She

She is the first of my kids to play in the toilet water.

She belly laughs when W1 plays with her.

She loves cheese.

She doesn't sleep through the night.

She screams bloody murder when L1 pokes her in the eye.

She can stealthily climb the stairs and unroll all the toilet paper in 2 minutes flat.

She walks lightening fast and is perfecting the 360 degree turn.

She always, always gets food in her hair.

She loves to pull the books from the shelves and chew on them.

She has dimples.

She makes sure all of us know when she is getting teeth.



She is my favorite daughter.

perhaps the best excuse I've heard so far

K1: W1, why are you hitting L1?


W1: Because I can't find my toy drum.

this is what happens when we stay inside all afternoon

The pictures don't do it justice.



Do you notice the gap on the wall where a picture should be? It may have fallen on W1's head while he watched a little PBS this afternoon. He was a little traumatized, but L1 thought it was really funny.

Why, yes, they ARE undomesticated.

Today, we gathered up our courage and went to the ZooBoo at the Seneca Park Zoo. We hoped that if we disguised our children as zoo animals, no one would notice if we let them run wild for a while.


W1 and L1 practiced their nicest "trick-or-treat's" and "thank-you's", and H1 practiced relaxing in the stroller while chewing on still wrapped candy.


The weather was beautiful, the polar bear was active, they were handing out chocolate, and we were done shortly after noon. If that isn't a recipe for success, I don't know what is.

a visit to The Falls

W1: L1, what do you think?


L1: It's biiiiiiig.
W1: Mmmhmm.



W1: H1, any thoughts?

H1: I like granola bars.

Upon a sun-dappled autumn afternoon

We raced from the house, grabbed our bikes, and rode endless circles around the leaf-clad driveway.






H1 joined in...almost.


The wind blew in gusts, kicked up dervishes, while the trees spit their leaves down upon us. It is days like these that we live and die for. Perfect, idyllic.











Until the bikes turned into bumper bikes, and the helmets were no longer just a precaution.

H1 wouldn't stop eating leaves.

And the temperature began it's steady evening decline.



That's when we headed back inside.