Merriness

Christmas- joyus! Thank all of you for your lovely, wonderful gifts. Thank you so much for listening and for a fun, not too overwhelming Christmas morning. We didn't unwrap even one busty/lusty, gun packing 'hero'. We have gotten much use (already) out of candyland, story time, lincoln logs, fuzzy coats, sword & shield, ball gowns and the #1 wanted "robot that shoots green discs from his chest". So, we've made it through Christmas and Sloane's innocence is still intact. Right now she's all "let's get dirty" but not in a Christina Aguleria way and that's very nice...because she's one. And Billie is digging for earthworms right along with her.
Just WAIT until you see Billie in her Princess Leia outfit!!! The kids have some insane obsession with star wars and check out every book at the library for ages 10 + (or for 30 year old sci-fi geeks like Bill) to study star wars. They play star wars all the time and have carefully memorized odd names of life forms and space craft. So, going against all our normal 'rules' (see? see, we're indulgent sometimes! totally!) we let them watch the actual star wars video the other day. the original not the one with young Anniken being burnt and maimed, screaming out in pain at the loss of his love and all that was good in him. just the original. With scary monstery- type images and all, which it really just seems better NOT to have in your head...but they'd seen them all in the books already...so, we just let them. and how did this turn from a christmas blog to a star wars blog? who knows? here's some pictures. How cute is Billie's drawing of Santa in Sleigh? Worthy of me embroidering it into a pillow? Yes! I think SO!
And seriously, Thank you! Thanksgiving pictures

un-school

So, for the last two weeks we haven't done 'school' as we usually do. No Pledge of Allegiance and no 'assignments' in the morning. (Of course, I think 'school' for a 4 and 5 year old is living a day- finding out how a Christmas tree slowly dies, making up a story or learning how to pour your own milk.) But we haven't done any 'technical' school. (I reassure myself by saying "Neither have the PS kids, though!" You know you just watched movies the last few days before winter break).
But the point is that an interesting thing has happened. Billie has become a teacher. Each day she creates something new; Like a drum, by taking a mug and putting a piece of paper of the top, secured by a rubber hair band; or, a robot from a toy construction set. And then she teaches us about it. This is funny because she sets out pillows for all of us to sit on (very assigned) and assumes this whole 'teachery' posture (do i do that?) and points out things and shows us them and passes them around for us all to examine "see, his esophagus and intestines are in there." (That was for a lesson on aliens.) And she thinks about answers to all our questions. Jackson, Bill and I raise our hands and then we wait to be called on (???!!!). me: "Professor, do aliens have babies from an egg or from their Mommies belly?" Billie: "um....some are born from eggs and others are born from their Mommies tummy and others are c-section babies like me."
"Professor, What planet did this alien come from?"
"from Pluto. no, no, no...aliens don't live on Pluto (she corrects herself) from Saturn!"
so, we've been learning something new every day.
Jackson sometimes will follow up her lesson with one of his own
"These are two aliens. This one is named Crack and this one is named Crack too."
"Professor, if crack was under you would one say that you were on crack?"
Jackson's class is mostly silly but sometimes contains information.
Sloane toddles after her big brother and sister, so not at their level and so not included in their games that it's a little sad.
But sometimes if we have the big white-board out she will point to it and say "BA!" to the kids with an expectant look , as I am clearly teaching them. "Cat" "Hat" "See" "The" "Van" That's pretty cute.
Mom and Bob are here so we went to Chuck E Cheese this afternoon, which can also be found under the nomenclature "parental hell" or "grandparental heaven"
It's certainly fun for Billie, Jackson and Sloane anyway.

