Since Philadelphia

Carolyn has worked her way through a second session of swim lessons. Her favorite part of class is gliding in and out from the steps to her teacher, also her new best friend.

Case in point, Carolyn is over my shoulder right now protesting that this picture has the teacher's assistant in it instead of Curtis himself.

Makeshift Pacifier

Little Mommy Part 2

Carolyn is going to put me through the ringer as she gets older. I don't think I really experienced a terrible two stage with her, but, man, three is hard. She all of a sudden thinks she knows best and I am only useful for catering to her every whim. So, I spend a lot of my day repeating things because I think she turned her ears off somewhere along the way. I already know the things she hears far too often. For example:

Carolyn and Blake are playing together at our toy piano. Blake is trying to play all the keys at once and Carolyn is not happy about this.

Carolyn: Blake, no. No, Blake. Look at my face. Look at my face. NO!

Or:

I was pushing Blake in his stroller to the car with Carolyn trailing behind me on a sidewalk.

Carolyn: Mom, wait for me! (I walk the final two steps to the car) Stop right there! Wait!

I'm sure there's more. I feel like it's everyday I look at her and think, "did she just say that to me?"

Hershey Park

Once Blake settled into feeling human again, we made plans to go to Hershey Park. I had no idea it was so big. I don't know why, but I thought it was a smaller park. Anyway, Carolyn had the time of her life. She rode a million and a half rides, and after the grandparents called it quits for the day (Blake just might have passed his sick germs to them), we stayed for a few more hours.

The only picture of Carolyn with one of these dudes. They all scare her.

But driving the spaceship doesn't scare her. She had the stick for this and went up and down like crazy. I think I got whiplash riding this thing.

The grandparents had left by now, and though she didn't want to admit it, Carolyn was also getting tired. Once the ride started, she perked right up--and then kept going for two more hours.

The Frog Hopper was Carolyn's favorite. This teenager in the middle was encouraging all the kids to put their hands in the air to maximize their fun. Carolyn would put hers up until it started to drop and then hold on for dear life.

Carolyn manned this plane, but she didn't quite understand the controls. She could pull the steering wheel to go up, which the girls behind her encouraged, or she could push a button on the gun to her right and make a lot of noise. She chose the gun. The girls couldn't have been too mad because they helped her undo her buckle. Unless they were just trying to make sure she was out of the driver seat for the next turn.

The Philadelphia Zoo

Saturday Carolyn and I went to the zoo with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Melissa, and Noah. Jeremy stayed home so Blake could get his naps in. We'd had a late night before with the concert.

Carolyn, Grandpa, and Grandpa's brother

Carolyn on her camel

Carolyn getting ready for her train ride

Carolyn on the carousel

If you want to know what's been happening since...well, lots of puking. Just Blake and it looks like he's mostly over it. We have our fingers crossed.

Longwood Gardens

We're in Philadelphia right now taking our kids to visit family. Carolyn has been talking about this trip for quite some time. Our first full day here we took the kids to Longwood Gardens. They have a children's conservatory that Carolyn loved.

After we explored the grounds, we went to a concert for Ralph's World. I'd never heard of this band, but they did kids music and Carolyn loved it. She didn't sit still for long.

Here she is on stage during the last two numbers, playing the drums on Dad's head.

Even better is this video of her dancing to one of the songs.

It's picture time again

Pictures taken by Megan

Watch out, Aunt Laura!

Carolyn: I got married today.

Me: Oh? to who?

Carolyn: Uncle Joseph.

These shoes aren't made for walkin'

These are Carolyn's new shoes of choice.

This is what happens when she tries to walk in them.

Little Mommy

We have recently added a third "child" to our family. After 18 months, bitty baby got a name. Ruthie. And she goes with us everywhere! As you can see, Carolyn has holding a baby down pat. You give them some booty support and hold the leg. She also puts her baby down for naps and gets her up after about twenty minutes. Ruthie cries for her mommy and only wants Carolyn. It's been nice because this new diversion gives Blake a little more space, but Carolyn is starting to do everything one-armed so she can be attached at the hip to Ruthie.

My secret garden

Our back yard consists of bark dust and weeds. Every couple weeks, I go out and pull all the weeds I can find.

Today I found pea plants scattered in different locations throughout my yard. I probably pulled out eight total. That made me a little sad because I love fresh peas. While my soil is probably not the most nutritious, I would have maybe tried to nurture them to see if any thing would grow past an inch. All of these plants had the tiniest, old pea pods ever.

Then I went to the side of our house and found this:

Not a big deal, a little larger than your average weed, but still easily pullable.

But take a closer look:
Yup, that's a sprouted walnut. I found four of these. Four.

To whoever is throwing walnuts in my yard--

Please stop. Thank you.

I'm a sitting man!

Twinners

Carolyn picked these jammies out all on her own. Her daddy was so proud.

Battle Ground Lake

We just got back from a very tiring, but very fun camping trip.

How big of a bed does a six-month baby need? Answer: queen size. Blake did not enjoy the bed we made up for him on the side, so he joined me on the air mattress, while Jeremy and Carolyn slept on the ground.

I've never gone camping with a baby. Carolyn was 14 months old the first time we took her. I think we did pretty well, but I didn't think about his bald little head at night. It was freezing, so we ended up sharing my sleeping bag so he could have some warmth for his noggin.

Don't judge the photography, but this rock proved quite entertaining. The children would all line up and jump off and then start again.

Of course, what is camping without marshmallows? The key to delicious campfire treats is to put the chocolate in the center of a very hot marshmallow and let it melt. So good. You definitely don't even need the graham for this.

Next trip: maybe a bigger tent. And figure out a way to get Carolyn to go to sleep before 11.

My little fish

Swim lessons have started at our house. Carolyn loves them. After her first lesson, Carolyn spent about 10 minutes drying out in the sun. Then she came up to me and told me she was ready. I gathered up our stuff to go to the car. She quickly clarified that she was ready to go back in the pool, not leave. She'll be quite disappointed to find out they only last two weeks.

P.S. Photos are courtesy of Rachel. She actually remembers to take her camera places.