Ridin' on the Tractor

The Bird Girl

Eagles and Broccoli

Gilly: "We're explorers!"
Me: "You're explorers?"
Gilly: "Yeah. We're BAD explorers!"
Simon: "We eat eagles and broccoli."

Mice

Lyn pulled a lawn chair out of the shed, only to find that the chair's bag was occupied by these little critters. She relocated them, and when she checked the next day, mother mouse appeared to have moved them to another location.

Looks like a comfortable nest. I hope that isn't the fill from my sleeping bag!

Mud

Mister Man Hits the Big Three

Simon had his third birthday this past weekend. His favorite present was definitely the tractor from Grammy Kathy and Grampa Mike. He's looking forward to using his tractor to help Pops at the farm.

He didn't even try to run over anyone. Well, except Daddy.

We're Back . . . With Pictures!

As I've said before, after long absences from the blog: sorry! Life just gets in the way sometimes, and the blog gets a low priority. Maybe just a *little* bit of procrastination too :)

Here is a collection of photos from the last couple of months. There is no particular theme here, just the kids being cute and keeping us entertained.

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Technical Problems

Hi! We're still here. Blogger has made some changes to the way I publish to this blog (they're discontinuing FTP publishing). I haven't had time to deal with it yet, hence the lack of posts.

I should be able to make the necessary changes in the next few days. The website address for the blog may change, and if it does, I'll post a link here on this version of the blog.

Sunshine on the Ground

We're heading out to go sledding, and Gilly is refusing to try and go to the bathroom before we leave. Her response was classic Gilly.

"I'll just pee in the snow, and people will think it's a spot of sunshine on the ground."

Greta Walks!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody! Gilly and Simon are getting very excited about Christmas. Greta is unaware of what's going on, but is content to pull the shiny things off the strange tree that has appeared in the corner of our apartment.

Happy 1st Birthday Greta!

Our little chunkette is one year old today!

Mr. Grouchypants

Earlier tonight, Simon was a little grumpy. He was deliberately annoying Greta, sticking his finger in her ear, trying to push her out of the way, etc. I asked him to stop, and he refused, so I picked him up and moved him away from her.

He stomped his foot, pointed his finger at me, and shouted at me, "I WILL CRUSH YOU INTO PIECES!"

I had to leave the room so he wouldn't see me smiling :)

More Random Photos

I'm still in a food-induced coma from Thanksgiving, and I can't think of anything to write, so here are a few random photos of the wee ones taken this month.

The Great Cake Caper

Lyn made her famous chocolate cake for my birthday. It is very dense and packed with chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate? Yeah, it's chock full of chocolate!

Needless to say, it is very tasty (and chocolatey). It is even MORE tasty, however, when consumption of aforementioned cake is unauthorized. Need proof? Just check out the smile on Greta's face:



Wee claw marks:



Her accomplice in the Great Cake Caper was her big brother. Of course, he escaped before photographic evidence could be acquired, but we have a reliable eye-witness (Lyn). How, you may ask, could such a fine young boy be led astray into this life of crime? He was taught at a young age, by the queen of refrigerator pilfering, Miss Gilly.

I guess my only choice is to eat the entire cake, and help my children avoid temptation. Ahh, the sacrifices we fathers must make.

Soggy Trick-or-Treaters

Lyn reports that in spite of the rain, Gilly and Simon had a great time trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Gilly was a sheep, another hand-crafted costume by my talented wife, and Simon was a farmer in a tractor, again . . . a Lynnie creation . . . isn't she amazing!? If it were left to me, the kids would be dressing up as ghosts, and we would have sheets with holes in them :)

Our Poor Neglected Blog

Sorry! It's been a little busy around these parts. There's a little something called a "thesis" that's creeping up on me . . .

Rather than put you to sleep with my quick wit, I'll just post a photo summary of the last month or so. Some events of note: Gilly turned 4, she's back in school, and she's taking dance classes. Greta has 4 teeth, crawls like a pro, and pulls herself up to standing. Simon is mostly busy being cute, his bushy golden curls getting lots of attention wherever we go, and is a wonderful big brother to Greta, giving her lots of attention and assistance, whether she likes it or not :)

Hiking in the Rain

We went for a short father-daughter hike this morning, on a small hill nearby. It was raining, but Gilly really needed to get out of the house and burn off some energy, or we were ALL going to go crazy. It turned out well, since the rain tapered off about midway through our hike.



It was fun to see Gilly get excited about things that I would never notice, like the rock she's posing next to (below). She was walking along and all of a sudden started yelling, "turtle rock! turtle rock!" (You can see the "eyes" and "mouth")



We also spotted loads of salamanders. I've never seen so many! They must be having a great summer, with all of the rain. I lost count of how many we saw, well into the dozens.





We also saw this creepy-crawly spider. It was pretty big, and had spun its web right across the trail at eye level. I almost walked into it (yuck).



Gilly collecting some fern samples:





The victorious summit shot:



A hazy view of Baker Tower down in Hanover: