sickies

We caught a bug this week.  It made us all nauseous, achy, and lazy.  It trashed our house and created heaps and piles of laundry.  It stole my energy and kept my kids rotting away with movies.  Thanks to rest, time wasting, Gatorade, and lots of snuggling, we’re on the mend.

Its funny how a week of being sick makes you appreciate your health. It's amazing how good the status quo feels after a week of the flu.  Also big thanks to husband and his willingness to chime in and save the day. 

Almost Heaven, West Virginia

West Virginia is a place without an agenda. It's slowly paced, sparsely inhabited, and when you pull in to get gas you see freshly shot deer bungeed to trailers. It's exactly what you think it'll be like.  Towering red barns and cylindrical silos decorate hilly farms.  Quaint, shabby houses add character to the long, desolate, drive.  

It's the type of beautiful you can't quite put your finger on. It's thekind of place where you ask yourself  "Who in the world actually lives here?!"  But with just a quick glance around, you know. You can perfectly imagine the bumpkin character that will step out of that front door without even meeting a soul.

Brady and are eating up our metropolitan life here in D.C.. Yet when we find ourselves in the mountains we both look at each other like we've made a grave mistake ever leaving the woods behind.  There is something about the mountains that makes me feel contently anchored, at home. 

We spent the night at our friends' cabin. Their family is a bi-product of two intelligent people falling in love at an east coast art school. Their children are adorable and are totally responsible for introducing Liam both to Legos and Star Wars.

Of course when you're 4, your job at the museum is to pretend to be all the animals you see. . .  In one of these pictures he is posing as a large creepy fish. In the other he is at the Smithsonian's human evolution exhibit and said he was pretending to be a  "human monkey."

We just had to squeeze in one last day playing outside in the water.  Nothing mimics a lazy summer day like a blow up pool in the back yard.

Cute-tiful Children

 I'm blessed with beautiful children. I all too frequently comment on Elsie's cuteness.  Sometimes I even feel guilty about this, but I just can't help myself. Maybe I should be vocally patting her back for other things instead. I should probably make more comments about her being thoughtful, observant, coordinated. . . .  I could brag on and on about her 'assets' that make her a great baby.  But I suppose when you're only 1, being called "cute" sums it up quite nicely.

 This video is classicly Elsie- Sugary sweet then suddenly (and thankfully temporarily) sour. Then back to sweet.

Halloween

Halloween was probably just as fun today, as a parent watching my kids, as it was when I was a kid dressed up and frantically collecting candy. 

\