Hiking high

Our hiking high...

Beautiful day!

Sophie & daddy looking tough

Chase thought that since Zoe couldn't hack the trails,

he'd bring her along in spirit (on his shirt)

Superdad, for the record, carried BOTH kids over MUCH of the terrain (including wet rocks)
b/c Chasebuddy refused to walk

Brian, you are a man of much balance, brawn and bravery! You are my survival kit. Love you!

FALL

What I love about fall...

-the hues of rust, terra cotta, burnt orange, and spiced pumpkin,
Appalachian music, the cool breeze (through our windows that NOW have screens!!!), the JMU colored Mums in our front yard, car rides with the windows down, pumpkin patches, fall wreaths, hiking, hayrides, fleece pullovers, the rainbow of leaves that adorn the Blue ridge mountains, smores, reading by the fireplace, and SPICED APPLE CIDER!!!

And the newest of our fall collection...

...you guessed it! Yeah, I'm a little "owl-obsessed" as B calls me.

Thank you God for the seasons!

sophiliciousness

Sophie giving mama kisses


Playing peekaboo with her bib


What I like to call "Sophie's full range of emotions": sleepy, angry, bored, self-entertained, agitated, then full of laughter. With enough under the table tickling, I turned my whiney Whited into a giggly girl.

Chase quotables

Quotable Chase

B: Chase who is that? (pointing to his sister)
Chase: "Dat's Soap-ee. She's my best friend" (He came up with that all on his own!)

Chase (at bedtime): (Point to his eyes) "These eyelashes?"
Me: "Yes sweety, those are your eyelashes."
Chase: (looks confused and points again)
Me: "Those are your eyebrows. See eyelashes, and those ones are eyebrows."
Chase: "You....you brush those?" (pointing to his eyebrows)
Me: (giggling inside) "Yes. Mommy brushes those." (He's seen my use my eyebrow brush)
Chase: "But daddy doesn't brush those."
Me: "No. He just has a brush for his hair."
Chase: "Only mommies brush those."
Me: "Uhmmm. Well most people don't brush their eyebrows." (now hysterically laughing at how this odd conversation has turned into more like a counseling session) "But your mommy does."
Chase: "Why?"
Me: (contemplating the best way to convey my hair issues) "well, I guess because they are curly and I have a lot of them."
Chase: "Oh."

Chase: "I want to squish her!"
Me: "You mean you want to squeeze her? Like hug her? "
Chase: "No! I want to squish her."

Chase: "Please tickle my feet. And I can tickle your hand, if you tickle my feet."

Chase: "Why you no take a shower in the downstairs bathroom?"
Me: "Because the upstairs one is closer to my clothes. And then I'd have to run upstairs nakey! I don't wanna do that!
Chase: "But I like to run around nakey!"

Chase: "Look mama. I'm dancing. This part is Zumba."

Mommy: "Chase you are a funny guy."
Chase: "Yes. Yes... I AM funny. I am a funny guy."

TMI category
(you may stop here if this is Too Much Information. I always resolved not to blog about any bodily functions as I'm easily grossed out by how commonplace it is to put it on the web, but consider this for humor sake)

Chase: "HEY MOMMY!!! I go poopy FIVE times! That means I get FIVE ice creams!!!!" (Yep. Folks, we've got a salesman here... or perhaps a lawyer.)

Chase doing his victory dance: "POOOOPY DANCE! POOOOOOPY DANCE!" (as he runs around pantless)