Hey mom, got my haircut.

Had 3 ideas in mind-- genius best friend gave me a fantastic combo.

Funny Faces

Just a couple shots from our day today. The one of Em holding his -- you know... yeah, he just finished peeing in his pants. We're still workin on it.

From Patio to Poolyard

Our cure for hellish humidity is an oversized spiderman kiddie pool. Kids are all charged up. I wait with baited breath wincing at every flighty move they make, in the event that the intended dropkick lands them somewhere upsidedown on our brick patio. ugh.

Toddler Mess Playdate

Rachel has excellent ideas and execution when it comes to creative fun time for kids:

Somehow a scheduled mess is a totally unstressful mess... that being said, all did not end well. Our clan left in fits after Jackson couldn't seem to understand that blow-up alligator toys are not for biffing people in the head, Em was outta control with the sprinkles, and poor Ry-Ry had an explosion in his pants. Aside from a disasterous departure, the planned disaster was quite fun

SHOUT OUT!

*HAVE* to plug some of the most clever handcrafted shoulder bags EVER! I hand picked the material for this bag, but BagMama's has bags that scream out every personality you can think of.

Check out their website: www.bagmamas.etsy.com

They keep broadening their base too. Sweet babygear, diaperbags, shoulder bags, clutches...etc...

AND! I have the insane priviledge of getting to squawk about my own sisters business. That's right, ... Heather is the madness behind this machine. And she's doing a pretty spanking good job, if I do say so myself. SO check her out. Make her rich.

Ryland... is that YOU?

My, my... how you have grown.
Oh wait. It's you, Emerson.


He thinks its his own personal rocking chair and disregards the idea that you have to be a certain size to use a carseat.

Finger paints-

2 Cups of flour

1/2 cup salt

3 Tblspn oil

3 Cups boiling water

food coloring

Disclaimer: It doesn't come out as the same texture you would buy at the store - but it is unequivically easy to clean up and looks great on paper. The batch makes a mother-load (which is easy to store) so you shouldn't have to make another batch for awhile- unless you have 12 kids.

People Have Asked....

How we travel so well with our kids... one word:

The community on the river in Fairmont is dynamic. These people all grew up together and there's a sense that everyones property is just there for everyone else's enrichment. Dolly and her sisters opened invitations for the swingset all week long and Charlie, well....
This is Charlie. He's a legend in our family. That's what happens when you take the kids for a ride on your tractor and show them the boats you build in your basement. And just thought I'd get a shot of Rylands bath in, yes, a wheelbarrel. This is how we roll in WV.

What happens at camp... stays at camp.

There are things that happen at camp that... well, don't happen anywhere else: 1) Bathing suits live there for whoever is going to be using the property- so the one you see me sporting with Ryland is probably a 10 yr old resident and shows the early 90's razor stripes. Heather, on the other hand has an outfit that even makes camp look good. I'm sling jealous.
2) Guitars get pulled out of corners and plucked around campfires.
3) Firemaking requires the use of a hatchet.
4) Brian sits in a kyack.

Some of my fav's from WV

Outdoor showers, screen doors, porchswings and optional clothing most the week:

Home away from home

It's taken me awhile to translate this post from brain to cyber-world. We just arrived home recently from a vacation on child-hood pasttime river banks in Fairmont, WV. I can't remember what age I was when I last swam in the Tygart river, hunted for turtles the morning after a "clapper" thunderstorm, or lay tuckered out on the squeaky mattresses awaiting sleep to come and take me under the mozy rhythym of a floor fan: a pathetic attempt to cool the room in late-July's raging humidity.
Mom thinks I was 15 or so,... I can only think of being 9 yrs old there. My family, on the otherhand has been a faithful visitor to our camp, old Glen. Every year, pockets of our distant family gather to unwind in the sticks of WV- on the old Tygart river, who gains more conversation than the weather; "How's the river looking this year?" "She's a bit low today"... or "She's a bit high". They rally to enjoy everything beautiful about this timecapsule paradise: The ropeswing, canoe trips, swimming thru narrow daredevil tunnels of rocks as old as the sun 8 or so feet below the surface, fishing, exploring, lazy hammock swings, campfires, tasting the local brews, funnel cakes in town and taking ruthless runs down Pinchgut Rd.
We took the whole fam this year: The first time for Brian and the boys. We met up with my immediate family, who traveled from Maine and New Hampshire in the stead of a trip out to New Hampshire (on our part). I'll have to split up the pics into different events since so many lovely things happened in short days. For now, here's just a glimpse of camp.