and before that

Sam turned six! When I first had Sam, the limit of my imagination for my children was age three. Then it became age five. Now I guess I'm just going to have to get used to bigger and bigger kids (kids who might be taller than me in a couple of years, for example). We had a family party and then later a friend party. He wanted a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting decorated with Reese's, and then a lemon cake with vanilla frosting decorated with mini M&M's. I'm getting tired just remembering last week's baking activities. There was also the school celebration...blueberry corn muffins. I might wait until Abe's birthday to bake again. Yeah, right.

the new news

I'm giving up trying to post in order. I just get too behind that way. The most recent new news here is that Sam lost a tooth! I remember exactly where I was when I felt that little tooth popping through his baby gums for the first time (in the car driving to Fenway Park when he was seven and a half months old), and now it's out. Weird. The tooth fairy brought $1 (less than many I've heard, but still a lot more than the dime(?!) I got as a kindergartener).

so behind

Let's see. Someone had a big birthday in our family, and it wasn't me. Doesn't he look about 21? It hardly seems fair. Happy Birthday!!

autumn is for

leaf jumping!! Enthusiastic Sam, athletic Samuel from next door, and happy (and tentative) Abe. Everybody loves it!

the whole gang

Our Halloween gang gathered again this year to try to get at least a little real food into the kids before hitting the streets for candy collecting. Sam as Shaggy, Max as a robot, Lucy as a skeleton, Isaac as a bat, Ezri as a bee, Abe as a cowboy, and Jasper (not seen here) as a bear.

You may remember

the last time Abe was a cowboy for Halloween. Three years later, he reveled in his cowboyness, and galloped along on his horse ("Horsey Horse Horse") for blocks at a time. I considered wrangling Oscar into the suit for a photo op but decided against it.

Oscar gets discovered

by the kindergarten girls. They insisted on calling him Sam Junior.