This is the long camp driveway. About two years ago, Bowden had just started walking, and after we would go on a walk around town, we'd bring him back and let him make the long trip on his own two feet.
It would take a half-hour, but we had time, and two pairs of eyes for one child. He loved the hollow thump of his feet on the metal plate near the top, and Lucy does, too.
I let them walk it sometimes, and today I was struck with a soft nostalgia for the days when we had one baby...
I love what having two has brought into our lives, and I look forward to the eventuality of more.

Took a walk yesterday and enjoyed the fall flowers. No snow here, yet. I like how weird Bowden's face looks. He got a haircut today, a crooked one, and looks very crookedly dapper.

Bowden got on the box and said, "Put Lucy up here and take a picture!"
So I did. He only meant one picture, though, because he was quickly distracted.

I was planning on going to the Valley on Thursday night- my mom was going to pick me up late and we were going to drive back together- but her car broke down and had to be fixed, so I ended up hitching a ride with Lisa Saturday night.
I'm so glad that I did!
Coming out of the house for lunch today, I saw a strange car in our driveway...and noticed that it was my good friends Paul and Cyndi up for their annual visit! What I love about them, well, one thing I love about them, is that they make me feel so comfortable. I did not feel bad folding clothes in front of them, and it was really a joy to sit and talk to them all afternoon...
My kidlins liked the company as well, and Lucy especially appreciated Paul's lap and reading abilities.
(And Cyndi, I really like your bangs!)

One of Bowden's obsessions is with our couch cushions. It is particularily trying to me, as he is constantly messing them up, throwing them everywhere, body-slamming and attacking them...and leaving them all over the living room. I don't know why I find this especially tiresome..more so than even crumbs on the floor...but I do.
I have made a rule that the cushions can be played with, but only on the couch. To help this rule stick, I helped Bowden build a fort, according to his specific instructions. He liked this so much that he actually wanted me to take the last picture of him, so he could see himself in his fort.
The fort was "no girls allowed" except for me and Lucy....

Lucy thought that the fort was okay, but her true passion in life is Bowden's doll. I think she likes the plastic feet and hands, and obviously the head. The doll was nearly pristine in the year that Bowden had it, but since Lucy adopted it, it has become pretty "dirty." (We can all pretend it's only dirt, right?)
We call it her "baby," and at eight months she was picking it up and laying it down on the open changing pad, and then picking it up again. This is Bowden's doll, however, and he has not forgotten it. He'll try and take it if he can, but usually he doesn't care so much, and we'll talk him into sharing it. He did name the doll, "Lucy" after all.

And, yes, Bowden did wear his pajamas nearly all day, and just now took off his pajamas to take a bath. Judge me, it's okay.

Bowdo took his broken game and pretended it was a camera today, saying,
"Cheese." Lucy took right to it, and I snapped some of my own pictures of them saying "Cheese."

I wish these were clearer, but they do convey the joy that Bowden gets out of wrestling with his dad...I don't know where he got all that craziness from...

These are the only two pictures of my children that I've taken in the past two days...the cold kept me inside, and tonight we had the junior high small group at our house, which makes for a day of spotty cleaning with spattered mess making by the chilluns, followed by more spotted cleaning.
It is impossible to keep a house clean with two small goats, but Bowden has gotten to the point where he can help clean, and will, if guided and guarded enough.
Every toy is new and exciting when it comes time for it to be put away.
He memorized his verse this week for Cubbies, and came home very excited because they had chocolate cupcakes and lollipops and treats for a little girl's birthday.
Lucy was a bit grumpy. I had to wake her up 45 minutes into her afternoon nap to feed her and get her ready, and then took her to the nursery at church. The molars still have not come in, so she's been waking up in the middle of the night and crying for ten or fifteen minutes before going back to sleep. She gets randomly grumpy throughout the day, but generally is her usaul cheery self.
I only write so much because I have so little to offer in the way of pictures. I am a firm believer that all this typing is worth far less than a few interesting photos of our day, but deal with it.
Deal with it.

He wanted to take it home.

Bowden was sitting in the tall grass outside the office, very still. Unusually still. So I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Mommy, come here! I found something!"
He had a lady bug, and he was being ever-so-gentle with it. He told me that it was his friend. "It just crawled right on me!"
He named it "Crawly" and when I told him that it was time to go, he said, "He'll fit in my pocket!"
He held it in his hand, and did not want to put him down. He kept saying, "But he's my friend!"
Eventually he let the bug go to "lay eggs and have babies," and when I mentioned that we could come back tomorrow and see if Crawly was still there, he said that we might find another friend who would crawl on him. He's a realistic boy.

Today was not snowy or freezing (sorry people in Buffalo), so we went out for some fun time in the gazebo. Bowden was a little wary of the camera, but Lucy was not, but I tempted him into it by telling him that we were going to take pictures for Grandma Tate, so she'd know what they look like at the airport when we go to Vermont next month.

We didn't just sit inside and watch television yesterday.

Why, why, why, so many pictures of Bowden on this day wearing this outfit?! Why?!

I have other things on my mind. I have been too preoccupied to find time for better shots, but they are both doing well, and sleeping nicely in their rooms, like their dad.

Grumpy Lucy- working on two new molars, couldn't get a smile out of her all day.

What happened to the milder temperatures of autumn? Today we went on a walk at ten-thirty in the morning, and the thermometer said it was all of 39 degress outside. I was cold!!!
My chilluns already in their winter hats and coats, we went out and walked with Robin Gates and her son Jordan at the County Park, and then played at their oasis of a play area at their house. It was good times- the boys began to get violent, and it was time to go, despite both of their protests that, "But, we'll be good boys!"