Please Tell Me It's O.K.

Tell me it's good even.
Right now, at this very moment, Amelie is on a field trip.

And I'm not on it too.

Last year, I chaperoned EVERY SINGLE FIELD TRIP with Amelie's class. I went to the pumpkin patch. The firehouse. The grocery store. The dentist. This past Tuesday, I went on the pumpkin patch field trip with her class. (see below)

This morning, they are going to the firehouse. I could have worked it so that I could've gone, even though my primary babysitters are galavanting around Southern California as I type.
But I chose not to.
I chose to let her go under the care of other adults.
Without me.
I chose to let her have an experience of which I am not a part.
I chose to let her do something about which I will only hear.
Never see.
Never live through.

Man, does growing up hurt or what?

Wordless Wednesday--So, what does YOUR doctor do during his free time?

Sorry, Patrick. Had to do it.

Backyard 'afari...WVU style

The girls love to play (s)afari in our back yard. It usually involves backpacks and walking sticks. Most recently, it involved West Virginia University (my alma mater) apparel. (Thanks again, McDermotts!)

We're headed to good ole Morgantown in a few weeks. We're attending a retirement party (you going to be there Karen B.?) and visiting our nephew Patrick who is a freshman this year. We can hardly wait!

"Beat 'em, bust 'em, that's our custom!
West by God Virginia!"

Off to what-used-to-be-called-Rainbow Farms...

...but isn't anymore and my sister's family still CALLS it Rainbow Farms and their cut-out face thingy even SAYS Rainbow Farms and I can't remember what the new name is anyway. So there.

whew

This past Saturday, we headed out to Maryland's Eastern Shore for a day of pumpkin farming. This particular farm is an Easton tradition and now that my sister's youngest is 14, she enjoys carrying on the tradition with our three.

Megan and Violet explore the corn table.

A handsome bunch of corn and farmers and...a goat? (See? Rainbow Farms is painted on the barn!)

Amelie and Violet got a kick out of this!

They had this awesome bouncing pillow--something I've never seen before. But I can tell you, if we had one in our backyard, I wouldn't need to lose 30 pounds!

Amelie and I took two turns on the bouncing pillow. It was an incredible leg workout!

Violet and Amelie took a turn at driving the tractor too.

Linus got to know the pumpkins.

Our whole group: My sister, Karen, brother-in-law, Dan, and niece, Megan are in the center. Dan ALWAYS finds the BEST pumpkins.

Violet and Amelie even felt kind of brave and fed the cute baby goats with Megan.

Oh, and this baby goat was SO cute, too! Hey wait! That cutie is just a braces-free Megs!

Happy Autumn!

Yogurt Mishap or Linus Can Now Grab Things Off of the Kitchen Table

Last Saturday, Linus was left alone in the kitchen after lunch while the girls and Duncan played outside for a bit. I was on the internet doing something productive when I heard a slight tapping noise coming from the kitchen. Knowing that there are toys EVERYWHERE, I wasn't concerned in the least. After a couple of minutes, I decided to check on the boy. And this is what I found:
[Note: You'll probably want to click on the pictures to see the yogurt detailing throughout.]

Even his socks were covered in yogurt!

Like any good blogging mommy, I had a snap a few pictures of the event before cleaning it up.

Here's to not crying over spilled dairy products,

Way Back Machine

Amelie
April 19, 2005
14 months old

Linus
September 8, 2008
12 months 1 week old

It goes so quickly!

Our Whole Harvest

I accordance with trying to eat all foods organic and/or less processed, we decided to start a very small vegetable garden this year. And when I say small, I mean very small. Four plants small. A friend gave us some of her extra seedlings, and while she had more than four, we wanted to start out small. (I'm not known for my gardening successes.) Three of the plants she gave us were of three different varieties of tomatoes and one was a bell pepper plant.

Only two of four plants took and they were both tomatoes. They grew and grew veeeeeeerrrryyyy slooooooooowly all summer long. Finally, in August, we noticed some little tiny Roma tomatoes starting to grow. We've watched them over several weeks. This week they are FINALLY ripe enough to pick! I'm afraid the four green ones you can see won't ripen before it frosts, but we'll see.

I'm guessing it took so long for them to grow because the spot they are in doesn't get enough sunlight. And the problem is, I think it's the sunniest spot in our yard! So, our gardening experiment will have to continue next year--when we'll be REALLY adventurous and maybe start six or even eight plants!

I was trying to get a picture of two of my cuties with the tomatoes and this is was they gave me. You can't even see the tomatoes!!

Not-so-green thumbs up!

Doo, Doo, Doo, Lookin' Out My Backdoor

Linus anticipates helping Daddy mow the lawn.

I know that Daddy is looking forward to the day when Linus can help, too.

Have you ever paid attention to the lyrics of this song? Weird-o-rama! I thought I'd heard that CCR was never into drugs. I think I may be mistaken!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

For Father's Day, I gave Duncan an IOU for Nationals tickets. As the season neared its end, we decided we needed to jump on it! Last Tuesday night, we packed up the kiddos to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and we were off! We grabbed some dinner from Ben's Chili Bowl and had fun talking, watching the game, and taking self-portraits. (See below.)

And as an added bonus, they won!
(Not a common occurrence during the 2008 season.)

Better luck next year, Nats!

First Haircut, Take Two

Just a few weeks after her sister's first haircut, it was Violet's turn. Truth be told, they would have had them done on the same day, but they were both a little skittish about the whole thing and both needed A LOT of talking about it before the big day. We went when each girl, while still a bit anxious, decided that THEY were ready. They both did well, but I must say Violet acted as if she'd had her haircut many times before. She practically climbed into the chair by herself to get started!

Here are the before pictures.

I ended up giving Violet a quick bath and shampoo since our waffle breakfast included syrup. You can imagine the consistency of her hair following breakfast. Not so conducive to getting a hair cut!



Here's the first cut.

Bangs!

Almost done!

All finished! New hairdo, but same sweet Violet!

Enjoying a lollipop outside of the nearby pet store.

After shot of the front...

...and the back!

As hard as it was to let the baby hair go, I think we'll ALL be so much happier. After all, it's JUST hair and it WILL grow back, right?

Eating Vs. Sleeping

Who will win? Do you wonder? Click below to find out!


Poor third child. Misses his morning nap all the time. That's how it goes, I suppose. He's just gotta adapt!

Double Stroller-->Triple

Four year old legs can only walk so far, you know.

More later,

First Day of School

Amelie.

4 years old.
To school three days a week.
Kindergarten--next year!
Where did the time go?

I think this is my favorite picture to date. It was completely spontaneous and not directed by me at all. I love it.

A rare candid of the five of us outside of Amelie's school. Our van-with-three-hubcaps behind us. ("Mommy, why does our van have three silver wheels and one black wheel?")

Sniff, sniff,