Iain in Brest, France

I'm here in Brest, France, as a member of the U.S. delegation to the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum. Tonight we enjoyed a dinner at a beautiful castle. The scene was simply breathtaking. There were horses in the field behind the castle, it was quiet countryside, and the night sky was super dark and clear and I could see thousands of stars. I wished I had Allison here to walk along and look at the stars!

Apple Picking

We went to an apple orchard yesterday and had a SUPER time. The girls are great apple pickers and Kai was a champ in his stroller. =) Here are a few pix, very few which actually have apples in them. =)

BFFs

So our very favorite Virginia friends, the Tewells, are moving to San Diego and we are going to miss them sooooo much!! Audrey and Avery adore their children (who, by the way, are about the best-mannered 6, 9, 10 and 12 year olds I've ever met), and we had a fun "breakfast for dinner in our jammies" party tonight. Here's a pic of everyone together (minus Kai, who bailed for bed about 2 hours prior).

Fall and Happy Kids

Here are a fex pix from the last 2 weeks. Two weeks ago it rained every day and every night for 5 days. On day 4, our basement got a bit of water in one corner, so one of the pix below is Iain enjoying being a homeowner. =) After the rain ended, it got a bit cool, so there's a pic of Audrey in her clothes for the first day of fall and also a pic with the first fire in our new house. Also a cute of pic of Kai sleeping in our bed under the covers (he and I took a nap together) and a pic of our beautiful kids after baths one night.

Kai Laughing

Kai started laughing last week. I got about 2 seconds of video yesterday before the Flip died, so I need to buy more batteries and get the footage on here. It's a beautiful sound! I'm just documenting now that it happened so that I don't forget. =)

He is the sweetest baby. He's so even-tempered and, because he loves his mommy, goes to sleep at night (many times wide awake) around 7:30pm without crying and generally sleeps until about 5am. And now that he's started laughing, the girls love to try to tickle him to see if he'll laugh. I'll try to get some footage of that too!

Avery's Tuesday Interactions with Iain

Two hilarious things between Avery and Iain today.

This morning, the girls were up before Iain left for work which is not normal. Iain walked into the sunroom in his uniform and Avery said, "Daddy, you have on the same outfit as before."

Tonight, the five of us were going for a walk and Avery asked to get her tricycle. (As background, one of our neighbors gave us a bike last week that their girls had outgrown. It's still way too big for Avery but it has Ariel on the side of it and she's been begging to ride it. The tires are flat.) As I was bringing the trike to the front yard, Avery said, "I asked Daddy, 'Fix my bike, fix my bike, fix my bike.' But he didn't, so now I have to ride the tricycle." Iain heard her, cracked up, and now feels sufficiently guilty to go pump up the tires so she can ride it!

Audrey the Artist

Audrey is really becoming quite the little artiste! Her painting and drawing ability have already surpassed mine and she LOVES all kinds of art. Today she showed me how to make a Santa Claus from tracing her hand. She traced it, then had to flip the paper around before adding all the touches. Anyway, I was impressed that she remembered how to do it from school because I certainly couldn't have. She also just started a new ballet class. I like it so much more than last year's school. There are only 4 students in her class and she is beautiful to watch! Today, she was doing these toe touches and then leaps on the count of 4 and 8 perfectly. I know I'm biased but she was WAY better than the other 3 girls. =) Anyway, I hope that the artsy side of her brain develops more than mine ever did. If it does, she has Iain to thank!!

Tomorrow the girls start a new art class, so I'm going to try to remember to take the camera to take some pix.

Tattle-Tale

Last night at dinner, we were explaining to the girls what a tattle-tale is and why it's not nice to be one (this conversation followed closely on the heels of Avery pointing out loudly and repetitively that Audrey had not said "please" when asking for a spoon). Anyway, we told them that in general, they should limit the need to tattle to cases where someone was in danger or someone was doing something safe. I said, "for example, if a boy runs into the street without looking, it's okay to tell his mommy so that she can help him." Without missing a beat, Avery said, "or if a bear is chasing behind me it's okay to tell someone." Um, yep, it sure is!! Iain and I were cracking up and that was the end of the lecture. =)

Kai's Name

Yesterday we went to a party at a neighbor's house and I put a nametag on Kai's Baby Bjorn. Avery saw it and told Kai, "Kai, you have a nametag on. K A I. Only three letters. That's because you're little and don't have a whole name yet."

First Day of School

I think they had fun. Avery had some moist eyes (no tears) and Audrey held my hand a bit longer than normal, but when I picked them up, they were both happy and were excited to talk about their day. School started and it was cold and rainy, so I'm sad to say that summer has apparently ended. But life is good!

Fun with Cousins

We had to bribe the girls with pretzels to sit and smile for the camera at the picnic table. No bribery was required for the smiles where Addy and Avery are chasing each other. =) And the chaotic look of the picture with all 8 -- well, that's about as good as it gets! (Note Carly stealing a sip of Audrey's water when she knows nobody can do a thing about it).

My dad would have LOVED watching the action of all these babies!!




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Lots of Kids!!

Yesterday afternoon at Mim's house, we had 8 children ages 4 and under. Good times! Our three, Audrey (4), Avery (3) & Kai (2 months), my brother's three, Ava (2), Emma (7 months) and Sophie (7 months), and my cousin's (who I consider like a sister) two, Addyson (2) and Carly (10 months). Harry, we missed you!

We didn't manage to get a pic of all 8 together, but I'll try again today. Below is a pic of my mom's grandkids (only Audrey and the twins would smile) and a pic of the five "big" girls (you know, ages 10 months to 4).

Iain in Naples, Italy