Sorry, whoever's still out there

Blogger hasn't been letting me upload pictures since November. So the blog has seemed a bit pointless. "Technical difficulties," if you will. I am going to try to look into it a bit more, particularly because I'm trying to stay off Facebook this year. If anyone has been disappointed (do I flatter my family too much?), I apologize!

No doubt about it -- he's a guy

I usually don't look at videos online because I have to turn on my volume, then turn it off (and I can't get it the volume to function in my status bar ... I know), but this is a video that doesn't even need sound. When I dreamt of having a boy, this is exactly what I pictured it would be like. He's really, really a dude! (This actually brings me to tears.)

V's 7th birthday/ Halloween

Unfortunately, I know all too well what it's like to have your birthday lumped in with a holiday. Fortunately for me, my birthday is 8 days before Christmas, and it's not Christmas Eve. But luckily for Vaughn, her birthday precedes Halloween, not Christmas. Touche. Anyway, we try to make them both special and the reality is that they are intertwined for life so we might as well come to terms with it!

First was Fletcher's Halloween parade at school. I find this very interesting because Milla's school absolutely won't allow Halloween celebrations and Vaughn's school tries really hard to focus on something else ("Camp Read-a-Lot," which celebrates your favorite book, whatever it might be) because they know it's hard to escape the excitement. Fletcher's embraces it. And they are some really cute two-year-olds, you know ...

Next was Vaughn's birthday party: we had 4 girls over here, plus Milla, which was 6 girls total, and they ate pizza and cake, played and colored. They put their pajamas on at one point as a shout-out to the would-be slumber party I wouldn't let her have, but mainly they ran around the house screaming, making Vaughn very uncomfortable, but mostly having fun. Here they are at dinner:

After dinner was the cake that Vaughn, the creative director, ordered. Three layers (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate) in a heart shape with vanilla icing; pink on top with white flower border. I think it turned out OK, though I admit I was pretty tired by the time I got around to this. The cupcakes for school a few days earlier were a bit of a disaster ...

The next day was Vaughn's actual birthday, so of course we got up in the morning and had morecupcakes for breakfast. She also got MAD loot from her family, and thank you all for your participation in cluttering up the house real good! She was so happy and so thankful for her gifts; it really is nice to see her appreciate the things she receives. We went to a kids museum in Raleigh as soon as it opened (noon) and we let her bow out of her brother's and sister's family Halloween parties given by friends later in the afternoon. After dinner at Taco Bell, we were all done and had no more room for cake.

Last we had actual Halloween, with an angel, a "sleeping beauty" and a train conductor. Vaughn grossed us out and exceeded none of our expectations by eating an overwhelming amount of candy before bed. Fletcher impressed us all by a) finishing his peas in order to try the candy, 2) eating more candy than I ever thought possible for a 2-year-old and d) actually having an opinion about various candy ingredients. Interesting.

I'm excited for November!!

Some day we'll be proper parents

We did manage to teach this to Vaughn and Milla and they know not to say it in public or to really mean it ... but something tells me Fletchy might be a different story.

(For some reason this didn't get many props on Facebook. Does that mean everyone "didn't like"?)

Another excellent rendition of ...

First days of school

So first we have Vaughn's, which was almost 3 weeks ago at this point. We were all a little nervous because a lot of her friends are all in the same class (not hers) but we really do love Ms Rogers (Soon-To-Be-Something-Else; she's getting married in a few weeks). One of the reasons we love Ms Rogers is that she went to Carolina. Another is that she's really young and has a lot of energy (read: no kids of her own). Vaughn really loves first grade!

Next was Milla's first day, about a week ago. She was about to burst, she was so excited. She insisted on taking a picture with her lunchbox, which she won't be using until next week, but whatever. She is the hugest Red Room Girl you've ever seen and she is thankful every night for kindergarten. She just can't wait to ride the bus with Vaughn. In other news, she can't wait to be a teenager and go to college so that she can have apples and corn every day for breakfast. That is seriously what she said.

Last we have Fletcher, who would probably rather die than go back to preschool. (Even though he will, by god, tomorrow, which is his second day.) He was really enthusiastic about it until we got there and we told him we were leaving, as predicted, and almost even on cue. He was screaming as we left, and when I returned to retrieve him, I could hear him screaming before the door even opened. I could blame it on a lot of things, but moreover, I think he will figure it out eventually. I mean, he has to!!!

And now for a bit of Fletcher singing ...

Summer is ...

Having Vaughn home.

Swimming pools -- this is "ours," the one we visited about 4 times a week.

The beach (these are from Figure Eight Island).

Popsicles.

Buns in the back of your head to keep your neck cool.

(As of today, over ...)