Channeling my family.

There are some things my kids do that are so straight out of my own childhood that it's scary. 

Or maybe wearing underwear on your head is just universal to childhood. 

Blueberries

The food of Millie's soul is blueberries 

A weekend outdoors

I work Saturday afternoons which I both love and hate. I hate interrupting one of the only free days I have with my family, but I love working. I love getting away from my house and talking about academic things. 

Luckily I don't have to worry too much about destroying family time because the Hubbs is an excellent man and is so good to our kids. This week he took them canoeing.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in VanCortlandt Park. It's high lead season around here and it was hard to not try to take pictures every second

5 minutes into our walk Claire slipped while she was throwing sticks into the pond and fell right in. She was such a good sport. She cried for a few seconds out of shock and then just said, "darn it.  I did not want to fall."  Luckily she had shorts on under her pants. They were still wet but not as wet.

Where has all my free time gone?

Oh yea.  We're pretty into Halloween this year.

Bonus points if you know who Claire is.

Millie Turns 1!

The Earlier this month Millie turned 1.  We celebrated with cupcakes, pizza, friends, and lots and lots of balloons.

At one point we were trying to convince Ms M that Blue Bloods is a show worth watching.  We told her that's it's fun to watch a show about New York, and there's Tom Selleck and Donny Wahlburg. This was her face when she said, "Donny Wahlburg?"

Isn't she the greatest?

Millie

If at any point during the day you find yourself thinking, "I wonder what Millie is up to." 

The answer is probably, "no good."

October

I'm so glad a live in a world where there are Octobers.

---L M Montgomery 

***New York weather is only bearable for 2 months a year so I am going to inundate you with outdoor pictures with leaves and slanted light for as long as I can***

I used to be cool

This is one of my new favorite comics.

I sort of want to frame it and put it in the bathroom. Hilarious, right?

A few of the extra cool things we did this weekend:

Went to Stews where we picked out our pumpkins, ate icecream, and wandered around the store watching the animatronic displays.

And went to the park (though in a moment of actual coolness we went to the park by the beach and we found a crab arm)

Always the park.

Someday

Someday when Noah designs some device that changes the world, I hope I at least get a little credit for the hours i spend designing, building, testing, and improving his Hotwheels tracks.

Netflix's contribution is neutral because they did teach him that engineers design, build, test, and improve products but they also have given him unrealistic expectations about just what Hotwheels cars can accomplish. Here he is telling me about the trouble he is having making his cars swoop like they do on the show.

A Summary (part 3)

This is the hardest summary to write. Claire has gone from being a squishy bodied toddler to a full fledged little adult.  Don't worry, she is still just as charming even if her new favorite hobbie is making spit bubbles. She loves school, but resents and laments that there just isn't any play time in kindergarten. 

Me too baby girl.  Me too

**dont feel too bad for her. School here gets out at 2:30.  She still gets lots of play time**

Homework

Maybe you're thinking, "wow, she's writing her name so well she got a stamp and a sticker."  

And that is true. the stamp came from her teacher. Claire put the sticker on it before she handed it in.

#raisingaconfidentgirl 

And just to make you day, here are some art gems.  

This is her picking apples. You'll note the magical golden apple hidden in the tree 

And this is a picture of her understanding of Christopher Columbus.  Queen Isabel plays a more dominant role in her version of the story.

A Summary (part 2)

Claire started school this fall, and since he has become the oldest kid at the house for a large part of the day, Noah has become such a little chatter box.  He is so charming and funny.  There is something magic about 3--the round squishy bodies and little people inside those bodies who say the most hilarious things.  3 is one of those ages that I would bottle up if I could. 

A few conversation gems

(Walking into the nurse's office at school with Claire) 

Noah: this is my little sister.  She pulls hair.  And poops in the tub

(Walking back down the stairs after running to the bathroom)

Noah: I'm fine. it wasn't any poop.  Just gasses.

He has two new catch phrases:

1) totally awesome--he uses this to describe anything from playing at the park to the new Team Hotwheels they just put on Netflix (which is so scary for him it makes him cry, and yet he still watches it every day)

2) I'm fine-- this is used anytime he doesn't want to do anything and has a huge amount of teenage whine with it. Luckily he hasn't yet mastered the eye roll

A Summary (part 1)

If you're wondering how things have changed since this time last year, basically, my house is way messier, I still don't sleep through the night, and I consume obscene amounts of caffeine.

Millie seems to want to skip right over being 1 and cement herself into the terrible 2s

 

Here she is climbing the spider web at the zoo.  She can't walk but she can still try to keep up with the big girls.

And speaking of not walking, do you know where she likes to practice?

The top of the table. 

We had to move the coffe table out of the living room. Now she's figures out how to get Onto the dining table.  

Yikes

I had planned a post about a birthday, a fall walk to the local cemetery, and some bits of life but............ Lice.

Gestation for lice is 3 weeks. We've been in school for 3 weeks and 2 days. 

Awesome

If you need me you can find me in the corner, rocking back and forth in the fetal position.