Son of a beach

Well, I guess I can write now that I've FINALLY stamped and enveloped my obligatory lame-o Christmas letter. This year I didn't have time for a fake smiles photograph of us all with gelled hair and matching snowman sweaters...but i suppose we've never used gel (except for that one time for Billie's ballet recital...i'll never forget that!) and it's too warm for sweaters...so, those traditions will have to be carried out by the more organized folks in this world.
Here's what I have been able to find the time for: A long-ago planned trip to meet our dear and not-so-near friends, it was a little pact we made before leaving Okinawa "We'll meet half-way when we're living in the States." And we DID it! it wasn't about the location, or the distance, or the dolly parton show tickets, it was all about the friends. They weren't going to let a little strep throat stop them...and we were going to bring our sick, hacking, cough right along with us...mapquest misdirections and all...we made a great time of it. We found letterboxes, seashells, somehow made the kids stop jumping on the bed long enough to allow the babies their daily naps, we swam, we made a tightrope for the seagulls, we took long walks on the beach, watched beautiful sunsets, we made crafts, we were glued to trashy reality tv shows, we made chicken fingers and ate at least 9 apples a day. We had fun despite Jackson continuing (even escalating) his level of recent obnoxious behavior, we have all had at least a slight degree of hearing loss from being confined to a small hotel apartment with Billie's skewed volume of a 'speaking' voice, managed to get through an ear-ache day with and otherwise perfect Camille, and Noah had a few time outs but was really an angel in comparison with the blondie twins here.
So, that's what happened and how it turned out to be so much fun i just can't say...maybe it's the friendship i've cherished so much that i've been missing for months as I search through the sea of other stay-at-home moms......good friends are hard to find.

myrtle beach

we got a new camera- here's what you missed: Sloane turned one, beach frolicking, and see if you can find Jackson...

Amazing

Some amazing things have been happening lately. I thought I had done away with the last bits of Thanksgiving when I tossed out two forgotten tupperwares of stuffing last week. Then, yesterday, I found a beef jerky type of honey-baked ham in the Van (in Jackson's cup holder) when I cleaned (cleaned isn't really the right word here...something much less than actually getting anything clean and more about removal of rotten food, apple cores, raisins, and meat that has cured into jerky) the Van in prep for our little vacation. honeybaked ham beef jerky= amazing!
This morning, during our incredible children's class at the Corcoran, the homeschool group of kids had such thoughtful things to say about the paintings Billie would be the first to answer nearly every question with her thoughts- whether right or wrong "I think she's poor...because she doesn't have fancy clothes." For the most part she was right on. We considered how the diagonal lines seem to show movement and what colors stand out on our tour through the Joan of Arc series by a million different artists. Amazing!
And when we came across a huge painting of George Washington on his horse heading into battle Jackson, the youngest in the group (being 4) instantly recognized him and when the leader posed the question what he was famous for Jackson quickly answered "the revolutionary war"...Amazing!
And most amazing of all is that one year ago today Sloane was only just being born!!! She was this squishy, little, squirmy ball of beauty and now she's a walking, talking, teethy little kid with hair and chuckles and doing her little tricks- "how big is Sloane?" "give loves" "bye bye" "woof woof" "book, book, BOOK!"utterly AMAZING!
Billie is picking out some of the fanciest cupcakes in the world- some local baker lady who was featured on TV and delivers to little local coffeehouses as I type this and both kids (although Jackson usually resists creating anything 'arty' of his own design) have spent all day making gifts for her so that there's a pile of pictures and paper/tape/glue creations waiting for her on the table. So sweet! Happy Birthday little (big girl) Sloane!

Turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving! This year was SO MUCH FUN with all (okay...not really, ALL, but certainly more than we've ever had for one holiday) our family gathering here. It was good to share our new home, new walking skills, honey-baked ham nibbling, LOUD children, neighborhood hikes and ice cream with our dear family. Still a little sad that we don't live closer, when that plane day came it was a little hard on all of us...the kids stayed real quiet all afternoon. But we're certainly happy that we're nearer than ever before! We might just see eachother again before a year passes!

a gun, by any other name...

Jackson just said the funniest thing. Background info: For the last two days Jackson has lost his privilege for one of his guys before breakfast. Today he said "Mom, it's good I forgot about this shooter guy while I was doing my morning routine because I wouldn't have gotten to play with him if I lost my privilege so early." Very true. And do you see how saying 'shooter' makes it not a real G-U-N? semantics much? ahh well, it makes me feel better about it at least and we all have our little things we pretend to believe.
And did you notice how he just expects that the privilege will be lost- the question is when. He has been SO ornery (thank goodness for spell check!) lately that he has worked it into his very being to answer each request for action ("please get your shoes on" "please zip your coat up" "please don't poke me with the lightsaber while I'm taking a shower") with a defiant and teenagerish "oooh M-OOO-m!" like, he's totally annoyed with me. He says it ALL THE TIME- even when I'm like "Get in the van we're going to Nolan's!" (His best friend) there it is "oh MOM!" This is like lemon juice in my eye! And I have to remember that Billie went through this phase- when she stopped doing everything nicely and wanted to refuse everything....everything. He can't stop himself from negotiating- He tells me "I'll eat the rest of this lollipop if you let us stay at the playground for 2 more hours." As if I need him to eat the lollipop?!!
If only I could make it part of my being not to hear the rudeness of it, it would be alright. He does get in the van and he'll wander elsewhere with the lightsaber it's just he has to get that last word in to make sure I know how much I'm infringing on his life there.
Picture: Billie and Jackson have taken to working on the stairs in order to avoid Sloane. She still tries to be involved, but doesn't have the death-wish to get on the stairs. Billie is working hard on one of a million 'art' projects. Jackson is holding his 'shooter guy' shortly after morning routine.

