Love and Hearts

Jo to Sam: "you know what my Christmas gift to you is? Love." 

Sam:"you mean a heart?" 

"No, just love."

Another trip to Lynchburg

These are the woods that meant so much to me as a kid, and mean even more to me now that my daughter is the age I was when I first began to play in them.

My amazing parents with my amazing son. Not to mention the dog, who is also amazing. 

Helping granddad with the backyard. Or rather, helping granddad make a mess of the backyard. 

I've posted one of these before, but this one's important. The creek was clogged by all sorts of leaves, and I wanted to show her that it's possible to clear a path to allow things to flow. Rivers and streams can teach us so much about our lives and how to live them. It's always possible to fix things if you are willing to think and take risks. 

It may not be baseball season yet, but my son really wants to learn how to play.

They're really beginning to grow up. 

Awesome weekend in October 2012

My kids love this game called Subway Surfer. The three of us are playing it together. I like it best when Josephine says tto Sam: "Hey, you're really good at this!" 

At my parent's house, Josy had cupcakes to celebrate her birthday. She had a hard time blowing them out. 

So, Sam helped her out! I love how well they get along most of the time. Not alll of the time. But most of the time. 

Grandma helps Josy comb her hair out after it was washed in the bathroom. 

We played a version of Jai Alai until the ball wound up in the Ivy. I played in this yard when I was a boy, and now it warms my heart so much that they're playing there, too. 

Amy told me that Josephine wanted a lava lamp for her birthday, so I passed that onto my mother . End result? This smiling face. 

This is a mask that my dad got from somewhere at some point. Now Sam wears it, just as I wore it when I was a child. 

Sam is wearing an eye mask from my parents and glasses he picked out for himelf. We took about ten of these, and there's one a bit further down in this post. 

Josephine reading Asterix. This is the French version, though, so I'm not quite sure how far she got. 

Josephine loves Charlie so much. 

She also loves chickens. This is a chick from the petting zoo at the Mountaintop Montessori Fal Festival. 

And this is Josephine transformed into a kitty cat at the festival. 

Here's another view. 

Prior to that, of course, we were in the trees. 

We had gone to the festival to see some of my friends playing music. Here's Sam standing by while the Pollacks are about to start 

Now, a bit of reality. We had a tricky time for a while because Sam wanted to make something at the festival, but I didn't quite understand what he meant when he says he wanted to "earn" something. He and I were both getting frustrated about this, but I finally figured out what he wanted. Unfortunately, things were closing and the Gourd Painting was finished. Sam got upset. The Pumpkin Hunt was done. Sam got upset. He was sad, and I was sad because I couldn't cheer him up. But thankfully, we discovered that Butterfly Felting was still open, and this woman totally helped us out and made Sam happy. 

Here's Sam putting his ticket in, finally happy to be able to spend his tickets and participate in the festival. 

And it made our day. This little boy is so amazing to me and I'm proud to be his father. 

Here's the other one. This is at his house. Josephine's Littlest Pet Shop toys are on the table. 

The two of them together, having fun. Josephine is now 7 and spent a lot of the time exploring by herself. She's getting more and more independent, but I always keep an eye on her. 

Sam took this picture of Josephine. He took a whole string of them, but this was my favorite. 

Finally. Sam's pointing at the moon. Because maybe he'll go there one day. 

Josy turned 7

Celebrating daddy's 2012 birthday

It was my birthday this week, which meant a visit from my parents.

Sam was so excited to see my dad. 

Josephine with my mother. She was so happy to see her. 

My parents brought Sam and Josy these stuffed dinosaurs. The kids spent a while trying to come up with names for them. They settled on Princess and Asterix. 

Asterix is currently a big hit at the moment. This pleases me. 

Family portrait! 

Story time at Chaps. Notice that my dad is now playing with Princess and Asterix. 

Mirror image of Josephine as we explored the Downtown Mall. 

My dad and I had to explain to the kids what a typewriter is and how it was used in the days before computers. 

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When I looked at this picture, I'm struck by how glad I am that Sam and Josephine have each other. They may quarrel, but they genuinely love each other and are growing into amazing children.