avablog

Ava was too sick to come along to the work trick-or-treat session last night, but Emmett and I had a great time. We practiced his thank yous, and he did a good job filling up his little pumpkin bag (I told him we had to make sure we got some candy for his sister, too). Even so, I think he missed having his zookeeper along.

And, in motion, where you can really appreciate the magnificence of the beast:

“Car-shoes.”

“Gosh,” I hear you saying to yourself, “I wonder what Ava and Emmett look like these days.” I’m glad you mused. These shots are from our trip to Sass Family Farm last weekend.

Apologies to Neil Diamond.
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He’s a funny little guy. Why would a crocodile bite an iPod, anyway? Silly.

Srsly. And here are the photos to prove it:

When I saw AGP this morning, sitting on the porch swing with the morning sun shining through her side pony, I had to force her to sit for a portrait. Sometimes when I look at yet another picture of either of the kids, I wonder why I never get tired of looking at pictures of them. One thing’s for sure: Someday I’m going to be able to make a badass photo collage of their early years.

We had a nice weekend in Decorah at Nordic Fest (no matter what Rachel tells you!). It was fun to see Baby Tristan and to sample Norwegian delicacies. I think we might go back next year, especially if they can get Michele Bachmann to appear in the parade!

Poor Emmett came down with a fever this afternoon, but it didn’t keep him from accompanying us to the theater for a screening of the new Winnie the Pooh feature. I got a pretty good nap in, and Emmett and Ava had fun laughing and eating popcorn. Win/win. Later, Emmett got a popsicle, which he enjoyed on the front porch.

I was emptying some compost this morning when Leah came out on the back porch with Emmett. She spotted a cicada clinging to the wall near the stairs and alerted ECP to its presence. It was at that point I asked Leah to grab the video camera….

Big news out of The Ranch in the last 24 is that ECP expressed interest in — and did then subsequently use — the potty for #2.
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My friend Jay let me borrow a manual focus lens recently. I didn’t get many shots with it, but the couple I did were nice. If I do say so myself.

By Ava, done using one of the myriad free doodling apps for the iPad.

Emmett’s seemed like a pretty steady little guy, really, temperament-wise. But lately he’s becoming more physical and more obstinate at the same time, which is a frustrating combination.
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with Gramary. Photos by Gramary.

Leah went to change ECP’s diaper first thing this morning* and was confronted with a problem upon fastening him back up. Well, it was a problem for Leah, at least. For the boy’s part, he surely would’ve been happy to lie there on his back all day, “Little Em Em” standing at attention in all its miniature glory, confounding every effort to affix a clean diaper.
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Good ol’ Ben let me borrow a nice lens over the weekend. I promptly availed myself of the new glass by shooting one of my favorite subjects ever:

ECP — unlike AGP — is very inquisitive about physical things. If it has wheels, he’ll push it. If it rises from the ground, he’ll climb it, then jump off of it. Heh. Boys. What’re you gonna do?

I was in the kitchen (where else?) the other day when Emmett came running in. He pointed to the skillet on the stove and asked, “Is hot, daddy?” in that cute, halting diction of his. “Yes, it’s very hot,” I replied. “OK,” he said, and turned to run back to the living room.
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