Whistle while you work...

Megan mastered the whistle a few months back. Since then she's taken to whistling all the time. Getting ready for school, homework, doing chores, riding her scooter, in the car, drawing...you name it, she's probably whistling. Sometimes Emily gets a little tired of it and asks her to stop. Personally, I love how it has become regular background noise in our life. It's like having a grandpa in the house...or living in a Disney animated film.

First grade smiles

I don't know about you but I rate first grade smiles as some of the all time best smiles...

Candy Smackdown

In the spirit of Halloween, our local newspaper (yes, we still get the newspaper) recently had a Candy Smackdown. Set up like a NCAA Basketball bracket, you worked your way from 64 candies down to the champion. We had a lot of fun making our "picks". Once we got down to the Elite Eight, we made it count with a full-fledged taste test. This involved a trip to our local candy store, Sweeties, that carries all the old time favorites. My mom even got in on the fun as our official tie-breaker. And the winner at our house?



Twix...winning 4 to 1 in the championship round (Steve picked Butterfinger). It must have been the caramel and chocolate deliciousness combined with the cookie crunch. Yum!

Cat scan

Geddy Lee, 1 year

First day of school 2011

This Monday was the first day of the new 2011/12 school year. Both girls (and parents) were excited to get back into the regular routine that school brings. Emily got the teacher she hoped for and has many of her friends in class again this year. Megan was a little disappointed that she didn't get the same 1st grade teacher that Emily had previously, but she seems to have recovered and is happy have advanced to the 'big playground'. Both are also tickled that their lunch breaks overlap by a few minutes, allowing them to see each other during the course of each and every school day (I love that they still enjoy each other).

Both girls were happy to sport their new outfits and backpacks before embarking on a fabulous new year.

Beautiful girls

When you see your children every single day, you don't always see how much they are growing up. There are the monumental things that they do, like Emily running into the store to buy an item, while I wait in the car. Or spending a week away at overnight camp. Or Megan walking down the sidewalk at her school with her loaded down backpack headed into her first grade classroom. But how much their features are changing isn't as noticeable day to day.

So it is often when I look at a still shot photograph that I catch my breath. Recognizing how quickly the time is going and how beautiful these two girls of ours are, both inside and out. This picture of Megan taken this summer is one that did just that.



Megan, age 6

A turtle's life for him...

I know you don't hear much about him, but our box turtle, Dash is still around. Steve calls him the most useless of pets...but he really is kind of cool. He's quite a novelty with young visitors. Plus, he's starting to show his personality. Like today I noticed him poking out of his shell and log...as if waiting for dinner. It was kind of cute...in his own unobtrusive kind of way.



And you'd be surprised by what a noisy eater he is.