watch out boy- she'll chew you up

woah here she comes...she's a man-eater. SHE WALKS! Fresh off of her first 4 little free-standing steps it's Sloane on her way to big kidness.hgnmkjh,um- fg hv- she types too.
how 'bout this girl!!!
her other hobbies include talking on the phone= she even made up her own sign for baby phone when she sees others talking on the phone.

presents?

The holidays are nearing and Bill and I are putting away the last boxes, of things that don't fit but we want to keep, in the attic. Getting ready for Auntie Meg, Uncle Nathan and Nanna- our Thanksgiving house guests. And people are asking about presents- "what should I get the kids? What are the kids interested in these days?" so, that's on my mind. This year Billie is five and I'm REALLY letting my sheltering of her go (I did let them have free range on their candy bags for Halloween night, remember). Bill is perhaps not as interested in letting her into the big bad world because he takes some convincing on most issues that come up. He wasn't sure about letting my two, adult, single, best friends for the last 17 years babysit because they don't have much 'kid experience' and that didn't even include Sloane! ( 3 kids at once is a bit much for their introduction to 'kid experience'...I'm trying to get them to come around to my side of thinking: everyone should have a baby right now!) Seriously, the older two are totally self- sufficient and know what they should do, and do it...but they might do it differently and they will certainly do it s-l-o-w-l-y(putting on socks can take up to 7 minutes!)...they do what they're told and if they were ever on their own- they would manage just fine.
Back to the point, Bill isn't ready to take that leap but in this vein I'm not going to regulate their gifts this year (of course, guns, barbie, bratz or anything with boobs is going to 'be lost' very soon after unwrapping) but really, that's all i'm limiting it to. Which, is kind-of a big step for us.
It's sort of hard to tell what they'll love. Billie has played with a my little pony set maybe two times or less this whole year but got it out yesterday and played with it for over 3 hours. Jackson likes his 'guys' collection but that halloween batman hasn't gotten any action since the day he brought him home. He spends way more time with the superhero books than his guys. Mostly I hate all the leapster stuff- anything that is touted as 'reading' which is not reading at all because the darn pen is reading aloud to you, or the computer set recognizes the page and reads the words...that is SO not how you experience a book. I just think the kids will expect every book to open up and start talking and making sound effects. oh yeah! the kids...what they like...okay, okay...they mostly like playing imaginative games with props. Jackson loads his guys in a wagon and they play 'art cafe' which involves a 'coffee machine' (they fill it with water and it perkolates) so that jackson is the waiter at the cafe while billie, and all customers, draw and order coffee and we hang the pictures on the walls of the cafe. puzzles are a big hit recently. up to 60 pieces or so. games get a lot of play: checkers and chess or board games and card games too. a big thing we've been doing lately is a 'word box' i gave this to billie in a really exciting way- talking about it like it was a big deal (really it's just an old pencil case of mine with a cute sailor moon on it) and each day she gets a 'word present' which is just a very cool word written on a small piece of paper so that it will fit in her box. Her words are "princess" "strawberry" "dagger" "Eva" etc. Each day I pick a word that is special to her in some way and she LOVES this and her word box and one night I even caught her sleeping with it all wrapped up. She is allowed, after lights out, to turn on her little bedside lamp and read her words once a night. She has a whole collection and can 'read' them all. I was thinking a great gift would be for someone to cover a shoe box in fancy paper and put some words in, with flashy paper and stylish writing and each day she could pick one out. Either of them would LOVE this gift and it would be excitement each day. They play with their musical instruments and dr. kits a lot, blocks, a building set, legos, a gift of karate lessons for a month or a kids cooking class would be fun too.
they don't know about toys on TV. they don't watch TV. let me clarify this because everyone is like "oh yeah, we don't watch much TV either" they don't see TV not for an hour a day, not for 10 minutes a day, not sesame street, not dora, not oprah, the TV is never EVER on when the kids are awake. It's not that I think TV is so bad- i love it, myself. Dora is a great little show but when that 30 second commercial comes on for SuperNanny and shows the drama of the two year old hitting his Mom and screaming "I HATE YOU!" it's clear what they're going to learn from that 30 minutes of TV. So, it's strictly videos for us, mostly from the library so we don't get too bored of watching one over and over. commercials are rotten.
They don't have a list yet and they don't know if they're missing out on the 'poopy puppy' craze or whatever is popular.
it's so fun to be able to preach here with all my hair-brained ideas!
next time i'll write a nicey nice blog- i promise. Pictures: the triple pony tail watching kareoke, going on a walk, Sloane zonked after a walk (notice the bootie!!!)

