4/5 of us having fun at the zoo

and all looking surprisingly nice and forward-facing for the photo! good work!

4/5 in action

posing at the SF zoo

rehabilitation center - alligator

rabilitation center - tortoise

found a prarie dog

saturday at the zoo

Found on my phone- snuck a photo at the trade show a few weeks ago. It's big. you're seeing one direction towards the entrance, but it goes even further in the direction behind you, that it goes off the screen to both the left and the right, and that this escalator leads to a full second level.

spikes

So, at Em's school the follow the Reggio Emilia / emergent philosophy. (previously discussed here).
So, raterh than a planned curriculum, you never know what the class will become inspired to learn about, and what related topics it will evolve into, and how long the passion will last before a new interest comes along. Of course music, art, math, movement, reading, service, etc. get woven into any subject.
(with E, I remember the fall being all about the moon, which became the tides)

Anyway, we're excited to see the kids have found something already, and it's dinosaurs!
Em knows her species, she knows what they eat, and holy cow, look at the drawing skills on this Stegosaurus she made! the second photo is her showing one to me so I can see what she had in mind as she drew. way to go!

Tree Climber

At a school friend's birthday party.

found on my phone- visual proof of this path where 5 minute uphill walk from my door I can get to this bench and this view of the sunset.
No explaination why I don't think to do this more often.

Found on my phone- visual proof that a year later, Luxor Las Vegas persists in advertizing carrot top and fantasy girls, together.

photo found on my phone- E's turn at the pinata at his neighbor-friend's birthday party, mid august

As requested - little M in his new outfit!

passing on a link

Guys, I just heard of a cool new baby naming site and though I'd pass it along
You tell it what names you like, or what names you've already picked, and it generates names that go with them, and then you give it feedback and it keeps on refining the recommendations
http://nymbler.com/

For example, it says these match my boy's names, and it's right - they're mostly good fits in origin and popularity, including some that have been forerunners:
Jeremiah, Ian, Ephraim, Elias, Sampson, Elisha, Axel, Levi, Isaac, Asher, Zeke, Solomon

conservative

anyone else worried about the economy?

reading calculated risk all day long?

stocking up on food and necessities now in case of inflation and/or unemployment?

you don't have to answer. but we're feeling concerned. my retail sales are still strong, and horninf's job relating to commercial construction is secure, but in both cases, they wouldn't stay that way if the worst-case scenario unfolds.

A certain bank we once had a car loan with sends blank checks every month at 3.99% hoping we'll use them. never do. yesterday they came again -at freaking 13.99%.
whoa. Articles like this refer to our actual bank as "next to go"

In any case, the talk in our house is more about saving and security, and less about aggressive growth.

As such, until after the election and observing how things shake out with congress and the fed and the bank failures, we're putting somethings on hold that would have required signing year-long contracts. 1) the brick & mortar store 2) little M's preschool



PS- if any of you reading are local friends interested in paid part-time in-your-home care of little M while I work, email me!

Presents, sleeper

pillows

M sleeps with pillows now. Seems to like them.

2!

Baby M is two years old today!

Here he is at 5 and 6 days old, plus a good look at how he presently looks so much like Em at 18 months.



He did open presents, but it was a busy day so no special activities or party yet. We trimmed his hair, just his second cut ever. looks good.
I definitely want to do a write-up like I did on Em's second birthday, but not tonight. He doesn't have nearly as many words as she did, but he does identify many letters and some numbers which is cool, and at 2 E had like, no words except "ba" so that's great. Anyway, maybe I'll get that done tomorrow.

Baby M as a real baby

Toddler M

Since "the little two" are just 18 months apart and have always been home together, they are very close and it's easy to get nice shots of them together :)
M is not too happy now that Em started preschool but never fear - they just found an opening! yay!