Catch Up

Has it really been since August that I last posted? It's not for lack of material. I guess maybe a lack of motivation? Well, I am seeking to remedy that starting today.
The windows are cracked and we can hear the sound of the rain. All is quiet. Jack is reading, Kayla is listening to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" on cd in her room, Samuel is napping. Jack will finally get the corn chowder for dinner that he's been asking for all summer. Soup and summer don't mix for me. But soup and a rainy, fall day? Absolutely.
School started back in August. We are smoothing out the kinks. Kayla is reading more and enjoying kindergarten- waiting for that first very loose tooth to fall out. Jack continues to be a veracious reader and is enjoying our astronomy study this year. Samuel is learning to actually play on his own, contentedly. Wonder of wonders. His favorites include playing with Little People and a big bowl of dried beans and spoons.
There is plenty to do around here. Laundry, general tidying up. (We had a wonderful babysitter last night who emptied the dishwasher and the sink of dishes.) Getting rooms switched around and ready for a little baby girl in 12 weeks (or less?). I think a trip to the library after Samuel gets up sounds better though so that's what we'll do.
Go VA Tech Hokies!

To Wrap It Up

The Three Muskateers. You know, it is not easy to get a good picture of three kids when the sun is going down...we tried!

Samuel really liked getting in daddy's boat. I love him all bundled up in the lifejacket. Kayla was swimming alongside the canoe.

These pig-tails made me so happy! She doesn't usually let me put her hair up. I love this picture.

One of the highlights for Jack was riding the waves. He loved it!

More Pictures

Samuel and Cousin Grace enjoying fruit snacks on the beach. Too cute!

Kayla loves to be out on the pier fishing. She doesn't care if she has a fishing rod or a net. She almost always catches something. She's quite the fishergirl!

Samuel really wanted to ride in "daddy's boat." He went by himself then Kayla and Jack jumped in. Monday there were porpoises out in the sound so Brian and Jack raced down to the canoe and followed them. I think Brian said at one point they were just 10 feet or so away. The porpoises circled them for awhile. Very exciting.

Emerald Isle 2009- The Beginning

We've just begun our beach vacation at Emerald Isle. We're here with my parents and my brother and his family. So far there's been canoeing, fishing, kite-flying, and playing in the ocean. Samuel has loved it. The first evening we took him over to the beach he laughed and squealed everytime the water ran over his feet. He had the best time in the water. Jack can't get enough of anything-he's loved it all. Kayla's having a great time in the waves and went on her first canoe ride.
A couple of my favorite quotes so far:
from Jack, who had a scratch on his nose: "Jack, do you want me to wash that blood off?" "No way Mom, it looks cool, like a pirate who has been in a fight!"
from Kayla, who was slapping herself on the head: "Kayla, why are you hitting yourself???" "I'm trying to wake up my mind."
More to come...

Andy Catlett

Two quotes, one fairly long, from Wendell Berry's "Andy Catlett," both of which I think capture Berry so well.

"The world I knew as a boy was flawed, surely, but it was substantial and authentic. The households of my grandparents seemed to breathe forth a sense of the real cost and worth of things. Whatever came, came by somebody's work."


"But there in that little room at the end of the old year, I was already learning something that I have never stopped learning and will never learn completely. As I watched, it came to me that they were waiting: Granddaddy and Frank Lathrop, each with a son in the army....Jayber Crow, whose calling seems to have been to wait with the others. They were suffering and enduring and waiting, waiting together, joined in their unending game, submitted as the countryside around them was submitted. We had come into the silence that is deeper than any other- the silence of what is yet to come, the silence of one who is waiting for what is yet to come."

A few lines of late...

I asked Kayla to get her pajamas on. She comes into the bathroom, no jammies, wearing really not much of anything. I said, "Kayla, where are your pajamas?" "Mom, I'm sleeping in my skin tonight." OK.

I had a book on the counter called "Big Girls Don't Whine." Jack asked about it and I told him it's for mommy-type big girls who can be whiney themselves. He was quiet and then said seriously, "Mom, I really think you need to read this to Kayla." Hmmm...

Our friend Jenny was over this morning and asked Jack about a little toy he had. "Is it from a movie?"
"No, from Target." Smiles.

The bigger kids took swimming lessons a few weeks ago. Kayla does not like to put her face in the water. In fact, she pretty much refuses. One day in the car she said to us, "I don't know why they call them swimming lessons. They are really learn to put your face in the water lessons." We're still working on that.

Hopefully we'll have some new pictures up soon. Brian has the camera in Mexico right now but he'll be back soon! We'll be glad to have him home. Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. It seems strange that he's not here. They have been 10 good ones and I look forward to seeing what the next 10 bring.

Cow Appreciation Day

Cow Appreciation Day. At Chik-Fil-A. Free dinner if you dressed like a cow.
So, of course, we shamelessly dressed up like cows. One of us (can you guess which one) was very embarrassed to have to do this. Two others loved it. Sam especially. If you missed it this year, be on the lookout this time next year!