7 years!

Last night was our anniversary and we celebrated thanks to Nanna, at the MOST exquisite restaurant of our lives. With the most extravagent meal ever and absolutely one of the all-time-great life experiences...giving birth? Oh puh-leez...everyone has done THAT. It was seriously amazing and outrageous. When Bill made the reservation he mentioned it was for our anniversary and after our like, 8th course they came out with 4 more courses of dessert not the least of which was a mini-mountain of peach colored cotton candy spun to wispy perfection. Bill and I couldn't wipe the smile from our faces the whole night. WOW!
In March Bill and I will have known eachother for 15 years, which is half our life. So, next year we will have been together longer. We talked about what we would change in our marriage; Me: "If you would just put your dirty clothes in the laundry bin.." Him: "I wish you would quit gasping when I'm driving, like you're in fear." So, i guess things aren't perfect but certainly pretty close.
How can it have been seven years? I remember our wedding and our first kiss and i still melt when he puts his arms around me or opens my door. When I wake up in the morning on a sunshiney day with a baby smooshing my cheek as she crawls over my head toward a toy that i didn't bother to remove from the covers last night when i went to bed...i just am happy. i am happy i married bill and happy we have these kiddos and happy we're in this house that i LOVE and happy that i don't have to rush out of bed and this is getting a little bit sick so i won't go on.
it's our anniversary and because i got this out now i won't have to spread it around to a wider audience (more than 6 people) in the Christmas letter. We're deliriously happy!! there, i'm glad i got that little guilty secret off my chest. I feel i should note here, so that it's not all too rosey rosey that it has not always been this way, that first year SUCKED so bad and there's been weeks of seething dislike for eachother with hardly any communication at all. Sloane just bit Billie, I have to go. Happy Anniversary to us!

pictures...finally!

Dad loaned us a camera while we figure out if we need a new one (thanks Granpa Les!) I just went downstairs and took random shots of each- don't even make me think of all the beautiful shots I didn't get when they were playing in the leaves on our perfect weather fall days (ohhhh!)
here's jackson building a lego tower, billie "getting her babies ready for winter" and Sloane with her favorite thing...food, trying to scrape any remains from the jar.

blog update

by the way- does everyone know they can scroll down the page and sign up for an email notification when i update the blog? i signed up myself first to make sure they didn't start sending me all kinds of random crap when i gave them my address. they don't. so, scroll down, enter your email and whenever I post you'll get an email with a link to bring you here and see all about our news of everydayness and nothing new and/or exciting.
scroll down to the very, very bottom...it's way at the end.

