Holiday Concert

Tegan and Finn had a Christmas concert (being a Catholic school it can actually be a "Christmas concert") tonight. Unfortunately, the lighting in the church is not great so we don't have any good ones of the kids on stage - just the posed pre and post-shots.

Waiting in the wings . . .

After the show . . .

By the time we got home, Finn wasn't really in the mood for more pictures. He humored us . . .but barely!

A short walk before lunch

Home with Finn today. Before lunch we took Riley on a walk through our neighbor's woods around their sugar house. Hopefully in the spring we can help them boil sap!

Sweet new Burton outerwear!

Happy as can be...

Fetch Riley!

Not quite sugaring season...too bad.
Found some deer scat!

Stomping puddles on the road back home.

This Morning

Walking Riley this morning at 6:15 down Bliss Road, something caught my eye. Bliss Road is a 2 mile long dirt road very near our house. It is completely wooded, though there are plenty of houses and good neighbors who live on Bliss. But in the mornings, it is completely deserted - no traffic, no people – and it is basically a lonely walk in the woods on a wide trail. I take a cup of coffee with me and Riley and I head out every day for 20 minutes.

We had barely turned down the road when we startled a huge bird that flew across the road not 10 feet in front of us. I watched as it swooped down out of a tree, flapped its wide wings a few times, and then carved back up as it went into a tree just on the other side of the road. It was huge. I wondered if it could be an owl but it went so fast, I couldn’t really tell. I’ve never seen an owl in the wild. We slowly continued our walk and I actually hooted a few time to see if I could get a response (thinking of my very favorite book to read the kids, Owl Moon). No response. So we walked another few feet. I was still scanning the tree where I thought the bird might have landed and just like in a movie (or a book) there it was…a big, beautiful owl perched on a thick branch staring down at me and Riles. Probably wondering what my hoots were all about. We stared at each other for a long minute before it turned and swooped off again, disappearing deeper into the woods. It was beautiful and I was so excited to see it.

As I was telling the kids about it at breakfast, I heard the unmistakable harmonica from Springsteen’s live cover of “This Land is Your Land” coming through the radio from WNCS. The whole family stopped eating and we all sang along (Tegan and Finn know the words). It was fantastic and gave me chills.

Then before work and school, we took the kids to the polls at the elementary school and did our part. Finn was with Cristin, Tegan with me and both kids were not-so-quietly asking us if we were voting for Barack Obama. Tegan told me last night she thought 3 people would vote for John McCain and 20 will vote for Barack. I asked her why she wanted Barack to win and she said…honestly, her words… “Because I think people are tired of fighting.” Right on, Tegs.

An owl in the woods, the family doing a Springsteen/Guthrie sing-a-long at breakfast and then rocking the vote for Change. What a way to start the day. Good signs of things to come if you ask me.

Fall Trip to Maine

We had a great long weekend in Ogunquit with Nana & Papa and the Whitneys.

Flying a kite...
A little hopscotch action...
Finn, your shoes are still on!!
Walking with Aunt Mofie to where the big boys were skimboarding...
Go Jack!
Hangin with my big cousin Jack
Hangin' with my big cousin Emma
Finn, Papa, and Uncle Mike!
It is a Flying Tegan!
And a Flying Finn, too!
Hanging' with my big cousin AJ

We miss you in Virginia and Tokyo!

Self portrait of a couple...

Family shot at the Nubble Lighthouse

From the Vault

Quick O'D baby photo test...

Which one is this?
And who's this?

Ok, this one's easier....who's this?
And this? Last one...name this kid:

Driving through Town with my Chicken

Tonight at dinner, Cristin and I were noticing how well Finn was doing with his rice. Then Tegan called out, "Look at me, I'm driving through town with my chicken!"
We looked at her for a second before either one of us said anything. And then it clicked.
"You're going to town on your chicken, honey?" we asked.
"Yes!"
Her chicken was almost completely gone. Yup, she sure was driving through town with her chicken!

New Baby is growing!

Perfect Fall Weekend!

It has been sunny, about 70 degrees, and the foliage is just past peak but still pretty beautiful in most places around here. Yesterday, we got some pumpkins and went on a hay ride at a farm...






After the farm, we raked leaves and played in them for a while.
Can you find some rugrats?

This morning we raked MORE leaves and then had fun carting them over to our dumping pile. The Tringes stopped by on their way home from church and Andrew joined Tegan & Finn in the cart and the leaf piles!


Running very fast toward the leaves!In the leaves - that's Tegan's leg in the air, Finn's blue Croc pointing out, and Andrew's back