happy halloween

from the fattest skeleton in the wwwoooorrrrlllld!!

As for Jed, I hope to have pictures of our little Fireman Sam to post tomorrow, assuming he doesn't balk at the costume, like he did on costume day at school on Thursday.

pumpkins for the pumpkins

A cold, gray day inspired us to explore a pumpkin patch a few blocks north of our house this morning. Jed picked up "the heaviest pumpkin in the world," and Macon gnawed a little one to the point that the pumpkin man just gave it to us.

a baby girl!

Congratulations to our friends Leslie, Josh, and Garrett on the birth of their beautiful new daughter and sister! Check The Grab Report for a picture.

green for peter

and lots of it . . .

at the zoo

Yesterday, Eric's office hosted a "family day" cookout and zoo trip. At first, I just wanted the office to declare "family day" by cutting off all communication between coworkers and leaving everyone at home, unmolested. Plus, I'm not much of a zoo person. Yes, the North Carolina Zoo is beautiful and basically cage-free, and, really, will I ever go to Africa or Asia to see an elephant in person? But it's still an exhibition of captive animals.

However, as I put my misgivings aside, we loaded up the car and we headed to the geographic center of the state. The cookout was fun, but the zoo was the big hit with Jed. He was very excited to see the elephants and through a happy coincidence, we arrived at the African Plain just in time for some keepers to show up with carrots, which brought the elephants very close to us. Jed wanted to know why they weren't blowing water with their trunks, but otherwise, I think he was pretty impressed.

After the elephants, we continued our focus on big animals, and the giraffes and gorillas did not disappoint. The lioness was lounging in the sun, Winston-style, but even she lifted her head and looked our way once. By the time we left, Jed was worn out. He hopped in the stroller for the trip to the car and only barely stayed awake. Once in the car, he fell asleep before we were out of the parking lot and slept soundly until we stopped at home.

In short, a great time was had by all, and we'll be heading back soon.

And in case you were wondering, yes, Macon went too.

fashion show

presented in a new, wider format . . .

red pjs

sizing up our winter hat supply

What are these and why are they tormenting me?!?

the man in black

Late last week, Macon previewed his Halloween costume.




On Monday, Macon sported his ninja outfit while the boys enjoyed the great outdoors. Jed had a pretty bad cold and Macon had a bad ear infection, which one might associate with cold weather. But no, it was 85 degrees.

And this morning, he was back in black again.

(this is actually a happy face)

p.s.: Most people enjoyed the larger pictures in a recent post, but they have not returned because I'm having a formatting problem with horizontally-oriented (landscape) photos. You'll see the larger format with vertical (portrait) images, and I will play with the layout to see how to accommodate larger horizontal pictures when I have a chance.

our old friend is back!

Oh, cold season, how do we love thee?

One week ago, Macon and I came down with colds. Eric and Jed got it two days later. Thankfully, the colds turned out to be fairly mild and short-lived for Eric, Macon, and me. Jed's seemed to linger a bit, and just when he started to clear up, I think he caught another one. Then, yesterday, Macon's nose started running again and after a very fussy night last night, we went to the doctor's office this morning. That visit will be followed by a lunch-time trip to the pharmacy to get antibiotics for his right ear.

Fantastic. I really missed cold season... without doctor and drug store visits, I just seemed to have too much time on my hands.

happy birthday, Be!

I'm not entirely sure today is Be's birthday, but we're close, and it gives me a good excuse to dip into a batch of recently scanned family photos.

1974

1983

 

1984

2008

what did you have for lunch?

At our house, it was orange stuff.

And from yesterday . . .
Macon is only just learning to pull up to standing and we, or at least I, had not seen him get fully upright yet, but yesterday, he and Jed were playing right behind my computer chair when Jed proudly cried out, "He standing! He standing all by his self!"

p.s.: are the larger images too big or just right?

meet "my guys"

A few days ago, I posted an exchange between Jed and me in which Jed expressed his love for his sock monkey. Here, Jed is pictured with his "guys," an elite group of stuffed animals including a singing gorilla, a Christmas bear, the sock monkey, and a smaller long-tailed monkey.

 

And here's a few then-and-now pictures for your nostalgia fix . . .