Things I like about my people

I like when Vivien dresses up, especially using non-dress-up clothes.  

 She is wearing a silky secured with a bungee cord, and a hanger.  It doubles as a pannier . . .

 . . . and a bustle!

 I like the way she plays with toys.  She's fond of these peg dolls her Aunt Heather made for her.  Vivien sent them to live in The Bat Cave.

 I like how good she is with her brother.  If he's crying and I'm busy she will pick him up (no easy task; he is a solid little lad) and talk to him, and she loves to give him snuggles.

 I like how she explores and makes discoveries on our adventures.  She was the hiking leader and pointed out all the banana slugs on a hike with friends this week.

She pulled a troubling amount of dead crabs out of the water when we borrowed our neighbor's kayaks to mess around on the Dyes Inlet for family night.  She had plenty of time to do so because we failed to take into account the tides when we planned our outing; the current was a bit too strong for leisurely kayaking, so Drew and I each took a very aerobic turn towing the kids and then we spent the rest of the time enjoying the beach.

I also like how cute Vivi looks in a baseball hat.

 I like how much Rafe loves to have stories read to him, and that I can hear him sounding out the letters he knows while we read.  Favorite book right now is "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile."

 I like how sweet he is with his brother.  I hope they'll be friends.

 I like how everything he does is epic.  He never walks where he could run (unless it's to do a job I've given him, in which case he plays the dying hero), and always seems to be in the midst of a battle.  His weaponry sound effects are pretty impressive.

 I like that he is a strong boy.  He is a good climber.

 I like that he loves to spend time with his Daddy.  They went on a boys trip together to scout out a place for Drew's young men to have a survival camp.

 I like how good at photography Rafe is.  Drew took a plunge into the lake and this is what Rafe captured of his plunge:

I like that he wants to spend time with us and help us do things.  It is often a severe test of patience, but he loves to cook with me, and he helped Daddy build a little sandbox under the porch this week (filthiness level of three oldest children has tripled).

 I like that he is affectionate.  We are working on appropriate times and places for that affection to be shared ("hands to yourself at the dinner table" is especially tricky right now).  He gives very moist, loud kisses.  I am trying to like those.

I like all the ridiculous things Annie gets herself snarled up in.  

I like how much she loves to slide.  She's learned to say, "Mama!  Watch this!"

 I like watching her try to catch ants on the sidewalk.  She gets so excited when she sees them her whole body quivers.  She tends to love the insects she catches to death though.  The worst was the caterpillar she was squeezing just a little too hard when she showed it to me--it was writhing and squirming in a horrible way (you have to say that wrthing and sqyrming because I can never remember if the i in writhing is short or long).

 I like what a good little hiker she is.  I also like when her legs fall asleep after riding on shoulders or kneeling on her stool at the table, because when she stands up she collapses like a newborn giraffe.

 I like how fearless she is.  She climbed by herself to the top of the jungle gym.  Vivi helped her down.  I made an uncomfortable sound like a boiling tea kettle and tried not to freak out.

I like how silly she is.  She plays a little game with me at the dinner table now that she made up all by herself.  She'll say, "I drop it!" and point to the floor until I start to look for what she's dropped, then she'll put on a mischievous face and slowly pull whatever it is she's pretended to drop out from under the table where she's been hiding it the whole time.  

And I even like her sweet little face when she has a virus and looks like this:

 I like how fat Merry is.  

 

Just look at his bum cheeks compared to Annie's at the same age.  He's got a whole extra roll going on there.

 I like how chill he is when he is well rested and well fed.

 And I like his beautiful eyes and smile.

I like how nerdy Drew is.  He is making his own bow.

 I like how thrilled my children are to find him in bed on weekend mornings.

And I like how he will go along with my harebrained plans and be a good sport.

3 more things I like.  1) Super Healthy Kids breakfasts.  Owl toasts . . .

  

. . . and clown toasts.

 They usually do muffins Saturday morning.  2) I REALLY like these silicone muffin cups.

 And 3) I like to see the blackberries all over getting ready to be delicious.  I know they're terribly invasive, but I am pretty excited about being able to snack on blackberries on all our hikes in August.

Family Pictures

We had a practice session with the photographer that took some pictures of Vivien at her game last week.  She just moved here from Hawaii and is trying to figure out times and locations and tides and light here for her studio.  It was really hard, but we consented to help her for free photos . . . :)

She had me look down at Annie for this one, but I wish we'd all been looking because the three left people all look so cute!

A crow flew by.  It was exciting!

Girls

Me and my Vivs

Don't you think Drew looks "rugged and chiseled and great?"

Ready . . . no one look! 

Mom and boys

Patience was beginning to wane . . .

Drew and Baby Goose

Daddy and girls.  Love this one.

Esploring

I don't love walking family pictures.  

They make me feel self conscious about my gait.

And the kids were being squirrely.  

 And now some individuals:

It was pretty windy, so poor Merry's eyes were watery.  Still totes adorbs.

She had to wear her blue elephant boots because they are her FAVORITE.

By the end of family pictures Rafe had collected what looked like an entire bird carcass worth of feathers.

I had the best idea but I forgot to follow through on it.  I was going to make Drew quote love scenes from movies to me while we took couple pictures, so it could be more funny and less awkward, because we are both kind of camera shy and it is always awkward.  But I forgot to warn him before and put on the spot he could not think of a single one but, "I'll be monitoring your frequency."  And that's why I love 'im!