Let's go to Hawaii

Dorian may not know what or where Hawaii is, but he repeated this many time per day the last 4 or 5 days of Daddy's trip. He was tired of missing Daddy!

Weaned!

Dorian has gone over 24 hours without "milky"! We kept putting it off because there was so much crying to deal with when we weaned big brother several years ago. "After he's potty trained", then "after Pioneer School" and "after Daddy gets back from Hawaii" were reasons we kept putting it off. Then all those things were done and so we banded together (the 3 of us) on our stance that there is no more milky. Dorian didn't cry at all. He hit, kicked, pushed and yelled for about 5 minutes, then went to sleep. This morning he asked again and I said no. He said, "OK". And we're done.

If I'd known he would handle it so well, I would've done it earlier... at the same time as potty training. :) Oh well. Now we're done with both! Done with babies. Only big boys at our house now.

These last four pictures are from the Fair! Dorian was tall enough for most of the rides in the kid area. They had so much fun on the rides and at the Pirate show. And of course, Tristan loves cotton candy, but even he wasn't prepared for a Fair-size portion!

Faces and Rabbit

Dorian is at the age when every time he sees the camera he stops whatever cute thing he's doing and smiles at the camera. Tristan is at the age when every time he sees a camera he makes a weird face. (I remember when my older brother went through that phase. That was back when you had to buy film and then pay to develop it. My dad would get upset about Alex "ruining" all our pictures with the weird faces he would make).

Alphabet Song

News Around Here

Tristan's sleeping in his own bed and has Mario Kart sheets.

Dorian hasn't worn a single diaper in over a week. He puts his "P" in the potty now.

Tristan's Vito.

Siblings' Sweet Stories

I happened upon two sweet boys in a chair. The older boy was reading to the younger one and asking him questions about the story. The younger answered enthusiastically and snuggled lovingly in between.

Here's a video, if it works:

First Hike of the Season

Marching madly, moving most methodically, motion motion...
Marvelous, miraculous, melodious Mountain!
Mud, mud, mud...
Met misplaced mutt, munched a morsel, moved on

Art pad under one arm, hiking stick, peanut butter crackers and a pen for the 6 year old.
Twigs, rocks, bark, bugs, mud, puddles - glee for the 2 year old.
Sweatshirt, sneakers, sweet tea, silent cell phone for Mom.
Four fun hours hiking up to the top of a magnificent mountain and running back down before dark.

We made two new friends on our hike today. One disappeared on his four feet into the trees. The other traded stories, smiles, and phone numbers with us.

Sinking in slumber, sacked out, sapped...
Sweet siblings snuggling side-by-side.
Small silhouettes sleeping soundly, snoring softly.
Seamless satisfaction.