Guess Who's BIG??

Dear Riah,

You went for a weight check (and more shots, poor thing). You finally broke the 20 lb mark!! Happy Dance!! You're even on the growth chart!!!!! Sure, it's only 5th percentile for weight but it's a big jump from where you were before. I'm so proud of my big, big girl!!

Smiles and Giggles

For Grampa's Everywhere

A Mountain

My Dear Family,

Another weekend has past and luckily, we made a quick decision to get out of the house instead of doing the usual chores. We went for a quick jaunt up "A" Mountain (more like a hill) in preparation for our assent up Y Mountain during Thanksgiving break.

You boys thought is was super easy but you also had a really great time. Sis thought her chariot was a bit slow but the view was superb.

Bring on the Y!!

Best Friends

Dear Riah,

Mommy has a good friend who has had the good sense to have babies at the exact same time as me. Hence you and your best friend Aubree are only a month apart. Her Mommy and I trade babysitting twice a week so you and Aubree see each other lots. You trade toys, germs, and skills. She taught you "mine!" and you taught her "No!" I think. Maybe it was the other way around.

While the two of you look so calm and collected in this picture, don't let it fool you. It's only after you tackled each other over a baby doll. This picture reminds me that baby-time is only for so long, I can see the future in your eyes.

Soon will come the day that you are playing "princess" and maybe even gossipping abut boys. So I'm really trying to treasure the days that you fight over the lego blocks.

Don't grow up too soon Baby Doll.

First Haircut.

Dear Ri-Ri,

It's true. It was time. Face it honey, you have two hairstylists as Auntie's. They were only going to let you get away with the shaggy look for so long. Daddy's hairs and Brothers' hairs desperately needed chopped and you were along for the ride and I really couldn't come up with an excuse not to, so....

You were so good and sweet and really, it looks fabulous. Aunt Tanya said to let your bangs grow. She knows way more about girlie hair than I do, so if you don't like it, you know who to blame. :)

Ugg, I can feel Mommy-guilt already beginning. Is every decision going to feel like this??? I love you sweetie. And you're still very cute.

Good Morning

Communal Breakfast. First morning back from Fall Break. It's a hard life.

Mommy with Camera. The world is good again.

First self portrait with new camera

Watching tv in pajamas, what more could one ask for? Answer: fruit loops

Dear Kids,

Yesterday was Sunday. I spent over an hour writing and editing pictures for this post. It was visually lovely, it was witty, it was sentimentally descriptive. With one errant click, I erased it all. Such is life.

So I try again. We finally have a camera again. It's merely a point and shoot but I saved up for it by forcing Daddy to go on really cheap date nights (thanks to babysitting grandparents!) and it's tiny but with big potential. (much like yours truly). It's even pink! I love it.

So we just wrapped up an exciting Fall Break. Filled with lazy days, play dates at the park with friends we haven't seen since school started, a wild trip to Chuck E Cheese, football in the park while it was a cool 95 degrees (thank goodness for sprinklers), and Kariah learning to remove her diaper. Hence Mommy HAD to go chasing her naked butt around the house with her new, pink camera. (Pictures not published on this public blog, but hysterical all the same.)

All in all it was lovely. But today the boys are back in school, Kariah has Mommy all to herself again, and there is time. Time to blog about all the stuff we had time for.

Life is good. Don't forget that, life is good.

Creating the book

I've had a lot of people ask how I'm going to turn this blog into a book for my kids and family. I had planned on using Blurb.com. This blog that has taught me much about photography and publishing has a review of Blurb. Very beneficial I thought.

Flashback Friday: Marc

Dear Marky-roo~

Oh my crazy boy. You are so wonderful and so loud and so funny, all at the same time. You are doing so well in kindergarten!

The funniest thing is that your homework folder comes home FILLED with all sorts of airplanes and tanks and other fun objects, all that you have designed and cut out of paper. Which that alone I think is very creative.

But I got an email from Camden's mommy the other day. I put that together with some comments you've made and I realized....you are spending all of quiet time every day designing and cutting out warcraft for all the boys (and some girls) in your class. And you are very clear on which ones are capable of what.

I would say you are a budding engineer but your imagination is beyond even that, I think. It reminds me of a Time article I read recently. It discussed how quickly our society is changing, specifically to technology and careers. The top 10 paying jobs right now, did not exist 10 years ago. So, in essence our college students are trying to get educated for jobs that don't even exist yet.

You and your siblings will never have wondered if a black man could be president. You will never have experienced life without an Ipod, a computer, digital cameras, and YouTube. Your reality is completely different than mine.

And I think it has to be. For your imagination, my son, is going to be your biggest ally. Your ability to think and invent and create without limitations or pre-conceived ideas, just might be the key to your success.

I can't wait to see what you will do and what you will create. I just know it will be amazing.

Marky I love you.

2005

Flashback Friday: Jo

Dear Joey-Bear~

Life is good for you right now. You are doing so well in your piano class. You teach Mommy everything you learn, so maybe someday Mommy will be able to play piano too. But you are already way better than me.

The weather is finally cooling off so you're enjoying a little freedom outside at the park, zooming up and down the hills on your scooter.

I'd say your only challenge right now is the Accelerated Reader (AR) program at school. You read these books, at a pre-determined level, then you sign up to take a computer quiz that checks your comprehension, then you take the quiz, then you sign up to go to the library, then you go to return your 2 books and get 2 new ones. Then the process starts all over again.

Well, see here at home, you read 100 page long chapter books for fun. And your score on the quizes are 100%. So I really didn't care very much that your amount of books read was less than the class average. I knew you are an amazing reader and I wasn't worried.

Turns out that there's a big bulletin board in your classroom on which everyone has a rocketship. It moves towards a goal determined by the amount of books you've read and tested on. And you were in last place, week after week. And I had no idea. I am so sorry.

So now, we agreed as a family to help you catch up and stay caught up. So, we go early to school everyday to take the quiz in the computer lab, then we go to the library to check out new books. Then at home we constantly checking in, reading more, determining where in the process you are and what the next step is.

I think about how you are my first and you are my "learning child". By the time Marcus gets to the same place, I'll have all this figure out. But with you, well we are always going to be learning together.

And I have a feeling that more often than not, you are going to be teaching me. Lucky for me, you are a really good kid.

Jonah, I love you.

(Christmas 2005)