Fishing Trip

We got the camera working just in time for another fishing trip.
This time, the camera stayed in a waterproof bag.

Water Logged

The other day Casey fell into the river while he was fishing.
While he came out fine, the camera in his pocket didn't fair as well.
Unless we wanted every picture
for the rest of the year to look like this,
something needed to be done.
The camera is currently nestled in a jar of rice
and we are keeping our fingers crossed.
I will let you know how it goes.
I have saved a place for February 28th in order to stay
on track, but this might take a couple days.

Ouchie

The other day, Orin was playing with Atlas
when I heard him start crying.
He swears that he got the gash on his head from Atlas's ball.
However, Atlas's ball is made of soft rubber,
so I suppose the true object that caused the gash will remain a mystery.
One thing that is for certain, though, is that Orin is much
tougher about his ouchies than his mom is
about his ouchies.

Salmon Dinner

Greg, Sarah Lee, and Cosmos came over for dinner last night
and Orin felt inspired to take this picture.
There is almost nothing better than good food, good conversation,
and good friends (good wine never hurt anyone either..)
We are truly lucky people.

Ah, thesis...

Casey took this picture the other day while
adding the caption "this is how I see mom all day..."
This statement is partially true, I am deep in the midst
of writing my thesis on wolf control in Alaska,
but, in my defense, I only work on the 2 and 1/2 days a week
that Orin goes to school.
So for the hours he is gone, I think I leave the couch maybe once.

Tug-of-war

Bad day for the snowman

Did I mention the weather stinks lately?

Today we got an inch of snow
making our blooming flowers
and leafing-out trees rather unhappy.
But it did put a smile on Orin's face, who wanted to immediately
go out and build a snowman with dad.
If only I had remembered to take a picture of it before noon
you would have been able to see it in its full glory.

The Rebuilding Center

For one of his field trips, Casey went to the Rebuilding Center.
The Center works by carefully deconstructing old building instead of
using the typical, more violent, forms of demolition.
All the salvageable parts, including wood, windows, door knobs, etc.
are then sold at a 50-90% discount.
For his class, Casey had to make something out of recycled materials
and decided, because he is such a wonderful husband,
to make me an herb box for my garden.
Now if only the weather will begin to agree
that it is almost time to plant...

Where's Orin?

Ladies-Only

Today Candace, Sarah Lee, and I ditched the boys

and headed to Eagle Creek for a lovely day of hiking.
It was spectacular:
beautiful views, okay weather, and excellent company.

A Song for Cosmos

Today we babysat for Cosmos.
He did what most normal 3-months olds do:
some sleeping, a lot of eating, some peeing,
a lot of throwing up, and some crying.
Orin found him mildly amusing
and helped me by singing to him whenever he got sad.
You have to turn the volume up on this one to catch the song
(it is one we learned at story time at the library).
Oh, and sorry about the bad video angle.

Hungry

What breakfast looks like when you're growing.

Asian New Year

Today we went to the Asian New Year celebration
at the Chinese Garden.
The garden was beautiful and
the whole place was lit up with 100 lanterns.
There was a spectacular dancing dragon
covered with multi-colored lights.
Because it was so beautiful, my standard rule applied:
the more picture-worthy the event,
the more likely I am to forget my camera.
So instead of the Chinese dragon,
you get to see Orin's dragon impression.
Maybe a slightly less pretty picture, but equally amusing.

The Troublemakers

They only look innocent...

Valentine's Day

Today we went to Orin's Valentine's Day party at school.

This picture is of the whole school + parents - Orin's bf Alex.

Baby Dorian

Spending a little time with Baby Dorian...

Pink Cookies

Today there was a brown box waiting outside
for us when we got home.
I didn't even need to open it to know that
it was off limits until after strong food.
But, after dinner, we broke into the box and were thankful
for Baba's wonderful Valentines Day cookie-baking tradition.

Diapers

Orin has been using the toilet consistently
during the day for some time now,

but I still have to run the diapers he needs at night.
I am hoping this summer we will be able to get past the last hurdle
so that I can finally give his diapers away and
never run a hot wash load again.
I may miss the creepy steam coming from the laundry machine,
but that will certainly be the only thing I'll miss!

Otters

The otters were putting on quite a display today.

Peanut Butter Dog

This photo is of some peanut butter globs applied by Orin
to the back of one of his favorite dogs.
"Why?" you ask.
I couldn't even begin to explain the reasoning...
Random impulses felt by two-year-olds can surely
only be understood by other two-year-olds.

Play time!

After school today, Orin and I stayed late to take the dogs

down to the neighborhood park with Jessika.
I can't tell you how much I love this picture.

3 Babies in a Basket

Nap time

This afternoon Orin told me that it was time to take a nap
and asked me to tuck him in.
Because Orin stopped napping over 6 months ago,
I was a bit suspicious,
and rightfully so.
As soon as I walked into his room and saw a pillow in his RadioFlyer,
I knew this was not a normal kind of nap,
but it did make a good photo-opp.

Helicopter Chair Game

It's a favorite.

Fishing Trip

This is from Orin and Casey's first boys-only fishing trip.

As Orin tells the story, he caught a big fish;

as Casey tells the story, Orin's "big fish" was actually the lure.

Fish or no fish, they both had a great time

and that's all that counts.

Tryon Creek Part 2

This was a picture that Orin took on our hike

around Tryon Creek today.
We heard the first bird song of the season,
Spring is in the air!

A Turtle Basket!

We got a book from the library called "Looking closely around the pond."

It lets you see a small glimpse of a creature, plant, etc.
and then shows you the full image on the following page.
Each time we get this page Orin goes "its a turtle basket!"
because he can only seem to remember that it is a type of turtle
named after a container that starts with "b"
(when in reality it is called a "box turtle.")
Makes me laugh every time...

Sick Day

It doesn't really look comfortable but it is how he wanted to be.
Good thing he had his trusty nurse.