We all know

that you don't come here to read stories day after day after day. So today I'm posting pictures.

It's rough when you're out like this *before* the Thanksgiving meal.

Apologies

We've recently entered the period of our lives in which we teach Naomi about making apologies. Most of the time they're made to Hannah, and Naomi now knows that when I say, "Apologize to your sister," she should say, "Sorry, Hannah."

Of course, when she throws a book at me and I ask her to apologize to me, she also says, "Sorry, Hannah."

Me: "Say, sorry, Mama."
N: "Sorry, Hannah."
M: "Sorry, Mama."
N: "Sorry, Hannah."
M: "Sorry, Mama."
N: "Sorry, Hannah."

It appears that we're not *quite* clear on the concept yet.

Michael refilled

our bird feeders yesterday. He's been running around in the lovely weather, getting all kinds of yard work done. So when he noticed the empty feeders, he decided to fill them up.

This morning when we came down for breakfast, there were TONS of birds out, having their breakfast. Hannah is a great birder -- she knows many of them and identifies them as they fly around and use the feeders. Naomi promises to be a great birder, too, since she can already identify chickadees, flickers, and jays. I was impressed. We also had juncos, towhees, and wrens out there this morning.

They were happy with their Thanksgiving meal.

We're thankful

For beautiful weather.

For health.

For a delicious Thanksgiving meal with family and friends.

For our family and friends.

For our planet (that's Hannah's particular one).

For naps.

Rain

has set in. Although yesterday we did get some sun, which was nice. It's overcast with rain scattered throughout the day here now. It gets dark around 5, and I'm not entirely sure when it gets light, because (thankfully) I'm often still asleep. Hannah definitely notices the change in the light and begins wondering why we haven't had dinner, why Dada's not home yet, is it way past her bedtime. I remind her about the change in seasons and she looks somewhat skeptical. Naomi doesn't seem to care one way or the other, but has been somewhat disappointed at the lack of time outside. I've still been trying to get out for a daily walk with them, but we are not going out in the yard nearly as much -- go figure.

It's very interesting trying to make the shift to more fall and winter activities. The girls are enjoying dancing with Michael after dinner most nights, which is amazingly cute to watch. It's a bit tough to find ways to get them enough exercise, and many days will see Naomi climbing whatever she can grab onto, and Hannah running back and forth in the kitchen while I cook.

This morning Michael has taken them to the zoo, rain or no rain. He's a brave, brave man, but I'm sure he'll be rewarded for his efforts, since the girls haven't been there in a while and dearly love going. He'd been thinking, since it's overcast, that he'd take them to the aquarium. That was pretty much squelched when Hannah was prepping him on how busy it would be, since it's raining and all the kids would go to the aquarium. This was after I'd mentioned that he probably wouldn't want to bring a stroller inside because of crowded conditions. He looked at his two bundled daughters and pronounced that they'd be fine at the zoo. It's probably good practice for them anyway, since as Seattlites they'll need to get used to doing things in the rain. Plus, he brought the stroller with the rain cover -- something I didn't even know existed when I lived in Houston!

More sentences

Naomi: "Daddy likes bacon." "Mama, you're silly."

Breakfast

is in the works. Michael is making cinnamon rolls and bacon, and Hannah and Naomi are circling like sharks.

Growing up

Naomi uttered her first 3-word sentence the other day. She said, "More bacon, please." Bacon can be a very motivating substance, apparently.

Every so often Hannah will say something like this: "Hey, Mom, this says HOP!" or "Hey, Mom, this says WARM!" or something else that she's read.

Where did my tiny babies go?

Boston

We really enjoyed Boston -- our first stop on our trip. Hannah loves the book Make Way for Ducklings, so she was *really* excited to see the statues in the Public Garden. We had an absolutely beautiful day for walking around, and once we'd visited Whole Foods to pick up lunch, we headed over to eat at the Garden and admire the statues.

Both girls really liked the ducks.
Here's where we stayed in the Back Bay:
And here's us shopping on Newbury Street.