Summer/Fall Photodump

Hi all!  We are still alive.  The baby is still cute.  Of course, I know you require photographic evidence of this, so, always happy to indulge the fans:

da huuuuuudge

hey! don't make fun of my tubbiness!!

Even cuter than a cute baby solo, is a cute baby in conjunction with a cute older sibling:

Daniel wants to hold Dominic every day -- and always greets him with lots of kisses

 Also cute: replaced baby.

putting Lamby to sleep

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They repaved our street back in August.   Much excitement for Team Testosterone.

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One of the outtakes from the photo session to get that cute shot in the sidebar:

Here's the rest of the sequence:

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Just 'cause:

it's what's for dinner.

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Tell me I'm not the only one who takes photos of her baby sleeping because it seems like such a rare event that it should be captured on film!

And a close-up just because he's so dang kee-yute:

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The week that Mr. Pickles went back to work, the other Grandma came to stay with us for 10 days.  She was a total Godsend and made herself indispensable to the point that we were threatening to lock her up and not let her go back home. :)  She is one of those who just knows what needs to be done and will do it, even when it's not her house.  (Her daughter, Godmother Mary, was the same!)  That is such a gift to a new Mom!

Grandma was an especial gift to the displaced baby, Andrew.  He claimed her as his own buddy and spent hours with her each day while I was attempting to homeschool the others.  That made me realize how helpful it would be to assign an older sibling (usually Katie) to play with the little guys, Andy and Daniel, while doing school with the others.  They're much less likely to get into trouble when they have someone to pay attention to them.

And of course this is the only photo I got, folks:

 We loved having her here and missed her a lot (and not just for completely selfish reasons) when she left.  It's a real grace to be blessed in one's in-laws.

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One evening while taking the trash can down to the street, I was squinting at a really oddly shaped rock in the driveway, when it hopped!

Katie, little miss nature-lover herself, helped me move the toad to my (pitiful excuse for a) garden to bring it luck.

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Holey smiles, Batman!

The shirt he's wearing?  "If you can't play nice, play hockey."

(He lost it legitimately, not from playing hockey btw.)

Miriam also had two more baby teeth removed so the permanents could come in straighter.  We're doing our best to bankrupt the Tooth Fairy, it seems.