November 21

Lily's new favorite activity is building castles out of blocks. It's funny how she is suddenly more big girl than toddler.

And by "funny", I mean "equally exciting and heart wrenching".

It kills me how proud she is of her work!

She is just the sweetest.

November 19

This is all I have for today:

At the same park as yesterday, waiting for my clients to arrive. There were 5 children 5 and under, and my voice didn't work above a whisper/squeak. 

Also, it was cold.

Fun times.

November 18

I have an extended family photo session scheduled for tomorrow, and at the last minute the client requested a new location that I've never been to. No big deal! The kids and I headed out to scout things out today. It rained off and on during our scouting trip, but they (mostly) didn't mind, especially when it meant that we had the whole playground to ourselves!

The park was gorgeous, and well worth the drive!

Are they the cutest little models, or what?

Next time we come, we will bring something to feed the swans, ducks, and geese!

Or maybe not. I'm still traumatized by an incident in college when Chris let a duck bite me.

You know. Climbing on a cannon while it rains.

See? No one else on the playground! (Don't worry, Mom. I think this was during a break in the rain, which is why Eli is just wearing a shirt. When it was actively raining, I promise  he had a rain coat on!)

It started raining pretty hard, so we hopped in the van and headed home. Luckily I picked up some food to feed the kids on the way home, because the heavy rain and winds meant that our drive took over an hour. We got home just before this happened:

Hail.

It was a pretty exciting morning!

November 17

A friend loaned me a pretty wrap to play with, so of course I took a selfie.

Eli was only moderately impressed. Apparently he doesn't appreciate how luxurious a wool/silk/cashmere/cotton blend is, or how nice these colors look on us.

A friend and neighbor contacted me yesterday with the exciting news that, after years of submitting manuscripts, her writing was finally being published! But she needed a head shot... immediately. Luckily, today's forecast was sunny and 80 (in November!) so I told her to come over this afternoon. Daisy helped me scout lighting conditions in our back yard.

She was a willing subject, even if her wardrobe wasn't quite on point.

I love this one; Daisy just curled up on the chair and pretended to sleep. When I turned it to a moody black and white, it immediately switched from a strange picture to a mysterious image with a story behind it. Can't you imagine a little girl lost int he woods who happened upon a chair? (A note to my devoted reader Catherine: can you write a story about this?)

I think Eli is in the story, too. Perhaps he is climbing a mountain to rescue his missing sister, who has fallen asleep in the woods?

Or maybe not.

But he is busy being adorable.

November 16

Lots of pictures today!

First, it was a gymnastics day!

Look at sweet Eli on the low beam! He was so proud of himself!

Later, it was lovely outside so we played in the front yard. 

Selfie time!

More selfies!

Daisy snapped this one of us, and it is my new favorite. This is exactly my life.

This girl.

Yep. That is what siblings look like.

Daisy on a pole.

Caleb throwing leaves at me.

Daisy snapped this one. Is she good, or what?

And then I noticed Lily up to some mischief on the porch. 

Yep. She was using chalk as "lipstick".

My goodness, I love this girl. She is so funny!

Doesn't she look like she could be in a "chalk as makeup" advertisement?

And then Daisy grabbed my big camera and snapped this shot of me Instagramming the picture she took of me holding Eli and Lily. This is definitely what our life looks like.

November 15

I am writing this on December 19th. The busy-ness of my little photography business caused me to get hopelessly behind on this blog. There are times when something has to give, and for the past month that something has been this blog. But I'm mostly done with sessions for the season (hooray!) and so I will attempt to get this space caught up. I value the record of our days that this blog represents!

After all of that writing, though, this is the only picture I have for today:

Daisy read to her siblings at bedtime. Sometimes, this girl is the sweetest big sister!

November 14

We celebrated this gorgeous, nearly 70 degree, Do-Nothing Monday with a trip to the Garden.

Actually, first we made a stop at Target to get food for the cat, and then we made a trip to the Garden. The Target stop seriously cut into our Garden time, so the visit was short and sweet.

This Garden visit was special because it was my first trip (I think) with all four children, by myself, and no stroller. The kids did great! I kept Eli up on my back most of the time, which is what made it okay. At one point I let him down, and I immediately realized it was a bad idea. He is still learning how to follow the group.

Oh, and he had a cup full of snacks, so of course he was happy.

