Thanksgiving in DC

We have much to be thankful for this year - which is why we had several Thanksgiving dinners. We met Laura's family in Washington DC, where also met the newest member of the family, Cole. Here are the 4 cousins together -- it's as good a photo as we could muster up.

I love these photos of Tyler at the Jefferson Memorial.

And we had a great time hanging out with the Campbell family.

November at the beach

We've had an unusually sunny, pleasant fall here. So what better to do on a Sunday, than head to the beach? It didn't matter that it was only in the 50's, the kids still ran around barefoot and buried themselves in the sand. Anna is with her best friend, Amelia.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler turned 1 year old last week. And unfortunately our camera battery died before we could get a photo of his chocolate-covered face. Who needs cupcakes when there's icing to lick?

Hope for the next generation

Anna sat with me tonight as we watched the first black president be elected. I starting explaining to Anna that you can do anything, regardless of the color of your skin. And then I realized that she never considered that skin color, or race, or gender could be a barrier. And I pray that she never will.

As Anna says, "Go Rock Obama!"

This is Tyler with his Brutus Buckeye mobile. It's the bane of my existence. He absolutely loves it, and wants to grab and hold Brutus. Before he could stand, he would cry, big frustrated tears because he couldn't reach Brutus. If I picked him up, he'd cried louder because all he really wanted was Brutus. I think my newest little nephew is going to inherit this parental torture device.

Although Tyler can push his mail cart, what he really likes to do is stand in it. I don't think Fedex will hire him.

Anna's Fashion Sense

Anna has been picking out her own clothes for a while now, but lately she's taking fashion to a new level, or should I say a new layer. She loves layering clothes, and often wears 3-4 shirts at a time, and shorts over pants. One day she wore everything flowered - from her barrettes down to her shoes - all different flower patterns.

Fall Fun

OK, at last I'm finally posting more photos here. It's not often that you get to see two sunflowers, a rainbow witch, and a crazed pumpkin all on one page. Anna loved trick or treating this year. And as you can see, Tyler loved being a sunflower. He figured out what candy was right away, and has been foraging for his sister's candy ever since.