I can only blame myself

THe weekend before last, Michelle came to visit and on Sunday, my mom had everyone over for lunch. She bought a package of balloons that could be tied into animals for "entertainment". The girls each wound up with several different animals and also a few long, untied balloons. Someone asked Claire about that particular balloon. "What is it, Claire?" Claire made sure she had everyones attention before announcing, "It's a friggin' snake!" Laughter, followed by a few calls of "Whaaaat?" In a louder voice this time, "It's a FRIGGIN' SNAKE". Mom asked her what that meant. Her answer was refreshingly honest: "I don't know, but it is something really funny..."

I enjoyed getting to spend some time with Michelle and Jacob (read: teasing them mercilessly with pointed questions about when they were going to get married), but it was cut short by colds and ear infections. First Emma, then Claire and Dex, and Josh soon followed. Josh was by far the most unpleasant of all four. On Monday, I took the kids to the doctor where we were prescribed antibiotics. While we were there, they also did Dexter's 18 month checkup. He is 33 1/2" inches tall (80th percentile) and weighs 20 lbs 13 oz (3rd percentile. No, you didn't misread that. NINETY SEVEN percent of kids his age weigh more than he does. And that isn't even factoring in the 80% that are shorter than him.) Long and skinny. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that.

Megan and I did some shots at a Bridge Group party. I am not sure what Bridge is exactly, but it seemed to be some sort of drinking club...

We also welcomed a new niece into our family recently. Her name is Lauren and she is pretty cute. Portraits coming soon, but here is one Crystal emailed me: