nora.

ben was very excited for me to meet his new baby sister.
i wasn't surprised to find that she is every bit as sweet as he is .

hello snow.

hello snow. we were beginning to think you had forgotten to fall.



"mom, it's just frozen water."







note: i don't generally make the kids wear helmets in the backyard!
we had just returned from sledding at radar hill...

we swim for lynn.

oh lynn, if you could have seen him...
your name on his arm.
your words on his mind. "keep trying. don't give up."

all of the things you worked so hard to teach him,
and he tried to put together in the pool.
both in his head and in his stroke.
those things came together for him this weekend.
he wasn't sure how he could possibly swim without you.
we reminded him that he wouldn't be. without you.

you are there with every best new time. every race had a best new time.
every FIRST LEGAL BREAST STROKE AND BUTTERFLY!
yes, he finally did it. it was amazing.
every first 100. we laughed that maybe you signed him up for the extra one...
every DQ.

thank you. thank you. thank you.
is what we would have said if you had been there to see it yourself.
xo, t








carson & court were troopers all weekend...
it's not easy sitting around while your big brother gets all the attention.
we tried to keep them entertained as best we could.




i love this picture.
ethan and hayden goofing off.
brian and ethan in their "team awesomer" tshirts.
missy looking pleasantly surprised or dumbfounded about god knows what.
andy wondering who i'm taking a picture of in the first place.
court and carson in their own little world.

best dressed.

i heard hayden say "i can't even find the correct word right now for that."
when she came down the stairs this morning.
i knew it would be special. it's thursday.
a free day. an i'm-just-going-to-let-her-wear-whatever-she-wants-today day.
she thinks it's perfect.
i love that.

how to freak out your mom.

the more i complain about how much this FREAKS ME OUT,
the more she does it. (i get it, stop freaking out. i can't.)
she does it at the dinner table.
whenever i ask her a question.
when i'm trying to take her five year old picture.
when she sees random people on the street.
when her pediatrician is trying to talk to me.
she does it because she thinks it's an amazingly funny trick.
and she loves to make people laugh.
and she knows it usually will. except me. i freak out.
and tell her i hope that they won't stay that way forever.
she is amazingly funny most of the time, i'll give her that.

nadia.

a wonderful way to end 2010...
meet porter's brand new baby sister, nadia.
she was every bit as sweet as her big brother.