Fun Photos

Back before Christmas we had the opportunity to have some family photos taken by our favorite local photographer. I am still amazed at the way she was able to capture the personalities of these fantastic kids. Look at Mils...I don't know if she's ever been cuter. And Simon. Whoa...that boy was MAD at the world. Despite the chaos, I love the story these pictures tell about our family at this moment in time.

Uncle Tim!

We loved our spur-of-the-moment visit from Christopher's brother Tim a few weekends ago. He normally lives in New Haven, CT, but the Navy shipped him out to CA for two weeks (he's a Corpsman in the reserves) so he stopped by for a little day-in-life experience with us. He was a great sport...we drug him out for an extended triathlon training session followed by a very glamorous lunch at the Navy Exchange food court. Through it all, he was simply amazing with the kids. He's was up for any game they invented, any book they drug out to him, any decibel of screaming they emitted. It was sweet to watch the kids warm up and then attach themselves to him.

Feeling Thankful...and sometimes confused

Wow. My east coast family and friends are having the most bizarre, intense winter. The amount of snow in DC & DE is just too much for me to comprehend. I see the facebook status updates and the photos posted there. I visit my friends' blogs and read the amazing stories. My parents even took me on a tour of their yard via their laptop webcam & skype. In fact, my California world is so enmeshed with my east coast loved ones' that sometimes I have to remind myself that No, I am not actually snowed in anywhere. It's just that I've been reading about it for the last hour and now feel like I should go fix us all some hot chocolate and make soup. It's a confusing feeling, coming back to reality.

But oh, it's so good to realize that our reality is 70 degrees and sunny. I'm not bragging about this, because I know that our blissful enjoyment of this reality is finite. I'm trying to soak it in, make the most of it, recognize that we've got something great here. And then I'm heading to REI to buy parkas and snowpants for next winter!

In that spirit, here are a few shots of our walk up to the neighborhood park last week.

The usual stop to pick a leaf for everyone. Check out her stroller here. She invented a way to make her own 'double decker'. She's got her baby on the top and Simon's baby below, in the basket. She's wearing baby's backpack with extra diapers & clothes...just in case!

The rest of us. Usually I carry Si in the backpack, but he's getting to be quite the load these days. Too much for a lazy morning at the park.

Boys and Girls

I was looking again at the photos from our beach morning last week and I noticed something:




Here's my girl, sitting quietly, digging in the sand.

Here's her brother, on the run, chasing birds, screaming the entire time.

Still running. Screaming even louder.

I would swear that we don't parent them much differently...we wrestle with Millie, run and kick the soccer ball, play loud games. We encourage Simon to draw at the easel, 'read' books, give his baby doll big hugs. And still, this is a typical scene in the house. Si bounces off things and keeps on movin'. Millie takes a tumble and is immediately wailing and flailing on the floor. It's quite a scene. The two of them look so much alike, but have such different spirits.

Speaking of scene, we were a bit of a spectacle in Target a few weeks ago. I was rushing us through, trying to get in and out of there with only the items on my list (head straight for the ballet section...must avoid housewares/make-up/book departments...look away from the accessories). The kids were goofing around with each other and eventually got themselves into a very loud "B-I-B-L-E" sing-off. The song ends with an enthusiastic shriek of "Bible!" which caused a lot of people to jump and then stare at us. Between the laughing and embarrassment I wasn't able to get the live action on video, but here's a re-enactment when we got in the car.