Year: 2008

For those who don't know, for the past few months Sean has had a serious fascination with pipes. He is always under the sink checking out the pipes, talking about pipes while he flushes the toilet, talks about food going down his pipe when he swallows, and hanging out in the basement to check out all the pipes overhead. This story makes a lot more sense if you know that ahead of time.

Last week I had to go to Washington, D.C. to give a presentation for work. The night before I left I was tucking Sean in and talking to him about the trip I had to take, and how I wouldn't see him the next day, but that he would see me the day after. Here's a summary how that conversation went down:

Me: "Sean, I have to go to Washington, D.C. tomorrow, for work. I won't see you, but I will see you the next day, okay?"
Sean: "Okay. Will you see the pipes?"
Me: "Sure, buddy!"

Flash-forward to two days later, first thing in the morning. This will be the first time he has seen me in a day-and-a-half. I have the day off, but we need to wake Sean up to get him ready for school. So I go in, kneel down by his bed, and gently wake him:

Me (softly): "Sean...time to get up, buddy."
Sean (extrememly groggily): "Hi Daddy...did you see the pipes...?"
Me (softly): "Sure did! They were great!"

We had Carter's second birthday party this past weekend. It went really well, and everyone had a great time. We didn't really get a lot of photos though - we were too busy enjoying the festivities to actually record them for posterity. But here is a sampling of the few we actually did manage to grab.

We've been playing outside more lately. With the weather cooling off so dramatically, we're starting to realize that winter is really coming, and our outdoor time is about to be curtailed for a while. Sean found a rake and tried making himself a leaf pile. Suprisingly, he was actually able to do it - even though the rake is probably twice his size. This kids also found a worm, when one of them accidentally tore up a small section of the lawn. They were both fascinated by it, and crouched and stared at it until it wriggled away. Sean has been asking me to help him find worms for at least a month now, but every time we've checked under logs and rocks lately we've had no luck. So he was thrilled to finally see one again.

For some reason, every time we point a camera at Sean lately, he covers one eye with his hand before he smiles. He claims it is so he can look like a pirate. I have no idea where he came up with this, but I love it! Last night I downloaded the last week's or so worth of pictures off of the camera, to start going through them. There were at least a dozen pictures, from several different days, that had Sean in this pose. Hilarious!

Lori bought a pin the tail on the donkey game, which I assume was intended for Carter's birthday party. But apparently they busted it out a few days early, on her actual birthday, instead. Eli and Carter both got a chance to try it out. Don't they look hilarious in their blindfolds? I can't believe that they actually kept them on. And look how proud Carter looks!

Carter and Eli tried a new activity last week - sorting dry pasta. Lori has been saving a handful of pasta from each of the boxes we've bought in the last couple of months, so the kids would have a variety of shapes and sizes to play with. Then she gives them each a muffin tin to use for sorting. Both kids seemed to really get into it, and there little faces were all screwed up in concentration in all of the pictures. I love seeing them working out something new.

We took the kids to a local orchard last weekend - Applecrest Farm in Hampton Falls. We were after apples and peaches, as we were about to make our first foray into canning on Sunday. The kids had a great time. They love being outdoors, no matter what the occasion. But at this farm, they got to ride a tractor from the parking lot to the orchard. Sean couldn't get enough - he was grinning ear to ear. The canning went pretty well too, stay tuned for pictures. I'll try to put some up this weekend.

Lori got the kiddos to try something new today - she covered the chalkboard with chalk, gave them a couple of wet paintbrushes, and set them loose. They both enjoyed it tremendously - but don't they look so serious?

Carter is seeing her brother getting a lot of attention for drawing so much lately, and she wants a piece of that action. The past few days, she's been scribbling madly on a doodleboard, and then running to the nearest parent and yelling "look what I made!" It's very sweet. Who knows? Maybe she'll have a knack for art too.