Greetings all. We are slow to update our blog and gallery. I just added several recent pictures. We’ve been so busy. Oma was just here for two weeks. Joe, Caryl and River, our friends from Missoula, visited from their new home in Vermont. Mary and Kate, from Berkeley, visited here on their trip back East. We made a beautiful Yin and Yang cake for Dare and Sanguine’s birthday. We’ve be making costumes, going to PTA meetings, and trick or treating. We hosted a big pizza party for Sanguine’s early intervention helpers, making 12 large pizza’s and hot chocolate lava for dessert. Our house is getting painted right now and we are transitioning to inside living as the season is changing. Rainy and Torrent are all pencils and crayons. They do not stop writing and drawing. We’ll have to take some pictures of their artwork and get that up here soon. Josie is still hanging in there, probably wondering when she is going to get back in the spotlight. She is very happy though—the kids make for more left overs and that she really appreciates. This morning she had a biscuit, two sausages and gravy. We got a new table for the dining room that we really love. It seats 8 easily, with 5 chairs and a bench on one side. We have found that the table is the central focus for us as a family and having a nice one feels so good. I will be trying to update more regularly as we get into the winter and all the holiday activities are so fun to share.

We recently returned from a week on the Atlantic. Long Beach Island in New Jersey was our home base for seven fun filled days. Sand, surf, salt water and sun kept us busy, and good food and cappuccino filled our evenings. Six adults and eight children and one dog and no sun burn or major injuries and only a few hurt feelings. Mainy we just enjoyed the company of family: talking, eating and Blokus. Check out the slideshow.

Other than our vacation we are really getting ready for Rainy going to kindergarten. Torrent has been in Executive Assistant training, where Rainy show him the ropes before she is gone. The babies are doing great. Sanguine is gaining more and more coordination, mainly with her feet. She is almost as likely to reach for a banana with her feet as her hands. Dare is cruising big time. He has already taken the first few steps on his own but for the most part he still choosing to crawl or hang on to something. He has a few molars and his smile is getting bigger everyday. Check out all the recent pictures in Flickr.

All Smiles

We made it to June, that is nine months for any of you out there counting. Dare and Sanguine, or as Torrent says “Sangy Woman,” are growing and getting smart too. Dare is practically walking now, and Sangy is sitting up nicely on her own. They are both getting an introduction to a few tastes–finger foods, like Cheerios, black beans, apples sauce and rice. Dare makes faces and Sangy’s tongue goes wild. We have been really busy as a family. We went to the Adirondacks for Memorial Day, canoeing and camping. We’ve been biking all around Ithaca and Monica and the kids set up a kiddy pool in the back yard. We’ve been playing bike polo weekly, and Paul is playing summer league Ultimate. All is good. Oh yeh, Torrent is riding on two wheels now too. We’ll post a video here soon.

Under a Perfect Sky

We hightailed it out of Ithaca for a long weekend to go to Rachel and Nate’s wedding (see the gallery). We had a great time. Rainy and Torrent were in the wedding as flower girl and ring bearer. Rainy and Torrent both won prizes in the scavenger hunt put on by the bride and groom near the end of the big picnic party. Rainy cashed her prize in here at Handel’s Ice Cream parlor and Granny and Grandpa slurped down a big milk shake together. The sky was perfect, but the air was cool and breezy.