Thrice is Nice!

Am I my brother's keeper?

Attempt at a Family Portrait at

Misquamicut Beach, Westerly, RI

Help!

Training Abuelo Kent, a wonderful playmate, in watercolor

Today is Day 3 of Nora's latest imaginary brain child. Our house has been transformed into nueva york. We live in la casa de abuelita y abuelo. Nora has declared herself Edwin, a 3 year old boy whom my mom watches in her daycare in New York. She has declared Papi to be Abuelo and Mami Abuelita. Nehemiah is now Brian, another 3 year old boy in my mother's daycare. Yesterday, Nora was in the bathroom while I played with Nehemiah in the living room and called him by name. I was immediately corrected from down the hallway, "No, no, abuelita. Ese es Brian. No es Nehemiah." Right! It's hard to keep all the details of her creation straight. Today I called Nehemiah Brian and was horrified when he actually looked up in response. Best of all, Lavonne (the purple cabbage patch doll that Nathan is holding in the beach picture) also bears a new designation. She is Michael, an 8 month old baby in my mom's daycare. By the way, Lavonne shares so intimately in all of our family experiences that now even Nathan and I consider her one of our own. Lavonne is like our third child. Once I panicked in Walmart's parking lot when I realized we had abandoned her in the shopping cart. I was overjoyed and relieved when we retrieved her.

Culinary Pleasures

Making Hamburger Barley Stew

Peruvian-Style Roasted Chicken with Sweet Onions

(wholefoodsmarket.com)

Nora displaying the batch of meatballs she molded

Nora delights in cooking and relishes in new experiences. She can pour a teaspoon of salt into a bowl, beat an egg vigorously, bury her fingers in mushy red meat, stir soup erratically, scrub potatoes down to a nub, stab celery repeatedly with a plastic knife and eat shreds in the process. She's a master chef!

Ordinary Times

Nehemiah's first grass experience

Shopping at the Stop n Shop

Cooking for Abuelo

Crossroads Friday night meeting

Nehemiah with Abuelita Dorila

The Ring

Last November Nathan lost his wedding ring in our yard. Since then, we've had multiple armies of metal detecting parishioners search for this piece of metal, the loss of which has caused my mate some degree of sadness. The last search took place two weeks ago, and we have decided to purchase a new band. Anyway, that's just a bit of background to go along with the first picture. Nehemiah enjoyed pulling up grass during one of these last searches.

Shopping

The shopping picture shows one way to manage shopping with an infant and a toddler. Another way I've managed with the two on my own has been to strap Nehemiah to my front and tote Nora in the cart, thus creating more space for groceries. The latter way invites more smiles and head turnings. Both children love shopping.

Church

Every friday many of the "young adults," people at crossroads in their lives, from our church spend their evenings at our home. We eat, talk, sing, pray and study together. Most Fridays, a different family from the church provides a delicious dinner.