives: Family

Tracy had her baby today! Woohoo! Her name is Olivia - the jury is still out on a middle name. She was 8 pounds, 15 ounces. Aye carumba! That's a biggun! I'm so happy we're back in New Hampshire now - we are going to get to see her grow up, instead of experiencing it secondhand through pictures from two thousand miles away. I got a chance to hold her, and it satisfied that itch to hold a newborn again. I think Lori is safe now from us having any thoughts of having a third. This is the perfect substitute - we get all of the sweet moments, and then have someone else to hand her to if she gets fussy! Awesome!

Sean started preschool today! He's going to go two days a week for now, so that he can get some exposure to other kids and kickstart his social skills. :) Doesn't he look so cute holding his little lunchbox? He's been talking about school for the past two weeks - he's been incredibly excited. And he's already started telling me about the things he did there. I'm so happy to see that he is so happy too.

We went apple picking today, with Grammy, Auntie Tracy and Uncle Mike, and Cousin Ryan. It's almost exactly a year since that last time we did this, which was right after we moved back to the Northeast. Last time, Carter was so small that I had to carry her on my back, and she had barely enough teeth to scrape at an apple. Today, everyone was walking and exploring - Sean was climbing ladders, Carter was picking her own apples off of the low-hanging branches, and everyone was chatting up a storm. It was hard to limit myself to posting only seven photos!

A friend came over to see the kids today - his name is Ely. Does he look like Carter's twin, or what? Same hair, same eyes, same nose - and the same disposition. He is about the sweetest, happiest little boy I've ever met.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a children's museum that Lori used to go to when she was teaching preschool. It's called The Met. Inside, they've got lots of interactive exhibits that Sean and Carter both went crazy for. They had a child-sized fire truck complete with fire coats, hats, boots, and hoses. They had a sand pit with buried "dinosaur bones" for the kids to discover. They also had a pretend resturaunt and a pretend dentist's office. They kids had an amazing time - I suspect we'll be returning sometime soon.

A few weeks ago, Lori took the kids to a place called Party Playland. It's a lot like that place we used to go to in Texas called Pump It Up - it's full of inflatables. As expected, they had a blast.

Last night, about fifteen minutes before bed, Sean jumps up from where he was lying on the floor and says "I need to look in the mirror!" So I take him into the bathroom and he lifts himself up onto the counter so that he can see himself. He strokes his upper lip and says, "nope - no mustache!" Then ten minutes later while I was helping him into his pajamas, he said to me "daddy, can you see my mustache?" And then again, while I was tucking him into his blankets and giving him a kiss, he asked again - "daddy, do I have a mustache yet?" I have no idea what put this idea is his head, but isn't it adorable?

The kids saw a kid on TV doing competitive cup stacking, and they have been doing it themselves ever since. Sean is getting pretty good at it, as you can see. He does a great job, and is so intense about it. It has to all be perfect, or he starts over.

Last weekend, Sean was running laps around the house. On one pass, he bumped his sister on the way by, and knocked her flat on her butt. So we asked him to stop, come back, and tell Carter that he was sorry for knocking her down. So he comes up to her, gives her a hug, and says "I'm sorry I knocked you up, sister." Lori and I just looked at each other and busted out laughing. Then we told him to say "knocked down", not "knocked up", as the difference is quite substantial.

The other day, Carter found Sean's pirate costume from last Halloween, and she insisted that we put it on her. Doesn't she look so sweet? They've been watching a show called "The Wiggles" lately, and there is a character on that show called "Captain Feathersword", the friendly pirate. So both of the kids have been obsessed with pirates lately.