school-y-ish-ness

we took a cue from my brilliant friend Megan who had the great idea to use your candy as cash towards toys. it's not so much for the kids- who get a piece of candy less than once a week, but i found myself unable to resist the temptation of 7 mini 3 muskateers for breakfast. (i wonder why that last 10 lbs just hangs on?!!!) i have NO self control and if it's in the house...well, i'm eating it.
back to the kids: they went to the store, lugging around their pumpkin bags, to see if anything might be worth the relinquishment of candy. Jackson wasn't that interested in shopping. He saw one huge robot type thing he wanted and "didn't have enough candy to purchase", he played with the trains, he asked if we could go. I had to drag him along to look at a neat bow and arrow set, a spiderman game and he finally settled on a batman guy with a 'shooter'. Billie can't make up her mind: she wants everything. she wants a wig, an umbrella, a kids needlepoint set, a watch, a ball net game set, a lego castle, a set of accessories to give your baby doll a bath, ugh! Finally she picks out a remote control car, tries to convince Jackson to get one too, but he won't trade the batman. We purchase. The lady at the counter is confused when I wink and make the kids hand over their candy luggage and ask her to put it in the T-R-A-S-H (we spell A LOT!). As soon as we get home Jackson wants to go back and trade his batman for a remote controlled car. ugh!
As for school: we've been doing America lately. Since we moved here and Thanksgiving is coming up and all. Learning the States, how we came over from Britain, map skills, George Washington, Betsy Ross, flags, Indians, Colonial times and all that. We learn in mostly a unit studies way. Which means I pick a topic (usually based on a recent interest of one or both kids) and we relate EVERYTHING to that. We take field trips to the Claude Moore Colonial farm and see everyone in bonnets, play with a stick and hoop, spin wool from sheep directly into yarn, see an old fashioned puppet show, pretend we're having breakfast at the farm and have to milk the cows for our cereal. We relate it to Math and Science and talk about how steam power got beat out by electrical power. I love it and i think the kids do too. We've been to the Nat'l Gallery of Art and the old Air & Space museum just this week. I LOVE leaving the house and being at the steps of an amazing FREE museum in 20 minutes! You can just imagine all that we can find to relate to the Little House on the Prarie stories we're doing...and the Tall Tales of Paul Bunyan and Babe, Johnny Appleseed and all the other 'American stories' we listen to on CD in the van. The kids learn more than I could ever guess they would when we work this way.
For math Billie can now solve for an unknown. Which sounds really 'Wow' because they way we do it in school is like you spend all this time memorizing your times tables and other crapola - quick everyone, what is 6x7? Which you SORT OF get and then all of a sudden there's an X or N in the equation....what the crap? (by the way- crap has taken the place of all bad words in our house, as it's not really that bad) But the math books I got for us, introduce algebra now. And it's so simple. what + 5 =8? X + 2 = 10 Billie can do it no problem, Jackson can do it if we use counters (like cheerios or raisins) and hide the unknown under a bowl and ask him to make that match the other row of cheerios.
So, i get a lot of questions about what they're doing for 'school' just thought I should fill you in. sorry this post was so long- you probably feel like you're in school having to read through it all. Maybe we could all take turns reading a paragraph outloud...

Book!

Had to write again because Sloane has a TRUE first word (beyond Mama, Dada, Daddy and infrequent baby sign) she has recently fallen head over heels for books and when she gets one, it's been two days now, that she clearly chirps "BOOK!" to us.
Billie's first word was cat- as she'd call first thing when she woke in the morning "GAAA! GAAAT!" Jackson said Mama A LOT and spoke rather than signed "More" and now here's Sloane with BOOK.
she's really, REALLY a mommy's girl and will only tolerate hanging out with other people IF she can not see me. which has me sneaking around and ducking behind couches as i try to put away the laundry a lot...it's sort of like ninja stuff. anyhoo- she will squirm and wiggle right out of my arms if anyone within sight has a book (or food) and truck right over to the reader and pull on the book and make an undeniable nuisance of herself until she is right in the readers lap and pointing at things she sees in the book as you read. it's THE MOST ADORABLE thing EVER!
halloween was great- Auntie Di invited us to her neighborhood in old towne alexandria- the halloweeniest place on earth and we had a whole event of it.
this morning when i offered billie a piece of candy for breakfast she said "I don't know about the candy...I think I'll take a break from candy for 2 or 3 days." This year i thought they were old enough to get the consequence themselves and let them eat the candy they wanted. They each were very discerning and said "i'll have 4 pieces tonight" but didn't even get through that. Jackson lost his privlge but has not asked for candy today...all the same.
i just love those little life lessons- so much more than some random punishment bill or i inflict!
so today, the halloween hangover hasn't been too bad- it's sunny and warm and we spent the morning at the park! lovely!

