Fern faces

You wouldn't think such a happy baby would have wide-eyed distress as one of her most common baby-at-rest expressions.


 
She also spends a lot of time with this kind of face.

Double trouble

Two girls, each missing two front teeth, are just too cute together. It's nice of them to hit this particularly photographic milestone at the same time.

Camping!

We recently went on our first camping trip since having kids. We had a fantastic time and are wondering why we waited so long to get the kids into a tent. (Many thanks to Katie for the hand-me-down grown-up tent!)

 

Our campsite was next to Lake Hartwell. We had a lovely view and a great spot for the kids to play.

We were expecting cold weather, but when the day turned out warm and sunny, the lack of bathing suits didn't stop the kids from enjoying the lake.

  

Juniper was excited that some of the other parents on the trip fish. No one caught anything, but Juniper enjoyed learning how to cast.

 

 A gaggle of kids, getting ready for s'mores!

 Happy family by the campfire.

Eli brought glow bracelets, which delighted the kids and made them easy to spot at night. Juniper was especially proud of following the instructions to make the amazing glow ball all by herself.

 Sunrise by the lake...



...documented by two family photographers.



Happy, happy girl. We're looking forward to the next camping trip.

More after the jump if you haven't seen enough photos of smiling girls by the lake. (Click Read more at the bottom of the post.)

Happy Halloween

Little Lamb and Pikachu set off on their Halloween adventures.

They join forces with their friend Blue Lightning, in search of fun and treasure.

 They find lots of both, especially the treasure.

We've heard lots of strategies and ideas for dealing with all the candy kids get on Halloween, and there are things we don't like about all of them. Clearly the only sane thing is not to allow this much candy into your house. That worked the first few years we went trick-or-treating, but the Halloween candy cat is out of the bag.

This year we gave the girls the option of trading in candy for toys. Hazel couldn't decide whether she wanted a flashlight or weapons, so we were delighted to find this "lightsaber dagger" (it glows red when turned on). She also got a pirate sword and accessories (thank you 50% off Halloween toys).

Juniper's current obsession is Pokemon, a collectible card game targeted at children. We offered to trade Pokemon cards one for one for candy. Juniper initially decided to trade 20 pieces of candy for two packs of Pokemon cards (10/pack). Once she got the cards, she was so excited that she decided to trade in even more candy. By the time she was done, Juniper had 51 new Pokemon cards. Then Hazel became jealous and decided to trade some more of her candy for Pokemon cards. All told, the girls wound up trading well over half of their Halloween candy and feeling absolutely delighted with their decisions.

Birthday Girl

Hazel is 4 years old today!

She was excited to visit Leapin' Lizards and to spend the day eating some of her favorite foods (chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, Waffle House lunch, sushi dinner, and ice cream sundaes for dessert).

I think I am most excited about the fact that this birthday's milestone is graduating from a toddler car seat to a booster seat. This means that our family is done with LATCH attachments and 5-point harness seats!

More birthday photos to come soon...and Halloween photos...and pictures from our recent camping trip.

Cousin Laura

We recently had the pleasure of spending a week with my cousin Laura when she came to Atlanta for a course at the Emory School of Nursing. As far as Juniper and Hazel are concerned, Laura is a total rock star. They couldn't get enough of her. (The grown-ups also appreciated the opportunity for some one-on-one time with someone we normally only see at big family reunions.)