Daisy sat herself in a lovely little spot and asked to take a selfie. I offered to take a picture for her, but she was adamant that she wanted to take a selfie. 

My favorite spot. Don't worry, Mom. No one fell in.

This was the closest I got to cooperative children.

Eli was very excited to have a chance to ride the raccoons. We had a problem because there are only three raccoons, but four children. Caleb was sweet, though, and offered his raccoon up for Eli. 

Luckily, there were plenty of sheep to go around, and the kids were thrilled.

"SEEP!"

Our first visit to the Garden without the BOB lasted an hour and a half, but it was perfect. What a bittersweet milestone!

November 12

It was a jam-packed day for me today, but we started the morning like this:

I'm not sure where exactly the other two kids were, but Chris and I enjoyed big kid snuggles in bed. Any day that starts with family snuggles is a good day in my book!

November 11

Veterans Day!

I love this day because I am so grateful for the veterans who have served our country, and also because it's a bank holiday. Chris and I decided to spend the morning hiking, which has become our new family thing. We all love it, and the kids are getting stronger and more used to it, which means less complaining. 

Today we chose a new-to-us state park, and the trail we hiked started out with a steep, rocky climb, and ended with flat riverside trails. After our steep climb (Chris and I each had a toddler on our backs!), we were rewarded with this view:

Totally worth it.

And then Chris let the kids sit on this rocky outcropping of a cliff, and I almost lost it. I'm not a Nervous Nelly, and I'm not particularly concerned about heights, but that was too much for me. They stayed there long enough for the picture, and it still makes me feel nervous.

(Don't worry, Mom. No one fell off a cliff.)

I was much more comfortable with this viewpoint!

I chose this trail for the kids because it goes through a location that used to have lots of hotels and dance clubs around the turn of the 20th century, and the foundations of those old buildings still stand. I thought the kids would love "discovering" old buildings, and I was right.

Then we went down a massive staircase, crossed under a railroad bridge, and ended up on the river banks. The kids were delighted to clamber all over this pile of broken up concrete. Sure, it's a bit post-apocalyptic, but isn't the river and the setting lovely?

Eli tried - unsuccessfully - to throw rocks into the river.

Daisy took this picture of us.

Chris took this picture of me, and I actually really like it.

More clambering, and then off to continue our hike.

Caleb led the way.

And they took a few climbing breaks.

Daisy stopped to write her name in the dirt with a stick for a pen.

Amazingly, our hike ended with a playground! We stopped to play, have a picnic lunch, and set up my camera for a quick family photo. Eli wasn't happy, but the rest of us sure were! It was a great way to spend a bank holiday.

We took the kids home, stopping on our way for McDonald's hot fudge sundaes for the kids - a new family hike tradition. Once the little ones were down for naps, I went out running errands. I had two specific goals: booster seats, and fire cider.

Caleb is switching to doing his speech therapy in the evening so that he can also do a weekly social skills class at the same time. It's a great (and free!) opportunity, but it requires a bit of shifting of our schedules. I am so, SO thankful for Chris' mom, who is so faithful to spend every Tuesday afternoon shuttling Caleb to and from speech, and then making memories with Caleb and Daisy during their Special Time. She currently has one car seat in her car, but the change of speech times meant that it would be easier for her to have two seats. I did some research and decided that my very mature 5.5 and 7.5 year olds were probably ready to be in booster seats in Grandmother's car. That way, she can put the seats in her trunk when she doesn't have the kids, and she doesn't lose her whole back seat to car seats. 

Since Caleb has been in a car seat with a 5-point-harness since birth, making the switch to a booster seat makes me nervous. The safety of booster seats relies entirely upon the child knowing how to buckle and sit safely, so before we put the booster seat in Grandmother's car, we put it in my van. That way, I can supervise Caleb as he learns how to use it safely, and monitor him to make sure he isn't goofing off. So far, he's doing great!

However, it was a wild goose chase for me to get just one of these seats, and we really need several more (for Chris' car and for my mom's car). Caleb's primary car seat will still be a five-point harness, because it will still fit him for at least another year, but I'm glad to have a low-cost option for him to ride around with other people!

I was also hunting for ingredients to make Fire Cider. I bought a bottle of it last week, and like it so much that I want to keep using it all winter. However, the price is a bit much for how quickly we use it up, so I found a recipe to make my own. After much shopping and much chopping, I have this: 

Now I wait four weeks until it's ready!