Winter has arrived!

Goodbye, 50 degree December afternoons, hello 7 degree January mornings! The switch was made well worth it with the addition of snow, finally. We've made snowmen, suited Violet for the seeming tundra, and today, Lily and I went sledding on a hill so crusted in ice we could have been prepping for the next Olympic luge trials. So fun. So fast, and loud, but holy cow, so fun! We barely need a sled. 

Next projects: skiing and skating for the Bird to master!

Merry Christmas!

One Christmas gathering after the next meant a busy holiday weekend, packed with family, food and festivities. The weather cooperated beautifully, literally icing our Christmas with a few inches of fresh snow. Now we're into Lily's vacation week and are enjoying fun activities with friends rarely seen and some much-appreciated chill time at home. Did I mention that I love the holidays?

Ready, set, gone!

Lots of things are on the move around here lately. Ants in their strange, goo-farm, leaves from the trees, clothes from Lily's body (I didn't say they were NEW things on the move, did I?), and our dearest, littlest Violet. It's been so fascinating to watch the progression in her facial expressions, her body and her emotions; over the course of a month or so we've seen her transgress from an occasional step here and there to committing to have the walking thing override the default crawling thing. She's so proud, and we're so excited for the tiny little moving bean!

A photo taster of recent East Ridge life: harvester ants doing their thing, boat rides, gardening buttoning-up and walks walks and more walks...

More in Boothbay, this time an October event sans clothes- amazingly warm, even for non-Lily sensory nodes.

Corny.

I don't know if it's a second child thing or just a 'I know what I want and it's what you're trying to take away' kind of personality thing, but man it is hard to take things away from Violet. Whether a item of potential harm or something of someone else's that the owner would  like preserved from the slobber and marks of V's new teeth, its removal from her little tiny fingers almost always ends in a shriek like no other. The subsequent laughs from her family members might not be helpful, but frankly, it can't be helped. Here is a prime example of trying to teach the little lady that crayons are not in fact food: you should be thankful that this isn't a video.

Trips to Boothbay this month gave us a cozy weekend of rain and another of intense, summery sun. We had fires, played games, watched movies, and on the sunny side of things, enjoyed a farm's festivities. We went for a hayride, climbed pyramids of hay, and most amusingly, got lost in a corn maze. 

Chickens, teeth and 3->4; big time additions!

We've added more bodies to the ranch. More ladies, in fact, tipping the estrogen scale yet a little farther from Andy's reach. These ladies bring us more than we had hoped for in the 'let's get chickens' realm- we now have fresh eggs, good poop for the gardens, free compost tilling services and perhaps best of all, Chicken TV. It's amazing how long watching a chicken do its thing can keep us entertained. 

Violet's new tooth! It's a blurry thing, but her expression here cracks me up. For a 9 month who already laughs after she toots, somehow it doesn't surprise me that she thought me sticking my finger under her lip was a laugh-riot.

Our biggest little is four! We celebrated with a joint party (her close friend shares a birthday) at the Fun Park, and she spent 75% of her four hours there bouncing sky-high. Fueled by sugar, I suppose!

Licking said sugar off of the lips...

A Walk in the Park... and other August activities.

afternoon starfish find!

A bike in the park, definitely amusing in its helmet-removal attempts. The less amusing aspect not thought through prior to the trip: schlepping 60+ lbs of kid/stuff up hills with painfully out-of-shape biking legs. Man, did I earn those popovers.

A pre-Irene hike, and my light in the fog.

Blips

First trip in the shopping cart as opposed to the car seat within the shopping cart. BIG deal. (In that I can actually fit all of our groceries in the cart now.)

Just home from a Butterfly Release at a local community garden. There were far more dear pictures of the actual release, but this is the most fitting, of course.

Hiking with my ladies.

Yeah yeah, this is cruel, I get it.

Lily's pre-Ice Cream Social bike parade. She was pumped.