Thursday, May 31, 2012

At the Car Wash

 We had a lovely and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.  It must be a sign of old age that I look forward to having a chance to get some house projects done on the weekend!  The kids and I had a lot of fun washing the cars together.  They got soaked, as any self-respecting child should when using a hose.
Tutus: they aren't just for dance anymore!
 Isaac is working pretty hard--check out the tongue action there.
The sign currently taped to Isaac's room.  It is living proof that I have a sweet elementary school boy, not an angsty teenager.  I hope it lasts.

May visit to NC

We took Isaac out of school for a long-overdue trip up to NC.  We usually drive overnight, and it works great for us, but this time I was coming down with some virus that made it feel like a never-ending slog through the rural southeast.  We made it, though, and I collapsed at my in-law's door, handed off the kids, and crawled into bed.  Thank God for grandparents, right?

Vance was pretty tired too, but we recovered.  We had a lot of celebrating to do in Oak Ridge, since it was Mom's birthday and Mother's Day that weekend!  Ellen, David, & co.  drove over for a day, which was great.  The older the kids get, the better they play together. I didn't grow up knowing my cousins well, so it's especially heartwarming for me to see my kids get to have those relationships.

 We had a lot of fun trying to spoil Claudia on her big day, although it's hard to get my mother-in-law to stop working :). We made her meals, Isaac and Vance took her out on a date for lunch, we visited family, and Claire and I had a little tea party with Mom. It was all a lot of fun.
 We stayed with Ellen and David while we were in Raleigh, and even though we were in and out a lot, it was still really nice to get to spend a little more time with the Bragdons. Our family eats about twice as much as theirs does, so Ellen went to a lot of effort to keep up with our eating habits (thanks, dear!).  I didn't get the best picture of Ben, but he is growing up so fast.  Eve has been saying "Baby Ben" ever since our visit.  We were all smitten by his cuteness, and he even warmed up to me to let me hold him!
 You know it was a fun trip when Isaac wore himself out enough to nap on Vance one afternoon!
 The biggest reason for our visit was to see Dad and Deonni's new baby, little Austin.  He was born in early March, so he was already cooing and smiling and interacting with us by the time we got to meet him.  He is such a sweet baby, and his social smiles and gurgles won us over right away.  Granny, you were right: he is very alert!  Deonni is already recovered and back to her energetic self.  I'm sure Austin's going to be so changed by the next time we see him...but it was great to get to meet him while he's still tiny.

Eve was giving everyone her patented stinkeye while we were in NC, but when I tried to capture it on camera, she gave me this.  Typical :).

Easter (backtrack to April)

 I have obviously failed miserably when it comes to keeping this blog updated over the last few months.  Sorry about that!  My good camera has died a (probably long-overdue) death, and I'm shooting with my little camera.  It's uninspiring and frustrating, so it's been hard to take many pictures.  I'm not going to try and recapture all of our winter and spring, but here are a few photos from Easter. 
 The kids really enjoyed an Easter egg hunt with friends!
 It took Eve all of 3 eggs to figure out that there was something worth having inside: chocolate!  Her daddy was foolish enough to let her have a candy early on, which destroyed her emotional equilibrium for at least 15 minutes.  Sound familiar?
The best we could do at a family photo.