Spring is here

Art Linkletter is dead. Long live Art Linkletter*

C [noticing L's new heart-shaped crafted purse]: "That's a real nice purse, Lu."

L: "Thanks. Sadie gave it to me. [Somewhat sternly] She made it from a kit, so don't think she's more talented than me."

*Surprisingly, Art Linkletter is, as of this writing, still alive.

Bad baby

Milo's starting to talk now. We'll have to get some movies of this, because it is so darn cute. He loves balls, and his first definite declaration, besides "Ma ma" and "boo" (for boobie), was "ball." It sounds like, "b alll." (Interestingly, Lucie's first word was also "ball.") He also makes a panting noise whenever he sees a dog, which is surprisingly often.

I've warned C often about a particular game he plays with Milo, which we will call, "bad baby." Milo will take off doing something mischievous, and C will make a game out of it by saying, "Bad baby!" (in a mock stern voice). Of course this is lots of fun. So it should come as no surprise that tonight, when I was warning Milo not to run off with a cookie, he turned around and growled, "Bad baby!" It sounded more like, "Baa ba ba!", but we all recognized the intonation.

Museum visit

Saturday, while K went on a botany field trip (ask me about the longleaf pine), C took the kids to the Museum of Life and Science.

Car trip

We took a car trip to Alexandria this weekend for our friend Adam's surprise 40th birthday party. Here the kids are looking out for Adam's car coming up the driveway.


Milo playing with cars on the piano. (Adam and Shelly: send us the bill for the scratches.)


Naturally we had to stop at IKEA (more photos in the Boo Annex).


IKEA movies:
Testing out the furniture
Spinning tree

Movies

Siblings -- a pain in the ass
Getting his ya yas out

The Sneetches

Today was the Young People's Performing Company's performance of The Sneetches. Below, the star bellied sneetches ignore the plain bellied sneetches. (Lucie played the part of a plain-bellied sneetch.)


"When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts... They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches."


"Neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one or what one was who."


"That day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches."


Macey and Lucie after the show.

Miscellany

Everyone likes ice cream.



The papasan chair is good for napping.


Lucie has become quite the card shark. Here we're playing Go Fish, but she also beats us regularly at Animal Rummy and Hearts.



Here Milo's reading about the Pilgrim Fathers. (Lucie wants to know, "What about the Pilgrim mothers and children?")


And here are a couple of movies for you:
Blanket game
Blanket game, part 2

Busy day

This morning, while Lucie had her play rehearsal, Milo went for a walk with Daddy.


Later he had to make a phone call.


Lucie learned how to skate today.




This place -- Wheels -- reminds me of the roller rink from my childhood. Lucie liked it best when the lights were off.


The birthday girl, Ziah (in the pink hat), is a friend of Lucie's from Morehead.


The girl on the right twisted her ankle and was in terrible pain.


Here's a movie of Lucie skating.

Hair apparent

L came with me to get my hair cut last week and was very curious about all the goings on. She asked my hairdresser, T, lots of questions. One transaction went like this:

L: Why do those women have bags on their heads?
T: They're getting their hair colored.
L: What do you mean?
T: You know, dyed a different color.
L: Like you?
T (a bit taken aback): Yes, like me. How can you tell that my hair is colored?
L: Because it's orange.
T (to me): You can trust a kid to really tell it like it is, can't you?

Movie of the day

The Luma Luma Dance

In case you don't get the cultural reference...

Snow

School was delayed, and the children were super happy.

Carpet

We installed FLOR carpet tiles upstairs. The whole family pitched in.




Here's the play room in the afternoon...




...and the bedroom in the morning.

Christmas

Hey -- here are some images from Christmas (finally).



Looks like Santa was here.

Breakfast



Milo's new coat (thanks, Aunt Diane!)

2007 calendar



Papa helping Milo

Lucie's Christmas dress

My beautiful family