November 9

It was beautiful today.

Gorgeous.

Chris' goal for the day was to rake all the leaves in our front yard, so he headed out early to get some yard waste bags. While he was gone, the kids and I ate breakfast and played.

Isn't she funny in the morning?

One of my favorite things about Daisy is the way her voice gets low and husky sometimes. It's so funny to hear a deep, raspy voice coming from her little body. Want a sample?

It's Daisy singing the Belly Button song, from a Sandra Boynton book. She's kind of funny.

Caleb decided he was going to stay home and rake leaves with Daddy while I took Lily and Daisy to Target. But then Daisy saw that the boys got to rake leaves, so she decided to stay home. And then I laid Lily down on my bed so that I could brush my teeth before I left. When I finished brushing my teeth, the girl was sound asleep.

That never happens in my world. My babies always need to be swaddled and nursed to sleep. But here's hoping Lily is blazing new trails! Lucky mama that I am, I got to go to Target all by myself. That's almost like a vacation in my world! (Almost. Not quite.)

When I came home, it was so lovely outside that I had to get my camera. 

And then I took 19 gajillion pictures.

And I'm going to post them all here.

I don't even feel bad about it, because Lily is at the age  now where she's so expressive and fun! Her little face is possibly the most entertaining thing every. I had totally forgotten about this stage, and it's like a hidden treasure after the first few months of having a thankless newborn. 

This? 

This is my reward:

I know. They're all practically the same, and yet they're all different and adorable and adorably different and I just can't get enough of Lily's sweet little face!

Meanwhile, Caleb rode his bike. He just re-discovered the horn that Auntie Grace gave him for his birthday, and now he's good enough on the bike that he can honk and ride at the same time.

Look out world. Here comes Caleb!

He's so funny, though: as he honks his horn, he yells, "Excuse me! Get out of the way!"

Then during nap time, the mail man brought a package from GREAT Aunt Maggie. Inside was a darling little dog carrier and two little puppies. Caleb carried them around in the carrier for quite a while (Daisy was still asleep, so he didn't have to fight her for it!), then chose one dog to be his favorite and named him Ralph.

When Daisy woke up, Caleb wanted to go back outside and ride his bike, but he didn't want to abandon poor Ralph. This was his solution:

Can you see poor little Ralph, smooshed into his handlebars? Because Caleb is a responsible little bear, he first fashioned a little helmet for Ralph. Safety first! Those two really enjoyed their bike ride!

Happily, our friends Caleb and Hannah were over, so Caleb and Daisy got to play with them for a while as I made dinner. Daisy came in to help me, so I put her to work setting the table. I was in the kitchen cooking, and I'd hand her an item at a time to put on the table. She was SO proud of her work!

The only things I put on the table were the two bowls in the middle and the two big glasses of water. She did everything else, all by herself. I love how eager they are to help at this age!

But best of all was that after dinner, Caleb and Daisy wanted to play in their Halloween costumes. Daisy was so, so happy to be dressed up as Chewbacca! I worked pretty hard on their costumes (well, not Caleb's. But definitely Daisy's), so the fact that they still love them and want to play with them after Halloween feels like a major victory. I don't know if there's a better feeling than making your children happy.