Mmmm...pie

We had a birthday at our house last weekend! We celebrated with David's favorite...Tex-Mex. And there was a trip to the park, and a picnic, and lots of celebrating. But the main thing, ah, the main thing was the blueberry pie! Gorgeous, yes? (I'm not proud or anything, you'll note!)


Rachel had a purple tongue.


So did Daddy.


And Mama.


But Nathan beat us all--purple tongue, purple face, purple hands, purple armpit! We even had to scrub blueberries off his knees and feet.

This is a kid who likes his pie, and likes it good! (It was good, so I can't say that I blame him!) Happy birthday, Daddy!

Second first day

Rachel started school again this week. The summer has--as usual--been simultaneously looooooooooooooong and too, too short. She goes to school three days a week this year, in...the big kids' room! We didn't get a whole lot of information out of her, but we know that she has a pretty small class and they sing a different good-bye song. And when David asked her if she's going to like school this year, she said, "Yeah." But the inflection was spot-on: Duhhh!

Here's sleeping beauty just before she turned into a schoolgirl again.

One paparazzo saw through her disguise and snapped a photo at breakfast.


A moment with Daddy before he left for work.


Buckled into the trailer for the bike ride to school!


One last photo with her pal Olivia before they headed into the classroom.

And then she was off. Here's to another year of learning and fun!

(Nathan enjoyed the day, too. He got to go to the library and park alone with Mom!)

Nathan speaks!

That statement is actually not true. It would be more accurate to say: Nathan exclaims! Loudly, enthusiastically, and (mostly) monosyllabically. He announces most motor vehicles when they pass, demands cream "Teeeee!" on his bottom at every diaper change, identifies loads of animals and foods and objects, calls his sister "Chel" (Isn't that sweet?), and counts to eleven. (Well, he skips eight, but heck, I'm giving it to him.) Kid's pretty smart. In fact, whenever he sees a picture of ice cream (Aye teeeeeee!) or hears the word spoken, he points out the window--always in the correct direction, toward the nearest ice cream shop.

A ride with Nathan in the car sounds like this: "Fah! Fah! Fah!" Yes, Nathan, there's a flag. "Nuh fah! Nuh fah!" Yes, another flag. "Buhhhhhhh!" Bus. Wave to the bus driver! "Ammah!" Not an ambulance. That's a police car. They both have lights on top. Wave to the police officer. I laughed quite a lot the other day when we had an impressive convergence of vehicles. Some background information: We have some goofy rituals for car rides. We always say "woo-hoo" when we pass under train tracks. (Once he figured out how to say it, Nathan became the best one of all of us for remembering. Sometimes it takes me a moment to figure out why he's sitting back there hooting; then I realize we're under a track and join in.) Also, we sing "Fruit van, na na na na na na" (To the tune of Fontbonne, na na na na na na, for all you 1997 RA's out there.) whenever we see an Edible Arrangements van. (Long story, really not worth repeating here.) We often pass an EA store that is near train tracks, so Nathan has it all linked together in his mind. So here's what happened...

We were about to pass under the elevated tracks. Nathan began his cheer: "Ooooh!" Then he saw a bus and interrupted himself to announce it. "BUHHHHHHH!" Resumed cheer: "Ooh-ooh!" And celebrated the (not present) fruit van: "Foo-vah, na na na." So it sounded like this: "Oooh--BUHHHHHHH! Ooh-ooh! Foo-va, na na na." He got it all in there, and it was a hoot. Rachel and I were quite amused.

So I guess you can see that not all of Nathan's talk is monosyllabic. In fact, he's got some sentences. "I do," for just about any task that he plans to tackle on his own. "I see," when he sees a bus or wants to see the picture I've just taken. And tonight, as I was kissing him at bedtime, "Ahwa voo." And Nathan, I love you, too. I do, I do , I do!

It was the Arch!

20 points! We had a delightful trip to St. Louis...gosh, it was a month ago! Visited several sets of friends, discovered the fun of sitting on child-sized rocking chairs, wandered the Wash U campus (really fun to be there with our kids--think we'll ever be dropping them off there?),


and stopped to pick 10 pounds of blueberries on the way home. Rachel got to try out playing a real drum kit.


Nathan did not find Fitz's to be overly thrilling.


Rachel spent quite a bit of time upside-down, just like at home.

It was a lot of fun. Thanks to all who played!

Durn Skeeters

Take a look at my poor baby! (And know that these photos don't really do justice to his predicament.)



The mosquitoes didn't take long to figure out what we already knew--this is one sweet, sweet kid. He has welts on his leg that are half the size of his little leg. Poor kid! I feel like people are staying away from us in public places, for fear that he has some awful disease. Then there was the time that the lady working the counter at the post office asked the lady at the next station if she smelled furniture polish. They decided it was the floor wax, and I decided not to tell her that we were coated in citronella spray. I'm having to use it as much as we use sunscreen lately, all day long, just to get outside the house. Quite a switch from our practice earlier in the summer of eating almost every meal on the patio. This has been a summer of extremes--it started early, it's been crazy hot, we've had more rain than you could shake a stick at (We tried. Shaking the stick did not dry the basement.), the humidity has curled my hair in ways I've never seen before, and these dang mosquitoes are eating us alive! (Nathan is funny, though--if he sees any bug, he freezes in his tracks and shrieks, "Buh! Buh! Buh!" until we come and shoo it away. And if anyone slaps themselves for any reason, he asks, "Buh?" Not quite the introduction to the wonders of Class Insecta that I had in mind for my little scientist, but it is what it is. Maybe he'll be more of a vertebrate biologist or something.) Still loving summer, for all that!