the dynamics of 3

Just as i sit down to write this I can hear Billie bellowing out a song from the basement below "I love my baby sister, I've loved you since you were born...you use me as a walker and you love me so MUCH!" which is relevant because i'm sitting down to write about how they interact. it's interesting: Jackson was more in love with Sloane when she was a little baby. He was so protective and gentle and so aware of her infant helplessness. I've never seen a kid more gentle and kind to a baby than Jackson was with Sloane. He didn't want to dress her or change her diaper, sing to her or do any kind of 'mommy' things but he would pat her or hold her with the softest most caring arms. ahhh...those were sweet memories...of her babyhood. Now she's moving in the toddler direction and Billie has taken up an interest in her. Jackson mostly addresses Sloane with his concerns like "Don't tear my comic book, Sloane!" and "Refrain from getting your diaper near me, Sloane!" (this is if she has an 'exposed' diapers, which he has a fanatical fear of, if it's under clothes...that's just fine).
Billie, who sometimes sang to baby Sloane, and was a constant performer to keep her entertained while Sloane watched her elder sister's flailing and gyrations, unable to move or clap, with wide-eyed interest or concern at a possible seizure; has now found a new playmate in Sloane the toddler. She's more durable now and will hold up to Billie's 'dressing her up' and 'dancing with her' games. Billie is such a friend to Sloane that I often guiltily wonder how I would get through my days if Billie were not here...if she were at school- how would I ever get anything done with Sloane and no one but myself to entertain her?!! Sloane is not interested in toys she wants to play with a breathing and active (preferrably hyper-active) human. Do I feel guilty because I can often hear Billie say from the backyard- or from another level of the house, "Mooooooooo-oom, can you handle this baby for a while?" "Can you watch Sloane while I go to the bathroom?" Hmmmm..... maybe. But really i'm not all as bad of a mother as that- it's just that Billie thinks she can't leave her side. I keep telling her Sloane is fine to sit on the grass and crawl about while Billie jumps in the leaf pile With worried eyes she looks up at me and asks "But what if she eats a leaf? I just had to take a bit of dirt out of her mouth because she was trying to eat it." oh, she's a concerned big sister...what a sweetheart...but a little dirt never killed anyone.
so- that's a bit about them. and i hope this was a thousand words because there's no picture for it. HELP!!! our digital camera is on the fritz and what will i ever do if we can't capture the kids in their MOST EXCELLENT Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell costumes (which they wore to the homeschool halloween party on Friday that ROCKED). now that really would be something upsetting. and yes, i did make them myself (two of them anyway) thankyouverymuch even though it DID take some time away from my knitting!!!

So, it occurs to me that i write a lot about me here and i haven't written much on the kids lately and so i'm going to squelch my urge to write all about my new passion- which is knitting. no, i'm not kidding it's addictive and you should SEE the most adorable booties i'm making for Sloane...but on with the kids...
Billie and i were dancing the other day- something we often do in the living room when it's raining...and she requested her favorite song which used to embarrass me because it was "They Both Reached For the Gun" from Chicago (we love show tunes) and you know, good ol' Chicago with hot numbers like "Roxie Hart" and "Razzle Dazzle 'em" but she says she likes "the one that goes 'If you'd have been there...if you'd have seen it...I betcha you would have done the same" Which I set the stereo to promptly, lest we loose our groove. But as I'm listening to all the women account for what has brought them to jail...describe their sides of the story in great detail "And he ran into my knife..he ran into my knife 17 times" or "so, I fired off two warning shots...right into his HEAD!" I'm thinking hmmm?! this isn't such a cute song afterall!!! And I suppose it could have been worse if she'd requested the song as the one where the "husband comes home screamin' 'You been screwing the milk man?!!" or "Single...my ASS!" because those are some of the other phrases set in this catchy tune.
Yikes!
Thankfully after bellowing out the chorus "I betcha you would have done the same!" she came over to me and whispered "but i wouldn't have done the same, mamma."
oh, that's a relief.
recent stuff we've been doing is playing checkers which Billie is awesome at and Jackson is pretty good at too! We're learning chess. Jackson must spend a cumulative 3+ hours a day pouring over his comic books from the library. we read so much it's insane. and Sloane has become a total swiper pulling the kids over by tooth and nail to get a hold of their ice cream (or caramel apple in this case, thanks Mom!- a care package i've gotten every fall since I left home for college)

I'll blog about Jackson next time.
 

full hands

here's us at the grocery store...and the reason people have to stop and smile at us and everyone, EVERYONE must say "my! you've got your hands full." as if they've never seen anyone with 3 kids before. "are these children yours? I thought you were in high school!" which is has a few more layers than "you look so young"... along the lines of: 'you look young, disheveled and unable to tell your children how to distinguish matching outfits.' but maybe that's just me being paranoid...not everyone is like that- some people have a genuine smile and are impressed that "all three of them are so well-behaved!" that's just nice.

I get this a minimum of 35 times a day!



wait...who's that big kid there on the playground? it's Sloane, going on slides and making her own way around. watch out world cuz here she comes!

quick shots